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16 April 2012
Afghanistan – CBS NEWS via (AP) reported: For Taliban militants and U.S. strategists alike, all roads in this impoverished country of mountain passes, arid deserts and nearly impassable goat tracks lead to this ancient capital of 3 million people nestled in a high and narrow valley. The Taliban made their intentions clear over the weekend, mounting spectacular coordinated attacks that spawned an 18-hour battle with Afghan and NATO forces. And now, the U.S. is gearing up for what may be the last major American-run offensive of the war — a bid to secure the approaches to the city. While bombings and shootings elsewhere in Afghanistan receive relatively little attention, attacks in the capital alarm the general population, undermine the government’s reputation and frighten foreigners into fleeing the country. That’s why insurgents on Sunday struck locations that were so fortified they could cause little or no damage, including the diplomatic quarter, the parliament and a NATO base. “These are isolated attacks that are done for symbolic purposes, and they have not regained any territory,” U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Monday.
Syria – The Sydney Morning Herald reported: Twenty-four people were killed as Syrian forces fought rebels near the Turkish border and shelled restive central provinces, while UN monitors began logistical preparations to shore up the shaky UN-backed ceasefire. “Our fieldwork will start very soon,” said Ahmed Himmiche, head of the United Nations observers mission to Syria. Khaled al-Masri, UN spokesman in Syria, told the German news agency DPA that before the mission started work in the field, the five-member team would have to first “sign cooperation protocol with Syrian authorities because the United Nations cannot carry out its work without this agreement”. Although al-Masri described the atmosphere as “positive” between the UN team and the Syrian authorities, a western diplomatic source in Damascus told DPA “that there are a lot of obstacles and this can delay the deployment of the rest of the observers until May.”
Israel – The Guardian UK reported: Denmark has demanded an explanation from the Israeli government for video footage showing a senior Israeli army officer striking a Danish activist in the face with an M16 rifle, an act which has been sharply criticised by the Israeli prime minister, president and chief of staff. In the video, Lt Col Shalom Eisner, deputy commander of the Jordan Valley territorial brigade, is clearly seen slamming his rifle into the face of Andreas Ias. There was no obvious reason for the assault in the clip, which was broadcast on Israeli television and posted on YouTube. The soldier was suspended by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) pending an investigation. The video emerged on the same day as Israel launched a security operation to prevent hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists entering the country en route to the West Bank, claiming they were provocateurs and were planning acts of violence. The assault on the Danish man and the operation to block the entry of Palestinian sympathisers have led to questions about whether Israel’s response to activists is excessively heavy-handed and will damage its image.
Sudan – The Voice of America reported: A prominent member of Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) says the country is officially in a state of war with South Sudan. Rabie Abdelati Obeid condemned as unacceptable the “illegal invasion” of its territory after forces from South Sudan seized the key disputed oil town of Heglig. Obeid’s comments came after Sudan’s parliament unanimously voted to declare South Sudan an “enemy.” He said the people of the Republic of Sudan assign the same status to South Sudan’s ruling party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). “They are now angry,” he said, “since the invasion of Heglig…,” where “the Sudanese Armed Forces are now chasing the remaining rebels … from corner to corner.” He says the government should take as tough a stance toward Juba as has Sudan’s national assembly.
France – The WSJ reported: French Socialist presidential challenger François Hollande is using a new argument to underscore what he terms the economic legacy of President Nicolas Sarkozy: France’s triple-A sovereign rating, or what’s left of it. In an election campaign that is heating up with five days to the first round of voting, Mr. Sarkozy has repeatedly attacked Mr. Hollande recently by saying a socialist victory would herald financial doom for France, the euro zone’s second largest economy. While Mr. Sarkozy stood by the ailing periphery of the euro zone as president, he now brandishes the likes of Greece and Spain as the future for France.
