GENEVA (Web Desk) - Ambassador Tehmina Janjua, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, was elected today (12 December 2016) to preside over the Fifth Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). The unanimous decision was taken at the start of the Review Conference, being held in Geneva from 12-16 December 2016.

The Convention and its five Protocols deal with prohibitions and restrictions of certain conventional weapons, balancing humanitarian concerns with their military utility. The Fifth Review Conference of the Convention was preceded by a Preparatory Committee meeting in September 2016 that was also chaired by Ambassador Janjua.

Review Conferences of the CCW are held every five years to review the implementation of the Convention and its five Protocols, as well as to explore the possibility of developing new Protocols to address specific conventional weapons of concern.

The election of Pakistan as the President of this important Conference is an endorsement of the country’s strong credentials in multilateral diplomacy. It reflects, in particular, the international community’s confidence in, and recognition of Pakistan’s contribution to international security and arms control related issues.

The one remaining ship still looking for missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 has begun what is likely to be its final search. Dutch-owned Fugro Equator left the Australian port of Fremantle on Monday.

Several ships have combed the seabed of a vast search area in the Indian Ocean since the plane disappeared in 2014. The Fugro Equator is expected to finish scouring the final portion of the search area by early 2017.

Officials say they will suspend the search if the plane is not found by then. Not a single piece of wreckage or any clues to the whereabouts of the plane have been found so far by the operation.

"It has been an heroic undertaking but we have to prepare ourselves for the prospect that we may not find MH370 in the coming weeks, although we remain hopeful," Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester told the West Australian newspaper.

Several countries including Australia and China have taken part in the underwater search. Earlier this month the Chinese vessel Dong Hai Jiu 101 completed its mission and is returning to Shanghai, leaving the Fugro Equator as the last ship scouring the vast 120,000 sq km (46,332 sq miles) search area.

Whether the Fugro Equator's voyage is the ship's final month-long deployment would depend on the weather, the office of Mr Chester told AP news agency.

MH370 was carrying 239 people when it disappeared en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. Many of the passengers were Chinese.

Last week family members of some passengers journeyed to Madagascar to look for clues on the ship's whereabouts.

A few aeroplane fragments confirmed to be from MH370 had been found by members of the public on the East African and Madagascan coasts in recent months.

The location of the debris is in line with drift modelling patterns based on the theory that MH370 went down in a part of the Indian Ocean near Australia.

The families have expressed frustration at the lack of concrete evidence turned up by the official search, and have called for a coordinated effort to search beaches for debris.

A British backpacker who says she was held against her will during a car trip in Australia was rescued after texting her location to her father in England. Mary Kate Heys, 20, had agreed to ride with a man from their hostel in south-east Queensland to Brisbane.

But when he drove in the opposite direction and refused to allow her out, she told her father to call police. Police intercepted the pair at Gympie, 90km (55 miles) from the hostel, after her father contacted them.

The 22-year-old driver, from Sweden, was arrested and taken to hospital for medical treatment. He will not face charges as Ms Heys withdrew her complaint against him, police said.

'I was so scared'

Ms Heys, from Manchester, told local media that the man woke her at 04:30 local time on Monday (18:30 GMT on Sunday) at the Mooloolaba hostel, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

She said she initially agreed to go on a road trip with him out of concern for his wellbeing.

But she said she began to feel unsafe when he changed the plan and said they should drive to Far North Queensland.

"I was so scared and I thought I was going to die," Ms Heys told the Courier-Mail newspaper.

She repeatedly sent her father her location, as well as messages reading: "I need you to call Australian Police" and "I've been taken by a man… please hurry".

Schools and businesses were shut and airport services suspended, as the cyclone made landfall with heavy rain and winds of up to 140km/h (85mph). Teams from the army and National Disaster Relief Force, along with two naval ships, are on standby.

Fishermen in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have been warned not to go to sea.

