Greece: Sektor AWAM tidak lagi BESAR . . .

Patung-patung purba Yunani ahli falsafah Plato, depan dan dewi Athena dirangka langit biru yang jelas di Athens Akademi Jumaat 6 DIS 2013. Kerajaan sedang berjuang untuk memuktamadkan perjanjian baru dengan pemberi pinjaman antarabangsa diperlukan untuk menerima bayaran pinjaman menyelamat yang berterusan. Perunding dari Kesatuan Eropah dan Tabung Kewangan Antarabangsa ditangguhkan lawatan ke Athens minggu ini, tetapi pegawai-pegawai kerajaan menegaskan proses itu akan dimuktamadkan pada akhir bulan ini. (Photo AP – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Tq2u2 - ATHENS, Greece (AP) Greece tidak lagi mempunyai terlalu banyak kakitangan awam dan berhampiran dengan mencapai sasaran pengurangan kakitangan yang dituntut oleh pemberi pinjaman bailout 2 tahun sebelum tarikh akhir, kerajaan itu hari ini.

Menteri Reformasi Pentadbiran Kyriakos Mitsotakis juga menegaskan bahawa disela-matkan negara anggota zon euro beliau adalah di ambang pemulihan. Bilangan pekerja di dalam senarai gaji negeri telah dikurangkan dari 913,000 pada akhir tahun 2009 kepada 681392 pada Nov 30, dengan perbelanjaan tahunan kos upah dikurangkan seban-yak hanya lebih satu 1/3, kata kerajaan.

Sektor sekali besar awam Greece - kira-kira 20 % peratus daripada pekerjaan di negara ini sebelum krisis - dan kawalan perbelanjaan longgar sering dinamakan sebab utama untuk kegawatan kewangan negara dan bailout antarabangsa.

Pinjaman Penyelamat dari negara Zon Euro yang lain dan Dana Kewangan Antarabangsa membantu Greece mengelak muflis selepas ia kehilangan akses pasaran pada tahun 2010. Sebagai syarat untuk menerima € 240 billion euros (US $ 328 bilion) dalam pakej bailout, Greece bersetuju untuk mengurangkan bilangan orang di dalam senarai gaji negeri ini dengan 150,000 pada akhir tahun 2015.

“Realiti yang ditunjukkan oleh data yang tidak dikenali oleh orang ramai dan pemiutang kami,” kata Mitsotakis. “Cabaran utama bagi 2014 adalah peralihan daripada sasaran kuantitatif kepada yang kualitatif . . . Masalah dengan sektor awam, tidak kini bahawa ia terlalu besar, tetapi bahawa itu tidak berkesan.”

Beliau berkata demikian semasa perbahasan di parlimen untuk bajet 2014 berakhir dengan undi tengah malam Sabtu. Greece adalah berjuang untuk melengkapkan pusingan terbaru rundingan dengan pemberi pinjaman bailout, dengan kadar potongan kakitangan antara isu yang perlu diselesaikan dan akhirnya membolehkan Greece layak untuk jangka panjang hutang - bantuan daripada pemiutangnya.

Kerajaan meramalkan pulangan sederhana kepada pertumbuhan tahun depan selepas kemelesetan 6 tahun yang dipadamkan lebih daripada satu perlima daripada keluaran dan meninggalkan hutang negara pada kira-kira 175 % peratus daripada keluaran dalam negara kasar.

Seorang jurucakap parti pembangkang utama, Syriza  menyifatkan bajet 2014 sebagai “jenayah,” menyatakan pemotongan berterusan dalam perbelanjaan kerajaan ke atas kesihatan dan perkhidmatan lain. “Anda hanya kebimbangan adalah untuk membayar balik hutang tanpa sebarang kelewatan, semasa anda terus untuk melakukan jenayah terhadap orang awam,” kata ahli parlimen Panagiotis Lafazanis.

“Memanjang syarat pembayaran balik hutang dan mengurangkan faedah yang selan-jutnya tidak akan berfungsi. Satu-satunya cara negara ini akan bernafas lagi ialah jika sebahagian besar hutang telah dibatalkan,” katanya.

Seseorang yang tiada rumah-tangga tidur di dalam kotak di Athens, Jumaat 6 Disember, 2013. Kerajaan Greek berjuang untuk memuktamadkan perjanjian baru dengan pemberi pinjaman antarabangsa diperlukan untuk menerima bayaran pinjaman menyelamat yang berterusan. Perunding dari Kesatuan Eropah dan Tabung Kewangan Antarabangsa ditangguhkan lawatan ke Athens minggu ini, tetapi pegawai-pegawai kerajaan menegaskan proses itu akan dimuktamadkan pada akhir bulan ini. (Photo AP – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Greece: Public sector no longer too large

ATHENS, Greece (AP) Greece no longer has too many public servants and is close to reaching staff reduction targets demanded by bailout lenders two years before the deadline, the government said Friday.

Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also insisted that his bailed out eurozone member country is on the brink of recovery. The number of workers on the state payroll has been slashed from 913,000 at the end of 2009 to 681,392 on Nov. 30, with annual spending on wage costs reduced by just over one-third, the government said.

Greece's once massive public sector - about 20 percent of all jobs in the country before the crisis - and lax spending controls are often cited as key reasons for the nation's financial turmoil and international bailout.

