1. On Sunday, South African authorities announced the results from Nov. 4 local elections. Why was the election a historic one for the African National Congress party?
The party won a majority in every province except one.
It marked the party’s worst-ever results.
The party won a majority in the Western Cape province for the first time.
Two-thirds of the party’s election winners were women.
No party won an outright majority, a further sign that South Africa’s political landscape is fragmenting, FP’s Nosmot Gbadamosi reports in Africa Brief.
3. Which former leader requested new identity papers from their home country on Monday?
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra
Hasina has been living in exile in India since fleeing Bangladesh in the wake of mass protests in 2024, FP’s Michael Kugelman reports in South Asia Brief.
5. Israel’s Knesset swore in its new class of lawmakers on Tuesday, but they still haven’t formed a government. Who was tasked this week with leading coalition-building negotiations?
Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett
Incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Democrats party leader Yair Golan
Eisenkot’s clearest path to power is joining forces with the country’s Arab parties—something that has only happened once in Israel’s history, FP’s Steven A. Cook writes.
8. This week’s resignations don’t end there. Following months of scrutiny, what prompted Indonesian Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka to submit his resignation to parliament on Thursday?
He was unable to prove that he graduated high school.
He also had an affair with an alleged Chinese spy.
He was implicated in a major vote-buying scandal.
He faced allegations of spying for Russia.
The move throws a wrench in the tenuous truce between the government and Gibran’s father, former President Joko Widodo, FP’s Alexandra Sharp reports in World Brief.
10. Which embassy unexpectedly received attention around the world on social media this week after briefly closing on Tuesday for a staff event?
The Brazilian Embassy in Berlin
The Egyptian Embassy in New Delhi
The Greek Embassy in Ottawa, Canada
The Finnish Embassy in Canberra, Australia
Thousands of the embassy’s adoring fans shared jokes and commiserated over the closure—which prompted the embassy to celebrate its reopening the next day with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Guardian reports.
