What can you buy for £20? A school uniform, a pair of shoes and a school bag to send a child to school in a very poor part of India.

Just £20 a year will provide a school uniform, a pair of shoes and a school bag for a child in one of the poorest communities in India. Please consider sponsoring just one child into life-changing educational opportunity. Thank you.

This is the school:

MS Foundation

We were founded as a charity from 15th August 2007 to provide education and
training for poor people in the slum area Yellammabanda at Kukatpally, Hyderabad AP.

We are a community of people dispossessed from our lands and homes - many families of migrant labourers. We made a survey and it was clear that people at Yellammabanda need education to lift themselves from their poverty. First we have started the school up to grade 10 and we have 150 students, but would like to take more.

Many families are living in terrible conditions and have come here to find work. The family would like to send them to school but instead the children are sent out as labourers and servants.

You can help to lift one of these families from poverty and provide a child with education. Please click on the link below to learn more.

http://msfoundationschool.org/sponsors.html

Sponsors will be given the details of their sponsored child, plus a photograph every year. They can email the child occasionally through the school email address (but not directly). They will thus have an opportunity to watch their ward grow into maturity and have the pleasure of knowing that they have contributed to the education of a future parent.

If you would like to sponsor
a child, please email sponsors@holloways.org

Marcos Aragão Correia: the return

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Léonor Cipriano's lawyer, Marcos Aragão Correia, has seen the suspension imposed by the Bar Association lifted, but he must still face a disciplinary process for his actions in the Madeleine McCann case, but also in the context of the trial of the five PJ inspectors.

True to himself, the layer who also calls himself a medium, now accuses the presiding judge of the court in Faro, Henrique Pavão, of having a "dangerous liaison," with Me António Cabrita, Gonçalo Amaral's defence lawyer.

Marcos Aragão Correia's accusations were made after his expulsion from the courtroom, following his suspension by the Conduct Committee of the Madère Bar Association. A complaint against the judge was lodged with the Senior Committee of Magistrates.

Marcos and the Maddie case.

On May 6th 2007, (3 days after Madeleine's disappearance) Marcos Aragão Correia stated that so-called sources in the underworld told him that Madeleine MCann had been raped and killed and that her body had been thrown into a "dark lake." Under pressure to identify his alleged sources, he ended up changing his version of the story and said he was a spiritualist, medium: after having participated in a spiritualists' meeting on the night of May 5th, the lawyer claims that he had a vision of a four year-old child "abducted, raped, killed and the her body thrown into a lake or a dam."

In October 2007, he claimed that he had sent a recorded letter from the island of Madiera to Rothley, addressed to the McCanns, apparently containing details, clues and crucial evidence in the case. He also claims that he informed the PJ in Funchal (Madiera)

In the same month, he announced that the famous letter never reached the hands of the McCanns, in spite of the fact that someone allegedly signed for its receipt.

In November 2007, he decided to take legal action against the Portuguese postal system, the CTT, accusing them of not having correctly delivered the letter to the McCanns. According to the lawyer, an officer of the postal services allegedly wrongfully signed the receipt for the letter, but his legal action was considered unfounded and he was sentenced to pay court costs, being a sum of 100 Euros.

In statements to the press, Marcos claims that he only wrote to the McCanns giving them the information, in the absence of a response on the part of the PJ to to information he claimed to have furnished in Madiera.

In December 2007, the liaison between the lawyer and the private detectives becomes obvious. It is then that he is going to become more insistent about his version regarding the presence of Maddie's body in the waters of the Arade Dam where he is going to pay British divers to probe the depths.

Presented in the British media as a Good Samaritan, the lawyer stated that he paid the 1250 Euros daily expenses for the divers from the Dive Time Society of Lagos, with money from Metodo 3.

If the Good Samaritan doesn't have a sense of the ridiculous, he has, however, the concept of the value of the media and he finds ways to alert the British and Portuguese media so that they are present at key moments in the searches: first of all he brings from the water, an ordinary piece of rope which he is going to use to put across the image of a child tied up. After this are black plastic bags containing animal bones, but of which he is going to put across the message that it could be the bones of a child's hand. Finally, after the intervention of the PJ, he will admit that it was really the bones of cats.

He goes as far as stating that he is 99% certain that Madeleine's body will be found in the dam.

In spite of the intervention of the Portuguese authorities confirming that they really did come from a litter of kittens, the meagre findings of Marcos Aragão Correia - at least this is what he stated to the press - will be sent to Barcelona where Metodo 3 had specialists ready to carry out examinations. The results were never disclosed because, as it became obvious, there was nothing to say, confirming once again that the lawyer's only objective was to feed doubt about the official investigation.

Today, Marcos Aragão continues his work. He has become lawyer for Léonor Cipriano, even if his main objective remains the former coordinator of the investigation into the death and disappearance of Madeleine McCann: Goncalo Amaral.

SOS Madeleine McCann: 24/01/09

Christina Hinderer is now back home.

Christina Hinderer - endangered runaway

Christina, who disappeared from her home in Texas last year, was found on January 9th and I am pleased to report that she is now back home in Texas.

Christina disappeared on October 7th last year and was located in Long Island, New York, thanks to the hard work of her mother in publicising Christina's disappearance via the internet and hiring her own detective.

My very best wishes to Christina and her family while Christina settles back into the family home and for the family to work together towards peace and understanding.

God bless you Christina's mum, who never gave up looking for your daughter.

Paulo Sargento: "Public opinion has been manipulated in the Maddie case" Updated 23/01/09

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

21/01/09

(Updated: exclusive interview with Duarte Levy. Video available on the SOS Madeleine McCann web site. Images by Joana Morais.)

"It is most natural for people whose child has disappeared, to prefer to have around them the police and people who, technically, are going to help them find her and not to go looking, to give an example, for a priest, and immediately after that, an image consultant. It's a simple question...This preoccupation (of the McCanns) leads us to think of something fundamental: in addition to the possible disappearance, there were other incidental concerns and those have grown in importance (in relation to the possible disappearance)"

DL: In relation to the McCann case, what parallels can be drawn between these two cases? Two little girls who disappeared and parents who claim to be innocent.

PS: Categorically, we have two or three questions...the first is unequivocal. Two little girls disappear, don't reappear, no body is found.

