Week In Review (WIRE) News 11.17.2025

Edited by Mary Wahn, Grey Cohen, John Gooden, Ethan Joyce, Bianca Orfila-Molinet, Meera Srinivasan

Asia and the Pacific

Written by Jesse Vu

Australia and Indonesia Agree on New Security Pact

In a statement made to the press on November 12th, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a new, mutual security pact between Australia and Indonesia to be signed this upcoming January. The statement followed Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto's first visit to Australia. The security pact is considered to be a significant foreign policy win for PM Albanese, who also recently signed Australia’s first-ever security deal with Papua New Guinea.

Both countries agreed to confer with each other in the event of a security risk and to increase communication between the two countries in peacetime, ushering in a new era in the Australia-Indonesia relationship through the pact. Building on the Defence Cooperation Agreement signed last year between the two countries, this pact requires both countries to regularly consult at a leader or ministerial level to address any security challenges. Essentially, this treaty recognizes the best way for both countries to secure peace and maintain stability in the region is through acting together, by spelling out the rules of engagement in a regional conflict, and requires consultation between the two governments.

The Indonesian President described the security pact as “a good neighbor policy,” highlighting that it serves as proof of a strong friendship between the two countries. Simultaneously, it sends a signal to China, which has tried to expand its influence in the region, that both countries are committed to acting together in the event of an attack. The treaty can also be seen as a deterrence method to prevent China from attacking either country.

Central America and the Caribbean

Written by Gabriella Ramirez

The Aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, A Blackout, and Developments in the U.S. Military Campaign in the Caribbean

In Jamaica, the death toll from Hurricane Melissa rose to 45, with 15 other people still missing. Two towns have been cut off since the Category 5 storm made landfall in the region. Helicopters have been dropping food and other basic supplies off to the communities. The director general of Jamaica’s emergency management office said the storm has displaced 30,000 households, with 1,100 people still living in 88 emergency shelters. Conditions in Haiti and Cuba are similar, as the storm destroyed homes and crops in Cuba and caused heavy flooding in Haiti. 

Meanwhile, a rare blackout hit the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, reportedly a failure in the grid’s transmission system. Generation units shut down, triggering a “cascade of failures,” according to the Dominican Electricity Transmission Company. The blackout disrupted mass transit systems, left homes and small businesses without power, and led to chaotic scenes on the country’s roads. The Energy Minister states they are slowly restoring power. 

Earlier in the week, the U.S. carried out a 20th strike on a boat accused of transporting drugs in the Caribbean, killing four. The military’s presence in the region was formally named Operation Southern Spear by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The Trump administration maintains that the buildup of warships and strikes is intended to stop the flow of drugs into the U.S., but neglects to provide evidence supporting that those killed were “narcoterrorists.”

At a G7 summit, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated he heard no objections to ongoing U.S. military strikes targeting alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean. However, two senior European diplomats, France’s foreign minister, and the European Union’s top diplomat called the lethal attacks illegitimate. Since then, President Trump’s administration drafted a legal opinion on the immunity of U.S. military personnel involved in the strikes.

Europe

Written by Ethan Joyce

French National Assembly Passes Suspension of 2023 Pension Reform Law

In 2023, President Macron introduced a pension reform bill to address demographic aging and the increasing costs of sustaining France’s retirement system. The policy, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, was framed as necessary to achieve long-term fiscal balance amid their debt-to-GDP ratio increasing to levels never seen before. While widely unpopular, the reform was expedited through the legislature using a fast-track budgetary procedure, meaning that a vote was never held on the proposal itself, and a petition by opposition lawmakers to hold a referendum on the initiative was rejected by the Constitutional Council. At the time, these maneuvers intensified public criticism of executive authority and sparked nationwide strikes and protests. 

The controversy has contributed to extraordinary political instability, as five prime ministers have been appointed and subsequently removed over the past two years. Most recently, following the ousting of Prime Minister Bayrou in September, PM Lecornu faced two no-confidence votes in October. On October 6, he briefly resigned, only to be reappointed by Macron and granted a “carte blanche” to do whatever was necessary to form a government. 

In order to prevent another collapse and survive the no-confidence votes in October, Lecornu proposed a suspension of the 2023 pension law last month. On Wednesday of this past week, the National Assembly voted to affirm the motion, which will remain in effect until their 2027 presidential election. While analysts note that this will dial down tensions in the National Assembly, many are beginning to question the integrity of Lecornu’s stated commitment to decrease the debt-to-GDP ratio and rein in what many believe is untenable public spending. The pension reform program was a central priority for the Macron administration, so this concession to the Socialists seems to have been made reluctantly, as it effectively nullifies years of work put toward implementing the policy.

The suspension of the pension reform will directly affect French workers born in the mid to late sixties, who include about 3.5 million people who are set to retire in the next four years. Now they can retire three months earlier than what was initially permitted under the pension reform law. That being said, the next presidential election is in April of 2027, and the suspension could be lifted by a new government. If that were to happen, only people born in 1964 are guaranteed to be eligible to retire earlier, at around 63 years old.

