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German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Japan on Monday for a two-day visit during which she met with Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe and Emperor Akihito. One of the first stops in Merkel's schedule, however, was the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, where she was greeted by a small, dancing robot named ASIMO.

Merkel is just the latest in a long list of heads of state to grasp the cold, emotionless hand of Honda's Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility, or ASIMO. In what has become something of a strange ritual, ASIMO has emerged as a fixture of photo-ops with world leaders and dignitaries on visits to Japan. Honda's creation, which the company touts as "the world's most advanced humanoid robot," has also been flown out to events across the globe where it has pressed the flesh of even more of the world's most powerful people.

The brief history of these robot-human meetings below suggest, however, that a universal etiquette for how to greet ASIMO may still be lacking.

ASIMO confronts German Chancellor Merkel


German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) watches a performance by ASIMO (L) in Tokyo on March 9, 2015. ( YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images)

Who seemingly attempts to make peace

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) watches a performance by ASIMO in Tokyo on March 9, 2015. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images)

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto watches ASIMO do its thing

Mexico's President Enrique Pena, left, in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Prince Charles and ASIMO get into a weird standoff

Britain's Prince Charles looks at Honda's humanoid robot ASIMO in Tokyo Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008. (AP Photo/Koichi Kamoshida, Pool)

ASIMO confuses Former Swedish PM Goran Persson

Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, left, in Tokyo, March 8, 2004. (AP Photo/Chiaki Tsukumo)

ASIMO greets Queen Margarethe II of Denmark with flowers

Queen Margarethe of Denmark, right, is welcomed by Honda robot ASIMO in Tokyo, Nov. 17, 2004. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

Turkey's President Erdogan poses with ASIMO

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shakes hands with ASIMO in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, Nov. 20, 2004. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer)

Former President of Chile Sebastian Pinera observes ASIMO's soccer skills

Visiting Chilean President Sebastian Pinera (R) and his wife Cecilia Morel (2nd R) enjoy a demonstration of Honda's humanoid robot in Tokyo on March 29, 2012. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images)

President Obama bows to ASIMO

President Barack Obama and ASIMO bow to each other in Tokyo, Thursday, April 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

ASIMO is the child former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder always wanted

German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder stands beside Honda robot ASIMO in northern Germany, on Sunday, April 18, 2004. (AP Photo/Christof Stache)

Honda did not immediately return requests for information on how ASIMO manages to meet these elites, nor on any grand plans that the robot might have for the future.

FRANKFURT -- Germany has weathered the financial crisis much better than most of its neighbors. Regarded as the sick man of Europe as recently as 1999, today the country boasts the continent's strongest economy, accounting for roughly a quarter of its exports. Its unemployment rate, at just below 5 percent, is half the European average. The federal budget is balanced for the first time in a decade.

But it would be a mistake to assume that Germany's economic performance vindicates its policymaking. In fact, Germany's current economic dominance has been built on a policy framework that stands in direct opposition to that championed by former Chancellor Ludwig Erhard, the father of its post-World War II "economic miracle."

In lieu of Erhard's so-called ordoliberalism -- in which the state lays the groundwork for a functioning market economy by actively managing the legal environment -- the economic strategy pursued by Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has been haphazard, driven more by political expediency than by any underlying philosophy. Germany would be wise not to take its economic success for granted. In a time of increasing economic and political uncertainty, Erhard's guiding principles are more important than ever.

Indeed, Germany's policymakers seem to be stumbling from decision to decision. Instead of steering the economy, they are being driven by it, reacting with no clear sense of direction to the demands of the moment. The country's celebrated de-carbonization is putting its industry at risk. Collective bargaining, once left to economic actors, is becoming increasingly politicized. Changes in pension policy are boosting public spending and contributing to rising levels of debt.

At the heart of Germany's troubles is the stubborn -- and internationally widespread -- idea that the economy is a large, clock-like mechanism into which the state can intervene without consequences. The increasing mathematization of economics in recent decades has abetted this development.

The central weakness of democratic systems also contributes to the problem: The quest for votes favors the extension of social benefits and discourages unpopular measures that would put the economy on a more sustainable footing. As the German economist Herbert Giersch once put it, what is politically expedient is rarely economically beneficial.

It is for this reason that a return to ordoliberalism is more important than ever. Erhard's objective was to counter political pragmatism and activism with an orderly vision of economic and social policy. The need to take a holistic view of the economy was self-evident. For today's social engineers and economists, this is no longer the case.

Erhard's vision of a social market economy was a third way, an alternative to both large-scale state intervention and the risks of laissez-faire liberalism. Germany's historical experience had demonstrated that freedom without order led to chaos, and order without freedom resulted in coercion and the renunciation of democracy.

