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Good Friday morning from Washington, where President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain are talking about the fight against Muslim extremists; Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa, after just a month in town, will make the Republican case after the State of the Union speech; and six Democratic lawmakers are heading to Cuba. Gov. Chris Christie states his issues against New Jersey reporters, and Mitt Romney finds a little support at the Republican retreat in Pennsylvania.

Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain is likely to press his case for government access to encrypted Internet conversations when he joins President Obama on Friday morning for a news conference at the White House.

The fight against extremism has dominated the political conversation in Europe since last week’s terrorist attacks in France, and White House officials said they expected that it would be a major topic in private meetings before Mr. Obama and Mr. Cameron face the news media.

Adding to the urgency: Two men thought to be terrorists were killed on Thursday by the Belgian authorities, who moved to stop what they said was an “imminent” attack. Mr. Cameron has suggested in recent days that Internet service providers give the British government back-door access to encrypted messages, saying that terrorists “must not” be allowed to communicate over the Internet in ways that governments cannot intercept.

Mr. Obama and Mr. Cameron have a lot of other things to talk about, including the global economy, Russian aggression in Ukraine, the Iran nuclear talks and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. And the two leaders will no doubt reaffirm the “special relationship” between their two countries.

On Thursday night, Mr. Obama hosted a working dinner with Mr. Cameron and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. It featured a menu not found in many American dining rooms, with a selection that included pickled wild mushrooms, herb-crusted lamb, orzo Florentine, Vermont goat cheese and warm pear cake.

But here’s a familiar item, from the dessert menu: caramel popcorn.

— Michael D. Shear

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin made it clear on Thursday night just how he intends to set himself apart from Hillary Rodham Clinton and his Republican rivals if he runs for president next year.

Mr. Walker, speaking to the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting in San Diego, used the word “fresh” four times, often alongside “new,” in a 35-minute address.

He was explicitly aiming at Mrs. Clinton, who he noted has had a long career in, as he put it, “the past.”

And although he didn’t mention them by name, Mr. Walker was also trying to set himself apart from Republican hopefuls like former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, neither of whom have held public office since early 2007. Mr. Walker was re-elected just two months ago.

Mr. Walker also didn’t name any of the Republican senators who are poised to run for president, but there was little doubt that he was not simply targeting Mrs. Clinton when he argued that the 2014 election results were a rebuke of the nation’s capital.

“People,” he said, “don’t care much for Washington.”

— Jonathan Martin

The first official congressional delegation to Cuba since President Obama moved to normalize relations with the Castro government will leave Washington on Saturday for a three-day visit led by Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont.

He and five fellow Democrats are scheduled to meet with Cuban officials, church leaders, dissidents and ambassadors from other nations. Mr. Leahy said the purpose of the visit was to sound out Cuban leaders on their vision for the new relationship.

“There are a lot of things we can do that are to their benefit and to the benefit of the U.S.,” Mr. Leahy said.

He added that scheduling conflicts had prevented invited Republicans from joining him, but that he expected future bipartisan delegations to visit the island. And he expected significant congressional support for the improved relations.

“I think the president is going to have an easier sell than he would think, especially among younger members,” Mr. Leahy said. “They realize this is something long overdue.”

Senators Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Representatives Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Peter Welch of Vermont will join Mr. Leahy on the trip.

— Carl Hulse

Gov. Chris Christie took an unexpected, provocative and risky swipe Thursday night at the local New Jersey reporters who cover him, calling them “self-consumed,” comparing them to children, and suggesting that they are deliberately unfair.

In the political equivalent of poking a bee’s nest, Mr. Christie expansively mocked the people who will shape his reputation as he prepares for a possible presidential campaign in 2016.

The remarks came during his monthly radio show, when he was asked about complaints from members of the New Jersey news media who were excluded from a meeting that the governor held with national reporters. The meeting, the existence of which was reported by journalists who did not participate, was held in the Statehouse on Tuesday before Mr. Christie delivered his State of the State address.

