Portugal

Antonio Oliveira will be replaced as coach of Portugal's national team after the country's dismal performance in the World Cup, the head of the Portuguese Soccer Federation announced yesterday. "The federation's decision is that he cannot continue" in the job, federation chief Gilberto Madail said. Oliveira was out of the country yesterday but Madail said the federation sent him a fax proposing an amicable agreement to end his contract, which expires in 2004. Portugal, which entered the World Cup ranked No. 5 in the world, failed to advance past the first round after losses to South Korea and the United States.

The Food of Portugal (William Morrow & Co., $24.95) could rightfully be called a must for anyone interested in that country's cuisine and simply a compelling food book for anyone who has an interest in food. Its author, food writer Jean Andersen, has been having a culinary love affair with Portugal and its people for 25 years, and her book reflects it well. There are intriguing insights into the development of Portuguese cooking as well as descriptive passages of the countryside that has given birth to the cuisine.

I have never been good at making decisions. In fact, I think that may be one of the things I am worst at. I'm not sure, I can't decide. When people ask me where I want to eat or what I want to do, I get stressed, contort my face in different ways for a while, and eventually exasperatedly state, "I don't know, you decide. " So when I thought about planning a solo trip while studying abroad in London last year, I would normally have had a hard time deciding where to go. Luckily, my law-student budget made the decision for me, and I picked the place with the cheapest flight and hotels in December: Portugal.

Before Mark Portugal was allowed to come out and play Thursday night, he had to get a good grade on his test. The final exam took place in the Dodger Stadium bullpen late yesterday afternoon. Portugal, coming off April 7 arthroscopic knee surgery, passed easily and was cleared to make his second start of the season in the series finale against the Dodgers. It's not on TV, so it won't challenge "Seinfeld" that night, but the Phillies are pretty darn happy about it anyway. "We've been sort of waiting for a couple years for him to be healthy enough to slide into that second or third spot in the rotation," general manager Ed Wade said.

NEW YORK - The FBI agents wore swimsuits - the better to ensure they were unarmed as they delivered $1 million cash to the hijackers. The criminals wore beatific looks, traveled with young children, and were "polite as possible," a passenger on the ill-fated Delta flight recalled at the time. For one man, it was the perfect crime - for nearly 40 years. But yesterday the FBI said that it had caught up with the last hijacker, a convicted killer named George Wright who had escaped from prison in 1970 and resurfaced two years later when he joined members of a radical black nationalist group in forcing the jet to fly to Algeria.

LISBON, Portugal - Portugal's efforts to climb out of its economic crisis suffered a double setback Thursday as its credit rating was downgraded to junk status and a major strike gave voice to broad public outrage over austerity measures that have squeezed living standards. Portugal's deepening plight underlined Europe's difficulties in finding a way out of the continent's government debt crisis, which has recently shown alarming signs of spreading to bigger nations, most notably Italy.

Pauleta scored three goals in a convincing 4-0 win yesterday, helping Portugal settle a 16-year-old score with Poland in the World Cup. Portugal and Poland last met in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, both nation's most recent appearance in the tournament. Poland beat Portugal 1-0 and knocked the Portuguese from the competition. The Portuguese, who lost to the United States in their opener, faced the same fate in Jeonju, South Korea yesterday. Despite a steady downpour, Pauleta proved unstoppable for Portugal, which can advance to the second round with a victory over South Korea on Friday.

Cristiano Ronaldo had it all on Thursday: the deft touches, the blazing runs with the ball, the sulking, the petulance - and, in the end, that golden scoring touch to send Portugal into the European Championship semifinals with a 1-0 win over the Czech Republic in Warsaw, Poland. After bouncing two earlier attempts off the post, Ronaldo scored on a powerful header in the 79th minute off a cross by Joao Moutinho - a shot straight at the ground and up past the flailing hands of Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech.

Germany advanced to the European Championship quarterfinals without playing brilliantly. But after grinding out its third straight victory with a 2-1 win over Denmark on Sunday in Lviv, Ukraine, Germany finished on top of a group that didn't end up being as dangerous as it looked on paper. World Cup finalist the Netherlands was a major disappointment, losing all three Group B matches. Cristiano Ronaldo found his form just in the nick of time to beat the Dutch, 2-1, and take Portugal to the quarterfinals as runner-up to Germany.

LISBON, Portugal - Portugal on Wednesday became the third debt-stressed European country to need a bailout when its prime minister announced that the country would request international assistance to ease its rapidly worsening financial crisis. "I want to inform the Portuguese that the government decided today to ask . . . for financial help to ensure financing for our country, for our financial system, and for our economy," Prime Minister Jose Socrates said in a televised evening address.

