The BBC's Paul Wood in Jerusalem says one of the first things the new government must do is reassure the international community that peace talks with the Palestinians will continue. "I am telling the leaders of the Palestinian Authority, if you really want peace, it is possible to reach peace," he said. "We do not want to govern another people. We do not want to exercise our power over the Palestinians."

The last time Mr Netanyahu was PM, he failed to complete his term - most Israeli governments don't and this one, an unwieldy and unhappy amalgam of opposites, stands less chance of success than most. First order of business will be to deal with the economic crisis that's hit Israel just like everywhere else, although, additionally, there may be signs that the Shekel is seriously over-valued.

This new administration doesn't believe that a negotiated Middle East peace settlement is possible with the Palestinians. They will try instead to contain the conflict while pushing forward Mr Netanyahu's plan for an "economic peace", which involves granting the Palestinians something less than a state. The main issue as far as Mr Netanyahu is concerned is Iran's supposed nuclear ambitions. Whether or not to bomb Iran will be the new prime minister's most momentous decision - and one he may make quite soon.

Nowadays he is revered as a television dramatist, creator of The Wire, one of the most acclaimed shows ever, which has just started showing, finally, on British mainstream television. But as he watches the great titles of American print fall like dominoes, he fumes that not only newsprint but journalism itself is heading for extinction, and The Wire illustrates the consequences.

Every week brings dire news: THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, once the chronicler of the great Frontier, closes down; the CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR silences its presses to try to survive as a website; the SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER follows it to web only; the CHICAGO SUN TIMES closes a printing plant, while its rival THE TRIBUNE shutters its Washington bureau, unheard of for a leading newspaper, and heads for bankruptcy along with the LOS ANGELES TIMES which it bought in what turns out to have been a fatal fever of 'consolidation' and debt. Small-town newspapers die in droves.

THE MEDIA, WATCHDOG OF DEMOCRACY, IS LOSING ITS TEETH AS POLITICIANS RUN RIOT.

J. Michael Smith, president of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, pointed to THE U.N. CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD, an international treaty approved by the Clinton administration but stalled by opposition in the Senate, as one example of governmental attempts to infringe on parental rights.

"It's possible that in the near future, the United States may significantly weaken the rights of parents to raise their children," Smith wrote. "Crucial decisions that parents are accustomed to making, such as what our children read, who they associate with, what kind of discipline is used, whether we take them to church, or whether we homeschool, all become decisions for the state if THE UNITED STATES RATIFIES THE U.N. CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD."

He continued, "By allowing the government to define and determine what is in the 'best interests of the child,' outside the context of abuse and neglect cases, the UNCRC in effect DIMINISHES THE PARENTAL ROLE, REPLACING IT WITH GOVERNMENT SUPERVISION."

Pope Benedictus XVI is scheduled to arrive in Israel six weeks from now, and concern is growing over possibly irreversible Israeli concessions to the Church. Though Church officials hope the agreement will be completed before the Pope's arrival in May, this is not certain. The Foreign Ministry's Bahij Mansour, who heads its religious affairs section, said two weeks ago, "We are 85-90% there."

THE SANHEDRIN, a body of 71 rabbis that is attempting to renew the ancient tradition of Judaism's most authoritative court, has written a public letter to Israel's leading officials, warning that any agreement regarding the transfer of national, historic, and/or religious Jewish assets to the Catholic Church will be null and void and will not be recognized by Jewish authorities.

The Sanhedrin, which sees itself as a "vehicle to bring about Jewish unity and civil justice, to help repair some of the deepest rifts in our society, and to provide an active, exemplary and unified Torah leadership," warns President Shimon Peres and incoming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu against the Church's religious agenda hiding behind diplomatic agreements. The letter states as follows :-

"THE STATE OF ISRAEL GRANTS FREEDOM OF WORSHIP TO EVERY RELIGION – EXCEPT TO JEWS ON THEIR MOST SACRED SPOT, THE TEMPLE MOUNT. They do not have the right to pray there, nor even minimal religious rights. The State thus contravenes the purpose for which it exists, and undermines its own foundations. ON THE OTHER HAND, THE STATE OF ISRAEL GOES OUT OF ITS WAY TO TRANSFER DIPLOMATIC, RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL ASSETS TO FOREIGNERS."

"Over the course of many years, contacts have been underway and promises of various agreements have been made regarding what the Catholic Church sees as its property or wishes were its property, in Mount Zion, the Old City of Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee, and elsewhere. The essence of these agreements is the TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP OVER NATIONAL JEWISH PROPERTY IN JERUSALEM TO THE HANDS OF FOREIGNERS, and the instigation of processes to destabilize the Jewish People's ownership over its sacred sites – primarily, THE TEMPLE MOUNT, THE WESTERN WALL, AND THE ENTIRE OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM."