Philippines – The Washington Post reported: China has asked the Philippines to withdraw a Filipino coast guard ship and an archaeological research vessel from a disputed shoal. It also has ignored a Philippine proposal to bring the problem to a U.N.-linked tribunal for arbitration. China and the Philippines have agreed to settle the dispute diplomatically but have insisted on their ownership of the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Two Chinese surveillance ships have been facing off with a Philippine coast guard vessel in the area since last week. Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has asked China to bring the dispute to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea for arbitration. The Chinese Embassy ignored the proposal Tuesday and asked the Philippines to withdraw from the shoal.
China – Reuters reported: The British businessman whose murder has sparked political upheaval in China was poisoned after he threatened to expose a plan by a Chinese leader’s wife to move money abroad, two sources with knowledge of the police investigation said. It was the first time a specific motive has been revealed for Neil Heywood’s murder last November, a death which ended Chinese leader Bo Xilai’s hopes of emerging as a top central figure and threw off balance the Communist Party’s looming leadership succession. Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, asked Heywood late last year to move a large sum of money abroad, and became outraged when he demanded a larger cut of the money than she had expected due to the size of the transaction, the sources said.
Guinea Bissau – Reuters reported: The executive head of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS said on Tuesday that a junta in Guinea Bissau has agreed to hand back power and return the country to constitutional rule soon, after talks in the capital. Soldiers in Guinea Bissau, who have a reputation of meddling in the country’s politics, seized power on Thursday and detained the country’s interim president and a former prime minister, cutting short an unfinished presidential election. “After in-depth discussions, we agreed on the fact that the military accept the decision of ECOWAS to return to constitutional order,” Desire Kadre Ouedraogo, president of the ECOWAS commission, told journalists after the meeting. Ouedraogo said Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, who chairs the regional bloc, will take steps with other parties, to return the country to constitutional rule in the coming days, but gave no specific timeline. ECOWAS insisted in the meeting with the junta that the freeing of the two officials detained during the coup, was an essential step towards a return to constitutional order, Ouedraogo said. The junta did not comment after the meeting.
Egypt – The Christian Science Monitor reported: Leading Egyptian presidential candidates have been tossed out of the race, distrust of Egypt’s military rulers is rising, and the timeline for writing a new constitution has been tossed out the window. Pity the reporters, political activists, and academics trying to keep up with Egypt’s transition “plan.” Every day, it seems, new moves by the ruling military, the courts, and the quasi-independent electoral commission turn expectations on their head. It’s human to want a see a pattern in all this, find a guiding hand behind all the maneuvering (a Machiavellian or a benevolent one, depending on your inclinations). Analysis is supposed to tease out the broader pattern, identify a narrative that helps make sense of events. But in the daily flow of statements, revelations, and warnings, I can’t find anything but an unguided mess. Writing at Foreign Policy, political scientist Nathan Brown calls “the phrase ‘Egyptian transition process’… tragicomically oxymoronic in light of the dizzying series of developments over the past month.”
17 April 2012
Syria – The Christian Science Monitor reported: The United Nations Security Council is expected to authorize deploying a full mission of 250 monitors to Syria after it takes up the issue Wednesday, but Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon questioned whether even that number would be sufficient. “I think this is not enough, considering the current situation and considering the vastness of the country, and that is why we need very efficient mobility of our observer mission,” he said Tuesday. He said he had discussed with European Union leaders whether the EU could provide helicopters and airplanes for that mobility.
Spain – Bloomberg Businessweek reported: Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Tuesday that Argentina’s nationalization of its Spanish-controlled leading energy company is unjustifiable and he will work to halt the takeover. The move spoils the good relations that had existed between Argentina and Spain, its top trading partner, and “greatly affects the international reputation of Argentina,” Rajoy said at a World Economic Forum meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He said Argentine President Cristina Fernandez’s move to expropirate Repsol’s controlling stake in YPF is “without any justification, without any economic reason.” Fernandez on Monday decreed that Spain-based Repsol’s majority stake in YPF is a “public good” and subject to expropriation. She put two of her top political appointees in charge of the company, whose executives were forced to abandon their offices in Buenos Aires. She also asked her majority in Congress to quickly ratify the re-nationalization of YPF, which was state-owned for decades before its privatization in the 1990s.
