Alvinology lists 12 individuals as possible choices for Singapore's person of the year.
Singapore: Person of the Year
Singapore Memory Project
irememberSG is part of the Singapore Memory Project, a national initiative to “collect, preserve and provide access to the memories” of a nation which rose to become one of the most prosperous cities in the world.
Barbados: leptospirosis outbreak
A government press conference addressing a leptospirosis outbreak prompts Barbados Free Press to ask some questions: “Why must every new leptospirosis outbreak be a surprise? Why are Barbados governments incapable of implementing and carrying through with long-term plans about issues that are foundational to the health and safety of citizens?”
Jamaica: politician too loud?
Yvette J. Rowe contemplates a Jamaican election campaign advertisement that portrays opposition leader Portia Simpson-Miller as “too loud”: “These ads about attitude and posture are scoring dubious points rather than talking about the policies or the future of the country.”
Armenia: Fans of Facebook Cocktail Bar
Global Voices' Caucasus Editor snaps a photo from mobile of a new cocktail bar in Yerevan, the Armenian capital. The bar is called ‘Fans of Facebook' and there's of course a group page on the popular social networking site.
Cuba: The First Book on Afro-Cuban Women
NegraCubana interviews Daysi Rubiera and Inés María Martiatu [es], authors of the first comprehensive book on the “history, thought, and cultural practices” of Afro-Cuban women.
Guyana: crime and insecurity
“Travel around coastland Guyana and you will see it too,” writes Imran Khan: “burglar bars, grillwork, heavily armed company security forces, reinforced doors, guard huts, watchmen, security lights, CCTV cameras.” He muses on the relationship between crime, underdevelopment, and political leadership.
Dominican Republic: The History of Bachata
Deepak Lamba Nieves, PhD student who investigates Dominican transnational migration, writes about the show in Boston of famous bachata singer Luis Miguel del Amargue, and also about the history of this music genre [es].
Barbados: too many cars
Barbados Underground asks: how can the island solve its perennial traffic problem? “Barbados is 166 square miles and at some point commonsense will have to take root. The number of vehicles on our roads cannot be allowed to go unregulated for much longer.”
Macedonia, Greece, Turkey: Bridging the Divides Through Multilingual Reporting
Two recent initiatives by civic-minded journalists added value to the e-content in local languages from Macedonia and nearby countries: Diversity Media is offering news analysis through text and audio podcasts in Macedonian and Albanian, and Balkon3.com is enabling “peeking over the neighbors' fence” in Macedonian, Turkish, Greek, and English. The former also started a competition for news bloggers [mk, sq], ending Jan. 31.
Macedonia: Health System Software Vendor Lock-in
Novica Nakov warned [mk] that the state discriminates against users of operating systems like GNU/Linux or Mac OS X, purporting vendor lock-in by forcing medical doctors to use the latest version of Windows as the only platform for the obligatory e-health card software [mk] by the Fund for Health Insurance of Macedonia.
Italy: African workers renew their call for open dialogue
Following the murder of two Senegalese men in Florence, Italy, migrant African workers released an open letter on the web [it] to renew their call for dialogue with citizens of Rosarno, where in January 2010 violent riots took place. ‘Those that in the past few days have spread fear when talking about us will be held accountable.’ they write. ‘We’re here to work and contribute to the development of this town and region.’
China telecommunications market
Tricia wang discusses about the anti-monopoly infringement investigation against the China Telecom and its implications on the China telecommunications market.
China: Dream and Reality
Jing Gao from Ministry of Tofu translated a local feature story on Chinese photographer Fan Shunzan's photo series, How Much Time Does the Reality Allow For A Dream. In the photo series, the reality of common people is placed against the backdrop of their dreams, which results in a striking contrast.
India: A Letter to the Home Minister, Protesting Forced Eviction
William Gomes writes an open letter to the Union Home Minister, Mr.P.Chidambaram, protesting against the recent police action against campaigners who were holding a protest rally demanding the repeal of the controversial Manipur Loktak Lake Protection Act, 2006.
Pakistan: On the Construction of Contemporary Pakistani National Identity
Masood Ashraf Raja at The Pakistan Forum feels that unless Pakistan takes a critical look at its political history and restructures it's national narrative, it will continue to remain a nation that is perpetually in crisis.
India: Looking Back on 2011
Shashi Shekhar at Offstumped looks back on the year 2011 and finds that it has been anything but predictable.
Egypt: A Letter from Maikel Nabil
No Military Trials for Civilians, a collective blog aimed at raising awareness about the military trial of civilians in Egypt, publishes a must read post by jailed Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil, who has been on hunger strike for more than 120 days.
Pakistan: Childhood Joys - Then and Now
Rabia Tirmizey at The Paradigm House points out that the meaning of joy and happiness has changed tremendously for kids in Pakistan and even the bar for happiness has risen. Simple pleasures such as those enjoyed by children of the '70s to early '90s no longer suffice.
Bangladesh:Hot Air Balloon Show in Dhaka
On 28th December, a hot air balloon show was held in Dhaka. In this context, photojournalist Monirul Alam discussed the history of hot air balloons.