Reporters Without Borders is more concerned than ever about the Internet's future in Thailand after yesterday's announcement that access to more than 2,300 websites was blocked in 2008, in most cases for lese-majeste (insulting the king), and the new information minister's pledge to make it her priority to block such online content.

This morning, Israel started a massive offensive in the Gaza Strip, leaving behind death, destruction and intense suffering. Medical teams, fire fighters and civilians have been working all day to safe those buried under the rubble of destroyed houses, to transport the injured and death to the hospitals, to extinguish the fires, to protect the children, whilst fearing for the lives of their loved ones in the face of renewed attacks.

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the ongoing legal harassment of BBC correspondent Jonathan Head. Police Lt. Col. Wattanasak Mungkandee filed a third criminal complaint this year against Head on December 23, alleging he had insulted the Thai monarchy in his reporting.

According to a news report on December 11, 2008, Maj. Gen. Verachai Nakvanich, commander of the Narathiwat Task Force Unit, chaired an event to receive ‘misled people’ who had decided to attend the People Cooperating to Do Good for the Realm project (Pracharuamjai Thamkuamdeepueapaendin project).

On 8 December 2008, Mr. Tharit Charungvat, Director-General of Department of Information and Spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, sent a letter to the Editor-in-Chief of The Economist to express concerns and displeasure of the people of Thailand over the contents of two articles, “A right royal mess” and “The king and them,” published in the 6–12 December 2008 issue of The Economist magazine. In the letter, Mr. Tharit also pointed out and clarified the inaccuracies in the articles and called for measures to rectify the situation.