In this task, you are given news articles and you need to generate a highlight, i.e., a short summary, with a maximum length of 10 lines.

Washington (CNN) -- No decision has been made on whether to change the current plan to hold the September 11 terrorist attack trial in a civilian court in lower Manhattan, White House officials said Sunday. Last week, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other politicians expressed concern over the costs and disruption of holding the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four accomplices at a New York City courthouse. David Axelrod, the senior adviser to President Obama, and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday that Obama believes the trial should take place in a criminal court instead of before a military commission, as permitted for some terrorism suspects. However, Axelrod and Gibbs acknowledged that Obama and the Justice Department were considering moving the trial from New York City. "We've made no decisions on that yet," Axelrod said on the NBC program "Meet the Press." Gibbs, speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," also said the location of the trial was under discussion, but he expressed certainty that Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks, "is going to meet justice and he's going to meet his maker." Gibbs and Axelrod criticized Republican opposition to the plan to hold the trial in a criminal court, saying no one complained when the previous administration of Republican President George W. Bush put terrorism suspects such as "shoe bomber" Richard Reid on trial in U.S. criminal courts. "Now we have a Democratic president and suddenly we hear these protests," Axelrod said. "What has changed between now and then that would cause people to reverse positions?" Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, told the CNN program that the Bush administration was wrong to hold terrorism trials on U.S. soil. Instead, trials for dangerous terrorism suspects should be held by military commissions at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility where they currently are held, McConnell said. Obama intends to shut down the Guantanamo facility by transferring the roughly 200 suspects to the United States to stand trial or face indefinite detention, or to third countries. McConnell said Sunday he would fight that plan by trying to withhold federal spending for it. "'I think that will be done on a bipartisan basis," McConnell said of congressional opposition, adding that "whatever domestic support they had for this is totally collapsing." White House officials say the decision about any possible alternate sites to try Mohammed and the others will come from the Justice Department. New York police estimated that the cost to the city would be more than $200 million per year in what could be a multi-year trial and that more than 2,000 checkpoints would need to be installed around Lower Manhattan. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said additional protection would have to be deployed for the city, not just "the core area of Manhattan." Bloomberg initially supported the move, saying "it is fitting that 9/11 suspects face justice near the World Trade Center site where so many New Yorkers were murdered." However, Bloomberg used different rhetoric last week when asked about a community agency's proposals to relocate the trial, saying he would prefer the trial be held elsewhere, perhaps at a military base where it would be easier and cheaper to provide security. "It's going to cost an awful lot of money and disturb a lot of people," Bloomberg said. On Thursday, several New York Democratic politicians urged the Obama administration to thoroughly re-examine locating the trial in downtown Manhattan. Julie Menin, chairwoman of a city community advisory agency, proposed four alternative locations for the trial within the Southern District of New York: Governors Island, Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and the Bureau of Prisons jail complex at FCI Otisville. The latter three are in Orange County, New York, less than an hour from New York City, county executive Edward Diana told CNN. Diana thinks the trials should not be held anywhere in New York, and definitely not in Orange County, which lost 44 residents in the terror attacks, he said. "I've contacted my legal department and I'll tell you I'll do whatever it takes to stop those trials from coming here, even if it means closing down our roads," Diana said. "I'll sue the federal government if need be." Diana said he'd be worried about the safety of Orange County residents if the trial comes there. Diana, who shot down an offer from Newburgh to host the proceedings in their new courthouse, said the suspects should not be tried in civilian courts. But Newburgh Mayor Nick Valentine said the boost in media presence and police funding during the trial would help his "very poor, very urban" city. Newburgh's new $22 million courthouse is safe and has "every security you could want," Valentine said. An alternate proposal at the West Point location has not been fully reviewed. A West Point spokesman said no one has officially requested a review of demands for such a trial, which would require in-depth study of legal and security concerns. U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Dean Boyd said the Justice Department "can safely prosecute this case in the Southern District of New York while minimizing disruptions to the community to the greatest extent possible, consistent with security needs." New York Gov. David Paterson will meet with the U.S. Marshal Service on Monday to discuss possible 9/11 trial locations in the state, Paterson spokeswoman Marissa Shorenstein told CNN. CNN's Susan Candiotti and Ross Levitt contributed to this report.
NEW: Orange County, New York, leader: Don't move trial here .
Officials: President, Justice Department considering moving 9/11 trial from New York City .
New York mayor concerned about costs and disruption of holding the trial in city .
New York police: Cost to the city would be more than $200 million per year .