Rescue loans from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund helped Greece dodge bankruptcy after it lost market access in 2010. As a condition to receiving 240 billion euros ($328 billion) in the bailout packages, Greece agreed to reduce the number of people on the state payroll by 150,000 by the end of 2015.

"The reality shown by the data is not widely known by the public and our creditors," Mitsotakis said. "The main challenge for 2014 is the shift from quantitative targets to qualitative ones. . . .  The problem with the public sector, now, isn't that it's too large, but that it's ineffective."

He made the remarks during a debate in parliament for the 2014 budget to end with a midnight vote Saturday. Greece is struggling to complete its latest round of negotiations with bailout lenders, with the pace of staff cuts among the issues that must be resolved and ultimately allow Greece to qualify for long term debt-relief from its creditors.

The government is predicting a modest return to growth next year after a six-year recession that erased more than a fifth of its output and left the national debt at around 175 percent of its gross domestic product.

A spokesman for the main opposition party, Syriza, described the 2014 budget as a "crime," noting continued cuts in government spending on health and other services. "You're only concern is to repay debts without any delay, while you continue to commit a crime against the public," lawmaker Panagiotis Lafazanis said.

"Lengthening debt repayment terms and reducing the interest further will not work. The only way the country will breathe again is if a large part of its debt is canceled," he said.

Polis Greece tembak Gas pemedih mata pada 

pelajar penunjuk perasaan . . .

Tq2u2 - Polis Yunani tembak gas pemedih mata pada membantah pelajar di Athens semasa perarakan menandakan ulang tahun 2008 remaja ditembak oleh pegawai polis. (Greek police fire tear gas at student protesters. Greek police fire tear gas at protesting students in Athens during march marking anniversary of the 2008 shooting of teenager by police officer).

AP NewsBreak: YAMAN berkata SAUDI di belakang SERANGAN . . .

Peta menempatkan serangan di Sanaa, Yaman. 2c x 5 inci; 96.3 mm x 127 mm  (Map locates attack in Sanaa, Yemen.; 2c x 5 inches; 96.3 mm x 127 mm (Photo AP – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Tq2u2 - ADEN,  Yaman (AP) militan Arab di belakang pengeboman kereta besar-besaran dan serangan ke atas ibu pejabat tentera Yaman yang mengorbankan lebih daripada 50 orang, termasuk orang asing, penyiasat berkata dalam satu laporan awal yang dikeluarkan Jumaat. Al-Qaeda mendakwa bertanggungjawab bagi serangan itu, berkata ia adalah tindakan balas terhadap serangan Drone Amerika Syarikat yang telah membunuh ramai pemimpin rang-kaian pengganas itu.

Serangan itu - yang dahsyat di Sanaa sejak Mei 2012 - menandakan peningkatan dalam pertempuran rangkaian keganasan untuk menjejaskan kerajaan Amerika Syarikat - bersekutu dan menjejaskan kestabilan negara Arab yang miskin walaupun serangan Drone dan satu siri serangan tentera yang disokong terhadapnya. Tentera Amerika Syarikat juga telah berlatih dan melengkapkan pasukan khas Yaman, dan bertukar-tukar perisikan dengan kerajaan pusat.

Penyiasat tentera digambarkan operasi 2 peringkat, dengan berkata militan bersenjata memakai pakaian seragam tentera pertama meletupkan kereta dipenuhi dengan 500 kilogram (lebih daripada £ 1,100) bahan letupan berhampiran sebuah pintu masuk, kemudiannya berpecah kepada kumpulan-kumpulan yang melanda sebuah hospital tentera dan makmal, menembak askar, doktor, jururawat, doktor dan pesakit.

Pegawai sebelum ini berkata 11 militan terbunuh termasuk penyerang berani mati yang memandu kereta. Ia tidak jelas jika penyerang ke-12 telah ditangkap atau melarikan diri. Jawatankuasa penyiasatan yang diketuai oleh Yaman Ketua Staf Jeneral Ahmed al-Ashwal Ada laporan mengatakan ditembak pengawal di luar pintu-pintu hospital tentera, yang membolehkan penyerang berani mati untuk memandu kereta di dalamnya, tetapi Gunfight yang memaksa dia untuk meledakkan bahan letupan di hadapan mencapai sasarannya. Ia berkata 12 militan terbunuh, termasuk Saudi.

2 orang pegawai tentera memberitahu Associated Press bahawa tentera yang cedera telah memberitahu mereka penyerang yang menyerbu hospital dipisahkan orang asing dan menembak semua orang di kepala. Pegawai-pegawai tentera yang lain berkata ejen keselamatan Amerika telah membantu dengan siasatan, tetapi itu tidak dapat disahkan. Semua pegawai berbicara dengan syarat tanpa nama kerana mereka tidak dibenarkan untuk memberi taklimat kepada pemberita.

Komando Yaman dan pasukan keselamatan lain mengepung militan sebelum mereka boleh mencapai bangunan utama kementerian itu, menghalang mereka daripada pergi lebih jauh daripada pintu masuk kementerian itu. Semua penyerang dibunuh oleh 16:30 Khamis, menurut jawatankuasa itu.

