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FARO, Portugal - A British couple named as suspects in the disappearance of their 4-year-old daughter left Portugal on Sunday, days after being grilled by Portuguese police about new forensic evidence authorities believe ties them to the case. Kate and Gerry McCann left aboard an easyJet flight from Faro airport, en route to an airport in central England near their home. Reporters on the plane said the first two rows had been reserved for the McCanns and their 2-year-old twins. They were expected to arrive in England just after noon, following a three-hour flight. As the plane took off, a...

An anonymous reader invites us to join in the hunt for the missing Steve Fossett using Amazon's Mechanical Turk. DigitalGlobe, one of Google's imaging partners, has acquired new high-resolution satellite imagery of the area where Fossett disappeared on Monday. The public can now go through this imagery and quickly flag any images that might contain Fossett's plane. Flagged images will receive further review by search and rescue experts.

MINDEN, Nev. (AP) — In their quest to find missing aviator Steve Fossett, searchers have come across uncharted plane crashes six times. But none of the wrecks shed light on what may have happened to the multimillionaire. Hopes that a wrecked plane spotted on the side of a hill might be Fossett's were dashed quickly Friday when ground crews learned the plane last was registered more than three decades ago. As the search for Fossett stretched into its fifth full day Saturday, weary rescuers were no closer to understanding where he was flying or where his small plane might have...

Disgraced political fund-raiser Norman Hsu - a major donor for Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Democrats - was a wanted man again after he failed to show up for court yesterday, and a judge issued a new warrant for his arrest. Hsu, whose criminal past has roiled the campaigns of presidential candidates, was scheduled to ask a judge to cut in half the $2 million bail he posted last week when he turned himself in after spending 15 years on the lam from a felony theft conviction. Instead, San Mateo Superior Court Judge Robert Foiles ordered Hsu's bail forfeited...

Disgraced Democratic fund-raiser Norman Hsu, who was wanted by California authorities for the last 15 years, is once again on the lam, putting Gov. Rendell, a staunch supporter, in an increasingly awkward political corner. And for now, Rendell isn't saying whether he will reverse his decision and return nearly $38,000 in contributions from Hsu or continue to stand by the man he recently called "one of the best 10 people I've met." Press secretary Chuck Ardo said the governor had no immediate comment on Hsu's disappearance. "The governor will respond to today's events after having time to review them," Ardo...

(RENO, Nev.) - Media sources are reporting the disappearance of a small plane carrying Steve Fossett, the first pilot to fly around the world solo without refueling. Fossett is best known for his five world record non-stop solo circumnavigations of the Earth. He is also a long-distance solo balloonist, and sailor. Chuck Allen with the Nevada Highway Patrol, told Salem-News.com that there is no sign of Fossett yet. "Yesterday he left at 9:00 AM hoping to complete ground recon on a project he is working on and he never came back." Fossett reportedly left a private airstrip on a ranch...

Breaking on CNN

Three dozen members of one Christian church in Iraq disappeared over the course of a week, and only one returned, according to a minister who is warning of the increase of persecution of Christians in that violence-ridden nation. The warning from Rev. Canon Andrew White is being reported by Voice of the Martyrs, the ministry to persecuted Christians around the world. VOM cited an interview with White on CBNNews.com in which the Anglican minister from Baghdad was describing the conditions for Iraqi Christians for a committee on religious freedom. He said kidnappings, torture and executions of Christians are rising....

Father of NBA star missing in river Poor conditions forced authorities to call off an underwater search of the Delaware for Floyd Nelson. DAVID SWANSON / Inquirer Staff Photographer Rescue workers scan the Delaware for signs of Floyd Nelson, who was reported missing on Thursday. "You can't see your hand in front of your face," said one official of the murky waters. »  After a gray day spent groping in fast, murky waters, police and fire crews called off their search of the Delaware River yesterday afternoon for Floyd "Pete" Nelson, father of former St. Joseph's University basketball star Jameer...

