What in the World?

Mahama inherits an economic crisis that led Ghana to receive its 17th bailout from the International Monetary Fund in 2022, FP’s Nosmot Gbadamosi writes in Africa Brief.

More than 400 people have been arrested during the protests, which began when the government announced a delay in Tbilisi’s European Union bid, Ani Chkhikvadze writes.

A spate of attempted and successful assassinations around the world in recent years has convinced some experts that violence against high-profile figures is on the rise, FP’s Christina Lu wrote in July.

The Assads focused on coup-proofing the regime against military threats but in doing so hampered its abilities to fight off an uprising, Benjamin Byman writes.

Although Daniel Ortega’s regime has tightened its control in Nicaragua in recent years, many observers see its grip on power as “increasingly precarious,” Max Granger wrote in August.

Orban met earlier in the week with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has also tried to sell himself as a potential negotiator to end the conflict, FP’s Alexandra Sharp reports in World Brief.

The occasion was a rare spot of good news this week for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who took to the stand to testify in his corruption trial on Tuesday, David E. Rosenberg writes.

Yoon used the unsourced claim to justify his attempt to impose martial law last week. The brief imposition plunged South Korea into a moment of constitutional uncertainty, Michelle Kim writes.

Abbas also traveled to the Vatican on Thursday to meet with Pope Francis, who has been more outspoken on social and political issues than many of his predecessors, as FP’s Cameron Abadi and Adam Tooze discussed in March.

Polarization is a “pretty young word,” according to Peter Sokolowski, the company’s editor at large, who told The Associated Press that it originated in the early 1800s.