“Could you find a group of more self-consumed people?” he asked. “On a day like that, they are writing about themselves.”

He added, “Do you think the public cares a whit whether they got into a private meeting?”

The governor said he had recently invited the local reporters to an event. “They didn’t report on that, did they?” he asked the show’s host, Eric Scott. “That would be fair, and God knows we wouldn’t want to be that.”

“If they want to act like children, let them act like children,” he said in a final jab. “That’s the way it goes.”

— Michael Barbaro

Not a single Republican senator has come forward with wholehearted support for a third Mitt Romney run for president.

But Mr. Romney found at least one champion on Thursday in Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah. Mr. Chaffetz told reporters at the Republican retreat in Hershey, Pa., that he had spoken to Mr. Romney on Saturday and was “100 percent supportive” of another bid.

“He is one of the few people that can raise the $1 billion dollars it’s going to take in order to beat Hillary Clinton,” Mr. Chaffetz said.

He dismissed concerns that even Mr. Romney’s allies have raised: that his 2012 campaign had been mismanaged. Mr. Chaffetz said that Mr. Romney had been “vindicated.”

“On domestic politics and foreign policy, I think most people understand that Mitt Romney was right,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of buyer’s remorse with President Obama.”

Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Mr. Romney’s running mate, was also asked for his thoughts on a third Romney run. “He’s a very dear friend of mine,” he said. “It’s no secret I think he’d be a fantastic president.”

But Mr. Ryan was less forthcoming when asked if Mr. Romney would be the best candidate to fight poverty — which some in his circle have suggested would be part of a 2016 campaign.

“I’m going to stick to what I just said,” he said.

— Ashley Parker

The Senate will resume consideration of legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

Secretary of State John Kerry is in Paris. He said he would give the city a “big hug” after the terrorist attacks last week.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, will tour the Anacostia River Tunnel project site in Washington as part of an infrastructure push.

The Labor Department will release the latest figures on inflation.

Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa appears to be the most junior member of Congress ever selected to deliver her party’s response to the State of the Union address, considering that she has officially been in Washington less than a month.

But Republican leaders are eager to push her forward both as the feminine voice of the party and as an exemplar of the new-look Senate.

It is pretty heady stuff for a woman who was in Iowa’s State Senate just a few months ago and who first won the nation’s attention with a political commercial that went viral and featured her experience with hog castration.

But Ms. Ernst might want to be careful. The rebuttal spotlight has not been a sure ticket to political success for members of either party. It typically subjects the speaker to an unforgiving news media glare in a setting where it is hard to compete with a polished president: a packed House chamber converted into a television studio for the night.

Consider some recent Republican speakers. Remember Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and his lurch for a bottle of water in 2013? How about Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana’s widely panned 2009 performance? Mitch Daniels was the governor of Indiana when he tried it in 2012, and he’s now out of politics. And Bob McDonnell, who was the up-and-coming governor of Virginia in 2010, is now down and going to prison.

Good luck, Ms. Ernst.

— Carl Hulse

Starting on Friday, it will be easier for Americans to travel to Cuba. United Airlines has already asked to provide service to Havana from Houston and Newark.

Some of the best-known Republican senators decided that this week’s retreat in Hershey, Pa., wasn’t high-profile enough.

Rick Perry leaves the Texas governor’s office 14 years after inheriting it from George W. Bush. No one has held the job longer.

The Republican governor of Michigan has vetoed a bill supported by the National Rifle Association.

Mitt Romney addresses the Republican National Committee on Friday, and Politico says he won’t have an easy time of it.

Charlie Cook writes in National Journal that Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jeb Bush will be battling the “fatigue factor” if they run for president.

Courtesy of Esquire: “What You Need to Know to Travel to Cuba.”

Wired magazine says President Obama is waging a war on hackers.

A note to our readers: We are taking Monday off in honor of Martin Luther King’s Birthday. We’ll be back with a new newsletter on Tuesday.