Europe

OSLO, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- New figures from Norway's statistics bureau showed strong increase of Norwegian population's wealth due to a long-term stock market upturn and housing price growth, online newspaper E24 reported Saturday.

Total gross wealth in 2017 was 9,975 billion kroner (1,145 billion U.S. dollars), which is an increase of 9.1 percent from the year before, according to the Statistics Norway (SSB).

23 Dec 2018; DW: Toll booths on the A9 motorway were blocked by demonstrators for several hours. However, fewer than 2,000 people turned out across Paris to protest against rising living costs and the government's pro-business stance.

The French "yellow vest" protest movement was reduced from a roar to a whimper on Saturday as fewer than 2,000 people rallied in central Paris against President Emmanuel Macron's government.

The figure was less than half the number who turned out in the French capital over the previous weekend.

23 Dec 2018; DW: The Vatican has given Rome's homeless people the Christmas gift of a health clinic near St Peter's Square. The Mother of Mercy health office reflects Pope Francis' determination to help society's weakest people.

The Holy See on Saturday opened a health clinic caring for homeless and needy people living amid the opulence of the city state. The new facility, located beneath the landmark St Peter's Square, will offer free medical assistance three days a week — Monday, Thursday and Saturday.

23 Dec 2018; AFP: A man and a woman arrested over the drone disruption that brought Christmas getaway flights to a standstill at London's Gatwick Airport were released without charge on Sunday, police said.

A 47-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman from the town of Crawley, near Britain's second-busiest airport, were arrested on Saturday.

The police swooped after three days of disruption from Wednesday to Friday, affecting 140,000 passengers.

ROME (AP) — After a raucous session, the Italian Senate has approved a national budget law that was tweaked in a bid to satisfy European Union concerns.

Much of the Italian government’s planned spending in 2019, which won passage in Parliament’s upper chamber about 3 a.m. Sunday, satisfies the expensive campaign promises by Italy’s populist coalition. Those including rolling back pension changes and guaranteeing income for the jobless or underemployed.

ROSTOV-ON-DON, December 22. /TASS/. Servicemen from the 49th general army have participated in large-scale military drills to practice deactivation of contaminated objects after a massive nuclear attack, the press service of Russia's Southern Military District said on Saturday.

"On the territory of the Stavropol and Kuban regions, over 3,000 servicemen took part in drills on conducting radiation, chemical and bacteriological reconnaisance; as well as on deactivating contamination from nuclear weapons of terrain, weapons and military equipment," the press service said.

MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. The fact that the Russia-initiated resolution supporting the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) was voted down at the United Nations General Assembly will enable Washington to ruin the document thanks to those countries that rejected it, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

TEHRAN, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Germany will ban flights of Iran's Mahan Air to its cities under the U.S. pressures, Tasnim news agency reported Saturday.

The German government has decided to stop Mahan Air from operating its flights to Dusseldorf and Munich after intensive deliberations on U.S. demands, according to the report.

Currently, Mahan Air operates flights to EU cities of Milan, Athens, Dusseldorf and Munich as well as countries such as Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and several other destinations in the Middle East and Asia.

PARIS, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- A motorist was killed late on Friday in a road accident linked to "Yellow Vest" movement in southern France, bringing the death toll to 10 since protesters launched demonstrations in mid-November against fuel tax rise, local media reported on Saturday.

The latest victim, a 36-year-old man, was hit by a truck stopped near a motorway where demonstrators had been gathering and blocking the passage, the BFMTV news channel reported.

MOSCOW, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Amid ongoing tense frictions between Moscow and Washington, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeals to his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump to resume direct talks so as to discuss urgent issues on bilateral and international agendas.

Noting that the two countries "have reached the bottom of our relations" at his annual press conference Thursday, Putin reconfirmed his readiness for dialogue and said it is time for both sides to think with a clear head and start mending bilateral ties.