As Donald Trump and Ted Cruz Soar, G.O.P. Leaders' Exasperation Grows  —  DES MOINES — Republican leaders are growing alarmed by the ferocious ways the party's mainstream candidates for president are attacking one another, and they fear that time is running out for any of them to emerge …

Rome spares Iranian president's blushes by covering nude statues  —  Sculptures in Capitoline Museum obscured by large white panels for Hassan Rouhani's meeting with Italian PM  —  Italian officials keen to spare the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, any possible offence on his visit …

2 Abortion Foes Behind Planned Parenthood Videos Are Indicted  —  HOUSTON — A grand jury here that was investigating allegations of misconduct against Planned Parenthood has instead indicted two anti-abortion activists who made videos of the organization.  —  In a statement …

Watch: Oregon militant challenges Chris Christie to sumo wrestling to end standoff  —  An armed protester at the Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge says the militants will end their standoff if Chris Christie can beat him in one round of sumo wrestling.  (YouTube)

Why D.C. Hates Ted Cruz … In the three years since he arrived in the U.S. Senate, Ted Cruz has become easily the most hated man in Washington—a fact he's now using to his advantage as a presidential candidate.  But why?  —  Is it true, as Cruz would have it, that the dreaded GOP …

Republicans should vote for John Kasich in New Hampshire  —  NEW HAMPSHIRE REPUBLICANS can do their party a critical service on Feb. 9 by voting for an experienced political figure with a record of results, and thus dealing a blow to the divisive, demagogic candidates running on nativism and other political simplicities.

Why we must rethink solitary confinement  —  Barack Obama is president of the United States.  —  In 2010, a 16-year-old named Kalief Browder from the Bronx was accused of stealing a backpack.  He was sent to Rikers Island to await trial, where he reportedly endured unspeakable violence …

The Silent Death  —  A couple months ago I wrote about a controversial study which reported the rising mortality rates among middle aged whites - a trend which broke the model of ever-decreasing mortality rates across racial groups in the United States and all wealthy industrialized countries worldwide.

Sarah Palin, Rage Whisperer  —  DONALD J. TRUMP has made a shrewd bet.  For the first time since he descended an escalator in Trump Tower last June to announce that this time, he really was running for president, he ceded control of his campaign message.  He handed the Trump-bedecked podium over to Sarah Palin.

When Ted Cruz Wanted to Be Part of the Establishment  —  Five years ago, as Ted Cruz plotted his path to the U.S. Senate, the anti-establishment crusader sought a private audience with and the backing of one of the faces of the modern GOP establishment: George W. Bush.

Donald Trump shrugs off allegation that Vladimir Putin ‘probably approved’ assassination of ex-KGB agent  —  Real-estate mogul Donald Trump said in a new interview that it would be hasty to judge Vladimir Putin in the face of a British public inquiry's allegation that the Russian president …