Gaza – The New York Daily NEWS reported: A senior Hamas official has called on Palestinian militants to kidnap Israeli soldiers in order to exchange them for Palestinians captured by Israel. Izzat al-Rishq’s statement posted on his Facebook page repeated the call by Hamas’ prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniya. It came as Palestinians Tuesday marked the Prisoners’ Day in solidarity with Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Al-Rishq said in his post that releasing Palestinians captured by Israel was as important for Hamas as the liberation of the occupied Palestinian territories. Over 7,000 Palestinians are believed to be held in Israeli jails over armed attacks on Israeli troops and civilians. Most of them are members of Hamas and its rival faction Fatah, ruling the West Bank.
North Korea – The Washington Post reported: North Korea accused the U.S. of hostility on Tuesday for suspending an agreement to provide food aid following Pyongyang’s widely criticized rocket launch, and warned of retaliatory measures in response. North Korea’s Foreign Ministry also rejected the U.N. Security Council’s condemnation of Friday’s launch of a long-range rocket as “unreasonable,” and reasserted the nation’s right to develop a civilian space program. The ministry warned it would no longer adhere to the February agreement with the U.S. North Korea fired a three-stage rocket Friday over the Yellow Sea in defiance of international warnings against what the U.S. and other nations said would be seen as a violation of bans against nuclear and missile activity.
United Kingdom – CNN reported: British authorities have arrested Abu Qatada, whom they describe as an inspiration to terrorists that include one of the hijackers who struck on September 11, 2001, the Home Office said Tuesday. The United Kingdom will resume efforts to deport him to Jordan, the government said. Britain views Abu Qatada as a national security threat, but the European Court of Human Rights barred the country from deporting him because evidence gained from torture could be used against him in Jordan, where he has been convicted in absentia of involvement in terrorist conspiracies. But Jordan has outlined a number of conditions that Home Secretary Theresa May said means the deportation could now go ahead.
Afghanistan – CNN reported: Australian troops could begin pulling out of Afghanistan in the coming months, and the majority of them may leave the country by the end of next year, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Tuesday. It’s the latest announcement of international troop drawdowns in Afghanistan, a trend that signals the coalition’s confidence in the country’s fighting forces, the transition to Afghan security control, and the war’s growing unpopularity in the countries that contribute troops. Gillard made her remarks Tuesday ahead of a NATO summit meeting in Chicago in May. At the meeting, the leaders of countries with troops in Afghanistan will make key decisions about the future of the international coalition’s mission there.
United Arab Emirates – The Voice Of America reported: Foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council held an emergency meeting in Doha Tuesday to discuss a territorial dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, which some believe could pose a threat to international security. The talks followed a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Abu Musa, a Persian Gulf island controlled by Iran, but also claimed by the UAE. Iranian state media said Mr. Ahmadinejad traveled to the disputed territory last week to deal with domestic issues. Abu Musa is one of three islands claimed by both Iran and the UAE that lie near the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic channel through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies are shipped. Iran threatened to close the strait earlier this year in response to sanctions targeting its nuclear program. Analysts said if Iran were to carry out the threat, it would likely use troops stationed on Abu Musa.
Bahrain – The BBC Middle East Corps reported: Human rights are still being violated in Bahrain, despite promises of reform, according to Amnesty International. Ahead of the Grand Prix in Bahrain this weekend, Amnesty warns “no-one should be under any illusions that the country’s human rights crisis is over”. Bahrain insists it is “very much committed to implementing” the recommendations of its own report into the handling of protests in 2011. More than 40 people died in last year’s unrest and 1,600 were arrested. Amnesty’s Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui says Bahrain’s reforms have “only scratched the surface”.
