NEPAL PLAYS MALAYSIA IN FINALS OF ACC U-19 ELITE CUP SUNDAY Kathmandu, 13 May: Nepal plays Malaysia in the final of the ACC U-19 Elite Cup in Kuala Lumpur Sunday. Nepal qualified for the final after beating Singapore in the semi-final. Nnnn CITIZENSHIP FOR ONLY THREE THIRD GENDERS Kathmandu, 13 May: Only three third-gender people in the country have been so far issued citizenship specifying their gender, RSS reports. Although the Supreme Court ordered the government to issue citizenship certificates on the basis of gender identity on December 21, 2007, only three persons of third gender have been issued certificates on that basis. Speaking at an interaction organized by the Blue Diamond Society here today, the participants stressed the need of removing the problem in the understanding of the bureaucracy regarding giving legal rights to the gay and lesbian relationships. President of the Blue Diamond Society and CA member, Sunil Babu Panta, complained that the government employees sought financial benefit and visit abroad while placing request for amending the related laws, adding that the third gender people were denied citizenship at the direction of the then Home Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara. President of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), Shiva Gaunle, said the role of the media did not appear to be significant as regards the rights of the LGBTs as the voices of the third gender people were not taken seriously from the society to the government level and since the LGBTs also failed to put across their concerns openly without inhibitions. Editor of the Himal Khabarpatrika news weekly, Kiran Nepal, expressed that although the society was negative regarding the issues of the LGBTs in the beginning, it is gradually coming to terms with their issues and taking their issues as common. The two-day interaction has been organized with the objective of soliciting suggestions from people associated with the media regarding the problems faced by the LGBTs and the ways of addressing their problems, Nnnn APPA SHERPA OF EVEREST-FAME AGAIN ON PEAK BUT FOR A CLEAN-UP Kathmandu, 13 May:: Noted mountaineer Appa Sherpa has nowadays got himself busy in the Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) Cleaning Campaign, RSS reports. The Eco Everest Expedition team led by Sherpa was able to collect around 1,000 kilogrammes of waste from the peak during a period of the last four days, said Chairman of Asian Trekking, Tshiring Sherpa. Appa, who holds the world record of scaling the highest peak in the world for the 21st time, has expressed his worry over the ´deteriorating beauty´ of the Sagarmatha because of increasing trash left by mountaineers there. Increasing waste on the world´s highest peak appears to be a major problem these days. Used oxygen cylinders, water bottles and tents left by climbers and dead bodies of mountaineers are among the waste materials found on the face of the world´s highest mountain. The team has a target of collecting some 3,000 kgs of waste from the Sagarmatha during its 58-day expedition to the world´s highest peak, it is learnt. Nnnn