Pasukan keselamatan Yaman telah melancarkan pemburuan orang yang di ibu negara untuk mencari pelaku, mencetuskan gunbattles yang mengorbankan 5 militan disyaki dan komando Yaman, kata pegawai. Jawatankuasa, yang menghantar laporan kepada Presiden Yaman Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, tidak menjelaskan bagaimana ia datang kepada kesimpulan Laporan itu dibacakan di TV negeri dan salinan telah diperolehi oleh Associated Press. Hadi bertemu hari Jumaat dengan utusan PBB ke Yaman Jamal Benomar untuk membincangkan serangan itu. Beliau berkata bahawa “beberapa penyerang telah ditangkap,” tanpa menerangkan lebih lanjut. Beliau menambah bahawa “penjenayah tidak akan terlepas keadilan.”

Laporan itu juga menaikkan jumlah kematian kepada 56 dan berkata lebih 200 orang cedera. Orang asing terbunuh termasuk dua pekerja bantuan dari Jerman, 2 doktor dari Vietnam, 2 jururawat dari Filipina dan seorang jururawat dari India, menurut Suruhan-jaya Keselamatan Tertinggi Yaman.

Tetapi jurucakap Bahagian di Filipina Luar Negeri, Raul Hernandez, berkata Jumaat bahawa 7 rakyat Filipina terbunuh dalam serangan itu, termasuk seorang doktor dan juru-rawat, manakala 11 yang lain cedera. Mangsa-mangsa adalah antara 40 pekerja Filipina di hospital. Hernandez berkata konsul kehormat di Filipina dilaporkan bahawa orang lain terselamat dengan berpura-pura mati.

Ia tidak segera mungkin untuk mendamaikan akaun bercanggah. Tetapi pegawai-pegawai dari hospital tentera berkata Jumaat bahawa sekurang-kurangnya 10 orang warga asing telah dibunuh. Jurucakap Kementerian Luar Jerman Martin Schaefer juga mengumumkan Jumaat bahawa pekerja Jerman kumpulan bantuan melakukan kerja bagi pihak kerajaan Jerman telah diarahkan untuk meninggalkan Yaman “secepat mungkin” dan “sehingga diberitahu kelak.”

Schafer juga berkata Kedutaan Jerman akan terus beroperasi dengan kakitangan diku-rangkan dan “langkah-langkah keselamatan yang sepadan.” Al-Qaeda di Semenanjung Arab, sebagai kumpulan yang diketahui, adalah hasil dari penggabungan oleh cawangan Yaman dan Arab kumpulan itu selepas tindakan keras dalam kerajaan jiran yang berkuasa. Di kalangan pemimpin adalah satu lagi Arab, Ibrahim al-Asiri. Serangan berdengung dan perbalahan melalui tentera yang bermula pada bulan Jun 2012 telah didorong militan dari selatan kubu kuat mereka telah merampas tahun sebelumnya, semasa kegawatan politik Yaman di tengah-tengah Spring Arab.

Lengan media AQAP, al-Mallahem, berkata pada akaun Twitter pada Jumaat bahawa ia telah mensasarkan bangunan Kementerian Pertahanan kerana ianya “menempatkan bilik kawalan Drone dan pakar-pakar Amerika.” Ia berkata ibu pejabat keselamatan yang digunakan oleh Amerika dalam peperangan mereka adalah “sasaran yang sah.”

Amerika Syarikat menganggap Yaman cawangan al-Qaeda untuk menjadi yang paling aktif di DUNIA dan ia telah meningkat serangan berdengung terhadap militan di Yaman, membunuh ramai pemimpin militan, termasuk No 2 angka kumpulan Saeed al-Shihri, Saudi yang telah mati akibat luka yang dialami dalam serangan pada November 2012.