18 April 2012
India – The New York Times reported: India said Thursday it had successfully launched a missile with nuclear capability and a 3,100-mile range, giving it the ability to strike Beijing and Shanghai. With the successful launching of the missile, called Agni 5, India joins a small group of countries with long-range nuclear missile capability, including China, Britain, France, Russia and the United States. “Agni 5 will give India complete coverage of targets in China,” Poornima Subramaniam, an Asia-Pacific armed forces analyst at IHS Jane’s, said in an e-mail. “Agni 5 technologically narrows the missile gap between India and China, while the strategic balance between the two rivals is still tipped in China’s favor.” The launching of the Agni 5, which occurred at 8:07 a.m. from an island off India’s east coast, is part of the country’s decades-old missile program. India has a policy of no first use.
Syria – USA Today reported: Syrian security forces opened fire Wednesday on anti-regime demonstrators surrounding the cars of a U.N. team meant to monitor a shaky cease-fire, sending the observers speeding off and protesters dashing for cover, according to activists and amateur videos. The fresh violence in a suburb of Damascus, the Syrian capital, provided the first public glimpse of the work of the small team struggling to reinforce the international community’s stumbling efforts to end 13 months of deadly conflict in Syria. The shooting, which wounded at least eight people, could also complicate the deployment of a larger U.N. mission to help a cease-fire take hold between President Bashar Assad’s forces and opposition fighters. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon late Wednesday recommended the Security Council approve a mission with 300 observers — 50 more than originally planned — and said that though the situation is grave, there may still be an opportunity for progress.
Sudan – Bloomberg Businessweek reported: African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki urged the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to take action to stop the fighting between Sudan and South Sudan, warning that both sides are locked in a “logic of war” with hardliners increasingly in control. Security Council members promised to urgently discuss how to address the crisis, including the possibility of sanctions, said U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, the current Security Council president. She briefed reporters about the former South African president’s closed discussion with the council via videoconference. Mbeki, along with Haile Menkerios, a special U.N. representative to Sudan, “described a disturbing situation in which both sides are locked in, and I quote, ‘a logic of war,’” Rice said. “They stressed that hardliners are winning the day in both Juba and Khartoum and urged the Security Council to engage with both governments directly to convince them to walk back their positions.”
North Korea – Reuters reported: A bristling North Korea said on Wednesday it was ready to retaliate in the face of international condemnation over its failed rocket launch, increasing the likelihood the hermit state will push ahead with a third nuclear test. The North also ditched an agreement to allow back inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. That followed a U.S. decision, in response to a rocket launch the United States says was a disguised long-range missile test, to break off a deal earlier this year to provide the impoverished state with food aid. Pyongyang called the U.S. move a hostile act and said it was no longer bound to stick to its side of the February 29 agreement, dashing any hopes that new leader Kim Jong-un would soften a foreign policy that has for years been based on the threat of an atomic arsenal to leverage concessions out of regional powers. “We have thus become able to take necessary retaliatory measures, free from the agreement,” the official KCNA news agency said, without specifying what actions it might take.
European Union Parliament – The BBC reported: European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has presented a package of initiatives to the European Parliament designed to boost jobs and growth in the crisis-hit eurozone area. Addressing MEPs in Strasbourg on 18 April 2012, Mr Barroso said the measures would help release the potential of Europe’s internal market which “is probably the largest engine for growth within the European Union”. “It gives European business unfettered access to other companies and half a billion consumers and allows them to develop the scale to compete globally,” he said. But Mr Barroso blasted the failure of national governments to implement European growth laws. “It is incomprehensible that member states are still not fully implementing the growth-friendly legislation we have in place,” he told MEPs. Mr Barroso said the proposals agreed by the Commission could boost growth on the continent by up to 1.5%.
Turkey – Reuters reported: A German-owned ship suspected of carrying weapons and ammunition heading to Syria was being towed into Turkey’s Mediterranean Iskenderun port for inspection on Wednesday, officials said. The “Atlantic Cruiser” is already being investigated by Germany after Der Spiegel news magazine reported the ship was carrying Iranian weapons to Syria in breach of an arms embargo. Turkish Foreign Ministry and port officials said the ship was being towed into the port which is located on Turkey’s eastern Mediterranean coast just over 100 km (60 miles) north of Syria, on suspicion it was carrying weapons. The officials could not confirm if there were weapons aboard but said they were planning to inspect all the ship’s cargo once it had been offloaded. The ship had been due to offload some of its cargo in Turkey as part of its route, they said.
