Next week, President Obama makes his first trip to Israel since becoming president four years ago. To get the Israeli perspective on what lies ahead, Steve Inskeep speaks with Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren.

Samsung is rolling out a new smartphone — the Galaxy S4 — as the company continues to snag new customers, often at the expense of Apple.

A 62-year-old man had been on sick leave from work due to stress for the past few months — which is why his employer was surprised to see him wrestling a shark on an Australian beach in a video that went viral. The charity he worked for fired him. In his defense, the man said a doctor had advised him to take a vacation.

Tim Kelleher's Jack Russell terrier — named Jack — scarfs down anything he can get his paws on. Last week, his vet discovered the dog had scarfed down a bagel and, somewhere along the line, more than a hundred pennies. The vet operated and removed the pennies.

In Florida, an investigation into storefront Internet gambling parlors has forced the resignation of Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, who is stepping down because of her involvement with a group called Allied Veterans of the World. The group runs dozens of what it calls "Internet cafes" — storefront operations where people essentially gamble using electronic slot machines.

Steve Inskeep has a remembrance of Parveen Rehman, a Pakistani woman he meet there while reporting in 2008. Rehman was head of the Karachi-based Orangi Pilot Project, a research center that aids in the development of impoverished communities. She was killed on Wednesday at the age of 56.

Conservative activists are gathering just outside Washington, D.C., on Thursday for the annual gathering known as CPAC — the Conservative Political Action Conference. A year ago, the group was riding high, confident in their ability to help the Republican Party defeat President Obama. Today, controversy over who's speaking at the conference and who's boxed out illustrate the woes confronting the GOP.

Newly minted Pope Francis, as archbishop of Buenos Aires, was known for his humility, for standing with the poor, and for his staunch conservatism on church teachings. With no experience in Vatican administration, the strength of this first Jesuit pope is thought to be his intellectual vigor and his pastoral skills.

President Obama has been meeting this week with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to talk about long-term budget planning. On Wednesday, Obama met with House Republicans who offered mixed views on how the dialogue went.

After more than 100 years of ups and downs, General Motors has a lot of history. Most of GM's history is in the form of cars — hundreds of actual individual cars. The company tries to keep at least two of each car in storage. NPR's Sonari Glinton went on a walk through GM's attic to find out about the company's past and future.

Roman Catholics woke up Thursday with a new pope — the first non-European supreme pontiff since the early centuries of Christianity. The Argentine chose the name Francis, never before used by any other pope. That could signal the start of a new chapter for the crisis-ridden church.

Across the country, Catholics were surprised and happy about the selection of Francis as pope. In Miami, many Catholics are looking to Francis to bring about some positive changes.

Inside a courthouse in Steubenville, Ohio, a judge is considering whether a 16-year-old girl was so drunk that she couldn't consent to sex with two high school football players. Outside, the case continues to spur debate over teen drinking, sex, football culture, and the ability of social media to amplify it all.

Samsung is planning to unveil its new Galaxy S4 smartphone Thursday night in New York City, throwing down a new challenge to Apple's iPhone. The new Galaxy will be the flagship device on Google's Android platform, which dominates the smartphone market.

On Wednesday, the creator of the much-loved but relatively short-lived TV series Veronica Mars took to Kickstarter to raise money to make a movie version of the show. In less than 12 hours, fans pledged more than $2 million, smashing the site's records along the way.

Renee Montagne speaks with Hugh Bronstein, a Thomson Reuters correspondent in Buenos Aires, about what the election of Pope Francis means to Argentinians.

Lawyers, prosecutors and judges across Massachusetts are sorting through thousands of cases that may now unravel. With a former chemist accused of falsifying more than 30,000 test results, hundreds of former defendants have already been released and police are bracing for an uptick in crime.

Even before he spoke a word, the Catholic Church's new pope sent a signal to the world about what kind of leader he may be by choosing the name Pope Francis. The Vatican has confirmed that is an homage to St. Francis of Assisi, the 12th-century Italian nobleman who renounced the trappings of wealth and became a champion for the poor. For more, Renee Montagne speaks with Father Thomas Reese, an analyst with the National Catholic Reporter.

Amazon is cutting the price of its large-screen version of the Kindle in a bid to hang on to market share in the booming tablet market.

From Chris Christie to Jeb Bush, a slew of potential candidates for president have been getting attention. Most of them are speaking this week at the Conservative Political Action Conference, but a few pointedly were not asked.