S. Korea discharges transgender soldier
SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea's first known transgender soldier pleaded to be allowed to continue serving after the military decided Wednesday to discharge her for undergoing sex reassignment surgery.
It was the first time in South Korea that an active-duty member has been referred to a military panel to determine whether to end the person's service because of a sex reassignment operation. South Korea prohibits transgender people from joining the military but has no specific laws on what to do with those who have sex reassignment operations during their time in service.
The army said in a statement that it concluded the soldier's operation can be considered a reason for discharge.
It said the decision went through due process and was based on a related military law on personnel changes. Army officials cited a provision of the law allowing the military to discharge personnel with physical or mental disabilities if those problems weren't a result of combat or in the line of duty.
After the ruling, the staff sergeant, who identified herself as a tank driver named Byun Hui-su, held a news conference at which she asked military leaders to reconsider their decision and let her serve as a female soldier.
Search narrows for climbers in Nepal
KATHMANDU, Nepal -- Rescuers took advantage of improved weather on Nepal's Mount Annapurna to press ahead with a search for four South Korean climbers and three Nepali guides and have a possible location for them, officials said Wednesday.
Nine soldiers and seven civilian rescuers were digging through ice and snow on the Annapurna trekking trail and had made progress in determining their possible whereabouts, said army spokesman Bigyan Dev Pandey.
The trekkers and their guides are still listed as missing but mountaineering experts have said there is little chance they could have survived Friday's avalanche.
The avalanche hit part of the trekking route after heavy snowfall earlier in the week. All other trekkers who were in the area have been flown by helicopters to safe areas.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry said the missing citizens were two women in their 30s and 50s and two men in their 50s, all teachers who were doing volunteer work in Nepal.
U.S. strike said to kill Afghan civilians
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A drone attack carried out by U.S. forces earlier this month in western Afghanistan that apparently targeted a splinter Taliban group also killed at least 10 civilians, including three women and three children, an Afghan rights official and a council member said Wednesday.
According to the Afghan official, who is on the country's Human Rights Commission, the strike took place in western Herat province, in the district of Shindanad. Five other civilians, including two children, were wounded, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.
There was no immediate comment from the Afghan military or the U.S. forces. But Wakil Ahmad Karokhi, a provincial council member in Herat, said the Jan. 8 strike also killed the commander of a Taliban splinter group, known as Mullah Nangyalia, along with 15 other militants.
The Taliban today control nearly half of Afghanistan, and continue to stage near-daily attacks targeting Afghan and U.S. forces, even as they hold peace talks with Washington and have given a U.S. peace envoy a document outlining their offer for a temporary cease-fire.
Scores of Afghan civilians have been killed in the crossfire and by roadside bombs planted by militants or in anti-Taliban operations undertaken by government forces assisted by American troops.
Turkey prods Russia on fighting in Syria
ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey's foreign minister urged Russia on Wednesday to halt the Syrian government's attacks in the war-torn Arab country, a day after airstrikes on rebel-held sectors and the shelling of government-held areas killed at least 17 people, including an entire family.
In his remarks, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu insisted that it was Moscow's responsibility to stop the violence as Russia has been a staunch supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces in the civil war.
The Syrian government has been carrying out an offensive on the northwestern province of Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in the country, and the rebel-held parts of nearby Aleppo province. The fighting has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom fled to areas closer to the border with Turkey.
Dozens of fighters have been killed on both sides in recent days as clashes intensified. The fighting is taking place despite a new cessation-of-hostilities agreement between Russia and Turkey that went into effect earlier this month. Moscow and Ankara stand on opposing sides of the conflict in Syria.
"Russia is the guarantor of the [Syrian] regime," Cavusoglu told a panel at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland. "Russia is obliged to stop this aggression."
A Section on 01/23/2020