VATICAN - This is a story that is classic Pope Francis: in late December he picked up the phone and called a Pentecostal bishop, Tony Palmer, to invite him to visit. By all accounts, they had been friends for a number of years already and this was just a social visit, so it wasn’t planned and facilitated by Vatican staff.

IRAN - As a country, it faces threats of terrorism, nuclear power and frosty international relations with world leaders. But Iran is focusing on another problem - a shrinking lake. Lake Oroumieh, one of the world's biggest saltwater lakes, is in danger of completely drying up because of climate change, nearby farms using it for irrigation and the damming of rivers. It has shrunk more than 80 percent to 1,000 square kilometers (nearly 400 square miles) in the past decade, experts say. Salt-covered rocks that were once deep underwater now sit in the middle of desert. Experts fear the lake - famous in years past as a tourist spot and a favorite stopping point for migrating flamingos, pelicans and gulls - could disappear within two years if nothing is done.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, the Imam of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, warned Israel on Friday against “harming” the mosque. Sabri, head of the Supreme Muslim Council, declared in a conversation with a Gaza-based news agency that Al-Aqsa was a “red line” for Arabs, adding, “We will not give up even one grain of earth (at the Al-Aqsa Mosque), since the Jews have no connection to it whatsoever.” Sabri’s comments are just the latest in a series of accusations that Arab leaders level at Israel concerning the Temple Mount and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

USA - Without a lot more rain and snow, many California farmers caught in the state's drought can expect to receive no irrigation water this year from a vast system of rivers, canals and reservoirs interlacing the state, federal officials announced Friday. The US Bureau of Reclamation released its first outlook of the year, saying that the state is in the throes of one of its driest periods in recorded history. Farmers who rely on the federally run Central Valley Project received only 20 percent of their normal water allotment last year and were expecting this year's bad news. Some communities and endangered wildlife that rely on the federal water source will also suffer deep cuts. The state's snowpack is at 29 percent of average for this time of year, which means that for farmers it's going to be a hard year.

USA - Secretary of state, who only learned his grandparents were Jews in 2004, says he understands Israelis’ reluctance to sign a deal. “It’s a connection that’s deep. I lost a great-uncle in the Holocaust and a great-aunt. I never knew that until then. To learn that, after years of being passionate about ‘never again,’ with respect to the Holocaust, and then to understand that you are biologically and personally connected to that, is very moving,” he said in an interview aired on Thursday by Israel’s Channel 2. “Israel itself has a special connection to me, not just because of that personal, now-known connection, but more importantly because of the amazing journey of the Jewish people,” he said in the interview, which was conducted last Tuesday at the State Department. “And now I’ve learned that, I have got a better sense of that.”

UK - The Archbishop of Canterbury has officially welcomed and commissioned four members of the international ecumenical community Chemin Neuf to take up residence at Lambeth Palace. Archbishop Justin Welby described it as a "radical and exciting new step" in ecumenical relations. Chemin Neuf, meaning the 'New Way' in English, is a Catholic ecumenical community founded in 1973 in Lyon and consisting of some 2,000 members from different church denominations across 30 countries. Archbishop Welby has longstanding connections with the Chemin Neuf community, having taken part in several retreats with them, including one he attended for a week before his ascension to spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

NEW YORK, USA - In 2012, there were more black babies killed by abortion in New York City than were born there, and the black children killed comprised 42.4% of the total number of abortions in the Big Apple, according to a report by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The numbers show that in 2012, there were 31,328 induced terminations (abortions) among non-Hispanic black women in New York City. That same year, there were 24,758 live births for non-Hispanic black women in New York City. There were 6,570 more abortions than live births of black children. In total, there were 73,815 abortions, which means the 31,328 black babies aborted comprised 42.4% of the total abortions.