Asap naik selepas letupan di kompleks Kementerian Pertahanan di Sanaa, Yaman, KHAMIS, 5 DISEMBER, 2013. Tentera dan pegawai hospital di Yaman berkata letupan besar di Kompleks Kementerian Pertahanan di tengah-tengah ibu negara, Sanaa, telah cedera puluhan orang, ramai daripadanya yang parah.  (Smoke rises after an explosion at the Defense Ministry complex in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013. Military and hospital officials in Yemen said a large explosion at the Defense Ministry complex in the center of the capital, Sanaa, has wounded tens of people, many of them seriously. (Photo AP – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Kawah dan kenderaan rosak selepas letupan di kompleks Kementerian Pertahanan di Sanaa, Yaman, Khamis, 5 Disember, 2013. Seorang pengebom berani mati meletupkan beliau kereta bahan sarat-letupan Khamis di Kementerian Pertahanan Yaman, membunuh tentera lebih dari sedozen dan mencederakan sekurang-kurangnya 40 dalam serangan menekankan ancaman yang berterusan kepada kestabilan dan keselamatan negara Arab yang miskin, kata pegawai tentera dan hospital. Photo AP – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Kenderaan rosak selepas letupan di kompleks Kementerian Pertahanan di Sanaa, Yaman, Khamis 5 Disember, 2013. Seorang pengebom berani mati meletupkan kereta beliau bahan sarat-letupan Khamis di Kementerian Pertahanan Yaman, membunuh tentera lebih dari sedozen dan mencederakan sekurang-kurangnya 40 dalam serangan menekankan ancaman yang berterusan kepada kestabilan dan keselamatan negara Arab yang miskin, kata pegawai tentera dan hospital. (Photo AP – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Dalam foto ini disediakan oleh Kementerian Pertahanan Yaman, pasukan keselamatan adalah di tempat kejadian selepas letupan di kompleks Kementerian Pertahanan di Sanaa, Yaman, Khamis Disember 5, 2013. Sebuah kereta pengebom berani mati melanda Yaman Kementerian Pertahanan Khamis, membunuh tentera lebih dari sedozen dan membuka jalan bagi segerobak lelaki bersenjata memakai pakaian seragam tentera untuk menyerang kawasan yang dikawal ketat di ibu negara Sanaa, kata pegawai tentera dan hospital. (Photo AP – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Pasukan keselamatan di tempat kejadian selepas letupan di kompleks Kementerian Pertahanan di Sanaa, Yaman, KHAMIS, 5 Disember, 2013. Sebuah kereta berani mati pengebom melanda Yaman Kementerian Pertahanan Khamis, membunuh tentera lebih dari sedozen dan membuka jalan bagi segerobak lelaki bersenjata memakai pakaian seragam tentera untuk menyerang kawasan yang dikawal ketat di ibu negara Sanaa, kata pegawai tentera dan hospital. (Photo AP – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Kerosakan berat selepas letupan di kompleks Kementerian Pertahanan di Sanaa, Yaman, khamis 5 Disember, 2013. Sebuah kereta pengebom berani mati melanda Yaman Kementerian Pertahanan Khamis, membunuh tentera lebih dari sedozen dan membuka jalan bagi segerobak lelaki bersenjata memakai pakaian seragam tentera untuk menyerang kawasan yang dikawal ketat di ibu negara Sanaa, kata pegawai tentera dan hospital. (Photo AP – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Kenderaan rosak selepas letupan di kompleks Kementerian Pertahanan di Sanaa, Yaman, Khamis 5 Disember, 2013. Seorang pengebom berani mati meletupkan kereta beliau bahan sarat-letupan Khamis di Kementerian Pertahanan Yaman, membunuh tentera lebih dari sedozen dan mencederakan sekurang-kurangnya 40 dalam serangan menekankan ancaman yang berterusan kepada kestabilan dan keselamatan negara Arab yang miskin, kata pegawai tentera dan hospital. (Photo AP – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Paramedik memuatkan mangsa ke dalam ambulans selepas letupan di kompleks Kementerian Pertahanan di Sanaa, Yaman, Khamis 5 Disember, 2013. Sebuah kereta pengebom berani mati melanda Yaman Kementerian Pertahanan Khamis, membunuh tentera lebih dari sedozen dan membuka jalan bagi segerobak lelaki bersenjata memakai pakaian seragam tentera untuk menyerang kawasan yang dikawal ketat di ibu negara Sanaa, kata pegawai tentera dan hospital. (Photo AP – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Dalam foto ini disediakan oleh Kementerian Pertahanan Yaman, Presiden Yaman Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, (tengah) mendengar kepada komander tentera di Kompleks Kementerian Pertahanan selepas letupan di kompleks itu di Sanaa, Yaman, KHAMIS, 5 Disember, 2013. Seorang pengebom berani mati meletupkan kereta beliau bahan letupan-sarat Khamis di Kementerian Pertahanan Yaman, membunuh tentera lebih dari sedozen dan mencederakan sekurang-kurangnya 40 dalam serangan menekankan ancaman yang berterusan kepada kestabilan dan keselamatan negara Arab yang miskin, kata pegawai tentera dan hospital. (Photo AP – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

AP NewsBreak: Yemen says SAUDIs behind Attack

ADEN, Yemen (AP) Saudi militants were behind the massive car bombing and assault on Yemen's military headquarters that killed more than 50 people, including foreigners, investigators said in a preliminary report released Friday. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was retaliation for U.S. drone strikes that have killed dozens of the terror network's leaders.

The attack - the deadliest in Sanaa since May 2012 - marked an escalation in the terror network's battle to undermine the U.S.-allied government and destabilize the impoverished Arab nation despite the drone strikes and a series of U.S.-backed military offensive against it. U.S. forces also have been training and arming Yemeni special forces, and exchanging intelligence with the central government.

Military investigators described a two-stage operation, saying heavily armed militants wearing army uniforms first blew up a car packed with 500 kilograms (more than 1,100 pounds) of explosives near an entrance gate, then split into groups that swept through a military hospital and a laboratory, shooting at soldiers, doctors, nurses, doctors and patients.

Officials earlier said 11 militants were killed, including the suicide bomber who drove the car. It was not clear if the 12th attacker was captured or escaped. The investigative committee led by Yemen's Chief of Staff Gen. Ahmed al-Ashwal, said militants shot the guards outside the gates of the military hospital, allowing the suicide bomber to drive the car inside, but a gunfight forced him to detonate his explosives before reaching his target. It said the 12 militants killed, included Saudis.

Two military officials told The Associated Press that wounded soldiers had told them the assailants who stormed the hospital separated out the foreigners and shot everybody in the head. Other military officials said American security agents were helping with the investigations, but that could not be confirmed. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to brief reporters.

Yemeni commandos and other security forces besieged the militants before they could reach the ministry's main building, preventing them from going further than the ministry's entrance gate. All the attackers were killed by 4:30 p.m. Thursday, according to the committee.

Yemeni security forces launched a manhunt in the capital to find the perpetrators, sparking gunbattles that killed five suspected militants and a Yemeni commando, officials said. The committee, which sent its report to Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, did not explain how it came to its conclusions The report was read on state TV and a copy was obtained by The Associated Press. Hadi met Friday with the U.N. envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar to discuss the attack. He said that "a number of assailants have been arrested," without elaborating. He added that the "criminals will not escape justice."