"The State of Israel is bound to the document of acquisition known as the Bible, which was the basis for the Jewish People's claim to its Land when it established the State of Israel. The State must therefore actualize Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem, the City of G-d, the city of kingship, the capital of Israel, the heart of the world. IT MUST GUARANTEE THE RIGHT OF WORSHIP FOR JEWS ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT. CONTINUED FLATTERY TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON THE BASIS OF ILLEGAL AGREEMENTS IS LIABLE TO END, HEAVEN FORBID, IN DESTRUCTIVE RELIGIOUS WARS ALL OVER THE GLOBE."

In an interview with the Weekend FT Merkel said, "THE CRISIS DID NOT TAKE PLACE BECAUSE WE WERE SPENDING TOO LITTLE BUT BECAUSE WE WERE SPENDING TOO MUCH TO CREATE GROWTH THAT WAS NOT SUSTAINABLE. It isn't just that the banks took over too many risks. Governments allowed them to do so by neglecting to set the necessary financial market rules and, for instance in the US, by increasing the money supply too much."

Diplomatic tensions ran high yesterday as the German government was forced to deny it had engineered the leaks of two draft communiques, drawn up in advance of the summit, to weaken the British position. A spokeswoman for the German government insisted it was not behind the leaks: "We treat all drafts with complete confidentiality." The Guardian notes that the rift has led to cabinet ministers, including the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, and the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, dampening expectations of Thursday's G20 meeting. "This is about trying to tackle an exceptional economic crisis... This G20 summit was never about writing national budgets," said Miliband.

The WSJ notes that over the weekend White House officials sought to play down fiscal-stimulus targets they were urging earlier in the month and instead focused on more 'modest' objectives, such as new rules for tax havens and international coordination for financial regulation.

As early as 29 May 1974, the Federal Constitutional Court decided in its famous Solange judgment that THE COMMUNITY LACKED A PARLIAMENT LEGITIMIZED BY DIRECT DEMOCRATIC MEANS and that it would reserve the right to review the compatibility of secondary Community law with the fundamental rights guaranteed by the German Constitution.

On 22 October 1986, in a follow up judgment dubbed Solange II, it halted this review but retained the right to resort to it should it be needed. Seven years later, on 12 October 1993, in its landmark Maastricht judgment, the Federal Constitutional Court emphasized the central role of the Bundestag within the EU institutional setup. It claimed that "it is first and foremost THE NATIONAL PEOPLES OF THE MEMBER STATES who, through their national parliaments, HAVE TO PROVIDE DEMOCRATIC LEGITIMACY" and that "functions and POWERS OF SUBSTANTIAL IMPORTANCE MUST REMAIN FOR THE GERMAN BUNDESTAG".

Internet innovators, from Google to Skype to web-based start-ups are afraid that in the rush to get a deal on a telecoms package through the European institutions before the June parliamentary elections, so-called net neutrality is being left by the wayside. Currently, wherever data comes from, whether from a silver-surfing Latvian granny blogging about her favourite traditional recipes or a multinational corporate content provider, the packets of information are treated equally, or neutrally, hence 'net neutrality'.

Amendments to a proposal on the minimum levels of service provision by network operators backed by some centre-right MEPs however would permit telecoms companies and internet service providers to block or degrade some of the data passing through its lines while privileging other data. Opponents of the amendments fear that this WOULD INSTANTLY DELIVER TWO OR MORE TIERS TO THE INTERNET, WITH SOME PROVIDERS PAYING PREMIUM FEES TO PRIORITISE THEIR DATA.

Moreover, telecoms and ISPs may choose to block or otherwise restrict the data of providers of competing services or competitors or their partners. Not co-incidentally, the provision of free or extremely cheap internet telephony from companies such as Skype, are the telcos' major competitors. Indeed, analysts believe internet telephony is digging the grave of the large telcos. Jean-Jacques Sahel of Skype told Euobserver: "In a time of economic crisis, the EU should be enabling this sector to be more competitive and innovative as possible and this is going in the opposite direction. It protects the big boys and shuts out the small-time innovators."

US President Barack Obama made net neutrality a key issue while on the campaign trail, and at the beginning of March appointed Julius Genachowski, a strong backer of net neutrality, as the country's top telecommunications regulator. THE BIG US TELCOS SEE THE WRITING ON THE WALL, AND SO THE BATTLEFIELD HAS SHIFTED ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. "If they can deliver a result here in Europe that goes their way, this is something they can use to pressure policymakers with back in the US," said Mr Sahel.