Second question: in both cases, from the outset, they claim, let's say, the theory of kidnap. Such as in the case of Léonor Cipriano, such as in the case of Madeleine McCann. Well...and this kidnap is still claimed by the parents. So, the theory of kidnap has been given out by the parents from the start. There is, nevertheless, a huge difference. It is that in relation to the Léonor Cipriano case, the case of little Joana, the transition from innocence to suspicion is rapid.

Rapidly, in one or two weeks, Léonor Cipriano ceased being an innocent mother for whom the whole world felt sad during the previous two weeks, notably in television programmes, where the mother cried, presented the little girl's portrait and gave out this fact, that theory that the little girl had allegedly been taken by a paedophile or someone like that, but who, thereafter, began to be suspected, investigated and then imprisoned, while in the McCann case, that shift, let's say, of assertion of guilt was generally made much later.

And from a sociological point of view, there is, in criminological terms, a clash of social levels because Léonor Cipriano is a poor woman without, let's say, political protection, nobody, because she is a simple unknown from the Algarve region, who had already, in a way...she had a charge linked in a way, to the courts, because she was on file by the Commission for Minors as being a bad mother, etc etc, and rapidly the system is inverted. In comparison to the McCanns!! Because they are of a higher social class, foreigners with protection, by all accounts, at a higher political level. And this transition took longer. But that also means one thing.

The time has come that the truth cannot be hidden forever, however overdue, things are starting to take shape. But here, the question of social level also makes us rethink all the criteria of justice, in the sense that we can think that there are two kinds of justice, according to the social class the person fits into.

DL: With regards to public opinion in the two cases, to the extent that the reaction of public opinion, notably in Portugal, was different from one case to the other, and nowadays how can we explain, for example, that there were no appearances in Joana's case, but there were very emotional appearances in Madeleine McCann's case?

PS: That question is a very interesting one. That question leads us to think that public opinion is more sensitive, has been more sensitive also in the case, in the fact that it is foreign citizens, who are away from their home country, and we Portuguese, this question we have...this hospitality of being a friendly people, who like to be welcoming, with great social skill, this is....we very much like to help and do what needs to be done.In the first instance, that was one of the questions that helped others to make this case a media event. Because there was interest for other reasons, and these were more secret concerns, which won't be easy to explain, which time will tell, which the investigation will explain. One basic reason is that the people joined in en masse. The people made Madeleine a kind of adopted daughter of Portugal which is an interesting thing. And from that perspective, this helped to create, almost a kind of popular search patrol. A kind of popular search militia which to a certain extent could have helped on the one hand, to confuse the police, and on the other hand to find other leads first. So, that is one of the questions.

With regard to the appearances, I always make the comparison with the Roswell case in the USA. The USA, 40 years after Roswell, has continued with almost daily appearances of UFOs and it is all the films that are made, the great sagas with aliens, by Stephen Spielberg and with the war of the worlds. However, there is something Plato said...a very simple thing about myths. Myths are something that attract a scam, a fabulous story, a lie, but it is astonishing how it also explains reality when reason escapes us.

And here, it is the same thing. As long as these appearances are kept up, this myth, the Maddie myth then, if it was the Middle ages, Maddie would have already been beatified and sanctified. Nowadays, she isn't. Because of this fact, fortunately, it is not a problem in our time. But the myth, the appearance, or rather, Maddie's appearances are similar to appearances of UFOs, maintaining....we know that she is no longer alive, but we maintain this theory in our imagination, we know that it doesn't exist, we have good evidence that extraterrestrial life doesn't exist, at least in the extremes, of the kind like Orson Wells wanted to show in the war, when he simulated the invasion by green Martians.

There might be another possibility, but we always have the mistrust that it perhaps exists. Now another curious myth is that there remains and this is a polarisation of human thought, which persists in fact, to preserve the mistake, which is, the appearances which were more negative, more consequential, which were those in Morocco, those were the ones which, for a long time, were the most credible for a certain mass media. People swore on these appearances when we were of the opposite opinion. If I have had three negative appearances, I must immediately think that it's personal, it's about the people, the population is more susceptible, is more open to suggestion and so, there are going to be more things where they don't exist, but that curiously serves, putting this in quotations marks, "to feed," the press and maintain the theory of kidnap going around with no basis whatsoever. So, if there are appearances, it is because, yes, people put this aside and continue to believe that effectively it is a kidnap.

DL: In cases of kidnap which have been proven, where sometimes the body is not found, we always talk of grieving. The necessity for parents to find the body to grieve. In Madeleine McCann's case, to what extent does public opinion need to grieve in this case?

PS: There is a need, and that, it's a fundamental question even for, let's say, closing the case. As long as we do not know truly what happened, there is still a remnant of mistrust. Grieving helps us to compensate for a loss. That means, if we want a quick definition of grief, it is: how I succeed in filling a gap?

How do I succeed at least, in making up for the often devastating effects, from the emotional point of view that this loss has caused? And as a general rule, there must be markers. It is no coincidence that we have cemeteries. We, purely and simply, could mourn, allowing bodies to decompose naturally as nature intends and nothing more.

But no. We have symbols. Symbols which are going to help us be sure that he is there, that this happened, that it is over, and this symbol allows us a transition from the one who was real, who existed, for a memory that is another kind of reality which is proven. And as long as that doesn't happen, as long as there isn't concrete proof, the ambivalence continues and thus the appearances, because as long as we don't know that she is dead, it is possible that she is alive.

So, and it is those, I say, who have a certain interest in a certain press and in a certain type of movement of information around this case who maintain the appearances, at strategic times and circumstances, as a form of information to avoid the grief. That is to say...if we were to think about another case, the Castelo de Paiva case, where, as we all know, 4/5 years ago, a bus with many people fell...an outing...fell...where many people died where the bodies didn't reappear.

We understand that people from the families of the bodies that did not reappear had the greatest difficulty in closing that chapter of their lives. From a sociological point of view, we are going to have great difficulty in closing this event, the Maddie chapter, as long as we don't know what truly happened, as long as we don't have, let's say, the obvious proof. As long as we succeed in giving a nocravo e na ferradura *, this phenomenon will, for that reason, not end. Never....It is as if we may never again be at peace, never be at peace with Maddie as long as we effectively don't know, black on white: the little girl is dead. That's what happened and it's over. She will always be in limbo between truth and lie. She will always be a kind of phantom who is going to haunt Portugal and England and the relationship between the two nations.

* I don't know what this means! Sorry! It looks idiomatic to me. So, maybe if there is a Portuguese speaker here, we can be offered a translation. Thank you!

