How Madeleine McCann search at reservoir unfolded – and what police found
The long-running hunt for missing Madeleine McCann returned to headlines last week, during a three-day search of a Portuguese reservoir. Acting on tip-offs, police searched the remote Barragem do Arade reservoir in Portugal, an area that prime suspect Christian Brueckner frequented from 2000 to 2017. Although police are remaining tight-lipped about the details, they said they recovered “a number of items”, which will be evaluated in the coming days and weeks in the hunt for evidence in the mystery of Madeleine’s disappearance on 3 May 2007. Prosecutor for the city of Braunschweig, Christian Wolters, said: “Whether some of the items actually relate to the Madeleine McCann case cannot yet be confirmed.” Earlier this week, officers said “materials collected” during the search had already been sent to Germany for analysis. One “relevant clue” was found during the police operation in the Algarve last week, Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha reported. Separately, investigators are set to widen the search again after photographs belonging to 46-year-old Brueckner were also said to have revealed clues. With help from Portuguese police, and with Scotland Yard detectives watching on, German investigators scoured the beauty spot 16 miles from Silves, near the southern coast of the country. Starting on Monday last week, investigators sealed off a mile-long peninsula jutting into the reservoir and set up tents as an operations base. They then spent three days digging with shovels, cutting back swaths of undergrowth and using rakes and pickaxes to sweep the banks of the reservoir, leaving behind piles of rubble. At the main 160sq-ft excavation area, they flattened a concentrated area of woodland with heavy machinery, and dug holes 2ft deep. Using sniffer dogs to hunt the surrounding grassland for clues, detectives in a rigid-hull inflatable boat also examined the water. A no-fly zone in place in the skies overhead allowed police drones to survey the region undisturbed. A track leading to the search area was cordoned off with police tape and marked vehicles from Portugal’s National Republican Guard. What appeared to be evidence bags were removed from the scene. The dam, which is 31 miles northeast of the Praia da Luz coastal resort from which Madeleine disappeared, was built in 1955 and is fed by the Arade river. Specialist divers had previously searched the reservoir in 2008, paid for by Portuguese lawyer Marcos Aragao Correia, who claimed to have been tipped off by criminal contacts that Madeleine’s body was there. Two other areas near Praia da Luz could also be searched by police, The Sun reported. Investigators looking through more than 8,000 photographs belonging to Brueckner said they had yielded more clues. Brueckner, who denies any connection to Madeleine, is in jail in Germany for the rape of a 72-year-old American woman two years before the three-year-old vanished at the same resort. German prosecutor Christian Wolters said the investigators were looking for a body, as well as anything that could help the investigation, such as clothing. He said co-operation between German, British and Portuguese authorities went “excellently and very constructively”. And enquiries will continue out of the public eye, he added. The probe into Brueckner is expected to continue for a long time, Mr Wolters said on Thursday. As that investigation goes on and as analysis of the recovered items begins, Madeleine’s parents’ 16-year wait for answers continues. Read More Madeleine McCann news – latest: Investigators set to widen search after new photos reveal ‘clues’ Madeleine McCann case: Timeline of the missing child’s disappearance Sixteen years and countless heartbreaks: Where are Madeleine McCann’s family now? What happened to Madeleine McCann? Sixteen years and countless heartbreaks as Madeleine McCann’s family wait for answers Items seized in Madeleine McCann search ‘cannot yet be linked’ to disappearance
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Mark Meadows, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark and others plead not guilty in Trump’s Georgia RICO case
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in Georgia connected to a sprawling case surrounding Donald Trump’s attempts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. John Eastman, a Trump-linked attorney and chief architect of a plot to unlawfully swap presidential electors for Joe Biden with Trump loyalists, and former assistant US Attorney General Jeffrey Clark have also pleaded not guilty and waived their Fulton County court appearance that was scheduled for 6 September. They join 16 other defendants in the case, including the former president, who have pleaded not guilty to the mountain of charges against them, including an alleged racketeering scheme prosecuted under the state’s RICO statute. Misty Hampton, the former elections director in Georgia’s Coffee County, was the final defendant in the case to enter a plea, one day before scheduled arraignments. Former Coffee County Republican Party chair Cathy Latham, former Georgia Republican Party chair David Shafer, and current state Senator Shawn Still – all of whom were among the 16 fake electors – also entered not guilty pleas on 5 September and waived their appearances. The former president and his 18 co-defendants were formally booked earlier this month on a range of charges connected to an alleged criminal enterprise orchestrated by then-President Trump and his allies to overturn election results, one of the largest criminal cases yet against the former president to date for crimes allegedly committed while he was in office. Last week, Mr Meadows testified in US District Court in Atlanta as part of his effort to move the state case out of Fulton County and into federal court, marking one of the first courtroom battles between the 19 defendants and prosecutors under Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. It also marked some of his first public statements in months, and his first as a criminal defendant. His surprise testimony in federal court on 28 August comes two weeks after a grand jury indictment presented the largest and most significant case yet facing Mr Trump and others who allegedly “knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election” to ensure he remained in power. Mr Meadows faces two counts in the sprawling 41-count indictment outlining dozens of acts that encompass the conspiracy: one count of violating Georgia’s RICO statute, and one count of solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer. Attorneys for Mr Meadows have asked for the “prompt removal” of the case from Fulton County, citing federal law that allows US officials to remove civil or criminal trials from state court over alleged actions performed “under color” of their offices, with Mr Meadows performing such acts during his “tenure” as White House chief of staff, they wrote in court filings. The Georgia case is separate from the US Department of Justice investigation and federal charges against Mr Trump for his efforts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington DC set a tentative trial date in that case for 4 March, 2024 – one day before Super Tuesday primary election contests. Read More Trump hits back at push to ban him from 2024 race: Live updates Trump angrily refutes claim that 14th amendment disqualifies him from being president again Ashli Babbitt’s mother makes death threat against officer who shot daughter on Jan 6 and Nancy Pelosi Mark Meadows grilled on witness stand over Trump’s Georgia call to ‘find’ votes and false election claims Georgia official told by Trump to ‘find’ votes testifies phone call was ‘extraordinary’
2023-09-06 02:16
Scientists issue warning about asteroid heading to Earth with force of 24 atomic bombs
Scientists are on alert after NASA confirmed there is a chance an asteroid the size of the Empire State Building could come smashing into Earth. The asteroid is named Bennu after the ancient Egyptian bird god and has been on the space agency’s radar for a long time as they try to prevent it from coming crashing into our planet. Bennu has been categorised as one of the two “most hazardous known asteroids” and, despite the chance of impact standing at 1-in-2,700, it could strike the Earth with the force of 24 times that of the largest nuclear bomb – 1,200 megatons of energy. The carbon-based asteroid is approximately 510 metres wide and experts predict that it will come closest to hitting Earth on September 24, 2182. While the asteroid is quite sizeable, it is not quite as sizeable as the six-mile-wide asteroid which almost completely wiped out the dinosaurs. But, NASA warns that Bennu “could cause continental devastation if it became an Earth impactor”. A space mission launched using NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has successfully taken a sample from Bennu in order for scientists to better understand the potentially dangerous asteroid. On Sunday (24 September) a capsule of the material will be dropped by OSIRIS-REx and returned to Earth where it will be retrieved and the matter inside studied. Davide Farnocchia of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory told the Science Journal: “We improved our knowledge of Bennu's trajectory by a factor of 20.” As scientists work to investigate how much of a risk it could cause, Farnocchia added: “In 2135, we'll know for sure.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-09-21 20:26
'90 Day Fiance' star Angela Deem brutally trolled over cryptic video, fans say 'nothing like a midlife crisis'
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