Reporters Without Borders is repeating its awareness campaign in central Paris to draw residents’ attention to the lack of freedom of information in Thailand, Vietnam and Mexico by creating a simulated beach in the city’s main shopping area. On the first day of the January sales, activists from the press freedom organization wearing swimming costumes braved the Paris winter to raise public awareness.

Reporters Without Borders is shocked by the two-and-a-half-year sentence imposed on American blogger Joe Gordon by a Bangkok court today for insulting the Thai royal family and deplores the increase in so-called lèse-majesté crimes in Thailand.