DUBLIN - European Union finance ministers agreed Friday to grant Ireland and Portugal seven more years to pay their bailout loans, easing the burden on their economies and paving the way for a quicker return to sustainable growth. In their attempts to stabilize the economy of the 17 nations sharing the euro currency, the ministers also approved a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) loan package to stop Cyprus from sliding into bankruptcy. But the rescue comes at a heavy price for the Mediterranean island country.

LISBON, Portugal - Many thousands of demonstrators held marches in more than 20 cities in Portugal on Saturday to protest against government-imposed austerity measures aimed at lifting the ailing country out of recession. Tens of thousands of people filled a Lisbon boulevard leading to the Finance Ministry carrying placards saying "Screw the troika, we want our lives back. " The troika is a reference to the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, the lenders behind the country's financial bailout.

I have never been good at making decisions. In fact, I think that may be one of the things I am worst at. I'm not sure, I can't decide. When people ask me where I want to eat or what I want to do, I get stressed, contort my face in different ways for a while, and eventually exasperatedly state, "I don't know, you decide. " So when I thought about planning a solo trip while studying abroad in London last year, I would normally have had a hard time deciding where to go. Luckily, my law-student budget made the decision for me, and I picked the place with the cheapest flight and hotels in December: Portugal.

Far from its best, Spain still advanced to another major final, beating Portugal, 4-2, in a penalty shootout in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Wednesday after a scoreless draw at the European Championship. Cesc Fabregas, who came on as a substitute in the second half of regulation time, scored the deciding penalty after Bruno Alves hit the crossbar for Portugal moments earlier. Spain, seeking its third straight major trophy after claiming titles at Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup, will next face either Germany or Italy on Sunday in Kiev.

Cristiano Ronaldo had it all on Thursday: the deft touches, the blazing runs with the ball, the sulking, the petulance - and, in the end, that golden scoring touch to send Portugal into the European Championship semifinals with a 1-0 win over the Czech Republic in Warsaw, Poland. After bouncing two earlier attempts off the post, Ronaldo scored on a powerful header in the 79th minute off a cross by Joao Moutinho - a shot straight at the ground and up past the flailing hands of Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech.

Germany advanced to the European Championship quarterfinals without playing brilliantly. But after grinding out its third straight victory with a 2-1 win over Denmark on Sunday in Lviv, Ukraine, Germany finished on top of a group that didn't end up being as dangerous as it looked on paper. World Cup finalist the Netherlands was a major disappointment, losing all three Group B matches. Cristiano Ronaldo found his form just in the nick of time to beat the Dutch, 2-1, and take Portugal to the quarterfinals as runner-up to Germany.

Judges: Ex-leader took payments DUBLIN, Ireland - Former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern received at least $276,000 in secret payments while in office and repeatedly lied about it under oath, a mammoth fact-finding judicial investigation ruled Thursday. The three judges led by Justice Alan Mahon stopped short of finding Ahern guilty of corruption, because they couldn't prove that Ahern gave favors to any of his cash donors when he was finance minister in the 1990s. The judges did find two other former lawmakers in Ahern's Fianna Fail party guilty of corruption for soliciting payments from property developers for personal use. They also found 11 past and present 11 members of local councils guilty of the same offense.

LISBON - Portugal won't extradite American fugitive George Wright to the United States for crimes he committed four decades ago, after the U.S. ran out of possibilities to appeal the decision to let him stay, a Portuguese court official said yesterday. Portuguese police captured Wright, 68, in September. He had escaped from a New Jersey prison in 1970. He was jailed for 15-to-30 years for killing a gas-station attendant during a 1962 robbery in New Jersey. Senior Judge Luis Maria Vaz das Neves said that the U.S. would need to find other grounds for an extradition request, such as a crime committed more recently, to reopen the case.

LISBON, Portugal - Europe won modest respite from its debt crisis Wednesday as Germany and Portugal borrowed with relative ease ahead of a hazard-filled few weeks for the 17 nations that use the euro. But Greece's new prime minister warned that his debt-crippled country had only three months to come up with new reforms so his country could stay in the eurozone and avoid a potential default - a reminder of how the crisis can flare at any time. And the news that a major Italian bank had to offer an unexpectedly large discount to raise new capital showed just how wary investors are of Europe's shaky banks.

Lautenberg urges return of fugitive Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) urged the Portuguese government to return an American fugitive who escaped from a New Jersey prison in 1970 and spent more than 40 years on the lam before being captured in September in Portugal. Lautenberg said Monday that he sent a letter to Portugal's prime minister asking him to send George Wright, 68, back to the United States to serve the rest of his 15- to 30-year sentence for the 1962 killing of a gas station attendant in Wall Township, Monmouth County.