A military aircraft crashed in severe weather in the
Drakensberg mountains in South Africa, after taking off from Pretoria's
Waterkloof Air Force Base, en route to Mthatha in the Eastern Cape on
Wednesday morning.
The plane was a Douglas C-47TP Dakota, a twin-propeller aircraft, according to a military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Xolani Mabanga. The Defense Ministry said in a statement, "On board the aircraft was a
crew of six and five passengers and it was confirmed that there are no
survivors.".. read more.
Holding red cards and banners, thousands of military
personnel marched through the streets of Lisbon on Saturday, protesting
the austerity measures and budget cuts imposed in Portugal.
Wearing
civilian clothing, with some proudly displaying their medals, an
estimated 5,000-10,000 active and retired soldiers rallied against
"unjustified cutbacks" in the 2013 budget.
They called for Portuguese President Aníbal António Cavaco Silva to veto
the controversial austerity budget adopted by the government. They
marched quietly, carrying banners calling for respect for the military
and for "national sovereignty."
Some banners read, “Police are unhappy, military are unhappy, people are unhappy”. With some officers complaining that their monthly wages have been cut by
as much as 25%, one soldier told AFP, "We are getting cut after cut and
there is no light at the end of the tunnel."
Sergeant José Paulo Leitão said, “The 2013 budget proposes we make
higher payments for medical care, although the service is worse. We pay
more for less.”
According to retired navy officer, Armenio Teodoro: “All the soldiers –
not just me – have the right to receive our pension with dignity,
because they discounted the money from our salaries. Now I ask, where’s
our money? Where’s the money we paid for so many years?”
Other reasons for the protest are the decline in finances for
maintenance and training, as well as the cuts in the social sphere and
tax hikes.
Several
associations which represent the military called on Portugal's
Constitutional Court to review the legality of next year's budget. The
court ruled in July against a finance law, and told the government to
revise the measure, which stripped bonuses from civil servants. The
court argued that it violated constitutionally-guaranteed rights to
equal treatment.
Now the protesters hope to receive a similar outcome
with the austerity budget.
Portugal received a €78-billion bailout package in 2011 from the Troika,
comprised of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the
International Monetary Fund. Now austerity measures are needed to keep
within this package. Lisbon must lower its budget deficit to 3% of GDP
by 2014.
According to Eurostat, thanks to austerity measures, the
economy is expected to shrink by 3% in 2012, while unemployment is
around 15.7%.
Euronews
is reporting that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has praised Lisbon's
efforts to reduce the deficit. Merkel is due to visit Lisbon on Monday.