Police said disaster management teams had evacuated more than 15,000 people from low-lying areas.

Schools and businesses were shut and airport services suspended, as the cyclone made landfall with heavy rain and winds of up to 140km/h (85mph).

Teams from the army and National Disaster Relief Force, along with two naval ships, are on standby.

Fishermen in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have been warned not to go to sea.

Police said disaster management teams had evacuated more than 15,000 people from low-lying areas.

China says it is "seriously concerned" after US President-elect Donald Trump expressed doubts about continuing to abide by the "One China" policy.

Under the policy, the US has formal ties with China rather than the island of Taiwan, which China sees as a breakaway province. In a TV interview on Sunday, Mr Trump said he saw no reason why this should continue without key concessions.

China urged Mr Trump to understand the sensitivity of the Taiwan issue. Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters that the "One China" policy was the basis for relations with Washington.

China's hawkish Global Times tabloid dubbed Mr Trump "ignorant as a child"

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo beat rival Lionel Messi to win the prestigious Ballon d'Or award for a fourth time.

The 31-year-old is now one behind Barcelona's Messi, who took the honour for a fifth time last year.

Atletico Madrid's French forward Antoine Griezmann finished third in the vote.

Ronaldo helped Real Madrid win last season's Champions League and scored three goals as Portugal won Euro 2016.

He has now won the Ballon d'Or in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2016, with Messi the only other recipient of the award since winning it for the first time in 2009.

"I never thought in my mind that I would win the Golden Ball four times. I am pleased. I feel so proud and happy," said Ronaldo.

"I have the opportunity to thank all of my team-mates, the national team, Real Madrid, all of the people and players who helped me to win this individual award."

The former Manchester United forward has scored 19 goals in 20 games for club and country this term, to add to the 54 he got last season.

Ballon d'Or winners

2016: Cristiano Ronaldo 2009: Lionel Messi

2015: Lionel Messi 2008: Cristiano Ronaldo

2014: Cristiano Ronaldo 2007: Kaka

2013: Cristiano Ronaldo 2006: Fabio Cannavaro

2012: Lionel Messi 2005: Ronaldinho

2011: Lionel Messi 2004: Andriy Shevchenko

2010: Lionel Messi 2003: Pavel Nedved

Ronaldo's Real Madrid team-mate Gareth Bale finished sixth in the vote, while Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy - the only Englishman included on the 30-player shortlist - was eighth.

The Ballon d'Or is voted for by 173 journalists from around the world.

It has been awarded by France Football every year since 1956, but for the past six years it became the Fifa Ballon d'Or in association with world football's governing body and was awarded to the world's best player.

However, Fifa ended its association with the award in September.

Fifa will hand out its own prize for the world's best men's player, along with the best women's player and team of the year, at the Best Fifa Football Awards ceremony in Zurich on 9 January.

Venezuela has closed its border with Colombia for 72 hours in the latest measure to combat smuggling gangs. President Nicolas Maduro says the "mafia" operating in border areas is causing huge damage to the economy.

Many items subsidised by Venezuela's socialist government, including diesel and petrol, are sold at a huge profit over the border in Colombia.

On Sunday, he announced that the country's highest denomination bank note would be taken out of circulation.

'Destroy the mafia'

President Maduro said the move would stop gangs hoarding the currency.

"Let's destroy the mafia before the mafias destroy our country and our economy," he said on national television.

"This measure was inevitable, it was necessary," he added. "The mafias will go bust."

There were emotional scenes in court on the first day of the blasphemy trial of Jakarta's governor, a Christian of Chinese descent. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known as Ahok, cried as he denied allegations he insulted Islam.

Mr Purnama is the first non-Muslim governor of Indonesia's capital in 50 years. The case is being seen as a test of religious tolerance in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.

The prosecution said Mr Purnama insulted Islam by misusing a Koranic verse which suggests Muslims should not be ruled by non-Muslims, to boost public support ahead of February's governorship election.

