Correspondents Report

The death of Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej last month will be remembered as a turning point in the country's history. The event has affected Thai citizens deeply, with many still wearing black as part of the country's official year of mourning. With the ascension of Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn to the throne expected in early December, South-East Asia correspondent Liam Cochrane looks at the King's legacy - and at Thailand's strict lésé majesté laws, which prove a challenge to any journalist attempting to cover the nation's politics.

Indonesia correspondent Samantha Hawley looks back over her year so far, working out of the ABC's Jakarta bureau: a year of political and religious tensions, of territorial disputes, of human trafficking and terrorism. She sees out the end of 2016 reporting on a nation at a crossroads.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was questioned in the Ecuadorian embassy in London this week in relation to a rape allegation dating back to 2010. Sweden has been trying to extradite Mr Assange for the last six years. His legal team has long argued that Swedish prosecutors could simply fly to London and question him there. Mr Assange maintains that if he goes to Sweden he could be extradited to the US to face some form of espionage charge. Europe correspondent Steve Cannane was part of the media pack camped outside the embassy for two days while the questioning took place.

The Japanese government is holding its breath while it waits to see what a Trump presidency will mean for Japan. Some of Mr Trump's more controversial foreign policy pronouncements were directed at Japan, such as the suggestion that the security alliance between the two countries be renegotiated. But when the dust settles, will Mr Trump follow up on those suggestions? Rachel Mealey looks at the state of play in Japan and what a Trump presidency might mean there.

China's economic miracle has lifted about half a billion people out of a 'dollar-a-day poverty' in little more than three decades. It is an unprecedented success story. Australia is obsessed with monitoring the economic health of the rising superpower as it directly impacts on our growth and prosperity. But people rarely look at the social costs of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation of the world's most populous nation. The left behind kids is one biggest and most urgent issues facing China today, as China correspondent Matthew Carney reports.

News of Australia's plan to resettle refugees on Manus Island and Nauru in the United States has dominated headlines for the past week. But many of the men on Manus Island aren't included in the deal because their refugee claims have either been rejected or weren't processed. Papua New Guinea correspondent Eric Tlozek this week spent time with one of those men, Benham Satah, who witnessed the killing of his roommate Reza Barati almost three years ago.

Throughout the US election campaign, parents and teachers have been grappling with how to explain the toxic rhetoric and divisive debate to children. Hillary Clinton's campaign also heavily played on fear in its advertising. Now Donald Trump's victory has provoked fear and concern for some children as they try to understand what his presidency means for America and if or how it will affect them.

In Indonesia red tape rules. The nation embraces every opportunity to issue another piece of paper that must be stamped or signed by someone else whether you're at the visa office, the bank or the department store. But Indonesia correspondent Adam Harvey discovered a place that makes Indonesian bureaucracy appear benign, somewhere much closer to home.

Airports can be frustrating anywhere. But in China, constant flight delays and excessive security can make them a nightmare. That's making the country's expansive rail network seem a much more pleasant way to get around.

By Wednesday afternoon Australian time, the counting is expected to be over and the next leader of the United States will hopefully be known, barring any legal challenges, having been one of the most dispiriting and ugly races of all time.