PARIS (AP) — The yellow vest protests, which have brought particular chaos to Paris over the past few weeks, abated Saturday, though one small gathering around the presidential palace did lead to police firing tear gas and using batons.

The number of protesters demonstrating on Paris’ Champs Elysees, was down sharply on recent weeks as an appeal for a sixth straight Saturday of protests against the high cost of living and growing economic inequalities in France failed to make much of an imprint at the start of the Christmas and New Year holiday period.

According to Paris police, only 800 protesters had taken to the Paris streets, compared to 4,000 a week before and 10,000 the prior week. By midday Saturday, police had arrested 65 persons and detained four, down on the several-hundred arrested two weeks ago when the protests turned most violent.

In stark contrast to the chaos of previous weekends, tourists strolled down the avenue near the Arc de Triomphe, shoppers were out in force ..

(Bloomberg) — Canada is calling on China to immediately release two citizens it claims were arbitrarily detained there, just days after the arrest of a high-profile Chinese businesswoman.

Ottawa is working to secure the pair’s release and is concerned about the “worrying precedent” the detentions set, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Saturday on a conference call with reporters.

Michael Kovrig, a diplomat on leave from his post in Hong Kong, and Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur who helped organize tourist trips to North Korea, were seized nine days after Huawei’s Meng was taken into custody. Meng’s now out on bail pending an extradition hearing.

“Canada expects the immediate release of these two Canadians,” Freeland said, noting Chinese officials have not publicly connected the Huawei arrest and the detention of the two citizens. “My key objective here, and the Prime Minister’s key objective, is to have Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor released.”

The two men were de..

(BEIRUT) — Syrian troops have sent reinforcements to the eastern province of Deir el-Zour close to an enclave controlled by the Islamic State group and along the front with U.S.-backed Kurdish-led fighters, a war monitor and pro-government pages on social media said Saturday.

The reinforcements arrived after U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced he was pulling all 2,000 U.S. troops out of Syria. Trump has now declared victory over IS, contradicting assessments by his own experts, with many lawmakers calling his decision rash and dangerous.

A senior Kurdish politician on Friday called on France to play a larger role in Syria following the U.S. withdrawal.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the government sent thousands of its elite forces to Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq, where IS holds the last area under its control in Syria.

The Observatory said the troops and pro-government fighters were deployed on the west banks of the Euphrates River clos..