DL: But....and concerning the couple? Concerning Kate and Gerry McCann, from the known images, from the couple's attitude, can we conclude that they have already grieved?

PS: No, no, I wouldn't come to that conclusion. I would conclude otherwise. All of us alive, all living human beings, have pacts. Things happen, more or less terrible, according to our value system and to the relative severity around the events and the way in which we live intensely and the way we make pacts. What is common here, to both, in the circumstances of couples, for example, who have lost a child, in one way or another, and here we are not discussing the problem of whether there is or is not responsibility, for the obvious fact that they have lost their child.

It is basically...this is described in psychological research, having break-ups. Marital break-ups happen sometimes after these events occur. And Why? Simply because we mustn't think that two people grieve for a shared situation at the same time. This is a key point in perceiving the phenomenon. As luck would have it, one of them will do it before the other. And the one who does it before the other, at a given moment stops having a fixation; for example, with the death or loss of a child, starts to have a so-called normal life. Starts to smile again, starts to go out again, starts to go out to dinner again, starts to....well, life is for living! Because he has reached a resolution, he has already repaired the devastating emotional effects and the other has not! And here, the conflict begins.

Who will be like, "how can you want to go out to dinner when it's hardly two years since our child died?" So, there, those who work from a clinical point of view, with families, perceive this clearly. But this happened a year and a few months ago, in the Maddie McCann case, and there is no visible crisis between the couple. That doesn't mean that it will always be like that, but there would have to be some kind of sign. The only sign we keep seeing is one of a superficial nature, which tallies with the image, naturally they have image advisers, which is elsewhere a social marker of great harmony, for example: from the way in which Gerry writes in his blog, now at least after having started to write again...it's like: "Kate and I are too busy to do that..." which means, trying to always give the idea of normalcy, of someone who is getting on with this search, united with the same goal. But united in the same goal and at the same time they say that they haven't succeeded, let's say, in finding yet. This is something they also lack for grieving about the situation.

And in these circumstances it seems to me that it is nothing to do with having or not having grieved, but above all there is a pact between the two of them on that question, at least from an emotional point of view from what we can see, because they are very formal, and let's say, present, from the point of view of public debate and social behaviour, pointers that suggest making this type of pact, in a ?????? (prélineaire?) and advised strategy to maintain the fact of this endless search, yet from a contradictory point of view.

Why contradictory? Because they are interested in keeping the case in the spotlight, they have been very silent. We can also recognise the idea "well, we have been silent because we are looking for leads....etc..." But these changes, let's say of opinion, people need to know this too, because this case, Madeleine McCann , has ceased to be one which only interests the couple, this interests the whole world, because we can't offer support and subsequently the willingness. So, I would say that it's not about grieving, they have or have not done it, but I find that that's not the problem we should be addressing, but to what extent a kind of pact, formed by strategic circumstances from a social point of view: how long is this going to last?

As long as they can stand the pressure? What is also very strange is how, I don't know if they have psychiatric or psychological or psycho therapeutic support or not, and people have different levels of resistance to stress, but for those who are not... who were not public figures, who were used to the stress of being permanently before the cameras, they were obviously, from an emotional point of view, very good. Strangely good, I would say.

DL: Going back to the Madeleine McCann case, videos that were made a while back by Paulo Sargento....what is the idea behind these videos? I am talking about, for example, in the video where we see the route taken by a car leaving the Ocean Club.

PS: OK. So, in that video where not just one but three alternative routes are drawn, what we were looking to show at that time was a car allegedly leaving from outside the back bedroom window, let's say, of the apartment where theMcCann couple were staying. The car leaving by the road that goes behind the Ocean Club to the church, or by the road that runs in front of the Ocean Club to the church, taking around 27/28 seconds to travel this route at a speed of 50km/h. This would be the maximum speed permitted in a residential area. So, that was the calculation made. In one of these routes, the car would have two advantages in taking the route. Let's say that there is someone taking the little girl in a car, alive or dead, whatever, to the point from which they can go off on another tack, notably by sea or wherever.

This route takes 26 seconds and if it's along the ring road, let's say, on the right of the Ocean Club where it doesn't pass very close to the door, that route is practically straight. It is a route with no obstacles. There are few people because it is disused land. I don't know if it still is, but at that time there was disused land of around two hectares which was off-limits to the public because of works. So, there weren't a lot of people present and so this would be a route that a car would travel in under 30 seconds to get to the church, and let's imagine that there were was a third person, an accomplice could take the little girl and take her to another place from that point.

Then there is another route that takes, perhaps a second less, but there are more turns, there are usually more people around there. It is above all a question: it goes past the door of the Ocean Club. Let's imagine that it is someone known to the group of 9, who is taking this route with the little girl, he would be noticed by many. Whatever the route, that shows one thing. It shows the possibility that in less than 5 minutes, someone could leave the table at the Ocean Club, having taken the little girl in a car, go as far as the church, come back and in 5 minutes be chatting with his friends. That's a clear demonstration.

DL: So far, we know that there were gaps in the information. We know more or less the amount of time that was available to the couple, to certain of their friends for being away from dinner at Ocean Club and in the first news that appeared, a space of time of 12 minutes was mentioned. 12 minutes then, would be enough time to get a body out of an apartment?

PS: Half that time would be more than enough, comfortably enough.

DL: In relation to the Madeleine McCann case, those Identikit portraits that appeared one after the other, up to what point can credibility be given either to the witnesses who created the Identikit pictures or the Identikit pictures themselves, because there are big differences between them?

PS: Yes, they are different. I find those Identikit portraits a complete deception and there are mistakes at all levels, the first of which is with the photo. The Identikit portrait is a product, let's say, created as a general rule by an artist or a police technician from a witness statement. So, the first question we have to ask ourselves is if the witness statement is credible. In two situations the witness statement was from a lady called Jane Tanner, who belonged to the Tapas group, didn't she? And this lady, as can be checked, in the questionable things she produced for the police, there are modifications. That is more than enough reason for us to be cautious.

When we look at the Identikit picture, then the sketch by the police artist is the result of an attempt to transform the result of a creation, let's say, questionable, from a person who is constantly in the process of modifying her witness statement. To give an example of that, in the first sketch, we have something like having seen a man carrying something in his arms, something that looked like a child wrapped in a blanket. And in the second it was Maddie who was in the arms of that person so that in the Identikit picture we see a drawing of a little girl being carried in the arms, in a very strange way, because no human being carries carries like that...thus, it is simply in very special circumstances unless she was obviously dead but I don't see anybody out in the street with a dead child, showing her to the public.