The report also raised the death toll to 56 and said more than 200 people were wounded. The foreigners killed included two aid workers from Germany, two doctors from Vietnam, two nurses from the Philippines and a nurse from India, according to Yemen's Supreme Security Commission.

But a spokesman for the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs, Raul Hernandez, said Friday that seven Filipinos were killed in the attack, including a doctor and nurses, while 11 others were wounded. The victims were among 40 Filipino workers in the hospital. Hernandez said that the Philippines' honorary consul reported that the others survived by pretending to be dead.

It was not immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting accounts. But officials from the military hospital said Friday that at least 10 foreigners had been killed. Germany's foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer also announced Friday that German employees of aid groups doing work on behalf of the German government have been ordered to leave Yemen "as quickly as possible" and "until further notice."

Schafer also said the German embassy will continue to operate with reduced staff and "corresponding security measures." Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the group is known, is the product of a merger by the group's Yemeni and Saudi branches after a crackdown in the powerful neighboring kingdom. Among its leaders is another Saudi, Ibrahim al-Asiri. The drone strikes and military offensives that began in June 2012 have driven militants from southern strongholds they had seized a year earlier, during Yemen's political turmoil amid the Arab Spring.

AQAP's media arm, al-Mallahem, said on its Twitter account Friday that it had targeted the Defense Ministry building because it "accommodates drone control rooms and American experts." It said security headquarters used by the Americans in their war are "legitimate targets."

The United States considers the Yemeni al-Qaida branch to be the most active in the world and it has escalated drone attacks against the militants in Yemen, killing many militant leaders, including the group's No. 2 figure Saeed al-Shihri, a Saudi who was died of wounds sustained in a strike in November 2012.

Associated Press writer Maggie Michael in Cairo contributed to this report.

YEMEN berkata SAUDI di sebalik Serangan pengganas

Tq2u2 - Yemen berkata, kebanyakan militan di sebalik serangan Khamis pada Kementerian Pertahanan adalah warga Saudi. Satu laporan awal oleh penyiasat tentera berkata terdapat kira-kira 12 penyerang, dan kesemua mereka telah terbunuh. Ia menambah bahawa jawatan-kuasa siasatan masih bekerja pada mendapatkan lebih banyak maklumat mengenai penye-rang dan matlamat mereka.

Pada hari Khamis, lelaki bersenjata dalam pakaian seragam tentera melepaskan temba-kan di tentera menjaga salah satu hospital di dalam kawasan tentera selepas meletupkan kereta dipenuhi dengan bahan letupan.

Serangan itu meninggalkan 56 orang terbunuh dan lebih 200 yang tercedera. Antara yang terbunuh ialah pegawai perubatan dari Jerman, Vietnam, India, dan Filipina. Sekumpulan militan bergabung dengan al-Qaeda telah mendakwa bertanggungjawab bagi serangan itu.

 Yemen Says Saudis behind terrorist Attack

Yemen says most of the militants behind the Thursday attack on its Defense Ministry were Saudi nationals. A preliminary report by military investigators says there were about 12 attackers, and all of them were killed. It added that the investigation committee is still working on acquiring more information about the attackers and their goals. 

On Thursday, gunmen in army uniforms opened fire at soldiers guarding one of the hospitals inside the military compound after blowing up a car packed with explosives.

The attack left 56 people killed and over two-hundred wounded. Among the dead were medics from Germany, Vietnam, India, and the Philippines. A militant group affiliated to al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the attack.

‘Jangan sekali-kali naik kapal terbang lagi’: Jet Jumbo akan membatalkan pendaratan yang didera ribut Angin Silang UK (VIDEO)

AFP Photo/Marwan Naamani (think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Tq2u2 - Beberapa kapal terbang di seluruh Britain terpaksa membatalkan pendaratan dan diarahkan semula ke lapangan terbang lain 100 mph angin mendatangkan mala-petaka di negara ini, memaksa beratus-ratus penerbangan ditunda. Rakaman dramatik pendaratan gagal Boeing - 777 muncul dalam talian.

Rakaman amatur telah muncul seorang Emirates Boeing - 777 dari Dubai cuba mendarat angin silang di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Birmingham pada hari Khamis, sebelum menarik diri pada saat-saat akhir.

“Seperti yang kita datang ke arah bandar, pesawat bergoncang dalam perjalanan ke bawah . Kita boleh lihat dari dalam penerbangan monitor yang pesawat itu hanyut ke kiri seperti yang kita telah mendarat,” penumpang Kevon Miller memberitahu Birmingham Mail.

“Apabila pesawat itu mula berlegar kembali dari pendaratan, kita fikir perintis itu adalah separuh tidur dan hilang kawalan !” Kata penumpang lain, Muhammad Zulfiqar.

‘Never getting on a plane again’: Jumbo jet aborts cross wind landing in storm battered UK (VIDEO)

Several planes across Britain have been forced to abort landings and redirected to other airports as 100 mph winds wreaked havoc on the country, forcing hundreds of flights to be delayed. Dramatic footage of a Boeing-777 failed landing appeared online.

Amateur footage has emerged of an Emirates Boeing-777 from Dubai attempting a crosswind landing at Birmingham International Airport on Thursday, before pulling away at the last moment.

