Monday, May 14, 2007

Britons Raise Big Reward To Help Find Missing Child

LONDON -- British celebrities and business leaders have put up a reward of almost $3 million to help find Madeleine McCann, a 4-year-old who disappeared from a Portuguese holiday resort on May 3.

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Atlantic Airlines, and Philip Green, owner of the fashion chain Topshop, are among a host of public figures who offered money. The News of the World offered nearly $500,000.

Madeleine, who turned 4 on Saturday, is feared kidnapped after she vanished from her bed in the Praia da Luz resort.

· IZMIR, Turkey -- Choking the highways and crowding ferries, hundreds of thousands of Turks streamed into this port city in a huge show of opposition to the pro-Islamic ruling party, increasing pressure on the government ahead of early elections.

About 1.5 million protesters carried anti-government banners, red-and-white Turkish flags and pictures of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the secular republic in 1923.

· GAZA CITY -- Egyptian mediators brokered a truce between rival factions in Gaza in a bid to end an outbreak of factional fighting that killed four Palestinians and wounded 12.

The sides agreed to swap 14 hostages from Hamas being held by Fatah for at least six from Fatah held by Hamas, sources on both sides said. Previous truces have quickly dissolved.

· DAMASCUS, Syria -- A Syrian court sentenced prominent political writer Michel Kilo to three years in jail on charges of "weakening national feelings" after he criticized government policy toward Lebanon. In December, the White House called for his immediate release.

-- From News Services