The American Society of Plastic Surgeons has cited uncertainty over the long-term outcomes of the procedures, some of which are irreversible
A leading US medical association has recommended against “gender transition” surgeries for minors, citing insufficient evidence that perceived benefits outweigh the risks. The move comes amid a broader drop in support for transgender ideology and sex change surgeries for children.
In a statement on Tuesday, The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), which represents over 11,000 surgeons across the US, advised its members to delay the life-altering procedures until patients are at least 19 years old.
In guidance approved in January and reported by The Washington Post, the ASPS stated “there is insufficient evidence demonstrating a favorable risk-benefit ratio” for surgical interventions in youth, adding that there is “substantial uncertainty” about the long-term outcomes of such operations.
“This is a vulnerable, adolescent population,” former ASPS president Scot Bradley Glasberg told the Post. “We are mindful that some of these surgeries are irreversible.”
US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been leading efforts to restrict sex change operations for minors, commended the ASPS for its latest notice, and applauded it for “standing up to the overmedicalization lobby and defending sound science.”
Shifting opinions in the medical community follow a broader political shift on sex change operations in America. US President Donald Trump has moved aggressively to reverse the transgender policies of his predecessor Joe BIden, signing executive orders to end federal support for youth transition procedures, banning transgender individuals from military service, and supporting state laws to restrict care.
Legislators across the country have also been making efforts to criminalize gender transitions for minors, with the US House of Representatives passing a bill late last year to outlaw such procedures for youths. The motion has yet to be voted on in the Senate.
Meanwhile, the prevalence of trans-identifying young Americans has also recently seen a decline. The University of Buckingham’s Centre for Heterodox Social Science found in October that the share of US university students identifying as transgender had nearly halved since its 2023 peak, falling from nearly 7% to below 4%.
Savannah Guthrie’s mother was taken from her home in Arizona against her will, according to law enforcement
US authorities are investigating alleged ransom notes in the disappearance of the mother of NBC News’ Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie, officials said on Tuesday.
Nancy Guthrie went missing in Arizona over the weekend, and police believe she was taken from her home at night against her will.
A note received by a local Arizona news station on Monday, which it agreed not to report on, contained specific details about the home and what the 84-year-old woman was wearing that night, according to Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, as cited by CBS. The official did not however confirm the accuracy of that information or the legitimacy of the note.
“It’s like any piece of evidence,” Nanos said. “You give it to us, you give us a lead, we’re going to look at every aspect of that lead.”
Guthrie was last seen at her home in the Catalina Foothills area north of Tucson on Saturday evening, when family dropped her off after an outing.
She did not attend her planned church service the following morning, prompting a friend to contact her family. Relatives called 911 around noon Sunday to report her missing after failing to find her at home. Several of her personal belongings, including her cell phone, wallet, and vehicle, remained inside.
Nanos earlier told the press that investigators believe Guthrie was taken from her home against her will, prompting authorities to treat the case as a potential criminal investigation rather than a standard missing-person report.
“I believe she was abducted, yes,” Nanos said, as cited by CBS News. “She didn’t walk from there. She didn’t go willingly.”
Her residence was declared a “crime scene” following an initial examination, and law enforcement noted that she has limited mobility and requires daily medication. The FBI has joined the investigation, assisting with evidence analysis and conducting interviews.
Savannah Guthrie has stepped away from her broadcast duties, asking for prayers and support for her mother’s safe return. Authorities have appealed to the public for assistance, urging anyone with photos, surveillance footage, or tips that could help locate Nancy Guthrie to come forward.
US President Donald Trump called the situation with Guthrie’s disappearance “very unusual” and “a terrible thing” during a bill‑signing event at the White House on Tuesday. He promised to call the Today show co‑host to offer support, adding that he would consider additional federal assistance in the investigation.
The president praised the “exemplary” relations between the two nations
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his country’s “exemplary” ties with Beijing during a video conference with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Wednesday.
The two leaders talked for almost an hour and a half; they discussed the US-backed peace talks between Russia and Ukraine as well as developments concerning Iran, Venezuela and Cuba.