“As we came towards the city, the plane was shaking on the way down. We could see from the in-flight monitors that the plane was drifting to the left as we were landing,” passenger Kevon Miller told the Birmingham Mail.

“When the plane started hovering back up from the landing, we thought the pilot was half-asleep and had lost control!” said another passenger, Muhammad Zulfiqar.

Pesawat itu cuba untuk pergi lebih sekitar, tetapi terpaksa dibawa ke lapangan terbang Gatwick, di mana penumpang menunggu di dalam, sebelum angin hilang secukupnya untuk pesawat untuk membuat satu lagi, berjaya, mendarat di Birmingham.

“Jangan sekali-kali naik kapal terbang lagi. Sepenuhnya di atas mahu menangis,” Miller disiarkan di Instagram.

2 penerbangan EasyJet ditakdirkan untuk Edinburgh juga dialihkan. Laluan dari Bristol terpaksa membuat singgah di Newcastle, dan dilanda kilat kerana ia cuba mendarat, dan jet lain terpaksa mendarat di Glasgow.

Penumpang dalam kebanyakan lapangan terbang di seluruh utara negara dan Scotland dinasihatkan untuk sentiasa memeriksa kemas kini status penerbangan berubah dari jam ke jam.

The plane attempted to more go-arounds, but had to be redirected to Gatwick airport, where passengers waited inside, before winds died down sufficiently for the plane to make another, successful, landing in Birmingham

"Never getting on a plane again. Full on wanted to cry," Miller posted on Instagram.

Two EasyJet flights destined for Edinburgh were also diverted. A route from Bristol had to make a stopover at Newcastle, and was hit by lightning as it tried to land, and another jet had to land in Glasgow.

Passengers in most airports around the north of the country and Scotland are advised to constantly check updates as flight status is changing from hour to hour.

READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/1pbd0t

9 yang mati, RIBUAN yang TERJEJAS kerana RIBUT Xaver MENYAPU timur di SELURUH Eropah . . .

Laut melanda jalan2 Harbour banjir di Helsingborg, selatan Sweden, pada 6 Disember 2013 sebagai ribut Xaver melanda selatan Sweden pada malam Khamis.  (The sea hits the flooded Harbour Road in Helsingborg, southern Sweden, on December 6, 2013 as storm Xaver hit southern Sweden on Thursday night (AFP Photo/TT News Agency/Johan Nilsson/Sweden out – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Tq2u2 - Beratus-ratus ribu orang telah ditinggalkan tanpa kuasa atau terdampar oleh huru-hara pengangkutan sebagai ribut Xaver melanda seluruh Eropah utara. Sekurang-kurangnya 9 orang terbunuh dalam bencana itu.

Perkhidmatan kecemasan di seluruh rantau ini berjuang semalaman untuk memaksakan daik kurang tajam, mengosongkan kawasan pelabuhan banjir dan membaiki kerosakan daripada pokok-pokok digulingkan yang terhempas ke rumah-rumah, jalan raya dan talian kuasa.

Ribut Atlantik Xaver melanda ke utara Eropah lewat hari Khamis selepas mengganggu pengangkutan dan kuasa di utara Britain di mana 2 orang telah mati. Angin sehingga 158 kilometer sejam berlaras di seluruh Jerman, Belanda, Poland dan bahagian selatan Scandinavia.

Blackouts melanda 400,000 rumah di Poland dan terjejas 50,000 orang di Sweden, manakala beribu-ribu penumpang udara terkandas sebagai penerbangan dibatalkan di Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Gdansk dan lapangan terbang lain, AFP melaporkan.

9 dead, thousands affected as Storm Xaver Sweeps 

East Across Europe . . .

Hundreds of thousands have been left without power or stranded by transportation chaos as the storm Xaver is sweeping across northern Europe. At least nine people have died in the disaster.

Emergency services across the region battled overnight to sandbag sodden dykes, evacuate flooded harbor areas and repair damage from toppled trees that crashed onto houses, roads and power lines.

Atlantic storm Xaver swept into northern Europe late Thursday after disrupting transport and power in northern Britain where two people have died. The winds of up to 158 kilometers per hour barreled across Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and southern parts of Scandinavia.

Blackouts hit 400,000 homes in Poland and affected 50,000 people in Sweden, while thousands of air passengers were stranded as flights were canceled at Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Gdansk and other airports, AFP reports.

Kereta terkandas di dalam kesesakan lalu lintas semasa salji berat turun di Olpe, Jerman, pada 6 Disember 2013. (Cars stand in a traffic jam during heavy snow falls in Olpe, Germany, on December 6, 2013. (AFP Photo/DPA/Marius Becker/Germany out – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Di bandar Poland Poraj, dahan pokok yang besar telah tumbang ke kereta2 dengan angin yang kuat Jumaat. 3 orang terbunuh dan satu cedera dalam kemalangan itu, Reuters melaporkan. Bencana, dianggap ribut paling teruk untuk memukul benua dalam beberapa dekad, juga membunuh dua orang dan mencederakan berpuluh-puluh di UK sebagai angin mencapai kelajuan maksimum 225 kilometer sejam.

Seorang pemandu lori mati apabila kenderaannya terbalik, dengan lelaki lain yang terbunuh oleh pokok yang tumbang. Kira-kira 10,000 rakyat Britain telah dipindahkan dari rumah mereka di kawasan pantai timur rendah pada hari Khamis, dengan pihak berkuasa memberi amaran bahawa bahaya masih belum berlalu lagi.