Middle East and North Africa

Written by Ansley Hovater

Houthi Ties Red Sea Attacks to Israel’s Ceasefire Compliance

On Sunday, Hamas published a letter from the Houthi Chief of Staff promising to end the attacks on Israeli ships in the Red Sea if Israel upholds the ceasefire with Gaza. The Houthis have used the Israel-Hamas conflict as justification for their violence, claiming to support the Palestinian cause by inhibiting Israel’s maritime connections.

Since 2023, Yemen’s Houthis have attacked ships traveling through the Red Sea, originally targeting ships carrying supplies to and from Israel, but eventually growing to sink U.S. and Western European ships as well. Throughout the course of their attacks, the Houthis have sunk four ships and killed a total of nine mariners. In August, Israel launched a retaliatory air strike, killing the Houthis’ major military leader, Muhammad Abdul Karim al-Ghamari. The Houthis officially announced his death in mid-October.

Their attacks in the Red Sea led to several international implications. Egypt lost approximately $9 billion in revenue from diverted shipping traffic, leading to a growth in economic concerns. In addition, since the U.S. declared the Houthis a terrorist group, tension between the organization, the U.S., and other Western countries has increased, leading to unease amongst the United Nations and uncertainty on how the Houthis will involve themselves in the global political arena in the future. 

South America

Written by Catie Crowe

Prisoners Hanged in Ecuador Amid Riot

At least 31 inmates in a southwest Ecuadorian prison were found dead, including 27 who died by hanging. The country’s prison authority, SNAI, responded to violent clashes between rival gang members, the clashes themselves triggered by plans to move inmates into the newly-built El Encuentro prison. Earlier the same day, another riot left four inmates dead. These outbreaks of deadly violence highlight an escalating pattern indicative of overcrowding, corruption, and weak control in Ecuador’s prisons.

Ecuadorian prisons far exceed capacity. In many cases, the unbalanced ratio of staff to inmates has even led to inmates exerting control over understaffed parts of the facilities. This imbalance also complicates the reorganization of inmates, increasing the likelihood that reorganization may trigger a power struggle in the prison. Transferring key players in rival gangs can upset delicate balances and spark violent backlash between members. Additionally, many prisons serve as hubs for gangs linked to drug trafficking networks in Colombia and Mexico. Even behind bars, these gangs control territory, weapons, and prisoner movement, adding tension to an already overburdened system.

More than 500 people have died in Ecuadorian prison riots since 2021. Last year, coordinated rioters across multiple prisons took 150 prison guards hostage. In response, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa ran on promises to crack down on gang activity and be tough on crime. Noboa now blames the recent prison violence on rival gangs battling for dominance and territorial control. Locals, however, remain unsatisfied with Noboa’s statements and fear for their safety after hearing gunfire, explosions, and screams coming from the prison. Inmates’ relatives demand strengthened safety measures to ensure rival gangs are separated. El Encuentro is expected to open this month, allegedly boasting extensive security measures.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Written by Alex Whirley

The Islamic State’s Strategic Retrenchment in West Africa

On November 6th, ISIS issued a new directive to its affiliates in Africa, ordering them to redeploy and operate in smaller, more covert cells in response to President Trump’s recent declaration that the United States will “wipe out the Islamic terrorists” responsible for attacks on Christians in Nigeria. The order appeared in Issue 520 of the group’s propaganda outlet, “al-Naba.” The publication warned fighters to avoid mass gatherings, limit phone and radio communications, and maintain high operational discipline to evade U.S. and U.S.-allied surveillance. The outlet characterized the recent threats from the Trump Administration as evidence that the terrorist organization has successfully dragged the U.S. into new wars in Africa.

Boko Haram and its ISIS-aligned splinter group, the Islamic State-West Africa (ISIS-WA), operate in the northeast of Nigeria, while armed criminal gangs operate in the northwest states. The situation and reality of Christian persecution in Nigeria are more complex than the U.S. narrative may suggest. The Middle-Belt conflicts in Nigeria are primarily resource-driven disputes between predominantly Muslim herders and predominantly Christian farmers competing for land and water access. However, conflicts in northeast Nigeria that involved Boko Haram and ISIS-WA operate as jihadist insurgencies that attack both Muslims and Christians indiscriminately. The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) repository estimates that approximately 53,000 civilians across all religious backgrounds have died in targeted political violence since 2009 in Nigeria. Of these casualties, between 2020 and September 2025, Christians were specifically targeted in 384 incidents that resulted in 217 deaths.

The Islamic State is growing and expanding its influence in West Africa and the broader Sahel region. Over two-thirds of the Islamic State’s global activity was recorded in Africa in the first half of 2025; this is a significant pivot for the organization. Sub-Saharan Africa now accounts for nearly 59 percent of all terrorism-related deaths globally. The future of U.S. involvement in counter terrorism in Africa remains unclear, however. Trump’s threats to militarily invade Nigeria may fall off the administration's list of priorities, given the risk of increased involvement in SOUTHCOM and a potential U.S. military campaign to counter narco-terrorist threats originating from Venezuela.