“The Russian-Chinese comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction is exemplary,” Putin said, as quoted by the Kremlin.
Putin noted the robust economic and energy ties between the two nations, highlighting that bilateral trade turnover has stabilized at a consistently high level, exceeding $200 billion annually. He also emphasized Russia’s position as a leading supplier of energy resources to the Asian country.
Putin assured Xi of firm support for all joint efforts to ensure the sovereignty and security of the two countries, their economic prosperity, and their right to choose their own path of development.
Following the imposition of Ukraine-related Western sanctions against Russia, Moscow redirected the bulk of its energy exports to Asia, including China, and accelerated the switch to using their national currencies in trade. In November, the Russian Finance Ministry said 99.1% of trade between Moscow and Beijing had already shifted to rubles and yuan to reduce reliance on Western financial institutions.
China and Russia should work together to maintain global strategic stability amid an increasingly turbulent international situation, Xi Jinping said, as cited by Xinhua.
The positions of Moscow and Beijing are aligned on many issues, according to Putin aide Yury Ushakov. Their stance on Iran and Venezuela is grounded in a shared commitment to the principles enshrined in the UN Charter, particularly state sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs. They jointly oppose unilateral sanctions and have condemned foreign military intervention.
As permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and Russia have the obligation to encourage the international community to uphold fairness and justice, defend the UN-centered international system and uphold international law, the Chinese leader stated.
Xi invited Putin to visit China this year, and the Russian president accepted the invitation, Ushakov added. He said the two leaders have agreed to maintain close contact.
The ex-president and former secretary of state have bowed to the threat of a contempt of Congress vote
Former US President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee in its investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. The shift came after the panel moved toward a vote to hold the pair in contempt of Congress.
The Clintons have been under scrutiny over their connections to the late sex offender, including widely circulated photos showing the ex-president mingling with Epstein. Clinton has also acknowledged flying on Epstein’s private jet in the early 2000s, but has denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of criminal activity.
The House Oversight Committee began seeking testimony from the Clintons last year, starting with informal outreach that later escalated into subpoenas. However, both Clintons were reluctant to appear, with their lawyers rejecting the subpoenas as “invalid and legally unenforceable” and saying they were exploring alternative ways to cooperate.
The standoff escalated when the committee voted to advance a resolution on holding the Clintons in contempt of Congress, a move that drew support from some Democrats. In theory, if found in contempt, the case could be referred to the Justice Department, potentially opening a path toward criminal charges.
However, on Tuesday, Republican James Comer, who chairs the committee, announced that Bill and Hillary Clinton had “agreed to appear for transcribed, filmed depositions to face questioning as part of the investigation related to Jeffrey Epstein.” The two are slated to testify on February 27 and 26, respectively.
“Once it became clear that the House of Representatives would hold them in contempt, the Clintons completely caved and will appear [for deposition],” Comer said.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson said plans to proceed with the contempt vote had been put on hold after the Clintons agreed to testify.
Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died in a New York jail in 2019, in a death ruled a suicide. The circumstances surrounding his passing have since fueled conspiracy theories, including claims that he was killed to prevent the disclosure of compromising material involving prominent figures.
William Stevenson has been taken into custody in Delaware following the alleged murder of his spouse, Linda Stevenson
The ex-husband of former US first lady Jill Biden has been arrested and charged with murdering his current wife in their Delaware home in December, local authorities said in a statement on Monday.
William Stevenson, 77, has been taken into custody and is facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of Linda Stevenson. He is being held at the Howard Young Correctional Institution after failing to post $500,000 cash bail, New Castle County Police in Delaware have said.
The arrest comes after a weeks-long investigation into the death of 64-year-old Stevenson. Police have provided no details regarding the cause of death, but an initial statement had noted that officers responded to a domestic dispute on December, 28 at a residence in the Wilmington area. At the time, the authorities said that a woman was found unresponsive in the living room and died despite officers trying to resuscitate her.