NORFOLK, Va. - A Navy surveillance aircraft crashed into the Atlantic during a training exercise, and crews searched Thursday for the three aviators who were aboard, authorities said. "We're still conducting an active search and rescue mission," Navy spokesman Mike Maus said Thursday, about 12 hours after the twin-engine turbo prop plane went down in the ocean off the North Carolina coast. The E-2C Hawkeye crashed at about 11 p.m. Wednesday, shortly after taking off from the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, Maus said. He did not know whether the plane sent out a distress call. The Truman and...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The mangled remains of a vessel found in the Bering Sea are likely those of a World War II submarine that disappeared with a crew of 70 off the Aleutian Island of Kiska. The discovery of the USS Grunion on Wednesday night culminates a five-year search led by the sons of its commander, Mannert Abele, and may finally shine a light on the mysterious last moments of the doomed vessel. "Obviously, this is a very big thing," the oldest son, Bruce Abele, said Thursday from his home in Newton, Mass. "I told my wife about it when...

The body of a missing priest from St. Bonaventure University was found Monday night in the Kinzua Dam Reservoir. Father Greg Brennan vanished over the weekend while boating along the New York-Pennsylvania border. Two priests from St. Bonaventure identified Father Brennan's body. In a written statement, St. Bonaventure President Sister Margaret Carney said "Our hearts are broken, both personally and professionally here at St. Bonaventure and for all of the people in the Southern Tier whose lives Father Greg touched, especially his parishioners at St. Pacificus and all of the fire company members in Olean and Allegany to whom he...

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office has confirmed the body of Greg Jolstad, 45, of Mora, has been recovered from the site of the 35W bridge collapse. The recovery brings the total number of confirmed deaths, and recovered victims, to 13. No more victims are believed to remain in the wreckage of the collapse.

LOS ANGELES -- An AMBER Alert was issued for a Rialto man and his four children, according to the San Bernardino Police Department. In a news release on the San Bernardino Police Department Web site, police said they are looking for 28-year-old Joseph Anthony Sanchez in connection with the disappearance of the children.

WANA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Sixteen Pakistani paramilitary soldiers were missing on Thursday in a region regarded as a hotbed of support for the Taliban and al Qaeda, and security officials feared militants may have abducted them. The men went missing while being transported back to their base in Jandola, 50 km (30 miles) east of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, a semi-autonomous tribal land on the border with Afghanistan. "They were supposed to reach Jandola in the evening, but so far we have no information about their whereabouts," military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said. A security official in...

Footballers go missing in Denmark Danish police say the men will be arrested and deported if found Fifteen footballers who took part in the Homeless World Cup in Denmark have left their teams and gone missing, police and organisers say. Seven of the missing players are from Burundi, four from Liberia, three from Cameroon and one from Afghanistan. The men had entry visas that expired on Monday. Danish police say they will be arrested and deported if found. The Liberian team managed to win third place in the tournament despite having lost four of its players. The men may already...

Iran May Consider American's Request August 05, 2007 Associated Press Nasser Karimi TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's Foreign Ministry said Sunday it would consider allowing the wife of an American man who vanished in Iran earlier this year to visit the Islamic country to search for him. "The request has not officially been relayed to us yet. If it is conveyed, we will review it," ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters. On Thursday, Christine Levinson, the wife of missing former FBI agent Robert Levinson said she was planning to travel to Iran in search of her husband even though she...

NEW YORK — Christine Levinson's husband vanished while on a business trip to Iran. Five months later, she's going there to try to bring him back. The mother of the couple's seven children is planning her own trip to Iran in search of husband Robert Levinson even though she's been advised by the State Department not to travel to Iran because of the risk. "I am positive he is alive," Christine Levinson told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday from her home in Coral Springs, Fla. "If he were hospitalized or had been killed, we would have known by...

FAIRHOPE, Ala. — A minister's wife who disappeared from a religious conference in Louisiana, only to be located four months later living in New York, knows she made a "serious mistake" by leaving and has returned home to Alabama to be with her two children, her lawyer said Thursday. Mary Elizabeth Byrne Smith, 30, didn't plan her mysterious departure and acted upon "emotional distress in her personal life," attorney Robert Stankoski said in a statement released to the media at a news conference. "While her actions may have seemed illogical, it was a very difficult decision for Mrs. Smith to...

Pastor's wife back; news conference set Thursday, August 02, 2007By DAVID FERRARAStaff Reporter Mary Byrne "Beth" Smith, the small-town preacher's wife who drew attention from people around the nation while incognito for four months, has returned to Alabama. A 9 a.m. news conference has been called today at the office of Rob Stankoski, a Fairhope attorney she has hired, according to his office. Stankoski could not be reached for comment Wednesday. When she disappeared March 24 from a religious convention 500 miles from her Summerdale home, Smith left her husband, the Rev. Jason Lee Smith, and two children, ages 10...