PORTUGAL:The parents of four-year-old Madeleine McCann, snatched from a Portuguese holiday resort three weeks ago, said yesterday that they are convinced she is still alive and vowed never to abandon the search for her.
In interviews with British TV channels for the first time since their daughter, Madeleine, disappeared on May 3rd, Kate and Gerry McCann defended their decision to leave her unguarded while they had dinner. But they said the guilt would always be with them.
"If anything really bad had happened we would have found her by now," Mr McCann told BBC television.
"I'm confident and believe strongly that we will find her. It's not hard to continue believing that. She's our daughter and we love her more than anyone can possibly imagine.
"The alternative would be giving up and we will not give up our search."
Shortly after the McCanns spoke, the Portuguese police announced they were searching for a white male suspect, aged between 35 and 40, who was spotted near where Madeleine disappeared carrying something that looked like a small child on the night that she went missing.
"We appeal to anyone who might have seen this person," police chief Olegario Sousa told reporters. Until this point, police have made no arrests.
"I think at worse we were naive," said Ms McCann. "We are very responsible parents." Her husband added: "For us it really wouldn't be any much different to having dinner in your garden in the proximity of the location. If you thought for a minute that someone could abduct your child, of course you wouldn't have left them." - (Reuters)