GLOBAL: President Donald Trump’s decision to defund the World Health Organization in the middle of the global fight against the coronavirus “is as dangerous as it sounds,” said Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder who has pledged $100 million toward containing the virus. Trump on Wednesday placed a hold on all U.S.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: The World Health Organization reported two new cases of Ebola on Friday, less than two days before health officials prepared to declare a formal end to the outbreak that began in 2018 and killed nearly 2,300 people. With its resurgence, aid groups warn Congo could face a “triple emergency”: lingering Ebola, a surge in coronavirus cases, and ongoing violence in the war-racked country.

ISRAEL: Jerusalem’s Via Dolorosa will be empty on Good Friday, as Christians around the world mark Holy Week events leading to Easter under the restrictions of COVID-19.

Once on a visit to my Iraqi friend Insaf, who lives outside Toronto, I got lost. I went walking to take an editorial team phone call—back before Zoom took over our lives—and lost my way as the meeting went long, the houses and streets looked the same, and it began to snow. Then my cell phone died.

BRITAIN: In 1940, during the Blitz, 14-year-old Princess Elizabeth spoke to the nation by radio, giving a “message of sympathy” to British children evacuated from London to escape nightly bombings. On Sunday, the 93-year-old Queen Elizabeth again spoke to the nation at “an increasingly challenging time,” bolstering her subjects as the U.K. suffered its deadliest day with COVID-19.

CHINA: In a classified report delivered to the White House last week, U.S. analysts said Chinese officials underreported its total number of COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Within hours late Wednesday, Israel recorded five new deaths from the coronavirus, then by midday Thursday seven more, bringing to 33 the number who have died since the virus reached the country with its first recorded case on Feb. 21.