From Our Own Correspondent

When there's change in the Middle East, there is a good chance the United States had something to do with it, as with the recent accords between Israel and four Arab states. And now a new American president is preparing to move into the White House. What could this mean for the region, asks Jeremy Bowen. Thailand has been convulsed by large demonstrations this year, in which young people have been calling for reform and for changes to the once untouchable monarchy, even though criticising the king carries long prison sentences. Royalists are shocked by these campaigns and want things to stay as they are, says Jonathan Head. Italy's coronavirus crisis started in the north and eventually reached the far south, including the region of Calabria. An area blighted not just by the pandemic, but also by the powerful and ruthless 'Ndrangheta mafia whose crimes have made it much harder to cope with the virus for restaurants and even for hospitals, as Mark Lowen found out. Relations between China and the west have come