
‘Very productive' search for Madeleine McCann ends as planned
German and Portuguese authorities concluded their search as planned in Atalaia, near Lagos, after three days of scouring scrubland and abandoned structures.
Reports indicate that samples, including possible bones and clothing fibres, were taken during the search for forensic examination.
German prosecutors requested the search as part of their continued attempts to source evidence to implicate prime suspect Christian Brueckner, who is currently in prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in Praia da Luz in 2005.
Brueckner, who is due to be released from jail in September if no further charges are brought, has reportedly sent letters to police and Mr Wolters regarding the investigation.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
5 minutes ago
- The Independent
Explosion at Pakistan fireworks storage facility injures at least 25 people
An explosion at a fireworks storage facility in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi on Thursday injured at least 25 people, some of them critically, police and hospital officials said. Television footage showed thick smoke billowing into the sky from the building where firecrackers were stored. Broken glass from nearby shop windows littered the road as panicked residents rushed from the scene, witnesses said. Firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze while ambulances transported the injured, including passersby, to several hospitals, senior police official Asad Raza said. The blast damaged several shops and vehicles passing through an area known as Jinnah Road. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. Explosions at fireworks facilities are common in Pakistan. In January, six people were killed in a similar blast at a fireworks storage site in Mandi Bahauddin, a city in the eastern Punjab province.


The Guardian
6 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Italian police arrest Ukrainian man over Nord Stream pipelines blast
A Ukrainian man alleged to have been involved in the 2022 detonation of the Nord Stream pipelines that carried gas from Russia to Germany, has been arrested in Italy, according to German authorities. The man, identified only as Serhiy K, is believed to have been onboard the sailing boat from where the attacked was allegedly carried out. Carabinieri arrested the man on Wednesday evening in the area around Rimini, after a European arrest warrant was issued on Monday, Germany's federal prosecutor's office (GBA) said on Thursday. The attacks on the pipelines, which were not in use, were carried out on 26 September 2022 and damaged them apparently beyond repair. Investigators have long suspected it was a Ukrainian commando operation. Divers are believed to have been taken there by the chartered sailing yacht Andromeda, which set off from the German port of Rostock to the area close to the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm, where they planted explosives on the sea bed. Serhiy K is thought to have been onboard. Investigators do not believe he was one of the divers, but he is thought to have had a leading role as a coordinator of what appeared to have been a well planned operation. The yacht was hired with the help of intermediaries and using forged identity papers, from a German company, according to prosecutors. The incident has been under investigation since 2022 by the GBA, which said it intended to charge any suspects with anti-constitutional sabotage and causing an explosion. During extensive media investigations, in particular by the news magazine Der Spiegel, people who allegedly had detailed knowledge of the incident said the commandos had not intended to commit a crime. Instead, they had considered it an attack on a legitimate military target due to Russia's war on Ukraine, not least because the profits from gas deliveries to Germany had contributed significantly to financing Moscow's war. Spiegel's research revealed evidence suggesting the action had been sanctioned by the Ukrainian armed forces, although this has been denied by Kyiv. German prosecutors have not said when they expect Serhiy K to be extradited to face German authorities. Separate investigations by Swedish and Danish authorities were closed in February 2024, leaving German authorities to continue their inquiries alone. At one point Russia accused the US of being behind the sabotage, following Washington's criticism of Germany's dependence on Russian gas. There was also initially a strong assumption that Russian perpetrators had been behind the explosions, until investigators traced the yacht and discovered its connection to Ukraine. Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion Like Kyiv, Washington and Moscow denied the allegations. Last year Germany's federal prosecutor general, Jens Rommel, secured an initial arrest warrant against one of the suspected divers. However, he left his home in Poland before he could be arrested, after Polish authorities allegedly warned Ukrainian authorities in advance. The man is believed to have driven into Ukraine in a car with diplomatic licence plates, according to Spiegel. Separately on Thursday, the Georgian captain of an oil tanker which damaged undersea cables in the Baltic Sea in 2024 after his vessel dragged along the sea bed for around 90km (55 miles) has denied wrongdoing, calling the incident a 'maritime accident. Davit Vadatchkoria and the first and second officers of the Eagle S oil tanker are to face charges in a Helsinki court on Monday over the slicing of power and telecommunications cables as their vessel travelled westwards in the Gulf of Finland, having departed from a Russian oil port. 'We are innocent. It's only a maritime accident,' Vadatchkoria, who is being detained in Finland, told the Finnish public broadcaster YLE on Thursday.


BBC News
10 minutes ago
- BBC News
'Bear attack victim' was actually killed by son, Japan police say
Japanese police have said that an elderly man who they had believed was killed by a bear had in fact been stabbed to death by his son. Fujiyuki Shindo, 51, was arrested in the northern Akita prefecture on Tuesday for allegedly murdering his 93-year-old father Fujiyoshi, local media reports. Police sent out a bear attack warning mail after the victim's wife found him collapsed and bleeding on the floor. But it was withdrawn after investigators concluded the wounds were more consistent with knife injuries. Bear sightings are increasingly common in northern Japan, where ageing populations and shrinking farmlands have meant the animals are expanding their habitat closer to human populations. Mr Shindo, who lived with his parents, had initially told police that he did not notice anything unusual at home during the time of the attack, agency Kyodo News reported. Investigators seized several knives from the family's home and were trying to identify the murder weapon, Jiji Press reported. They have not given out a motive for the murder. Bears were initially blamed for Fujiyoshi Shindo's death because Japan has seen a rising number of bear attacks in recent years. In the 12 months to March 2024, a record 219 people were attacked by bears - and six of them died, Japan's Environment Ministry said. In July, a newspaper deliveryman was killed by a brown bear in a residential area. The rise in bear encounters have also prompted authorities to relax hunting laws to make it easier for people to shoot bears. Thousands of bears have recently been trapped and killed by hunters.