Unguided capitalism undermined itself, according to Erhard, as monopolists cornered markets and captured the state. But the attempt to perfect life through increasingly comprehensive state intervention, until even the smallest injustices were compensated, was also bound to fail. Human society simply does not follow the rules of a termite colony; order must accommodate freedom and individuality.

The continuing relevance of Erhard's ideas can be seen in the growing number of protest movements -- strengthened by social networks -- challenging the market economy and neoliberalism. Any increase in the market's perceived legitimacy brought about by the failure of communism was temporary at best. Market-oriented policies today are seen as cold and anti-social, especially in Western industrialized countries. The paternalistic welfare state is viewed as more humane, despite the loss of freedom and the financial distortions associated with it.

Erhard was well aware of the tension between economic freedom and the democratic state. He and his followers never envisaged ordoliberalism as an unchangeable dogma, but rather as a model that could be adapted to new challenges. Erhard even attempted to adjust it to the sociopolitical changes of the 1960s, developing the concept of a "formed society," whereby factionalism would be minimized and the state governed by consensus.

Erhard failed to gain support for this controversial idea. But, given rising inequality and growing disenchantment with politics and political parties, it addresses questions that remain relevant for representative democracy today.

As Erhard himself would have argued, ordoliberalism is not a one-size-fits-all solution. But there can be no question that in today's globalized world, the economy -- and perhaps politics as well -- would benefit from the imposition of order.

No political system capable of overcoming hardship and misery can be built without first realizing improvements in the economy's potential. That must be achieved by minimizing state intervention, bureaucracy and privileges for the chosen few. Erhard's guiding principle was simple: there must be guiding principles. It is an idea that remains as important as ever -- in Germany and beyond.

To make way for new construction near the city's Liverpool Street rail station, archaeologists have started excavating an estimated 3,000 historic skeletons now interred there on the site of the Bedlam burial ground.

The burial ground was in use from 1569 through at least 1738 and is considered the most archaeologically valuable site in London, according to Museum of London Archaeology, which is overseeing the project.

"This excavation presents a unique opportunity to understand the lives and deaths of 16th and 17th century Londoners," Jay Carver, one of the archaeologists involved in the dig, said in a written statement. "The Bedlam burial ground spans a fascinating phase of London's history, including the transition from the Tudor-period City into cosmopolitan early-modern London."

The old bones may shed new light on the diet and lifestyle of the people who once lived in the area.

"It's a kind of act of remembrance in a way, that their mortal remains are giving us information", Niamh Carty, a specialist in the analysis of bones and one of the archaeologists involved in the excavation, told the BBC. She said the age, sex, and stature of the people buried there would be investigated.

The bones of plague victims buried at the site may yield fresh insights into the evolution of the bacteria that cause plague, according to the statement.

England's last great outbreak of bubonic plague occurred in 1665. It killed an estimated 100,000 people, or almost one in four Londoners.

Plans call for a team of 60 archaeologists to work six days a week. The excavation is expected to continue for the next four weeks.

The skeletons will be reburied at a cemetery near London, Discovery reported.

WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton on Tuesday addressed the growing controversy over a letter that Senate Republicans wrote to Iranian leaders, which critics are calling a partisan move to scuttle White House negotiations with a foreign government.

"A recent letter from Republican senators was out of step with the best traditions of American leadership, and one has to ask, what was the purpose of this letter?" Clinton said at a press conference at the U.N. in New York.

"Either these senators were trying to be helpful to the Iranians or harmful to commander-in-chief in middle of high stakes international diplomacy," the likely 2016 presidential candidate added, arguing that the move discredited the letter's signatories.

The letter, signed by forty-seven Republican senators, sparked a firestorm earlier this week by suggesting that any deal reached with the Obama administration over Iran's nuclear program would not be constitutionally binding, since a future president or Congress could take steps to revoke the agreement. Democrats have condemned the move as an attempt to subvert President Barack Obama's powers on the world stage, with Vice President Joe Biden even calling the letter "beneath the dignity of an institution I revere."

Clinton addressed matter in a press conference following a speech at U.N. on women's empowerment. The majority of the conference was dominated by questions about her use of email while she served as secretary of state.

WASHINGTON -- On Tuesday, likely Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton spoke at a United Nations conference on women. But if you were watching cable TV's coverage of the speech, you wouldn't know what exactly she said.

That's because the big three cable news channels focused on the controversy over Clinton's decision to use a private email account to conduct government business while serving as secretary of state. She was scheduled to address the issue at a press conference following her speech, so pundits took the opportunity to rehash the controversy during her speech.

For the most part, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC showed images of Clinton speaking coupled with audio of people talking about the emails. (MSNBC and Fox News very briefly showed video and sound from the address.) Here's a glimpse at 2:09 p.m., when Clinton's speech was still going on:






While questions about Clinton's secretive use of email are relevant to American voters, so are women's rights. As U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday, "Women continue to suffer disproportionately from the economic crisis, from the impacts of climate change, from the displacement caused by conflict, persecution and so much else."

