Budget cuts to sink Portugal, strikers claim

LISBON, Portugal - Thousands of workers descended on Lisbon's streets on Thursday in an outpouring of anger at a 2012 austerity budget designed to help Portugal pay its debts, paralyzing transport services nationwide.

The general strike forced authorities to cancel nearly all flights in and out of the nation's main airports.

Lisbon's metro came to a standstill and ferries across the capital's Tagus River functioned only intermittently in what unions said was a necessary bitter pill.