UK sedang menghadapi lonjakan pasang surut yang paling serius untuk lebih daripada 60 tahun sebagai paras laut di beberapa kawasan melebihi mereka semasa banjir dahsyat tahun 1953, yang menyaksikan lebih 300 terbunuh.

In the Polish town of Poraj, the branch of a huge tree was thrown into a car by a strong wind Friday. Three people were killed and one injured in the accident, Reuters reports. The disaster, considered the worst storm to hit the continent in decades, also killed two people and injured dozens in the UK as winds reached maximum speeds of 225 kilometers per hour.

A truck driver died when his vehicle overturned, with another man being killed by a falling tree. Around 10,000 Britons were evacuated from their homes in low-lying east coast areas on Thursday, with the authorities warning that the danger hasn’t passed yet.

The UK is facing the most serious tidal surge for more than 60 years as sea levels in some areas exceed those during the devastating floods of 1953, which saw over 300 killed.

Kakitangan perkhidmatan kecemasan berdiri di pantai berhampiran rumah chalet yang ditarik ke dalam ke laut semasa lonjakan pasang surut di Hemsby, di timur England, pada 6 Disember 2013. (Emergency services personnel stand on the beach near a chalet home that was drawn into th sea during a tidal surge at Hemsby, in the east of England, on December 6, 2013. (AFP Photo/Justin Tallis – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Beberapa rumah tepi pantai, pondok bot penyelamat dan kafe jatuh ke dalam laut yang berikut ribut di Norfolk, Daily Mail melaporkan. “Ia hanya berlaku dengan begitu pantas semalam. Satu minit ia adalah selamat dan minit seterusnya ia telah hilang,” Steven Connelly, pemilik rumah tepi pantai terjejas akibat ribut itu, memberitahu akhbar itu.

Pertahanan banjir didirikan di Britain selepas 1953 acara telah dilindungi lebih daripada 800,000 rumah, Owen Paterson, Setiausaha Alam Sekitar di UK, berkata selepas mesyuarat kerajaan darurat Jumaat. Di Denmark , seorang penumpang wanita berusia 72 tahun trak berkubur apabila kenderaan terbalik di lolongan angin.

Pengawal pantai Sweden sedang mencari laut selama 2 kelasi yang telah dibersihkan dari dek kargo kapal Belanda 22 kilometer, Laporan laman web tempatan.

Several beachside houses, a lifeboat hut and a cafe fell into the sea following the storm in Norfolk, the Daily Mail reports. “It just happened so fast yesterday. One minute it was safe and the next minute it was gone,” Steven Connelly, a beachside house owner affected by the storm, told the paper.

The flood defenses erected in Britain after the 1953 events had protected more than 800,000 homes, Owen Paterson, the UK’s Environment Secretary, said after an emergency government meeting Friday. In Denmark, a 72-year-old female passenger of a truck died when the vehicle overturned in howling winds.

Sweden’s coast guards are searching the sea for two sailors who were washed off the deck of a Dutch cargo ship 22 kilometers, The Local website reports.

Gelombang melanda depan laut pada 6 Disember 2013 di Raageleje, utara Copenhagen, sebagai ribut Haver melanda Denmark. (Waves hit the sea front on December 6, 2013 in Raageleje, north of Copenhagen, as storm Haver hits Denmark. (AFP Photo/Scanpix Denmark/Keld Navntoft/Denmark out – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

Beberapa lintasan feri ke dan dari Sweden telah dibatalkan, dengan keputusan yang dibuat untuk menghentikan kereta api di selatan negara ini. “Kami tidak mahu menghadapi risiko terhempas ke dalam terbang pokok di 160 kilometer sejam,” Linus Eriksson daripada Swedish perkhidmatan kereta api SJ memberitahu agensi berita TT. Sekurang-kurangnya satu orang telah mati di selatan negara ini selepas pokok jatuh dalam angin kencang.

Kira-kira 4,000 orang kekal tanpa kuasa di utara Jerman, dengan sekolah-sekolah ditutup dan kira-kira 70 penerbangan di lapangan terbang Hamburg dibatalkan. Pengendali kereta api di negara ini, Deutsche Bahn, berkata serpihan yang tersumbat garis kelajuan tinggi antara bandar-bandar terbesar di negara ini, Hamburg dan Berlin.

Air banjir di pelabuhan Hamburg meningkat kepada 6 meter di atas paras normal awal Jumaat, yang paling tinggi dalam beberapa dekad, kata pegawai-pegawai. Sementara itu, Xaver terus bergerak ke arah timur, dengan ribut amaran diisytiharkan di Kaliningrad, Rusia wilayah barat di pantai Laut Baltik.

Several ferry crossings to and from Sweden were canceled, with a decision made to halt trains in the south of the country. “We did not want to run the risk of crashing into a tree flying at 160 kilometers an hour,” Linus Eriksson from Swedish rail service SJ told the TT news agency. At least one person has already died in the south of the country after a tree fell in the fierce gusts of wind.

About 4,000 people remain without power in northern Germany, with schools closed and about 70 flights at Hamburg airport canceled. The country’s rail operator, Deutsche Bahn, said that the debris blocked a high-speed line between the country’s largest cities, Hamburg and Berlin.