Video footage of musician Axel Winter drowning out at anti-gay protester with a rendition of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" is going viral in the blogosphere after being picked up by Buzzfeed and other media outlets.

The clip shows Winter, 24, performing in the Pitt Street Mall in Sydney, Australia last week ahead of the city's Mardi Gras parade.

"Yesterday, a man tried to yell hateful religiously inspired things about gay people in Pitt Street Mall," Winter wrote on Facebook. "So, myself and the other buskers moved my stuff behind him and drowned out his negativity."

He then added, "Whether you're homosexual or transgender or even just confused, you're still my friend."

"I was thrilled to be labeled a feminist vigilante artist!" Stephanie Rudig explained in an interview with HuffPost. "I really do need to get that printed on my business cards, it has a better ring to it than 'artist and designer.'"

Rudig has Mic writer Julie Zeilinger to thank for the illustrious title. One look at the artist's project "She-Span" and it's not difficult to see why the label fits. Rudig is the mind behind the cleverly named public art project that brought the faces of female politicians -- the women of the 113th congress, to be exact -- to the streets of Washington, D.C. Created in 2013, the series of pointillist portraits of figures like Senators Claire McCaskill and Kirsten Gillibrand is meant to celebrate the historic inauguration of, what was at the time, the highest number of women sworn into Congress.




"I was inspired by the debate about women's issues that was happening during the 2012 election, and in the months following," Rudig recalled when we contacted her to catch up on the status of the ongoing project, still pasted on the streets of the District. "Particularly during the Obamacare birth control debate, in which an all-male panel debated a women's health issue, I found myself feeling very frustrated, but also glad that the conversation was happening.

"Also at that time, it was a big deal the there were more women in Congress than ever before -- a whole 19% -- and I couldn't help but feel underwhelmed by that number. I wanted to put a positive spin on the issue, and focus on the women in Congress who have worked so hard to get to where they are."

Rudig began "She-Span" with a portrait of Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, because, as she noted, "D.C. needs to get priority at least once in a while!" From there she worked randomly to highlight that formidable 19%. She posted images on streets that corresponded with the state from which each woman hailed (with some exception for California, as there were just too many to fit into a three-block long avenue). She kept everything organized on her blog, noting the location of each face across the city.



This was Rudig's first large-scale street art project. Aside from her job as a designer for National Geographic Kids magazine, she's created smaller tape and sticker art projects in the past, but "She-Span" is her crowning glory as far as widespread media coverage goes. But that was her intention, after all, to catch the eyes of unsuspecting passersby -- both digital and IRL.

"The portraits are up all around the city of DC," she noted, "anyone might stumble upon them at any time. Perhaps they make some people curious, and some will check out the website listed and see the scope of the project. (I've actually already heard of a few scavenger hunts undertaken to find them all.) I hope that by coming across these portraits, people might see a more personal, human side to the issue of gender representation in Congress."

Rudig is hoping to create a gallery show around "She-Span." In the meantime, you can check out some of her work here. Stay tuned for more updates.

Olympic gold medalist Camille Muffat was killed on Monday in a helicopter crash while filming a reality TV show in Argentina. She was 25.

The versatile French swimmer first hit the pool when she was just 7 years old. By the time she was 12, Muffat was training under Fabrice Pellerin, head coach of Olympic Nice Natation, a top training facility for champion swimmers.

Although she became accomplished at the breaststroke, Muffat's speciality was the front crawl, which she used to win a gold medal in the women's 400 freestyle -- and set a new Olympic record in the process -- at the 2012 London Olympics. Muffat also took home the silver medal in the women's 200 meter freestyle, and a bronze medal as a member of the women's 4×200 freestyle relay.

Muffat was the former world record holder in the 400 and 800 SCM freestyle, Swim Swam reported. In 2012, she was named the French Sportswoman of the Year.

Muffat retired from the sport in 2014, citing "personal reasons."

Ça grandit vite!
A photo posted by Camille Muffat (@camillemuffat) on Feb 5, 2015 at 11:27am PST

When asked about life outside of the pool, Muffat told Le Monde that she enjoyed playing with her Persian cat Lulu and English bulldog Brioche, going shopping, doing puzzles and spending time with her friends and family.

At the time of her death, Muffat was a cast member on the popular French reality TV show "Dropped," in which two teams of celebrities are left in separate remote locations and challenged to be the first to return to civilization.

During filming on Monday, Muffat was killed when the helicopter she was on collided in mid-air with another in La Rioja province, BBC reported. Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine, a bronze medal winner for France at the 2008 Games in Beijing, champion sailor Florence Arthaud, who won the Route du Rhum in 1990, five members of the show's production staff and two Argentine pilots also perished in the crash.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.