Yet, this is deception.

What astonishes me is that an experienced artist, for example a forensic police officer, can make such a basic mistake as that and about the details, the proportions, of a three year-old child. The proportion she confers on the person carrying her, is badly reproduced in the sense that the legs are purely and simply too long in comparison with anthropometric guidelines, which I repeat, a forensic artist has an obligation to know and to work in that way. This is the reason that it's totally misleading.

But there is another very interesting question. It is that this picture is definitely produced with pyjamas, which were only presented in public, the image of those pyjamas...after Jane Tanner had produced the first story. In the second, she modified them. So, a first Identikit portrait agreeing with the witness statement. Then this is according to the technical skills which a forensic artist must have in her training and clearly she cannot make basic errors like that. And then an Identikit picture nearly always claims to identify what is most identifiable about human beings and we know that we are more identifiable. Babies look at a special part of our bodies, our face, the triangle of eyes, nose, mouth and every person having seen another person, instinctively where does she look? It's the face.

And if someone saw somebody and he suspects this somebody of taking that little girl, it is somewhat astonishing how he notices the classic shoes, the beige trousers, the browncoat , the beige shirt, the qualities of the colours so difficult to see at night and also is also attentive to details and retains them for a long time and he has no idea about the face.
Well, that's not an Identikit portrait.

In finishing and most important from my point of view, and what effectively reflects the willingness to maintain the theory of kidnap at all costs, through gross errors like those which I have just been talking about and I say again; good, but look. It's a portrait created by a forensic artist with FBI training. But what do we have here? The clear imposition of an authoritative argument in favour of the authority of the argument. If the argument is good it doesn't matter whether it's made by the FBI or made by whoever else, or all the institutions known to be competent, who have 100% competent people. So, this is an absolutely extraordinary error and it is on that basis that we are trying to show that video, purely and simply to say that this Identikit portrait is a deception and further, the third to appear, a sketch of a bearded person and, as has very often been said jokingly, very like the ex-Beatle, the shy George Harrison. It was produced not by the witness Jane Tanner as we are led to believe, but by an English citizen, British, who was not in Praia da Luz at the time when the little girl disappeared, but it was around a month after she saw a man with those characteristics and it was based on those characteristics after a few discussions, she had said that it was someone who looked Mediterranean, who reproduced this third Identikit portrait.

Which means....it's too much of a coincidence that the guy stays there, after having kidnapped, nearly a month and that this lady should see the same guy. Now, this was good for a detective agency working for theMcCanns, finding in Altura in the Algarve, near Vila Real de Sao Antonio, a guy who also had a beard, with quite long hair, who by chance, also had a brown shirt and who was there in Altura, which is half-way, for example, between Praia da Luz and Huelva where had also been, at the same time, as if that wasn't enough, a little girl had been abducted at the time, when it was discovered she had been abducted and murdered by a paedophile.

Only at that time, that wasn't known and probably this set up a guy, which is clearly demonstrated, by facial comparison using anthropometric reconstruction, let's say, the facial proportions, which have nothing to do with the Identikit portrait, and who, in addition is a citizen who has mental health problems.

That was useful for maintaining, for a while, an Identikit portrait which was itself a misleading portrait and constructed, I would hazard and I would say, artificially, because purely and simply the arch of the eyebrows and the lower part of the face don't coincide in proportion and we are in the process of creating an ambiguous type of human being, because the upper part is typically masculine as far as the eyebrow characteristics while over accentuating the features....his cranial prominences were more distinct and he looked nasty. When we would like to, for example.....even in the cinema when we want to cast an actor to play a criminal, we are not going to cast an actor with delicate features. A more rough and ready type is cast. That Neanderthal eyebrow prominence creates fear, doesn't it?

This upper part is like that, but this lower part is more like the citizen, for example more Anglo-Saxon, while the upper part looks like a North African. But, whether what we have here is a hybrid kind of person, what we need to know is if this is another incompetence by the artist or if it is something more dangerous than that, a forgery to create an ancestral criminal stereotype.

DL: One last question, perhaps, concerning the campaign that was created around the case. From a psychological point of view to what extent can we consider the use of Cuddle Cat, the walks by the sea, their going to church, to what extent can we explain that in terms of manipulating the public?

PS: I believe that.... the actions themselves are evidence of manipulating public opinion because normally when a child disappears, with the loss of a child, we should look at the more common human behaviour, which doesn't mean that being more common, there aren't other people who behave differently without their becoming suspects or whatever and being accused. But the most natural is that people whose child has disappeared, a loved one, whoever it may be, prefer to be surrounded by the police and people who help them technically to find and don't as, for example, on the first night, a priest was sought and soon afterward an image consultant.





(To be continued as I carry on translating this lengthy piece!)





Entrevue exclusive par Duarte Levy. Image par Joana Morais. 2008/2009 ©Tous droits réservés.

Video of Paulo Sargento's interview is available on the SOS Madeleine McCann web site.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Metodo 3 seeks to restore its image after Madeleine McCann

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

From Duarte Levy (Huelva)

Detectives are seeking to claim credit for dismantling an image-exchange paedophile network.

Metodo 3, the Catalan agency which worked for the McCanns during the months following Madeleine's disappearance, is now seeking to restore its image, tarnished by the lack of results in that case, but also by the recent allusions made by the couple's spokesperson.

Francisco Marco, director of Metodo 3 has convinced the Spanish daily, El Mundo, that its detectives helped the Spanish police to arrest members of an image-exchange paedophile network on the internet, information denied by a source from the National Police.

"The operation did not originate with that agency. The network in question was already under surveillance by our services for some time, but we were waiting for the right time to catch the most individuals and thus to bring an end to their activities," states a spokesperson for the National Spanish Police, contacted by SMM, stresing that "the intervention of that agency only precipitated matters. It was a risk to wait knowing that private detectives and particularly those ones, had information and were risking putting our investigators work in jeopardy."

According to the daily newspaper, known for its relations with the Barcelona agency, information gathered by the Metodo 3 detectives in the course of their investigation into Maddie's disappearance, allegedly helped the Barcelona Computer Crimes Squad to catch up to 23 internet users, 13 of whom were arrested in the course of the operation "Lolita P-mix" launched by the Spanish authorities.