Floodwaters in the port of Hamburg rose to 6 meters above normal levels early Friday, the highest in decades, the officials said. Meanwhile, Xaver continues moving eastward, with storm alert declared in Kaliningrad, the western Russian enclave on the coast of the Baltic Sea.

Sebuah bot terbaring sebelah, pada 6 Disember 2013 di Thorsminde Harbour, di pantai barat iin Jutland sebagai ribut Haver melanda Denmark. (A boat lying on the side, on December 6, 2013 in Thorsminde Harbour, on the west coast iin Jutland as storm Haver hits Denmark. (AFP Photo/Scanpix Denmark/Keld Navntoft/Denmark out – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

READ MORE:  http://on.rt.com/r9amiy

RIBUT  Xaver dilaporkan adalah Malapetaka yang 

BERBAHAYA di Seluruh EROPAH . . .

Tq2u2 - Angin taufan yang telah digulingkan pokok, koyak bumbung terbuka dan berbau malapetaka di seluruh Eropah utara. Di Poland, Ribut Xaver membunuh 3 orang dan men-cederakan lain apabila cawangan terputus ditiupkan ke atas dan menghancurkan kereta.

Angin kencang juga menjatuhkan garis elektrik, meninggalkan lebih daripada 100,000 orang tanpa kuasa. Syarikat penerbangan LOT Poland juga terpaksa membatalkan bebe-rapa penerbangan domestik dan Eropah kerana apa yang digambarkan sebagai, “peruba-han cuaca yang tidak dijangka.”

Sementara itu di Jerman kira-kira 4,000 orang di bahagian utara negara adalah tanpa kuasa. Sekolah-sekolah dan beberapa jalan raya ditutup, manakala kira-kira 70 penerban-gan keluar dari Hamburg dibatalkan.

Satu barisan kereta api berkelajuan tinggi antara Hamburg dan Berlin telah ditutup selepas ia menghalang oleh sampah-sarap di trek. Di Britain, beribu-ribu telah dipindah-kan berikutan lonjakan pasang surut - yang paling teruk dalam tempoh 60 tahun - di sepanjang pantai timur negara itu.

Storm Xaver reeks deadly havoc across Europe

Its hurricane force winds have toppled trees, torn open roofs and reeked havoc across northern Europe. In Poland, Storm Xaver killed three people and injured another when a severed branch was blown onto and crushed a car.

High winds also downed electricity lines, leaving more than 100,000 people without power. The Polish airline LOT was also forced to cancel some domestic and European flights due to what was described as, "unexpected weather changes."

Meanwhile in Germany about 4,000 people in the north of country were without power. Schools and some roads were closed, while about 70 flights out of Hamburg were cancelled. 

A high-speed rail line between Hamburg and Berlin was closed after it was blocked by falling debris on the tracks. In Britain, thousands were evacuated due to a tidal surge - the worst in 60 years - along the east coast of the country.

Lonjakan pasang surut paling teruk dalam tempoh 60 tahun 

adunan pantai timur UK dan seret rumah ke laut . . .

Tq2u2 - Rumah telah musnah sebagai lonjakan yang paling teruk pasang surut yang melanda UK dalam tempoh 60 tahun melanda pantai timur Britain pada hari Khamis. Agensi Alam Sekitar menganggarkan bahawa pertahanan laut dilindungi lebih daripada 800,000 rumah, tetapi apabila lonjakan digabungkan dengan pasang surut air dan angin yang kuat banyak halangan telah dilanggar.

Kerja-kerja pembaikan kini dijalankan dalam banyak komuniti. Dalam Hemsby di Norfolk tujuh syarikat itu digulingkan daripada jawatan cenuram dan runtuh ke dalam laut. Beribu-ribu rumah di sepanjang pantai timur telah dipindahkan sebagai Laut Utara men-capai tahap yang lebih tinggi daripada itu semasa banjir dahsyat tahun 1953.

2 orang mati pada ribut Khamis, tetapi cuaca kini dikatakan telah berkurangan, walau bagaimanapun, banjir dijangka berterusan sepanjang hari Jumaat. 

Worst tidal surge in 60 years batters UK east coast 

and drags homes into the sea

Homes were destroyed as the worst tidal surge to hit the UK in 60 years struck the east coast of Britain on Thursday. The Environmental Agency estimated that sea defences protected more than 800,000 homes, but when the surge combined with high tides and strong winds many barriers were breached.

Repair works are now underway in many communities. In Hemsby in Norfolk seven houses were toppled from their clifftop positions and collapsed into the sea. Thousands of homes along the east coast were evacuated as the North Sea reached higher levels than it did during the devastating floods of 1953.

Two people died in Thursday's storms, but the weather is now said to be easing, however, flooding is expected to continue throughout Friday. Report by Laurie Blake.

Pandangan udara: rumah jatuh ke dalam laut di Hemsby, 

Norfolk selepas lonjakan pasang surut

Tq2u2 - Rakaman helikopter menunjukkan kerosakan yang disebabkan kepada rumah di Hemsby, Norfolk, berikutan lonjakan air terbesar di pantai selama 60 tahun, dan gelom-bang pemukul pantai Lincolnshire (Aerial view: homes fall into sea in Hemsby, Norfolk after tidal surge. Helicopter footage shows the damage caused to homes in Hemsby, Norfolk, following the biggest water surge on the coast for 60 years, and waves battering the coast of Lincolnshire).