Ecuadoreans vote on foreign military bases

Ecuador holds a referendum on whether or not to allow foreign military bases in the country again to help tackle drug trafficking. There was a US military base on the country’s Pacific coast until 2009, when President Rafael Correa ordered it closed. Also in the programme: the UK government announces that most refugees granted asylum will have to wait twenty years before they can apply for permanent settlement, instead of five years; and we hear from a critic of the German auction house planning a sale of personal items from victims of the Nazi Holocaust.(IMAGE: Ballots are placed on a table during a referendum to decide whether to allow the return of foreign military bases, which Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa says are central to fighting organized crime, and whether they back convening an assembly to rewrite the constitution, at a polling station in Quito, Ecuador November 16, 2025 / CREDIT: Reuters / Karen Toro)