New searches are underway in Portugal near where toddler Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007
LAGOS, Portugal (AP) — Police investigating the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann searched near an abandoned rural building in southern Portugal on Tuesday as they launched fresh probes near the holiday resort where she was last seen 18 years ago.
The case received worldwide interest for several years, with reports of sightings of McCann occurring as far away as Australia, while books and television documentaries were produced about her disappearance.
German investigators and Portuguese police officers and firefighters were searching in the countryside several miles from the Praia da Luz resort, where the 3-year-old disappeared from her bed while on vacation with her family on May 3, 2007.
The teams were seen using pickaxes, shovels and chainsaws to clear dense vegetation and dig near a derelict building. Firefighters pumped water out of a well.
Almost two decades on, investigators in the U.K., Portugal and Germany are still piecing together what happened on the night the toddler disappeared. She was in the same room as her brother and sister — 2-year-old twins — while their parents, Kate and Gerry, had dinner with friends outside.
Portuguese police said Monday that detectives were acting on a request from a German public prosecutor as they carry out 'a broad range' of searches this week in the area of Lagos, in southern Portugal.
The main suspect is a German national identified by media as Christian Brueckner, who is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for raping a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005.
He is under investigation on suspicion of murder in the McCann case but hasn't been charged. He spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz, around the time of the child's disappearance. Brueckner has denied any involvement.
The last time police resumed searches in the case was in 2023, when detectives from the three countries took part in an operation searching near a dam and a reservoir about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the resort.
McCann's family marked the 18th anniversary of her disappearance last month, and expressed their determination to keep searching.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
Can Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, become the next mayor of New York City?
NEW YORK (AP) — Zohran Mamdani has buzz and some momentum in New York City's mayoral race. But can a 33-year-old democratic socialist — or anyone else — beat former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary? Mamdani picked up a key endorsement Thursday from U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who said in a statement that the state lawmaker 'has demonstrated a real ability on the ground to put together a coalition of working-class New Yorkers that is strongest to lead the pack.'
Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
Brazilian prosecutors charge man accused of ordering high-profile killing in Amazon region
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian prosecutors filed criminal charges Thursday against the man accused of ordering the 2022 killings of Indigenous peoples advocate Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips in the Amazon. Ruben Dario Villar, a Colombian fish trader, was formally accused by Brazilian police last November of being the person who planned the slaying. Phillips and Pereira went missing exactly three years ago, on June 5, 2022. Phillips was shot and killed while researching an ambitious book on how to protect the world's largest rainforest, which was finished and recently published in Brazil by his family and friends. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'How to Save the Amazon' is scheduled to be published in the U.S. on June 10. The book was pieced together by fellow journalists who immersed themselves in Phillips' notes, outlines and the handful of chapters he'd already written. In a statement Thursday, federal prosecutors said 'Bruno and Dom were assaulted and murdered for a vile — despicable, perverse — reason, in a cruel manner, without any chance of defense.' According to the police investigation, Villar financed an illegal fishing operation inside the Javari Valley Indigenous Territories, where thousands of Indigenous people live, including the world's largest concentration of uncontacted groups. The murders were motivated by Pereira's efforts to monitor and enforce environmental laws in the region, police said. He has been in jail since 2022 and has denied any wrongdoing. The Associated Press was unable to reach his legal representatives for comment.
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
UN nuclear agency members draft resolution accusing Iran of failing to meet obligations
VIENNA (AP) — Western nations are planning to table a resolution at a meeting of the U.N.'s nuclear agency that will find Iran in non-compliance with its so-called safeguards obligations for the first time in 20 years, a senior western diplomat said Thursday. The move comes at a sensitive time as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration seeks to reach a deal with Tehran to limit its nuclear program. The two sides have held several rounds of talks, so far without agreement. A draft resolution, jointly tabled by France, the U.K. and Germany, known as the E3, together with the United States, was circulated today after a final sign-off by Washington. The State Department did not immediately comment. The draft resolution, which was seen by The Associated Press, says: 'Iran's many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran … constitutes non-compliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement.' The draft resolution furthermore finds that the IAEA's 'inability … to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful gives rise to questions that are within the competence of the United Nations Security Council, as the organ bearing the main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.' It requests IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi 'to continue his efforts to implement this and previous resolutions and to report again, including any further developments on the issues.' The text of the draft may change before it is formally tabled, as board members have the opportunity to suggest amendments. Under the so-called safeguards obligations, that are part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is legally bound to declare all nuclear material and activities and allow IAEA inspectors to verify that none of it is being diverted from peaceful uses. In the IAEA's 'comprehensive report' that was circulated among members states last weekend, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said that Iran's cooperation with the agency has 'been less than satisfactory' when it comes to uranium traces discovered by agency inspectors at several locations in Iran that Tehran has failed to declare as nuclear sites. The IAEA has been seeking answers from Iran regarding the origin and current location of the nuclear material since 2019. Western officials suspect that the uranium traces discovered by the IAEA could provide evidence that Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program until 2003. Iran denies ever having had a nuclear weapons program and says its program is entirely peaceful. The senior western diplomat called the resolution a 'serious step,' but added that western nations are 'not closing the door to diplomacy on this issue.' 'The objective of the resolution is for Iran to resolve the issue,' the source added, which is why the resolution will not immediately refer Iran's non-compliance to the U.N. Security Council to consider triggering more sanctions. 'They will have a window to finally comply and respond to all the requests that have been made over the last six years.' The board of governors 'stresses its support for a diplomatic solution to the problems posed by the Iranian nuclear programme, leading to an agreement that addresses all international concerns related to Iran's nuclear activities, encouraging all parties to constructively engage in diplomacy,' the draft resolution reads. However, if Iran fails to cooperate, an extraordinary IAEA board meeting will likely be held in the summer, during which another resolution could get passed that will refer the issue to the Security Council, the senior diplomat said. The three European nations have threatened in the past to reinstate sanctions that have been lifted under the original 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which expires on Oct. 18. Iran has previously retaliated to resolutions passed by the agency's board by further expanding its nuclear program and banning inspectors. Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi warned the IAEA against taking any 'politically-motivated action' by some board members, as this could undermine cooperation between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog, he wrote in a post on X. —- The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. —- Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape:
