Cape fire devastation reinforces consequences of defence budget cuts
/ 22 April 2021

Cape fire devastation reinforces consequences of defence budget cuts

All the available resources from the private sector needed to be exhausted before the Air Force could be called in to assist in dousing in the flames

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/ 17 April 2008

At least four dead in E Guinea plane crash

At least four people were killed and seven missing after a plane crashed on Wednesday into the Atlantic Ocean off the Equatorial Guinea island of Annobon, the Malabo government announced. There was no confirmation of earlier reports that said that leaders of the ruling party were on board the plane when it crashed.

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/ 8 April 2008

Waterkloof air-base runway repairs prioritised

The runway of the country’s most prominent air-force base has to be repaired ahead of next year’s election in South Africa to accommodate world leaders who will attend the inauguration of whomever is elected president. This was revealed at a visit on Tuesday of Public Works Minister Thoko Didiza to the Waterkloof Air Base in Pretoria.

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/ 2 April 2008

Fighting kills dozens in Sri Lanka, says Defence Ministry

Sri Lanka government troops on Wednesday captured a strip of land from Tamil Tigers after heavy fighting across the island’s north left 42 rebels and a soldier dead, the Defence Ministry said. Security forces killed the guerrillas from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in separate clashes in the Mannar, Weli Oya and Jaffna districts since Tuesday evening, the ministry said.

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/ 22 March 2008

Amid the grimness, a sense of change

The sprawling prison complex at GuantĂƒÂ¡namo Bay looks from a distance like many of the hastily built resorts round the Caribbean, the camps occupying a narrow strip of sand by the palm-lined sea-shore, with fencing to keep the locals out. But through the military checkpoint, the grimness of the world’s most infamous prison becomes apparent.

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/ 4 March 2008

Sri Lanka says it takes Tiger terrain, kills 23 rebels

Sri Lankan troops captured stretches of Tamil Tiger-held terrain in the island’s north-west on Tuesday, killing seven rebels in clashes that took the two-day death toll to 23, the military said. Fighter jets bombed the Tigers’ de facto state for a second day running, hitting a rebel artillery position and an underground munitions store, the air force said.

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/ 8 December 2007

Israel not ruling out unilateral strike on Iran

Senior Israeli officials warned on Friday that they were still considering a military strike against Iran, despite a fresh United States intelligence report that concluded Tehran was no longer developing nuclear weapons. Although Israel says it wants strong diplomatic pressure put on Iran, it is reluctant to rule out the threat of a unilateral attack.

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/ 23 November 2007

‘I believe in the war, but being here sucks’

”In America a woman can be raped and if she has no health insurance then she can’t get help. That’s fucking ridiculous. So what are we doing here telling the rest of the world how to live? We have enough problems to sort out at home.” David Smith recalls a few of the sentiments expressed by United States troops during his stay in Baghdad.

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/ 11 November 2007

Nasa told to solve ‘UFO crash’ X-file

For four decades, residents of the tiny Pennsylvania town of Kecksburg have told their story of strange blue lights in the sky one winter’s evening and a fireball crashing into woods. In 1965, they say, they saw armed soldiers cordoning off the area and a large, metallic, acorn-shaped object driven off at speed on the back of a lorry.

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/ 1 November 2007

Army jets bomb Sri Lanka rebels

Sri Lankan troops killed 31 Tamil Tigers fighters in a series of clashes in the north of the island, as warplanes bombed rebel training camps on Thursday, the military said. Two soldiers were also killed and 17 wounded in the clashes with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

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/ 22 October 2007

Sri Lanka rebel planes bomb air force base

The Tamil Tigers air wing bombed a north Sri Lanka air force base before dawn on Monday, the military said, while the Tigers said suicide fighters mounted their biggest ground assault since the two-decade civil war began. The rebel air strike in the north-central district of Anuradhapura comes months after the Tigers’ first-ever air attacks using light aircraft.

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/ 6 September 2007

Sudan has drones, is pursuing missiles

Sudan has developed unmanned surveillance planes, is developing missiles, and is now ”self-sufficient” in conventional weapons, a Sudanese state news agency reported. The rare public announcement on Sudan’s military capability gave no details on how far missile development had progressed or where the surveillance drones might be used.

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/ 3 September 2007

Bush makes surprise visit to Iraq

United States President George Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq on Monday, just a week before his top officials in Baghdad present pivotal testimony to Congress that could influence future policy on the war. The White House said Bush had arrived at the al-Asad Air Force base, west of Baghdad in Anbar province.