Globe Trot: Held hostage by ISIS

IRAQ: Little has been known about hundreds of Iraqi Christians effectively held hostage for nearly three years by ISIS. Now they are being freed, and they tell stories of torture and threats of beheading and forced conversions to Islam. Under a recent Iraqi law, many face a new nightmare: Will they be considered apostates under the law once they “reconvert” to Christianity?

More photos of the destruction in Iraq’s historically Christian Nineveh province.

AFGHANISTAN: Two U.S. Rangers were killed in combat operations against ISIS this week, as U.S. officials consider sending several thousand additional troops to Afghanistan, as Taliban threats have increased.

EGYPT: Pope Francis, in Cairo for a reignited dialogue with Muslim religious leaders, is likely to offer comfort to Coptic Christians following Palm Sunday’s church blasts but will avoid taking on the Islamic groups targeting them—because Egypt’s grand sheikh has made blaming Islam for the terror off-limits.

Despite ongoing terrorism against churches, Christians took to a public square in Cairo in December to recite the Nicene Creed.

NORTH AMERICA: President Donald Trump was expected to pull the United States from NAFTA on his 100th day in office on Saturday but instead reversed his position on what he called the “horrible” North American Free Trade Pact.

VENEZUELA: Despite massive marches that have left at least 29 people dead and ongoing food shortages, the authoritarian government may exit the 35-nation Organization of American States rather than submit to possible sanctions.

CUBA: Homeschooling is “capitalistic,” said a Cuban judge, sentencing Pastor Ramón Rigal to a year in prison for homeschooling his children.

TURKEY is stepping up its crackdown on humanitarian aid groups working with refugees, detaining employees of U.S.-based International Medical Corps in southeastern Turkey near the Syrian border. Turks last month expelled Portland, Ore., based Mercy Corps and Denmark’s DanChurchAid, both longtime war zone aid veterans.

WEEKEND LONG READ: It’s been 65 years since a British monarch died, but when Queen Elizabeth, now 91, breathes her last, an elaborate transition plan—commenced with the code “London Bridge is down”—will launch for her son Prince Charles to succeed her.

I’M READING: Six Days of War by Michael B. Oren, ahead of the Israeli war’s 50th anniversary.