He insisted his comments were aimed at politicians "incorrectly" using a Koranic verse against him, not at the verse itself. If convicted, he faces a maximum five-year jail sentence. After the short hearing, the trial was adjourned until 20 December.

Rights groups say the authorities have set a dangerous precedent in which a noisy hardline Islamic minority can influence the legal process, says the BBC's Rebecca Henschke in Jakarta.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US president-elect Donald Trump on Friday hired as a senior adviser a Republican national security veteran who first worked in the White House situation room under Richard Nixon. As deputy national security adviser, 65-year-old Fox News commentator Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland, will return once again to the executive mansion as number two to former general Mike Flynn.

"She has tremendous experience and innate talent that will complement the fantastic team we are assembling," Trump said, in a statement issued from his luxury Florida golf resort. White House national security roles do not need to be confirmed by the Senate, so McFarland will take up her duties when President Barack Obama passes Trump the baton on January 20 next year.

She would in any case have been an uncontroversial choice, with decades of experience under three former Republican presidents and as a former aide to foreign policy heavyweight Henry Kissinger.

She has never herself held elected office, but in 2006 was defeated in a bid to seek the Republican nomination to challenge then New York senator Hillary Clinton s successful re-election bid.

Her most prominent roles before joining Fox News were as deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs under president Ronald Reagan and between 1982 and 1985 as defense secretary Caspar Weinberger s speechwriter and spokeswoman.

McFarland s appointment came as Trump was ensconced with senior advisors in his Mar-a-Lago resort drawing up transition plans. A spokesman said no more major decisions are expected before Monday.

ISTANBUL (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the Syrian conflict with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin by phone Friday after the Turkish army accused Moscow ally Damascus of killing its soldiers in northern Syria. Erdogan informed Putin of the strike that killed four Turkish soldiers, presidential sources said, which the Turkish army assessed to have been by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad early on Thursday.

It was the first time Turkey had blamed the Assad regime -- which is given military support by Russia -- for a deadly strike on its troops during Ankara s three month campaign inside Syria.

Erdogan and Putin also agreed to accelerate their efforts to find a solution to the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, where the regime continues its Moscow-backed offensive to recapture the whole city, which is divided between the government and rebels.

During the phone call, Erdogan told Putin of how the Turkish-backed offensive in Syria was evidence of Ankara s determination to fight against terror, the sources added.

The president stressed Turkey s commitment to Syria s territorial integrity -- Russia had previously said it was "deeply concerned" by Turkey s incursion while Damascus has called it a "blatant violation of sovereignty".

The presidents also backed the process to normalise relations between Russia and Turkey after the crisis sparked by the shooting down by Turkish forces of a Russian jet over Syria last year.

The army said on Friday that a fifth Turkish soldier was killed in northern Syria in clashes with Islamic State (IS) jihadists. 

Seventeen Turkish soldiers have been killed since the military began an unprecedented operation in Syria on August 24 to back pro-Ankara rebels.

Turkish planes also carried out air strikes against seven IS targets in northern Syria, the army said in a statement on Friday carried by the state-run Anadolu news agency.

Turkey launched the operation in August -- dubbed "Euphrates Shield" -- in support of Syrian rebel fighters seeking to retake IS-held territory in northern Syria and also to halt the advance of Kurdish militia.

Since it began, the pro-Ankara rebels have captured the IS stronghold of Jarabulus, cleared IS from Al Rai and retaken the symbolically important town of Dabiq without much resistance.

They are now pressing to take Al Bab from the jihadists and will then move to Manbij to ensure there are no Kurdish militia members remaining, as agreed with Washington.

The battle to recapture Al Bab appears to be proving more difficult and violent as Dogan news agency reported on Friday evening that five more soldiers were injured after an IS attack.

They have been taken to the southeastern city of Kilis for medical treatment, Dogan said, adding that the total number of soldiers wounded in the day s action was seven.