A POTENTIAL BREAK-UP OF THE EUROZONE, a topic of speculation in financial circles, could have a significant impact on European security and defence, the head of the Dutch think-tank said at the event. "We don't know yet what the outcome of the financial and economic crisis would be. IF THE EUROZONE BREAKS UP - THERE IS THIS POSSIBILITY - then it will surely affect defence and security in Europe. But the crisis could also lead to more integration. It could go both ways," said Rob de Wijk, the director of the Hague Centre.

Mr de Wijk later told EUobserver that TALK ABOUT A EUROZONE BREAKUP WAS "NO LONGER AS TABOO as it was two to three months ago" and is being debated in the financial world. Such fears mainly revolve around the troubles that Ireland and southern members of the single currency – Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece, have in selling bonds and stabilising their growing deficits.

The Dutch think-tank is closely following the security impact of the financial crisis, particularly in terms of a power shift from the West to the East, NOTABLY DUE TO CHINA'S RISING FINANCIAL POWER, he explained.

The Federal Reserve's decision earlier this month to buy more than $1 trillion in long-term U.S. debt to push down rates drove the dollar sharply lower, though Asian officials said the actions were unsurprising given how much private lending has slowed. Much more unanticipated was China's unusually aggressive push last week to replace the U.S. dollar as the top central bank reserve currency, they said.

Officials with direct knowledge of reserve management issues in Japan, India and South Korea, which together hold some $1.5 trillion in currency reserves, were SKEPTICAL THAT SUCH AN OVERHAUL OF THE GLOBAL MONETARY SYSTEM COULD HAPPEN SOON. They acknowledge, however, that the sheer size of their dollar holdings made their substantial reduction problematic.

In contrast, Malaysia and Indonesia, which have smaller reserve stockpiles and hold a combined $145 billion, were already gearing for a change in the reserve currency regime. China, with the world's largest reserves at $2 trillion - the bulk of it widely believed to be in U.S. Treasuries - demonstrated last week that it is confident about using economic might to protect its interests, Asian officials said.

Police have also raided the offices and houses of the group's leaders in four states in connection with the ban. The HDJ said it was a "youth group for environment, community and homeland". But at its special holiday camps, children were taught elements of "racial ideology", including the "purity of blood" and "the continuation of the German race", WITH THE AIM OF FORMING A NEO-NAZI ELITE, the interior ministry said.

"With today's ban we're putting an end to the nauseating activities of the HDJ," Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said. "We will do everything in our power to protect our children and youth from these Pied Pipers," he added, referring to the legend of a man who lured the rats, and later the children, out of the German town of Hamelin by playing a pipe.

The interior ministry said the HDJ had several hundred members and was a cornerstone of the far-right movement, with ties to the National Democratic Party (NPD).

Few Australians had even heard of Ravensthorpe up until two months ago, but now it is synonymous with the end of the country's resources boom. In January, the Anglo-Australian mining giant, BHP Billiton announced the closure of its nickel mine. Remarkably, it had only been operational for eight months. BHP Billiton blamed the slump in global commodities prices, which is due partly to the slowdown in China.

The price of nickel, which is used to make stainless steel, has nose-dived since its high in 2007. THEN IT COMMANDED A PRICE OF $51,000 A TONNE. NOW IT CAN BE BOUGHT FOR A FIFTH OF THAT AMOUNT. The closure of Raventhorpe has meant 1800 jobs losses among BHP staff and contractors.

BUT ITS KNOCK-ON EFFECTS ON THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES ARE INCALCULABLE. The nearest towns are Ravensthorpe itself, a once-tranquil country town, and the unfortunately named Hopetoun on the coast. Both communities bought the BHP Billiton pitch, that the mine would generate profits for at least the next 25 years. They had planned, and more importantly invested, accordingly. New suburbs sprung up, their cul-de-sacs lined with expensive homes. Boutique cafes. Shops. A state-of-the-art car wash. A pharmacy. Wind turbines to provide electricity. A brand, spanking new school.

But with no alternative employment in these towns, people drawn here by the promise of prosperity are now trying to flee. As a result, property prices have fallen by up to 50% and their hard-pressed owners are saddled with debts. AUSTRALIA HAS ENJOYED SEVENTEEN YEARS OF UNINTERRUPTED ECONOMIC GROWTH, and much of it has been underwritten by the booming mining sector. The hope that China's continued growth would grant Australia a measure of immunity has been dashed. Ravensthorpe is in a remote corner of a remote country, but neither distance nor its abundant resources have offered it any protection from the global downturn.

Major General Andy Salmon will transfer authority for what will become Multi-National Division South to US Major General Michael Oates. MOST OF BRITAIN'S 4,000 TROOPS WILL LEAVE BY 31 MAY, the official end-of-combat date. About 400 will stay after that, either in HQ roles or to train the Iraq Navy.