(CNN)Thailand could soon recognize a third gender category for the first time in the country's constitution. "It is a human right if you were born a male or female and you want to have a sex change or lead a life of a different gender," said Kamnoon Sittisamarn, the spokesperson of Constitution Drafting Committee, which is working on a new draft of the country's constitution. "People should have [that] freedom to change sex and they should be equally protected by the Constitution and the law and treated fairly." Third gender means that an individual does not have to identify as either male or female, and gives their right to self-identify. If enacted, Thailand would join several Asian countries, including India, Pakistan and Nepal, that have recently moved to recognize third gender. This week, the Constitution Drafting Committee, a panel tapped by the current Thai military junta, started work on a new draft. The junta, which calls itself the National Council for Peace and Order, took power in May after a military coup. The old constitution recognizes people of different religion, age, gender -- but had not extended to transgender people. "It is now time to recognize the existence of the third gender in Thai society," said Sittisamarn. "So we expand the region of protection as well." "Hopefully introducing third gender will help reduce discrimination in society." The Constitution Drafting Committee is expected to consider various components of Thai law and submit it to review by April. The decision to legalize the Constitution will be made on August 6. Acceptance in Thailand . There's a perception that transgender people are well accepted in Thailand, due to the availability of gender reassignment surgery. But challenges still exist, several transgender people living in Bangkok told CNN. "First of all in Thailand, we're pretty well-accepted, we can walk in the street and we don't have to fear that someone's going to shoot you in the head. At the same time, the most difficult thing is at a professional level, that people don't accept people like us," said Jenisa Limpanilchart, a businessperson. It's difficult for transgender people, despite their education level, to get hired and accepted by companies, she added. And matters like which locker room or bathroom to use become a human resources issue. And there is no legal recourse when discrimination occurs, because there have been no laws to protect them, said Kath Khangpiboon, a transgender activist with the Thai Transgender Alliance in Bangkok. Another problem is that the gender marked on government documents doesn't match how individuals identify their gender. When Khangpiboon travels, she gets pulled out of immigration lines for questioning by officials because of the gender marked on her passport. "For trans people, we cannot change our title name. I'm still a 'mister' in my country. I cannot change my title. My name is Mr. Kath," said Khangpiboon, a transgender woman. While recognizing the third gender would not resolve all the challenges, it would be "history" for our advocacy work, she added. More nations recognize third gender . Earlier last year, India's Supreme Court granted the country's transsexual and transgender individuals the right to self-identify their gender. Asian countries including Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh have implemented policies recognizing third gender in recent years. Australia started allowing a third gender option in passports in 2011.  According to a 2012 report by the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, 20 countries have passed progressive legislation on the issue, including Argentina, Uruguay, and Portugal. Even as transgender people are no longer forced to conform to specific genders in certain countries, they are still denied acceptance in many societies. Same-sex marriage remains illegal in countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan. And Thailand does not have plans to legalize same sex marriages in its constitution, said Sittisamarn.
Thailand constitution looks to recognize third gender .
People have right to change sex and be protected by Thai constitution, says spokesman .

Editor's note: Peter Bergen, CNN's national security analyst, is a fellow at the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think tank that promotes innovative thought from across the ideological spectrum, and at New York University's Center on Law and Security. He's the author of "The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader." Peter Bergen says Osama bin Laden is still alive and still significant eight years after September 11. HELMAND, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Eight years after September 11, the "war on terror" has gone the way of the dodo. And President Obama talks instead about a war against al Qaeda and its allies. What, then, of al Qaeda's enigmatic leader, Osama bin Laden, who has vanished like a wisp of smoke? And does he even matter now? The U.S. government hadn't had a solid lead on al Qaeda's leader since the battle of Tora Bora in winter 2001. Although there are informed hypotheses that today he is in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province on the Afghan border, perhaps in one of the more northerly areas such as Bajaur, these are essentially guesses, not "actionable" intelligence. A longtime American counterterrorism analyst explained to me, "There is very limited collection on him personally." That's intelligence community shorthand for the fact that the usual avenues of "collection" on a target such as bin Laden are yielding little or no information about him. Those avenues typically include signal intercepts of phone calls and e-mails, as well as human intelligence from spies. Given the hundreds of billions of dollars that the "war on terror" has consumed, the failure to capture or kill al Qaeda's leader is one of its signal failures. Does it even matter whether bin Laden is found? Yes, it does. First, there is the matter of justice for the almost 3,000 people who died in the September 11 attacks and for the thousands of other victims of al Qaeda's attacks around the world. Second, every day that bin Laden remains at liberty is a propaganda victory for al Qaeda. Third, although bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri aren't managing al Qaeda's operations on a daily basis they guide the overall direction of the jihadist movement around the world, even while they are in hiding. Those messages from al Qaeda's leaders have reached untold millions worldwide via television, the Internet and newspapers. The tapes have not only instructed al Qaeda's followers to continue to kill Westerners and Jews, but some also carried specific instructions that militant cells then acted on. In March 2008, for instance, the al Qaeda leader denounced the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper as a "catastrophe" for which punishment would soon be meted out. Three months later, an al Qaeda suicide attacker bombed the Danish Embassy in Islamabad, killing six. Some reading this may think: But what's the proof that the al Qaeda leader is still alive? Plenty. Since September 11, bin Laden has released a slew of video and audiotapes, many of which discuss current events. After a nine-month silence, for instance, bin Laden released a 22-minute audiotape on March 14, sharply condemning the recent Israeli invasion of Gaza. Are these tapes real? Not one of the dozens of tapes released by bin Laden after 9/11 has been a fake. Indeed the U.S. government has authenticated many of them using bin Laden's distinctive voiceprint. And what about the persistent reports that he is ill? In 2002, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said bin Laden had kidney disease, for which he required a dialysis machine, and was therefore likely dead. But the stories of bin Laden's life-threatening kidney problems are false, judging by his appearance in videos that he released in 2004 and again in 2007, in which he showed no signs of illness. On the 2007 tape, the al Qaeda leader had even dyed his white-flecked beard black, suggesting that as the Saudi militant entered his fifth decade, he was not immune to a measure of vanity about his personal appearance. In fact, bin Laden looked much better in those videos than he did in the video he released shortly after the battle of Tora Bora in late 2001, where he had narrowly escaped being killed in a massive American attack. The situation is further complicated by the fact that bin Laden and al-Zawahiri are almost certainly hiding out in the tribal areas of Pakistan, on the Afghan border. Arthur Keller, a CIA officer who ran a spy network in Pakistan's tribal areas in 2006, told me the problems of working in the region: "It's an incredibly remote area. They're hiding in a sea of people that are very xenophobic of outsiders, so it's a very, very tough nut to crack." An additional factor operating in bin Laden's favor is the personal popularity he has long enjoyed in Pakistan. Three years after the September 11 attacks, for instance, a Pew poll found that al Qaeda's leader had a 65 percent favorability rating among Pakistanis. However, it is clear from the videos of bin Laden and al-Zawahiri that aired in the years since the attacks that they are not living in caves. In those tapes, both men's clothes were clean and well-pressed. Caves generally don't have laundry facilities. And the videos that they have released are well-lit and well-shot productions, suggesting access either to electrical outlets or to generators to run lights. Al-Zawahiri is often filmed in a library setting, and on one of his videos from March 2006, there are curtains clearly visible behind him, suggesting that the tape was shot in a house. By early 2008, the Bush administration had tired of the Pakistani government's unwillingness or inability to take out al Qaeda's leaders, and in July, the president authorized Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults in the tribal regions without the permission of the Pakistani government. But in the face of the intense Pakistani opposition to American boots on the ground, the Bush administration chose to rely instead on drones to target suspected al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. Bush ordered the CIA to expand its attacks with Predator and Reaper drones. Between July 2008 and this month, U.S. drones have killed dozens of lower-ranking militants and at least 10 mid- and upper-level leaders within al Qaeda or the Taliban. This strategy seems to have worked, at least in terms of combating the ability of al Qaeda to plan or carry out attacks in the West. Law-enforcement authorities have uncovered no serious plots against U.S. or European targets that were traceable to militants who had received training in Pakistan's tribal regions after the drone program had been dramatically ramped up there. The increased pace of the American drone attacks in Pakistani's tribal areas was motivated in part by the hope that it would increase panicked communications among the militants, which might help pinpoint the locations of the top leaders in al Qaeda or the Taliban, but that approach has not paid off when it comes to bin Laden. If killing bin Laden with a drone has proved difficult, so too will be capturing him alive. His former bodyguard Abu Jandal told Al Quds al Arabi newspaper, "Sheikh Osama gave me a pistol. ... The pistol had only two bullets, for me to kill Sheikh Osama with in case we were surrounded or he was about to fall into the enemy's hands, so that he would not be caught alive " Should bin Laden be captured or killed, that would probably trigger a succession battle within al Qaeda. While al-Zawahiri is the deputy leader of the terror group and therefore technically bin Laden's successor, he is not regarded as a natural leader. Indeed, even among his fellow Egyptian militants, al-Zawahiri is seen as a divisive force, and so he is unlikely to be able to step into the role of leader of al Qaeda and of the world jihadist movement that is occupied by bin Laden. By the law of averages, eventually, bin Laden will be captured or killed. Yet the ideological movement that he helped spawn -- "Binladenism" -- will live on long after he is gone. That is bin Laden's legacy. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Peter Bergen.

Peter Bergen: Osama bin Laden still inspires al Qaeda .
He says 8 years after 9/11, the "war on terror" has failed to capture him .
He says law of averages suggests bin Laden will eventually be caught or killed .