Netherlands

ZURICH - The Serbian men's national football team has moved up eight positions in the latest FIFA world rankings and is set to end the year in the 38th position.

Serbia now have 713 points and are behind Scotland (729) and Ghana (714), and ahead of Guinea (706) and Cape Verde (693).

Dutch far-right populist lawmaker Geert Wilders is be tried for inciting racial hatred after pledging in March to ensure there were "fewer Moroccans" in the Netherlands, prosecutors said Dec. 18.
      

They march in their thousands every Monday evening, wave German national flags and angrily protest against "criminal asylum seekers" and the "Islamisation" of their home country.

In recent months, Germany has witnessed the emergence of a far-right populist movement that has drawn support from hardcore neo-Nazis and also a small but growing anti-euro party, the AfD.

The Pentagon on Dec. 12 said Italy and Turkey would provide initial heavy maintenance of Lockheed Martin Corp's new F-35 fighter jet and its engine in Europe from 2018, paving the way for billions of dollars in work by companies there.

The Euro Working Group (EWG) approved on Wednesday Greece’s request for a two-month extension to its bailout as German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble suggested that an agreement on a precautionary credit line would not be reached until the current program has been concluded successfully.

Dutch actress and adventurer Manon "Tractor Girl" Ossevoort arrived at the South Pole Dec. 9 after chugging along on a tractor from Europe through Africa and across the frozen wastes of Antarctica.
      
"It's quite emotional, I'm very happy," Ossevoort told AFP by satellite telephone shortly after arriving at the Pole and fulfilling a decade-long dream.
      

Serbia drawn to tough EuroBasket group

PARIS -- The Serbian men's national basketball team has been drawn to play in EuroBasket 2015 Group B along with Spain, Turkey, Italy, Iceland and hosts Germany.

The draw took place at Disneyland Paris on Monday.

By Leonidas Stergiou

The amount of capital that was transferred out of Greek banks between late 2009, when the extent of Greece’s economic troubles started emerging, and ended in June 2012 as confidence in Greece began being restored, amounted to about 115 billion euros, a recent National Bank of Greece survey showed.

Dutch police have raided the house of Galatasaray midfielder Wesley Sneijder in his hometown Utrecht in a search for drugs, according to reports in the Dutch media.

The public prosecutor declined to comment on the reason for the Nov. 28 search at Wesley and Yolanthe Sneijder's house in the town of Vleuterweide near Utrecht.

The destruction of 12 chemical weapons facilities in Syria is expected to start later this month.

Syria's U.N. ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, says the work should be complete by the end of June 2015.