KATHMANDU: Nepal’s Supreme Court has ordered the government to alter passports so that transgenders no longer have to describe themselves as male or female, a court spokesman said yesterday a move welcomed by rights activists.
The court made the decision on Monday following a petition from a transgender who wanted a third category introduced on passports for people who identify themselves neither as male or female, the spokesman said.
Early this year, Nepal introduced a transgender category for people obtaining their citizenship certificates. People can register as a “third gender” when completing the certificates, which serve as national identity cards required to open bank accounts, sell and buy property and get a passport.
Myanmar MA60 planes grounded
YANGON: Myanmar has grounded its Chinese-made MA60 planes for safety checks following two landing incidents involving the aircraft in the past month, a senior official said yesterday.
An MA60 carrying about 60 passengers skidded off a runway at a domestic airport in southern Myanmar on Monday but nobody was injured. In mid-May an MA60 overshot the end of a runway at an airport in eastern Shan State, injuring two people.
“I think the accidents happened because of system failure. We will check all the systems. That’s why we stopped the operation of the planes,” Tin Naing Tun, director general of the Civil Aviation Department, he said.
Korean ex-spy chief indicted
SEOUL: South Korean prosecutors said yesterday they had decided to charge the former head of the country’s spy agency with meddling in last year’s presidential election.
The decision follows an official investigation into allegations that Won Sei-Hoon, as director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), had ordered agents to post stories and comments attacking the opposition presidential cadidate on popular websites.
The candidate, Moon Jae-In, was defeated in the December 19 vote by the conservative favourite and current president, Park Geun-Hye.
The prosecution office said it had also decided to bring charges against Kim Yong-Pan, the former head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, for obstructing the police probe into the case.
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