PORTUGAL:British celebrities and business leaders have put up a £1.5 million (€2.20 million) reward to help find Madeleine McCann, the four-year-old who disappeared from a Portuguese holiday resort 10 days ago.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling, Virgin boss Richard Branson and Topshop chief Philip Green are among public figures to have offered money. "We are praying for Madeleine's safe return," Mr Green said in a statement released by the News of the World, which itself offered £250,000 (€367,000).
Last week, Scottish health spa owner Stephen Winyard put up £1 million and a family friend has offered £100,000.
Madeleine, who turned four on Saturday, is feared kidnapped after she vanished from her bed in the Praia da Luz holiday resort on the Algarve on May 3rd.
Meanwhile, it was confirmed yesterday that officers investigating the girl's disappearance have been focusing attention on white vans in the area of Praia da Luz. Although there is an official news blackout, a source said that plain-clothes officers had been making inquiries. Vans have been taken to a police station and searched by sniffer dogs.
A legal team has flown out to assist the McCann family in Praia da Luz, Madeleine's uncle said yesterday. John McCann, who lives in Glasgow, said the lawyers would play a liaison role and would not interfere with the criminal investigation. They are also providing Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, with advice on setting up a special "fighting fund" to continue the search for their daughter using donations from the public.
Mr McCann, brother of Madeleine's father, Gerry, has been leading the campaign to keep the family's plight in the public eye. Yesterday, he had a meeting with Glasgow marketing bosses ahead of the Espanyol-Sevilla Uefa cup clash being held in the city on Wednesday.
The plan is to show Madeleine's picture on large screens in the city, where around 30,000 fans are expected to travel from Portugal's neighbour, Spain, for the match.
Negotiations are under way between Mr McCann and Uefa to have Madeleine's picture screened during the final at Hampden.
It was reported in the Portuguese media yesterday that the McCanns' friends, who had been on holiday with them and stayed on to offer their support, could be set to take part in a special court hearing today. The procedure, known as "memory for the future", is similar to a mock trial in which the friends would give evidence as witnesses now against a future defendant.
Local lawyer Artur Rego said a judge would preside over any such hearing, held in private, asking the witnesses questions which would form part of the real trial one day. He said the hearing was used only in exceptional cases such as this, where a large group of witnesses are foreign.
An English priest, who had married Gerry and Kate McCann and baptised Madeleine, yesterday joined Mrs McCann as she attended Mass at the local village church. Father Paul Seddon joined local priest José Manuel Pacheco to distribute communion during the service on the feast of Fatima, a major religious holiday in Portugal.
Wearing yellow and green ribbons in her hair - in Portugal green is the colour of hope - Mrs McCann sat at the front of the church, clutching Madeleine's favourite cuddly toy, a pink kitten. Yesterday was the 90th anniversary of a vision of Our Lady in Fatima. This weekend, 300,000 people, including a representative of the pope, attended ceremonies.- (Reuters/PA)