Francisco Marco explained to the daily that the agency had created a call centre for world-wide exposure of Madeleine McCann's disappearance and that it was following an email received, saying that the little British girl figured in a paedophile video, that they happened to locate a series of images exchanged on the networks "Peer 2 Peer", "Gnuteklla" and "Donkey 2000". Maddie did not figure on any photo or video but Metodo 3 was obliged to pass on the information to the Computer Crimes Squad in Barcelona, a legal obligation that not even the detectives can escape.

Since the creation of the Computer Crimes Squad in 1995, many thousands of people have been arrested in Spain, or abroad, for crimes linked to paedophilia, in particular the exchange of photos or videos on the internet. The Squad now maintain excellent collaboration with other foreign police forces, which has allowed them to contribute directly to the dismantling of many large networks.

19/01/09

Estelle, Maddie, Antoine and the others

Georges Moréas Police Etcetera 18/01/09

The information in the press about a new lead in the investigation into the disappearance of little Estelle Mouzin, even before the facts are verified, interests a great many people. Some have reacted violently on the sites of the journalists who have related the information. Thus in Libération, we can read: "That article risks being Estelle's death sentence - Well done the telly and the newspapers! Whether this girl is Estelle or not you are signing her death warrant in publishing that photo - What a lack of professionalism! It's shameful."

Or again in Le Monde: "If she is still alive, this information is scandelous...I'm stunned by the irresponsibility of AFP for producing the news item about it."

(* Le Figaro)

As for Estelle's father, he was astonished that journalists were aware before the investigative measures were implemented. Adding, however: "This confirms the ongoing investigation and the ideas held by the new Versailles PJ director, during the annual conference of the Estelle Association on January 10th in Guermantes." In fact, commissioner Philippe Bugeaud, at that time, referred to the thousands of statements still in the process of being checked and also "millions and millions of telephone checks" (In the days that followed the child's disappearance, all communication exchanges in the area were looked at - Something never done before).

Remember, Estelle was abducted on January 9th 2003 (Read here) on her way home from school in Guermantes, in Seine-et-Marne. I don't think an investigation has ever put so many resources into operation. Alas, without success until now.

On May 3rd 2007, in the south of Portugal, it was a little English girl aged 4 years, Madeleine McCann, called Maddie, who disappeared from her bedroom while her parents were at a restaurant. In the months that followed, the investigators assembled a stack of suspicions against the parents, in a tense atmosphere between Great Britain and Portugal. So much so that the police officer heading the investigation finally slammed the door. (Read here) The parents were let off the hook and the case archived. Now, it is private detectives who are continuing the investigation and a reward of 2.5 million pounds is offered to, "anyone who gives information that contributes to finding Madeleine alive and returning her safely to Rothley in the Leicestershire area."

On September 11th 2008, little Antoine, aged 6 and a half years, disappeared from the family home in Issoire, in Puy-de-Dôme, while his mother and her partner were at a restaurant a few hundred metres away. Both have a previous record and the investigators are focusing their investigation on them. (Read here) Sébastien, the mother's partner, is in prison on a criminal charge and the mother, Alexandrine, aged 23, is the object of permanent surveillance. At time of writing, she is on extended remand for driving without a licence. She denies this. Following this arrest, Le Figaro outdid itself with an article whose very title makes my hair stand on end: "Antoine's disappearance: the noose tightens around the mother."

This young mother is, undoubtedly, a drop-out, which doesn't make this child-killing or an outlet for the press.

She may be guilty, but if there is the least proof against her, she will spend a long time in prison.

Thousands of people disappear every year, men, women, children. Most of them are found, but for one or two children, there is no news. You can imagine the parents' anguish.

Three missing children:

- Estelle: five years later, the investigators are still active.

- Maddie: private investigators and money, lots of money.

- Antoine...

(* )Le Figaro 17/01/09)

The Parisien reveals that investigators have discovered the photograph of a teenager resembling the young girl, who disappeared in Guermantes in 2003, on an Estonian pornography site. Police officers are going to Estonia.

If Estelle Mouzin, that little ten year-old girl who disappeared six years ago from her village of Guermantes, is still alive, is she being held in Estonia? French police officers are to go to that Baltic state very soon, reveals the Parisien. Alerted by an internet user, investigators discovered on a pornographic site, hosted in the United States, but created in Estonia, the photograph of a naked teeenager who resembles Estelle in a way that is troubling. "The internet user who contacted us saw this face and immediately made the connection with the young Estelle Mouzin," someone close to the case revealed to the daily newspaper.

The first work on the photo from the site surprised the police officers. On a computer, they superimposed images of Estelle on the photo of the teenager and observed that the facial proportions seemed to correspond to those of the young schoolgirl, who disappeared on January 9th 2003 on the way between her school and her home. The Central Directorate of the PJ, (DCPJ) placed the paedophile site under surveillance. Sophie Combes, the investigating judge in charge of the case, sent two international rogatory letters. The police are going to interrogate the site's creators to try to find out more about the identities of the teenagers presented.

Cipriano case - Joana is dead

17/01/09

Joana is dead (*)

"There is only one truth in that statement, Joana is dead, the rest is no more than a tissue of lies."

Four years ago, a child was killed at the hands of her mother and her uncle. her crime was to surprise them having sex. She was called Joana and, in addition to the fact of being negelcted by her mother, she was the victim of sexual abuse.

Yesterday, from the Odemira prison, her mother, legally declared responsible for her death, signed a statement in which she confirmed such death, attributing sole responsibility to her brother.

There is only one truth in that statement: Joana is dead. The rest is no more than a tissue of lies from someone who was declared a psychopath and who, from the first moment, lied to the police.

Unlike other murdered children, those responsible have been brought to justice and sentenced for the heinous crime.

For Joana's mother, it is not enough to ask for forgiveness, she must stop lying and tell the truth. That will be the moment of true redemption and Joana's soul will rest in peace.

Joana suffered in life and at the moment of her violent death. It has not been possible to avoid such sacrifices, but we have contributed to justice being done.

It is because of this case and others that we are proud to have been police officers, to be able to look at the sky and say: by the grace of God...I was a police officer.

Gonçalo Amaral

(*) Opinion piece by Gonçalo Amaral, published in the Portuguese daily, Correio da Manha

Note: Léonor Cipriano has had several versions about the disappearance and death of her daughter since September 2004. More recently, she said she did not know what had happened to her daughter Joana. Further, she has even stated that she believed that Joana was still alive.

These statements were made in the Faro courtroom, before judges, the jury and the public at the trial of the five PJ inspectors.

