Trump Fear Stalks Davos as Elite Pray for Spring Reality Check  —  Concerns over protectionism and U.S. reputation bubble up  —  Ex-White House advisor still thinks Trump will be nominee  —  If Donald Trump as president of the United States is the ghost that's stalking Davos …

Carly Fiorina accused of ‘ambushing’ children for anti-abortion rally  —  Party of schoolchildren visiting Iowa botanical garden become part of backdrop for Republican presidential candidate's speech on abortion  —  Carly Fiorina has been accused of “ambushing” a group of children …

Bill Clinton questions Hillary's Super Tuesday plan  —  Bill Clinton is getting nervous.  —  With polls showing Bernie Sanders ahead in New Hampshire and barely behind, if at all, in Iowa, the former president is urging his wife to start looking toward the delegate-rich March primaries …

My Sarah Palin Romance  —  As a political journalist, you never forget the first time you stop just covering a politician and start identifying with her.  The first time you wed your high-minded vision of what politics should be to a real candidate's perishable breath.  —  My first time arrived in 2008.

Bernie Sanders, and Simon and Garfunkel, Put Focus on Voters  —  With the help of the Simon and Garfunkel song “America,” Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has released a powerful 60-second commercial in Iowa that seeks to remind his supporters how far he, and they, have come — and to inspire them anew to caucus for him on Feb. 1.

Putin ‘Probably Approved’ Litvinenko Poisoning, British Inquiry Says  —  LONDON — A high-profile British inquiry into the poisoning of Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former K.G.B. officer and foe of the Kremlin, concluded on Thursday that his murder “was probably approved” by the head …

As Water Problems Grew, Officials Belittled Complaints From Flint  —  LANSING, Mich. — A top aide to Michigan's governor referred to people raising questions about the quality of Flint's water as an “anti-everything group.”  Other critics were accused of turning complaints about water into a “political football.”

Oregon standoff: One of protesters has murder conviction  —  Neil Sigurd Wampler (center, green coat), 68, is among the protesters taking part in the armed occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge outside Burns.  Here is pictured here behind Ammon Bundy, who is speaking at a morning news conference.

Refugee bill stalls in Senate after battle over Trump amendment  —  Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked legislation from the House that would crack down on the resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees in the United States.  —  The 55-43 vote came after Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid …

The ‘Obama is a Muslim’ conspiracy theory is still reverberating in the Middle East  —  When Barack Obama stepped onto the national political stage almost a decade ago, rumors swirled that he was secretly a Muslim.  These rumors have frequently been debunked — the U.S. president is a practicing Christian …