The itinerary contrasts tellingly with the recent visit to Britain by President François Hollande of France, who was received at a military air base and treated to a country pub lunch.

Mr Cameron, who says the European Union must make important changes if Britain is to remain a member, has been investing heavily in his relationship with Ms Merkel, the leader of the union’s most powerful nation. When he was invited last year to Schloss Meseberg, Ms Merkel’s official guest residence outside Berlin, Mr Cameron made the trip a rare family outing, taking his wife and children to emphasize the strength of the friendship.

But analysts have been warning that the red-carpet reception Mr Cameron is preparing reflected unrealistic expectations in Britain for what Germany’s chancellor, who is known for her pragmatism, can deliver. “They think Merkel is the savoir, the great white hope,” said Charles Grant, director of the London-based Center for European Reform.

Meanwhile, Ms Merkel’s new coalition partners, the Social Democrats, favor greater European integration, and few other members of the union are eager to rewrite the bloc’s rulebook.

But she stopped short of committing to specific reforms saying it had to be a "step-by-step" process. David Cameron is pulling out all the stops during Mrs Merkel's one-day visit because he sees the German leader as crucial to his aims in Europe.

Beginning her address in English, before delivering the main part of her speech in German, she said: "Some expect my speech to pave the way for a fundamental reform of the European architecture which will satisfy all kinds of alleged or actual British wishes. I am afraid they are in for a disappointment. Others are expecting the exact opposite and they are hoping that I will deliver the clear and simple message here in London that the rest of Europe is not prepared to pay almost any price to keep Britain in the European Union. I am afraid these hopes will be dashed."

Mrs Merkel hailed the peace and stability she said the European Union had brought, saying war between EU member states was now "inconceivable". But she stressed that the EU's mission of maintaining peace in Europe was not over as some thought, telling the audience of Britain's political leaders: "We need to stand up resolutely against extremists and the inhumane."

The PA asked the Arab League Tuesday to hold an emergency session on Wednesday to discuss Israeli policy toward the Temple Mount, Ma’an news agency reported. “If Israel continues this policy,” said PA ambassador to Egypt Barakat al-Farra, “it proves that it does not want peace but continues to violate international laws and resolutions.”

In Jordan, 47 out of 150 members of the country’s lower house signed a motion late Tuesday that the treaty be annulled, the government-owned al-Rai newspaper reported.

“The motion came in response to Israel’s actions in Jerusalem and to the Knesset debate of a law that seeks to impose Israel’s sovereignty over Al-Aqsa,” Al-Rai quoted MPs as saying in the motion. “Israel’s actions clearly violate the peace treaty… it is aggression against Jordanian custodianship,” the motion said. Hamas and Palestinian Authority officials, together with leaders of the Islamic Movement in Galilee, have long accused Israel of planning to take control of the Muslim sites on the Mount.

Japan argues that the islands were vacant until 1895, when the Japanese government laid claim to them. Japanese nationals used and lived on them in the following decades — a fish-processing plant owned by a Japanese national once chugged away here. China did not dispute Japan’s claim to the islands during this period. Nor did China object when the United States took control of them during the occupation of Japan starting in 1945. The US handed the islands back to Japan in 1972.

But since the early ’70s, China has argued that Japan seized the islands in violation of international law. China argues it owned the islands before 1895, based on some ancient Chinese texts and maps that it says show that the Chinese regarded the islands as theirs, which would mean Japan’s seizure of the islands violated China’s rights. Also, in China’s view, Japan obtained control over the islands as a result of a treaty that ended the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895. Japan took control of the islands, via the treaty, when it forced China, which lost the war, to cede Taiwan to Japan — and in China’s view, the islands are part of Taiwan.

When Taiwan was returned to China after World War II, the islands should have gone back with it. Except that by that time, Japan was occupied by the United States, which took administrative control over the islands (without claiming sovereignty) and then returned control of the islands to Japan in 1972.

In the end, whether Japan should resist or retreat is a military and political question, not a legal one. If China’s ambitions extend only to the tiny unoccupied islands in the region, yielding these fisheries and hydrocarbons may be worth it to keep the peace. But if this is the first step in a larger march of conquest, then there’s a strong case that Japan (and the US as its ally) should counter force with force.

Germany would like the world to believe in a simple narrative regarding privacy and surveillance: Unlike the NSA, Germany does not spy on its citizens, and it respects privacy rights. But, like most things in Germany, it’s more complicated than that. Germany does monitor citizens and foreign nationals living within its borders — it just does so quietly.

German intelligence officials meet regularly with American counterparts and share information on domestic and international threats. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution), and its foreign intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service), then use this information to police extremist activities within their borders.

German security services keep their work quiet in large part because of German history. In the last century, Germans were subject to surveillance from two of the most ruthless groups in modern history: the Nazis and then the Stasi, the Soviet secret police in East Germany. One of the reasons Merkel was so incensed by being targeted by NSA surveillance is that she grew up under the Stasi’s watch in East Germany. The fact that her American and British allies were doing the same thing made it all the more insulting — to her and to her compatriots.

The shipment includes the first offering from Japan, where collections were threatened by the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011. The facility is designed to withstand all natural and human disasters. Deep inside a mountain on a remote island in the Svalbard archipelago - located halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole - the vault, which cost £5 million (US $7 million) and took 12 months to build, offers permanent protection for the world's food crops, say its operators.

The purpose of the depository, owned by the Norwegian government and maintained by the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT) and the Nordic Genetic Resources Center, is to store duplicates of all seed samples from crop collections around the world.

The GCDT says permafrost and thick rock ensure that, even in the case of a power cut, the seed samples will remain frozen. "The vault can therefore be considered the ultimate insurance policy for the world's food supply," it adds. "It will secure, for centuries, millions of seeds representing every important crop variety available in the world today."

The Congressional EMP Commission warned that Iran has several times detonated its Shahab III missile at high altitudes, apparently simulating a nuclear EMP attack. Iran has also demonstrated the capability to launch a ballistic missile from a freighter and make a nuclear EMP strike anonymously, and so perhaps escape retaliation. Iran has also orbited several satellites on trajectories consistent with practicing a surprise nuclear EMP attack against the United States.

Iran has not conducted a nuclear test because its theocracy is not interested in diplomatic "signaling" or Western theories of nuclear deterrence and arms control bargaining. When the mullahs are ready, they will make a surprise nuclear attack. The vaporization of New York City and an EMP attack that crashes American society will be their nuclear tests.

The bottom line is that Iran is a nuclear truck bomb headed our way.

While unspecified, defense and industry sources here said a defense trade deal involving German offshore patrol vessels for the Israeli Navy could be included in agreements signed between the two governments. “Germany has played a critical role in strengthening Israel’s deterrence capacities in supplying Israel with six Dolphin submarines, the most expensive weapon system in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF),” wrote Ra’anan Eliaz, co-founder of ELNET, an organization promoting closer relations between Israel and key European countries.

Speaking to Cabinet ministers February 23, Netanyahu hailed Merkel as “a friend of Israel.” Netanyahu said talks will focus on ongoing international efforts to reach a deal with Iran and to forge a two-state agreement between Israel and the Palestine Authority. “Regarding our negotiations with the Palestinians, I will make it clear that the infrastructure of peace between us and the Palestinians will be based on the mutual recognition of two national states, ie the necessity of Palestinian recognition of the Jewish state, the national state of the Jewish people,” he said.