This is only an umpteenth version...Now, a few versions later, Joana's mother reveals that Joana was killed by her uncle, João Cipriano.

SOS Madeleine McCann

The Cipriano case: Joana was battered to death by her uncle.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

17/01/09

The new witness statement has been written by Marcos Aragão.

Yesterday, the lawyer, Marcos Aragão Correia revealed to the press, outside the trial of the five PJ inspectors, a document signed by Léonor Cipriano, in which Joana's mother accuses her brother, João Cipriano, of being the sole perpetrator of the little girl's murder.

In this eight page document, written by hand by the lawyer, Léonor Cipriano explains that her brother convinced her to sell Joana, but that "the people didn't have the money promised (an amount Léonor has not revealed) and João did not hand over the girl.

(To read the complete document click here for the photos or the PDF).

This umpteenth version is, according to Marcos Aragão, "the true story," Léonor's witness statement recounting exactly what allegedly happened to her daughter Joana, who disappeared in September 2004.

"When Joana left the house, the intention was to hand her over to the people and simulate a kidnapping," the lawyer states, explaining that her uncle, João Cipriano, had taken along the little girl's clothes in a large bag.

According to Marcos Aragão, Joana allegedly heard the whole discussion between João and the buyers, threatening her uncle, "that she was going to tell everything," after which, "he allegedly started battering her, finishing up killing her."

According to this new witness statement, written by Marcos Aragão, Léonor was not present at the time of Joana's death but João Cipriano allegedly confessed his crime to her: when he came home, he tried to hide the murder, but, at Léonor's insistence, who allegedly detected traces of blood on her brother's trousers, João ended up admitting having killed Joana and having hidden the body in a place close to the house before burying it the next day.

Umpteenth version targets Gonçalo Amaral, the former coordinator.

It was outside the trial of the five PJ inspectors that Marcos Aragão Correia - the same lawyer who stated that he had a vision that Maddie's body was in the deep waters of the Arade Dam - chose to present the document to the press, stressing that Léonor, "decided to leave this out and say that she knew nothing," because of, "her brother's threats," but that the confession of her participation in Joana's murder was allegedly made, "under torture," when she was interviewed by the PJ inspectors.

The new version of the events surrounding Joana's death will, meanwhile, be used by Léonor's lawyer to point the finger at former inspector, Gonçalo Amaral, officer for the disappearance and death of Joana in 2004 and of Madeleine McCann in 2007.

In the document which the lawyer wrote and Léonor signed, the former inspector is accused of knowing the truth: "If Mr Amaral knows it, then why did he ask people to beat me up? Why?"

In statements to the Portuguese press, the former coordinator of the PJ's DIC in Portimao, contented himself with saying that Léonor Cipriano was already considered to be a psychopath (see the video by the psychologist Paulo Sargento) and that she was lying, stressing that Joana's mother, as well as her brother João were tried and convicted for Joana's murder, all "the rest was lies being put about."

Gonçalo Amaral's lawyer, António Cabrita, goes further and after having considered that the document presented by Marcos Aragão had no relevance to the ongoing trial against the five inspectors, stated that he did not believe it was Léonor's work, but rather the work of someone else: "an obvious manipulation of the prisoner for other purposes," notably the sullying of Gonçalo Amaral's image.

Review of Léonor's conviction must await the end of Amaral's trial.

The request for review of Léonor and João Cipriano's convictions will await the final result of the trial of the five PJ inspectors, accused of having committed acts of torture during an interrogation, the day after Léonor's confession in the presence of her lawyer at the time.

In November 2005, the two siblings were sentenced, respectively, to 20 years and four months in prison and 19 years and two months. In May 2008, the Supreme Court of Justice reduced the sentences to 16 years and eight months in prison.

Antoine Brugerolle: mother caught out lying to the investigators.

Alexandrine Brugerolle with her son, Antoine.

Le Figaro 14/01/09

The noose tightens around the mother.

Alexandrine Brugerolle, who maintains that she cannot drive and could therefore not have transported her child who disappeared on September 11th 2008, lied to the investigators on this point.

The incident, however trivial, has strengthened the investigators and magistrates in their belief that the mother of little Antoine, reported missing since September 11th, is not telling them the whole truth. On January 8th, Alexandrine Brugerolle de Frayssinette was stopped at the wheel of a white Peugeot 106 on the A75 autoroute, driving in the Issoire-Clermont direction (Puy-de-Dôme). But, since the beginning of the investigation into her son's disappearance on September 11th last, the young woman has insisted that she doesn't know how to drive. "On several occasions, she has even used that argument to attempt to brush aside our suspicions in maintaining that, without a car, she couldn't have transported her child out of the town of Issoire," a source close to the investigation reveals.

Driving in a car registered in a departement of the Côte d'Azur, along with a man who was in an inebriated state in the passenger seat, Alexandrine Brugerolle was stopped for questioning at around 8.30pm by officers from the transport police who were amazed to see her vehicle zig-zagging on the autoroute. In spite of the evidence, the young woman told the officers she that she held a driving licence which she claimed to have left at home. Hearing nothing since then, the gendarmes have summoned her for immediate questioning about her false statements. Since the start of the investigation, the gendarmes have been astonished by the silence and other inconsistencies that riddle the account given by Alexandrine Brugerolle. A witness states having seen her driving a white Peugeot in the days preceding her child's disappearance? She rejects this as impossible since she doesn't know how to drive.

"Profile of the ideal guilty parties."

The investigators discovered in her bank statements that she bought large capacity bin bags twenty-four hours before reporting the unusual absence of her son? She simply explained to them that she had mistaken the size and took them back to the shop without delay - without the supermarket having apparently kept any trace of that exchange. Annoyed at having these details quoted in the press, Alexandrine Brugerolle has recently spoken out several times, considering that the investigation was focused exclusively on her. "Since the start, the prosecutor has been seeking to destroy my reputation because he has got it into his head that my partner and I, because of our criminal record and our alternative lifestyle, have the profile of the ideal guilty parties," she explained at the beginning of October.

Freeport: video proves payment of bribes to a minister.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

16/01/09

The journalist Felicia Cabrita makes this revelation in the daily newspaper, "Sol," available tomorrow (Saturday) morning.

After having revealed that a Portuguese minister was amongst those suspected of corruption in the investigation into the Freeport case, obliging the office of the Attorney General of the Republic to intervene with a press release denying that information, the journalist Felicia Cabrita returns to the subject, confirming the existence of a video which proves the payment of bribes to a member of the former socialist government.

