Lisbon

Firefighting aircraft from Germany, Italy and The Netherlands headed to Portugal on Monday as the country struggled to contain its biggest wave of wildfires to hit so far this year amid rising temperatures. More than 2 700 firefighters were battling dozens of wildfires, including 27 that threatened some built-up areas.

A burglar who broke into an office in Portugal last week, making off with a portable safe that contained just €10 (about R79), returned over the weekend to leave a note apologising for the theft, the Lusa news agency reported on Sunday. The envelope with the note was slipped into the mailbox of the office.

More than 1 400 firefighters and soldiers were on Tuesday combating eight wildfires in northern and central Portugal, news reports said. The biggest fire was reported in the Pampilhosa da Serra in Coimbra district, where nearly 400 firefighters were trying to contain a blaze raging since Saturday.

Nearly 3 100 firefighters and soldiers battled more than two dozen wildfires on Friday for a second straight day in Portugal, while a government official said he foresees ”great difficulties” in the days ahead. At least one man was severely burned. Portugal is enduring its worst drought on record.

An 81-year-old Portuguese woman remarried her former husband, who is 10 years older, on Thursday, more than three decades after she left him because of his womanizing, a daily newspaper reported. "He behaved badly and out of jealousy I left him after three years," Silvina Azenha told <i>Correio da Manha</i>.

Portugal’s oldest woman, and one of the oldest people in the world, has died at the age of 114, Portuguese media reported on Tuesday, quoting members of her family. Maria do Couto Maia, born on October 24 1890, had been confined to bed for the past three years after scalding her feet in an accident at home with boiling water.

Benfica won the Portuguese football league championship for the first time in 11 years on Sunday after drawing 1-1 at Boavista on the final day of the season. Striker Simao Sabrosa scored a penalty in the 38th minute but Boavista equalised four minutes later in a result where Benfica ensured a three-point lead over nearest rivals FC Porto.

CSKA Moscow came back to beat Sporting Lisbon 3-1 and win the Uefa Cup on Wednesday, with Daniel Carvalho setting up all three goals. CSKA became the first Russian team to win a European final. Dynamo Moscow came close, reaching the 1972 Cup Winners’ Cup final, but lost to Rangers.

World number-one Roger Federer has set his sights on sweeping the remaining three tennis grand slams this year, as well as the season-ending Masters finals in China. The Swiss star was in Portugal this week to accept a distinction at the annual Laureus sports awards.

Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio has called morning rush-hour traffic on a heavily used highway leading into Lisbon a "daily tragedy" after he braved the motorway without his usual police escort, reports said on Thursday. It took the president 40 minutes to travel just 13km on the IC19 highway.

A middle-aged couple walked into a casino near the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, over the weekend and left minutes later with &euro;641&nbsp;215 (R5,08-million) after putting just 60 cents into a slot machine, a casino spokesperson said Wednesday. The couple inserted three 20-cent coins into the machine.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has resumed operations in a western Angolan province hit by a deadly Ebola-like virus, after suspending work last week when residents attacked its teams. Residents in Uige province had mistakenly feared the WHO teams were spreading — instead of helping contain — the rare Marburg virus, which has killed 184 people.

Portugal’s national election commission on Wednesday called for a probe into the appearance of round red stickers on the noses of party leaders on election billboards. The large stickers, which resemble the bright noses worn by clowns, first appeared in Lisbon last week but became especially prominent over the weekend.

South African striker Benny McCarthy, who has two years left on his contract with European champions FC Porto, said on Friday he would like to one day play in the English premiership. ”In South Africa, we start to follow English football very early on. In my country, much more importance is given to English football than South African,” he said.

An exhibit of underwear worn by Portuguese celebrities, which included an item donated by Manchester United’s teenage football star Cristiano Ronaldo, wrapped up on Thursday after causing traffic to surge at a small gallery in northern Portugal, a spokesperson for the venue said.

Malaria claims about 20 000 lives each year in Angola, more than half of them pregnant women and children under five years old, making it the main cause of death in the south-west African state. Angola’s director of programmes to fight malaria told Portuguese radio the mosquito-borne disease infects more than two million people each year.

A Portuguese car mechanic who was given a lottery ticket as a tip, after earlier refusing to buy it, has scooped a €50 000 jackpot, a local newspaper reported on Wednesday. Lottery salesperson Jose Macedo tried to sell the €5 winning ticket to Artur Luis but ended up giving it to the mechanic.

Portugal will not back down from its decision to bar a Dutch ship housing a floating abortion clinic from national waters despite pressure from pro-abortion groups, Minister of Defence Paulo Portas said on Tuesday. The ship had planned to stay in Portugal for two weeks to hand out abortion pills to women with unwanted pregnancies.

A TAP Air Portugal jetliner dived sharply to avoid an air collision with a smaller aircraft near the Azores Islands on Friday, injuring 23 passengers and two crew, the company said. The jetliner went into a steep descent and those on board who were not wearing seat belts were thrown against the plane’s ceiling.

An intense fire at the Leixoes oil terminal near Portugal’s northern city of Oporto was under control early on Sunday following an explosion, with 32 firefighters and rescue workers hospitalised. An explosion, followed by a second blast hours later, rocked the Petrogal refinery on Saturday afternoon, causing a huge blaze.

About 2 000 firefighters, soldiers and volunteers were on Tuesday battling nearly 30 wildfires around Portugal, where most of the blazes remained out of control, firefighters said. Winds and rising temperatures revived flames in the mountainous Arrabida region south of Lisbon.

Local authorities in northern Mozambique are silencing family members of the alleged victims of a human organ trafficking ring that is operating in the southeast African country, a Brazilian missionary said on Thursday. Maria Elilda dos Santos also said organ trafficking in the country is going on nationwide.

Mozambican police may seek foreign help in their investigation into a recent wave of killings and mutilations allegedly linked to the trafficking in human organs, President Joaquim Chissano said on Tuesday during a visit to Portugal.

Angola has deported some 60 000 illegal immigrants since launching a major crackdown on clandestine diamond prospecting by foreigners in December. Most of the 50 000 illegal immigrants were detained by Angolan security forces in the diamond-rich northeastern provinces of North Lunda and South Lunda.

The world’s largest ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2, arrived on Thursday at the Portuguese island of Madeira under tight security following an anonymous bomb threat. The British shipping company Cunard received three anonymous phone calls in which the caller claimed there were bombs on board the ocean liner.