USA - The United States Congress is the latest front in the battle over boycotting Israel. Two congressmen, Peter Roskam and Dan Lipinski - a Republican and Democrat respectively, both from the state of Illinois - have introduced a bill that would strip American academic institutions of federal funding if they choose to boycott Israel. The move follows a growing international movement to protest the Israeli occupation and violations of Palestinian human rights. Opponents of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) say the movement - which calls for Palestinian refugees' right to return - is an attempt to delegitimise Israel and dilute its majority-Jewish population.

JAPAN - As experts warned last December, contaminated water at the site will continue to pose a major risk. Now a new incident, the plant’s operator announced Thursday, has seen 100 tons of highly radioactive water leak from a holding tank. It’s the worst leak since last August, when 300 tons of contaminated water were spilled. It’s a reminder that Tepco is nowhere near completing the decommissioning process, which will likely take decades and give the public reason for concern throughout. Last week, the company also revealed that it had detected 5 million becquerels per liter of radioactive strontium-90 in a groundwater sample taken about 25 meters (82 feet) away from the ocean last September. The legal limit for releasing strontium? A mere 30 becquerels per liter.

USA - Much has been made of military compensation in recent months. Congress reduced, then quickly restored, cuts to the pensions of working-age retirees. Pentagon officials have talked repeatedly about the need to curb rapidly expanding pay and benefits costs, while military advocacy groups have lobbied for maintaining current levels. By at least one measure, many members of the military are still struggling to get by. Military families used food stamps to purchase supplies at Defense Department grocery stores in fiscal 2013 more than in any other year, according to the Defense Commissary Agency.

GERMANY - German-Israeli relations are at a nadir as German Chancellor Merkel begins her third term. When leaders of the countries meet next week, deals on smaller issues may be possible, but divisions over Israeli settlements will persist. Most public speeches given about relations between Berlin and Jerusalem emphasize the special relationship between the two countries and the fact that the historic obligation stemming from the crimes of the Nazis is part of Germany's raison d'état. When conversations between German and Israeli politicians take place behind closed doors, however, the niceties can fall away quickly.

USA - Americans would not be shocked if they found out that German intelligence services monitored them, former CIA Director John McLaughlin tells DW. He also explains why he feels mass surveillance is justified. “Let me first make clear that I am no longer in government and that therefore I don't have precise data on the quantity or the nature of the collection other than that it is large. Why must it be so large? To some degree this problem is what we call the needle in the haystack. So we need to look at the haystack in order to find the needle.”

CHINA - The world has grown tired of the inexorable rise in radiation levels and propaganda-talk surrounding nuclear issues in Japan from the government in the last few years since Fukushima changed the nation’s future. However, there is another source of nuclear materials that is increasingly angering the Chinese. The tensions and rhetoric, from WWI analogs to Nazi comparisons, have risen recently; but this time, the Chinese are asking a legitimate question… “If a country claims that it sticks by the three non-nuclear principles but at same time hoards far more nuclear materials than it needs, including a massive amount of weapon-grade plutonium, the world has good reason to ask why…. After all, Abe and his cabinet have already caused too much trouble to regional peace and stability.”

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Muslims have been warned in a Fatwa not to go and live on Mars because it would pose "a real risk to life", according to a Dubai news organization. The General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment (GAIAE) in the United Arab Emirates said that anyone making such a "hazardous trip" is likely to die for "no righteous reason". They would therefore be liable to a "punishment similar to that of suicide in the Hereafter", the Khaleej Times reported.

UK - The biggest earthquake in six years has hit the South West of the UK with the tremor measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale. Some coastal towns in south-west Britain were shaken by the quake, which the British Geological Survey (BGS) said had originated in the Bristol Channel. Homeowners reported their houses rocking and others have described the quake as 'frightening'. Other significant earthquakes to rock the UK include a 4.3 magnitude quake in Folkestone Kent in April 2007, and a 4.7 which hit Dudley in the West Midlands in September 2002. A 6.1 magnitude quake was recorded in the North Sea in June 1931.