According to the journalist, a video recording of a conversation between an English administrator from Freeport's holding company and Charles Smith, one of the associates of the consulting company Smith & Pedro, alludes to payments of bribes to a Portuguese minister of António Guterres' government.

In statements to SMM, a British police source indicates that the report of the ongoing investigation in the United Kingdom contains a list of suspects - 15 as he and the daily newspaper Sol indicate - where the name of the current prime minister, José Socrates, figures.

The video containing the recorded conversation between Freeport's administrator and Charles Smith, confirms the payment of bribes to several Portuguese politicians, naming a minister in the socialist government of Antonio Guterres, the former prime minister, who is not, himself, implicated.

The investigation still ongoing in the UK could result, if justice follows its normal course, in a prosecution for crimes of corruption and tax evasion in the approval for the construction of the Freeport commercial complex in Alcochete, at the southern edge of Lisbon.

Lire aussi :

Dossiers Freeport et Maddie dans l’agenda des autorités portugaises et britanniques

Photos: top left; covers from SOL. Below, Gordon Brown and José Soctrates before their private meeting about the Madeleine McCann case.

SOS Madeleine McCann - The Cipriano case: Léonor changes her story once again and accuses the uncle of having killed Joana.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

16/01/09

Léonor Cipriano, mother of Joana, the little girl aged seven, who disappeared in the south of Portugal in December 2004, has once again changed her version of the facts, this time about the death of her daughter.

Tried and sentenced for Joana's murder, Léonor Cipriano is involved now in the trial of five Portuguese PJ inspectors accused by the Public Minister of having committed acts of torture against her.

Yesterday, as her lawyer, Marcos Aragão Correia, had elsewhere "predicted", on the occasion of his book launch, Léonor Cipriano accused Joana's uncle of having killed the child after having tried to sell her.

According to Léonor, in a document signed yesterday in prison, João Manuel Domingos Cipriano allegedly killed Joana after having failed to deliver the child to her purchasers.

Today, at around 4pm (3pm in Portugal) Marcos Aragão Correia, Léonor's lawyer, accompanied by Joana's step-father, António Leandro David Da Silva, will read a press release, at the entrance to the Faro court where the trial of the PJ inspectors is taking place. After the press release, the document, a total of eight pages, will be handed to the Public Minister.

A case revived for the advantage of the Madeleine McCann case.

After lying around for several years in the drawers of the Public Ministry, during which time, different prosecutors have never succeeded in establishing with certainty if Léonor Cipriano was really assaulted and by whom, it took the Madeleine McCann case and in addition, a "divorce" between the police and the magistrates, for five PJ inspectors to be accused of acts of torture...amongst them the head of the investigation into Maddie's disappearance.

Surpisingly, Gonçalo Amaral only became an arguido in this trial after having considered Maddie's parents as suspects in the disappearance of their daughter, which any police officer would have done, given the various elements of the investigation.

Even if all the specialists are in agreement in considering that the Joana Cipriano case has no relation to the disappearance and death of Madeleine McCann, the British media (and some Portuguese) have been encouraged to "revive" this story in order to implicate the head of the investigation for the PJ, Gonçalo Amaral.

Now, four years after the murder and the disappearance of Joana's body, Marcos Aragão Correia, the lawyer who has worked with Metodo 3's Spanish detectives hired by Kate and Gerry McCann, has also become Léonor Cipriano's lawyer and continues to want to link the two cases, seeing the work of Gonçalo Amaral in both.

"Regardless of everything about the Cipriano case - where he doesn't give a damn - if Marcos Aragão Correia succeeds in tarnishing Amaral's image, he would at the same time restore the McCanns' image," a PJ specialist in communication states, stressing that, "this was the objective plotted with the Spanish."

See also :

Marcos Aragão Correia : à une "vision" de l’affaire Cipriano
Jugement de Gonçalo Amaral le 24 octobre
Mère de Joana condamné une nouvelle fois
"Nous l’avons battu (Léonor), car personne n’aime les assassins d’enfants"
Médecin dénonce que les photos ne correspondent pas aux lésions
Affaire Cipriano : Extrait d'entrevue avec le psychologue et professeur universitaire Paulo Sargento

SOS Madeleine McCann: another, "substantial donation," to the Madeleine fund.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

14/01/08

McCann vs "The Evening Standard."

The British newspaper, "The Evening Standard," has just swelled the already long list of media in the UK who have been obliged to offer their apologies to Madeleine McCann's parents.

The announcement of this about-face by, "The Evening Standard," was made on the same day as Maddie's father told the Portuguese media that he wished to, "move forward and not back,"and that he had no intention of taking legal action against the media.

To the Portuguese journalists Gerry McCann stated that he wished to, "make totally clear that what happened in the past, was finished," claiming, according to him, to focus, "on what could be done to continue the search."

"That's our priority and that has always been. However, these things (possible legal actions) are simply not important at this time," Gerry Mccann stated.

In spite of Madeleine McCann's father's statements, that the couple were not concerned with possible legal action against the media, the British newspaper was obliged to make, "a substantial donation," to the fund created after Maddie's disappearance, and to, "publish announcements in foreign editions of another newspaper in our group, the Daily Mail, requesting information which might lead to finding Madeleine."

In its online edition, the newspaper, "The Evening Standard," writes that during the last months of 2007, "like a large part of the media," it published various articles which, "could be understood as suggesting that Kate and Gerry McCann might be involved in Madeleine's disappearance."

"We regret this fact and we wish to clarify, to avoid any doubt, that we totally accept that there is no proof to suggest that Kate and Gerry were involved in their daughter's disappearance," writes the newspaper.

An editorial source at the daily, contacted by SMM, confirmed that this announcement is the result of an agreement between the publication and lawyers for the couple in order to avoid a protracted action in the courts where, "given the McCanns' enormous political and legal support, there would be very little chance of success." The same source further states that this announcement, "has changed nothing of the view various journalists have about the case and the possible responsibility of the couple," but that in future, "it will be impossible to publish a single line that might implicate the couple."

In its online edition, the Evening Standard further writes that there, "is no evidence that Madeleine has come to any harm," thus ignoring all the evidence, and honest logic of this kind of case, that indicates that the little British girl will be dead.

Ex-KGB at the head of the Evening Standard.