Stevenson, who has been charged with first-degree murder, faces a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole if convicted under Delaware law. The state abolished the death penalty in 2024, making life in prison the maximum punishment for the offense.
Jill Biden married William Stevenson in February 1970, when she was 18 years old and he was 23, shortly after she finished high school. The marriage ended in divorce in 1975. Later that year, she met Joe Biden, who was then a US senator from Delaware, and they married in 1977.
“Looking back, it may seem like that relationship was a mistake of youth,” Biden wrote in her 2019 memoir. “But there was a time when I truly believed we were destined for each other.”
The Biden post-presidential office has not commented on Stevenson’s arrest or the charges.
The former royal has reportedly moved to Sandringham after losing his titles
The UK’s former Prince Andrew, the brother of King Charles III, has been booted out of his Royal Lodge residence in Windsor following the stripping of his royal titles over his alleged links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
Buckingham Palace had previously said that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Duke of York, would move out of Royal Lodge in October, the same month he was stripped of his title, but the move was later postponed.
He is expected to return in the coming weeks to collect his remaining belongings, but his permanent residence is now the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, according to the outlet.
According to the Sun, Mountbatten-Windsor left the 31-room, £30 million ($37 million) property late on Monday and arrived in Norfolk under cover of darkness.
The former prince remains under scrutiny over his Epstein connections. The British police are assessing allegations reported by the BBC that a woman was sent to the UK by Epstein for a sexual encounter with Andrew at Royal Lodge in 2010, claims he has denied. The woman, who was in her 20s at the time, reportedly said she spent a night at the residence – the first claim of a sexual encounter at a royal home from an Epstein survivor.
The former prince’s ties to Epstein have come under renewed scrutiny following the release of millions of pages of documents and images by the US Department of Justice. A recent tranche includes images appearing to show Andrew kneeling over a woman lying on the ground, alongside email exchanges with Epstein from years after the financier pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor.
Separate emails released last week indicate that Epstein invited Mountbatten-Windsor to dine with a 26-year-old Russian woman.
Pressure is mounting for Andrew to testify before the US Congress. US Vice President J.D. Vance told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that he would back bipartisan efforts to summon the former prince over his Epstein connections.
The latest release of documents has done little to quell intense speculation regarding Epstein’s network, as lawmakers and the public continue to sift through heavily redacted files for new clues about the extent of his crimes and the influential circles he moved in.
The core claim of Russian interference was false and exemplified Brussels’ use of political censorship, the document said
The European Commission used unproven claims of Russian interference to overturn the results of Romania’s 2024 presidential election, a US House report has suggested.
Romania’s Constitutional Court annulled the election’s first round after intelligence services alleged anti-establishment candidate Calin Georgescu’s lead resulted from foreign meddling. A House Judiciary Committee report cited the case on Tuesday, calling it the “most aggressive censorship steps” taken by the EU executive in recent years.
The report referenced internal TikTok documents submitted to the European Commission that contradicted claims of a Russian-backed pro-Georgescu campaign on the platform. TikTok stated it found no evidence supporting the allegation, which was foundational for the court’s ruling.
“By late December 2024, media reports citing evidence from Romania’s tax authority found that the alleged Russian interference campaign had, in fact, been funded by another Romanian political party,” the document noted. “But the election results were never reinstated, and in May 2025, the establishment-preferred candidate won Romania’s presidency in the rescheduled election.”
Join RT later on Wednesday to follow the committee’s hearing.
Last February, US Vice President J.D. Vance cited the controversy in his speech at the Munich Security Conference, in which he accused the EU and the UK of a democratic backslide and warned that the US may reconsider its commitments to traditional allies due to diverging values.
The damning new US report said the European Commission is conducting a “comprehensive decade-long effort” to pressure social media companies to limit freedom of expression in the name of combatting ‘hate speech’ and ‘disinformation’. The campaign “has established sufficient control of global online speech to comprehensively suppress narratives that threaten the European Commission’s power,” and directly affects constitutionally protected rights of American citizens, it stated.