Lieutenant Colonel Johnson told the BBC: "The bottom line, the aim of the transition itself is to make sure it's seamless and that there's generally no perception that the US army is here and they are going to do things different than the British did when they were here."

The Americans are also reducing their numbers, with two brigades due to leave the province of Al-Anbar, once the heartland of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. However, the bulk of US troops are not due to leave until the end of 2011.

"We have received proposals from our colleagues in China, detailed proposals," President Dmitry Medvedev's top economic adviser Arkady Dvorkovich said. "OUR POSITIONS ARE VERY SIMILAR. We have similar positions on the development of the international financial architecture," he told reporters. Ahead of the Group of 20 summit in London later this week, the Kremlin has published a raft of proposals to overhaul the global economic order, including plans for a supra-national currency that could replace the US dollar. China has come forward with similar ideas.

The Telegraph reports that Arkady Dvorkevich, the Kremlin's chief economic adviser, said Russia would favour the inclusion of gold bullion in the basket-weighting of a new world currency based on Special Drawing Rights issued by the International Monetary Fund. Mr Dvorkevich said it was "logical" that the new currency should include the rouble and the yuan, adding that "we could also think about more effective use of gold in this system".

The Gold Standard was the anchor of world finance in the 19th Century but began breaking down during the First World War as governments engaged in unprecedented spending. It collapsed in the 1930s when the British Empire, the US, and France all abandoned their parities.

It was revived as part of fixed dollar system until US inflation caused by the Vietnam War and "Great Society" social spending forced President Richard Nixon to close the gold window in 1971. THE WORLD'S FIAT PAPER CURRENCIES HAVE LACKED ANY EXTERNAL ANCHOR EVER SINCE. It is widely argued that the financial excesses and extreme debt leverage of the last quarter century would have been impossible - or less likely - under the discipline of gold.

BRITAIN'S LARGEST WINDFARM COMPANIES ARE PULLING OUT OF WIND AS FAST AS THEY CAN. Despite 100 per cent subsidies, the credit crunch and technical problems spell an end to Gordon Brown's £100 billion dream of meeting our EU target to derive 35 per cent of our electricity from "renewables" by 2020.

Meanwhile the Government gives the go-ahead for THREE NEW 1,000 MEGAWATT GAS-FIRED POWER STATIONS IN WALES. Each of them will generate more than the combined average output (700 megawatts) of all the 2,400 wind turbines so far built. The days of the "great wind fantasy" will soon be over.

If one thing more than any other is used to justify proposals that the world must spend tens of trillions of dollars on combating global warming, IT IS THE BELIEF THAT WE FACE A DISASTROUS RISE IN SEA LEVELS. The Antarctic and Greenland ice caps will melt, we are told, warming oceans will expand, and the result will be catastrophe.

Although the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) only predicts a sea level rise of 59cm (17 inches) by 2100, Al Gore in his Oscar-winning film An Inconvenient Truth went much further, talking of 20 feet, and showing computer graphics of cities such as Shanghai and San Francisco half under water. We all know the graphic showing central London in similar plight. As for tiny island nations such as the Maldives and Tuvalu, as Prince Charles likes to tell us and the Archbishop of Canterbury was again parroting last week, they are due to vanish.

But if there is one scientist who knows more about sea levels than anyone else in the world it is the Swedish geologist and physicist Nils-Axel Mörner, formerly chairman of the INQUA International Commission on Sea Level Change. And the uncompromising verdict of Dr Mörner, who for 35 years has been using every known scientific method to study sea levels all over the globe, is that ALL THIS TALK ABOUT THE SEA RISING IS NOTHING BUT A COLOSSAL SCARE STORY.

DESPITE FLUCTUATIONS DOWN AS WELL AS UP, "THE SEA IS NOT RISING," HE SAYS. "IT HASN'T RISEN IN 50 YEARS." If there is any rise this century it will "not be more than 10cm (four inches), with an uncertainty of plus or minus 10cm". And quite apart from examining the hard evidence, he says, the elementary laws of physics (latent heat needed to melt ice) tell us that the apocalypse conjured up by Al Gore and Co could not possibly come about.

THE REASON WHY DR MÖRNER, FORMERLY A STOCKHOLM PROFESSOR, IS SO CERTAIN THAT THESE CLAIMS ABOUT SEA LEVEL RISE ARE 100 PER CENT WRONG IS THAT THEY ARE ALL BASED ON COMPUTER MODEL PREDICTIONS, WHEREAS HIS FINDINGS ARE BASED ON "GOING INTO THE FIELD TO OBSERVE WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING IN THE REAL WORLD".