In the next few days, the millionaire and former KGB agent, Alexandre Lebedev, could become the new owner of the Evening Standard, which could see a hypothetical change in the editorial policy of the newspaper. At least, this is what many journalists are expecting, unhappy with the direction followed by the newspaper and worried about its financial situation.

If the sale is confirmed, the former spy will be the first Russian to become majority owner of a major British newspaper: according to the terms of the sale agreement, Lebedev will hold 76% of the newspaper, the remaining 24% remaining the property of the Daily Mirror & General Trust, the current owner.

This is not the first time a major English daily has become the property of foreigners. An Australian bought The Times, The Sun and the News of The World, and a Canadian had, at one time, been the owner of The Telegraph.

Duarte Levy

Updated - SOS Madeleine McCann: Gerry McCann has returned to Portugal

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Maddie's father has returned to Portugal.

Gerry McCann arrived in Portugal today where he met the lawyer Rogério Alves. Maddie's father also had talks with various people linked to the Portuguese government, notably thanks to the intervention of the British diplomatic authorities in Lisbon who accompanied him.

He assured journalists that it is the first of, "many visits," to set up new operations in the search for his daughter, but he refused to explain what operations and why he had not considered it appropriate to cooperate with the PJ in the past.

Gerry and Kate McCann left Portugal in September 2007 after being constituted arguidos by the Portuguese authorities, since when the couple have always refused to return to Portugal and to cooperate with the PJ, notably in the reconstruction of the events of the night of May 3rd 2007.

According to a Home Office source in London, Madeleine McCann's father, before undertaking his journey to Portugal, obtained every guarantee that he would not be bothered by the Portuguese authorities.

The investigation into the disappearance and death of his daughter Madeleine has been placed on hold awaiting better evidence on the decision of the Public Minister, who has refused since then to reopen it, this in spite of requests introduced in that direction, bringing new elements.

Gerry McCann has allegedly discovered the desire to work with the Portuguese authorities.

On arrival at Faro airport for a two day visit without the company of his wife Kate, Maddie's father today expressed his intention to cooperate with the Portuguese authorities in the search for his daughter who disappeared in May 2007, considering that there was still, "a good chance that Maddie could be found alive and well."

Without explaining why the couple did not, themselves, request the reopening of the investigation while there was time, Gerry McCann wanted to stress his, "willingness to work with the authorities, as much as possible."

According to Maddie's father, he discussed with his lawyer, Rogério Alves, the best way to collaborate with the Portuguese authorities with, "the objective of seeing what could still be done in the search for Maddie," because, he states, the British police and the police of many other countries continue to receive information from different sources, "about what happened to Madeleine," as well as reports of, "possible sightings."

In an interview, Gerry McCann stated that, for the moment at least, he had no intention of taking legal action against the Portuguese State or any other body, including the media, stressing wanting to, "move forward and not back."

SOS Madeleine McCann

13/01/08

Restore the Constitutional Republic

As the United States Senate officially recognises Barack Obama as President-elect...

....as of today at 1.37pm EST, and Cheney, apparently, did not even ask if there were objections, I post these two videos for Dr Doug Schell, a US citizen of integrity.

Four school choirs sing, "The Battle Hymn of The Republic," and the Cactus Cuties sing , "The Star Spangled Banner."





Don't give up, Captain! It's only the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end!

SOS Madeleine McCann: Gonçalo Amaral goes back into politics and wants to become mayor of Olhão.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

8/01/08

The former coordinator of the PJ, Gonçalo Amaral, is the name chosen by the Social Democrat Party (PSD) to head the party's list for the forthcoming urban district elections in the town of Olhão, in the south of Portugal.

Gonçalo Amaral, former coordinator of the Department of Criminal Investigation (DIC) for the Portimao PJ, was head of the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

According to a PSD official for the Algarve region, the former PJ investigator is open to leading the opposition party in the 2009 municipal elections in spite of his lack of political experience.

Born in the north of the country in the Viseu region, Gonçalo Amaral currently lives in Portimao, but, according to the same PSD official, he has family in Olhão, the town where he will be candidate for the post of mayor, held since 1993 by the socialist Francisco Leal.

The chances of Gonçalo Amaral becoming mayor of Olhão are, however, slim, because the town has always been a socialist stronghold: after the Carnation Revolution in 1974, and since the first mayoral elections in 1976, the socialists have been the most popular political group in Olhão elections.

8/01/08

SOS Madeleine McCann

SOS Madeleine McCann: The child has been rescued in Egypt, but the Portuguese PJ are still not convinced.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Maddie found safe and well. (*)


This Tuesday, the world woke in astonishment: the little English girl who had disappeared in Praia da Luz, Lagos, on May 3rd 2007, has been rescued alive and apparently in good health by a special forces team of the Egyptian army, which has broken up an international human trafficking network.

Maddie was only one of 50 people - amongst children and older women - rescued by the authorities, in a property located in the Cairo area, where that organisation was keeping people in captivity who had been kidnapped all over Europe.

Aware of necessary apprehension, Sky News did a live broadcast on Maddie's liberation. Immediately afterward, the British Child Protection organisation placed a preventative welfare order before the United Kingdom's High Court to prevent the disclosure of images of the child by tabloids and television.

The McCann couple have taken themselves off to Cairo, the absence of tears on the part of the mother, Kate McCann, being very noticeable.

PJ sources told VISÃO that these results have not convinced the Portuguese police, who have meanwhile already invited the McCanns to come to Portugal to be interviewed. Nevertheless, ex-inspector Gonçalo Amaral has already announced that he is busy writing a new book: Maddie, the sequel.

Pope Benedict XVI has prayed for the McCann family, and José Socrates has sent a message of congratulations to his British counterpart, Gordon Brown, ending the telegram with an enthusiastic Cool, man!

(*) This article is published in the current, on sale, edition of the Portuguese magazine VISÃO, whose title means vision....It's not about a vision - in any case not in the style of the psychic lawyer Marcos Aragão Correia -, but rather about "news that we would love to bring," in 2009.

That is meanwhile the title of the special issue of the magazine, written by the journalist Filipe Luis and based on ideas from the editorial staff of the daily. It remains to be seen if the British media, some incited by the McCanns' spokesman, will start a campaign against the journalist and the magazine, as was the case with the Spanish blogger José Antonio Pérez, victim of pressure and censorship after the discovery of am imaginary interview with Madeleine McCann.

Duarte Levy (**)

(**) Happy New Year 2009

31/12/08