Moscow promised to halt strikes on Kiev and other cities until February 1 amid harsh winter conditions
Russian President Vladimir Putin kept his promise on a weeklong pause in strikes on Kiev and other major Ukrainian cities amid a winter power crisis, US President Donald Trump has said.
Last week, amid reports that Moscow and Kiev had reached an ‘energy ceasefire’, Trump announced that he personally asked Putin to agree to a partial pause in strikes “because of the extreme cold.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed the truce, adding that a weeklong moratorium would last until February 1 and was aimed at “creating favorable conditions for negotiations,” referring to US-brokered Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said the pause had run “Sunday to Sunday.”“And he hit [them] hard last night. No, he kept his word on that,” Trump added. “It’s a lot… We’ll take anything, because it’s really, really cold over there.”
Asked whether he was disappointed Putin did not extend the ceasefire, Trump said he wanted him to “end the war.”
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky confirmed on Monday that Russia had not launched targeted missile or drone strikes on major energy infrastructure since the pause began, though he claimed that shelling continued in frontline areas. On February 3, Zelensky accused Russia of violating the truce with overnight strikes, despite Moscow saying the moratorium had already expired.
Ukraine’s power grid system has been under severe strain amid repeated Russian missile and drone strikes, with recurring rolling blackouts and temperatures dropping below -10 C in many regions.
Moscow has said it has been targeting energy infrastructure supporting Ukraine’s defense industry in response to Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia, including strikes on critical infrastructure and civilian areas. Moscow maintains it never targets civilians.
The leaders held talks in the White House following a public spat over US strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats
US President Donald Trump held talks with Colombian President Gustavo Petro in the White House on Tuesday, just weeks after the leaders traded insults over drug trafficking and an American military raid in Venezuela.
The US revoked Petro’s visa last year after he denounced Trump’s strikes on alleged cartel boats in the Caribbean as “barbaric” and argued that deportations of Colombian nationals by US immigration officials violated human rights. Trump, in turn, labeled Petro a “drug-trafficking leader.” Both struck a conciliatory tone ahead of Petro’s trip to Washington.
“He and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I wasn’t insulted because I never met him. I didn’t know him at all. And we got along very well,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He added that the leaders discussed sanctions and were working to combat drug cartels, without elaborating.
Petro said the talks were “very positive” despite their differences. “We may be very different from a civilizational or historical point of view, but what we share is a love of freedom. And that’s where the conversation began, with the idea that a pact for freedom could be made,” he said, as cited by the BBC.
The Colombian presidential office said Petro provided Trump with “information and names of criminal structures” linked to the drug trade and presented his country as “a strategic ally” in the fight against cartels. Petro also spoke about the “historic results” his government has achieved in seizing drugs from criminal groups.
Petro, who had condemned the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US commandos in early January, urged Trump to normalize relations with Caracas, according to his office.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges when they were brought before a New York judge last month.
The country will spend around $40 billion on military equipment despite economic hardships
Germany is planning to spend $41 billion on military space equipment, including spy satellites and offensive lasers, the head of the nation’s Space Command, Major General Michael Traut, has told Reuters.
The move is part of a rearmament push that Berlin says is necessary to counter Russia and China. The EU’s biggest economy, however, is grappling with what the government has described as a “structural crisis.”
Germany plans to spend $582 billion on defense by 2029, in line with Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s vision of making the Bundeswehr the “strongest conventional army in Europe.”
In an interview published on Tuesday, Traut said the procurement would include more than 100 encrypted surveillance satellites, as well as lasers, sensors, and other systems designed to disrupt enemy satellites and ground control stations.
“Space has become an operational, or even warfighting, domain, and we are perfectly aware that our systems and space capabilities need to be protected and defended,” he said.
In 2008 and 2014, Russia and China proposed a global treaty banning weapons in space, but the initiative was never adopted, largely due to opposition from the US.
Germany has announced the defense spending increase amid a recession, with the country’s central bank warning last year that the government is on track for its largest budget deficit since the early 1990s.
In August, Merz said “the welfare state as we have it today can no longer be financed.” He later urged Germans to work more, arguing that labor costs were too high and productivity too low.
