US military to allow transgender people to enlist from next year

Potential transgender recruits will have to overcome a lengthy and strict set of physical, medical and mental conditions that make it possible, though difficult, for them to join the armed services.

The Pentagon has said that transgender people can enlist in the US military from January 1, despite President Donald Trump's opposition.

The new policy reflects growing legal pressure on the issue and the difficult hurdles the federal government would have to cross to enforce Mr Trump's demand to ban transgender individuals from the military.