19 April 2012
Syria – The Herald Sun of Australia reported: United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon says President Bashar al-Assad is not fulfilling his commitment to a ceasefire and has pressed the Security Council to approve an expanded observer mission in Syria. His remarks have come as France also calls for a more robust UN mission, saying Syria is headed for civil war, and as the United States demands tougher UN sanctions and an arms embargo on Mr al-Assad’s regime. The UN chief urged the council to take “early action” to send 300 unarmed observers to Syria to monitor a shaky ceasefire that started on April 12, but admitted this “is not a decision without risk”. On a day when at least seven more civilians were reported killed by regime forces, he said there was “deeply troubling evidence” that the government was pursuing its deadly crackdown despite agreeing to halt violence. “The past few days, in particular, have brought reports of renewed and escalating violence, including the shelling of civilian areas, grave abuses by government forces and attacks by armed groups.”
North Korea – CNN reported: After weeks of military analysts examining the latest North Korean rocket before and after its failed launch, the focus now has turned to a truck. It’s not just any truck. It’s known as a “transporter, erector, launcher,” TEL for short, and is designed to move a long-range missile into place, stand it upright and launch it from just about anywhere in North Korea. The truck was spotted in a military parade in Pyongyang last weekend with what experts say is a new long-range rocket on board. The United Nations is investigating if the TEL came from China in violation of U.N. resolutions, a U.S. official tells CNN. The U.N. Security Council committee that monitors implementation of the sanctions on North Korea is investigating, the official said. The investigation was first reported by Jane’s Defense Weekly. Asked about the TEL during a hearing Thursday of the House Armed Services committee, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said, “I’m sure there’s been some help coming from China. I don’t know, you know, the exact extent of that.”
Poland – The Detroit Free Press reported: Thousands of youths from Israel, the U.S. and other countries marched Thursday between Auschwitz and Birkenau, the two parts of Nazi Germany’s most notorious death complex, to honor the millions of people killed in the Holocaust. About 10,000 young people, some carrying Israeli flags or draping them around their shoulders, took part in the March of the Living in Oswiecim, a town in southern Poland where the Germans operated Auschwitz during World War II. Elsewhere Thursday, Israelis flocked to Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial to read the names of loved ones who perished at the hands of the Nazis during World War II — a rite that has become a centerpiece of the country’s annual commemoration for the 6 million Jews killed in the genocide. The ceremony, known as Every Person Has a Name, tries to personalize the stories of individuals, families and communities destroyed during the war.
NATO – Radio Free Europe reported: NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called on Russia and China to help fund Afghan security after 2014, when international troops are due to leave the country. Rasmussen was speaking at a press conference in Brussels after a meeting between NATO ministers and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who reportedly did not respond to Rasmussen’s request. Rasmussen said Russia had offered the use of a new transit route, which will allow ISAF to send supplies in and out of Afghanistan using both the Russian rail network and air transport. During the meeting, Lavrov repeated Russian objections to NATO’s planned European missile-defense project, saying it could tipped the balance of power between itself and the United States in NATO’S favor.
Afghanistan – RTT NEWS reported: The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Thursday that one of its helicopters crashed in southern Afghanistan. “The crash site is secured; the cause is under investigation. Additional information will be released as appropriate,” ISAF said in a statement posted on its website on Thursday, without disclosing further details. Nevertheless, media reports citing unnamed officials suggested that the aircraft that crashed was a Black Hawk helicopter. At least six people, thought to be Americans, were on board the chopper when it went down, the report added. It is not clear whether any of the occupants survived the crash. Although officials are yet to rule out enemy fire as a possible cause for the crash, they are mainly blaming it on poor weather conditions.
Iraq – The Detroit Free Press reported: Bombs ripped through 10 Iraqi cities Thursday, killing at least 30 people and shattering a month of relative calm. Minority lawmakers decried the violence as a tragic but inevitable result of the Shi’ite-led government’s attempts to dominate Iraqi politics. Despite simmering sectarian tensions, a lull in deadly attacks since mid-March led many to hope that Iraq had turned a corner. That proved overly optimistic as at least 14 bombs and mortar shells exploded across 10 cities during three hours in the morning. At least 117 people were wounded, police said. “What crime have we committed? How long will such violence continue?” wailed a woman, who would identify herself by only her nickname of Um Ali, after watching a car explode outside an apartment building. “This is security in Iraq,” a man nearby said.
20 April 2012
France – The Montreal Gazette reported: Socialist presidential front-runner François Hollande appealed to French voters to throw out conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and shun the far right in a final push for working-class votes before Sunday’s first round of the election. As Sarkozy headed on Friday to the Mediterranean resort of Nice, where the far right enjoys strong support, Hollande urged those angry over unemployment and economic gloom and tempted by National Front leader Marine Le Pen to listen to him instead. In the industrial northeast, Hollande spoke of hardships: “This is a region that put its faith in Nicolas Sarkozy, who came here making speeches on industry, jobs, workers. Everybody can see the scale of the disappointment,” he said. “There is an anger which must not fan a shift to the extreme right,” he told reporters in the town of Vitry-le-François.
Egypt – The Boston Globe reported: Tens of thousands of Egyptians packed into central Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday in a collective spasm of last-minute anxiety that Egypt’s ruling generals might be trying to sabotage the transition to civilian democracy just as the presidential election is set to begin next month. The crowd was as large as almost any that gathered in Tahrir Square since the protests that forced out former President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. Even more unusual in the increasingly polarized political climate, Islamists, liberals, and leftists all found common ground on at least one front: to demand the generals who took power with Mubarak’s ouster finally give it up. The catalysts for the protest were the military-led government’s management of the early stages of the election and in particular the selection of the candidates. In the past two weeks, Mubarak’s former spy chief, Omar Suleiman, launched a short-lived campaign from inside the office of the intelligence services that triggered fears of a plot to restore the old order.
Myanmar – The Washington Post reported: The increasingly enthusiastic love affair between Myanmar and the West is about to heat up further with the European Union’s expected announcement that it is easing sanctions on the Southeast Asian nation. But not everyone is caught up in the euphoria. Many human rights groups are urging the West to move slowly as it re-engages with Myanmar, saying the country’s partial return to democracy is not cause for celebration. Myanmar’s elected rulers today are the same men who just two years ago led a military government condemned as tyrannical by much of the world for jailing more than 2,000 political prisoners, conducting brutal counterinsurgency wars against ethnic minorities and failing to hand over power to a democratically elected government. The United States and the European Union ostracized the junta with sanctions, barring much investment, blocking international financial transactions and rejecting imports from Myanmar — all of which served to stunt economic development. A dodgy 2010 election giving the army and its allies about 85 percent of the seats in parliament promised more of the same.
North Korea – The Agence France Presse reported: North Korea has apparently completed preparations for a third nuclear test, possibly within two weeks, after firing a long-range rocket this month, according to a newspaper report. South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo said the information came from a government source. It relates to preparations for a test in the northeastern town of Punggye-ri, where the North carried out two previous nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. A defence ministry spokesman declined to comment on the report. A South Korean government official told AFP on April 8 on condition of anonymity that satellite images showed a new underground tunnel built at the nuclear test site besides two others where the previous tests were conducted. “Heaps of earth and sand which had been piled up outside the new tunnel have disappeared,” a government source was quoted as saying by Chosun.
Yemeni – ABC NEWS reported: Yemeni officials say their troops are fighting al-Qaida militants in a strategic southern city, and that 19 people have been killed so far. Yemeni military officials say government forces Saturday liberated the eastern part of Zinjibar from al-Qaida-linked fighters. The group took control of the city as well as other territory during last year’s uprising by Yemenis against the former president. The new Yemeni government has been trying to displace al-Qaida from these towns and cities. A medical official said 12 al-Qaida militants and seven troops died in the clashes. The militants turned a kindergarten in the nearby town of Jaar into a field hospital to treat their injured. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
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