Madeleine McCann family speaks out after bizarre claim Kate was M15 spy

A Portuguese newspaper made the claim in the run-up to the 12th anniversary of Maddie’s disappearance on May 3. Veteran journalist Jose Antonio Saraiva fed the wild conspiracy theory, saying a female doctor contacted him to insist Maddie’s disappearance was linked to her parents “secret activity” because of her mum’s “suspected” MI5 membership.

A family spokesman told the MailOnline: “These are absolutely absurd and ridiculous allegations, which Madeleine's parents are certain no one in their right mind would even consider believing. “It is unmitigated garble and yet more nonsense they are having to endure at a very painful and difficult time for them.” Saraiva said a female genetics doctor he named only as H. Santos had identified Kate McCann as an MI5 agent and claimed it explained her daughter’s disappearance. He ridiculously claimed Maddie’s dad Gerry was also a potential spy. Saraiva wrote in the latest issue of Sol that this was why Gordon Brown, then the UK’s Chancellor, decided to dispatch British Ambassador John Buck to Praia da Luz after the child vanished from the McCanns’ Algarve holiday apartment. However, Brown and Gerry are not believed to have been at school together, and the former Prime Minister is aged 68 – around 17 years older than Maddie's dad.

Disgraced ex-Portuguese police chief Goncalo Amaral, who features heavily in the new Netflix documentary on the Maddie case, also made the same claim last year. He claimed MI5 spies helped to cover up her death and disappearance and that British secret agents “for sure had an involvement” in her vanishing. Last week, the investigation was dealt a fresh blow after DNA samples failed to provide a suspect. Evidence was checked from the apartment she vanished from but didn’t throw up a match. US-based forensic expert Dr Mark Perlin has lodged a request with London’s Metropolitan Police to release 18 samples from the investigation. He claims his Pittsburgh lab Cybernetics – which has identified victims of the 9/11 terror attack – can unlock evidence UK authorities struggled to analyse.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/775398/madeleine-mccann-kate-mi5-agent-claim-disappearance-2019-missing-news-case

New York City posts 4.6 million voters personal information online

New York City Board of Elections published the complete voter roles of all 4.6 million New York City voters last week. The move means anyone can go online and search through the name, party affiliation, and home address including apartment number of any registered voter in the city. While the city’s Board of Elections emphasized that the information was already public record, privacy advocates and even New York’s Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo criticized what they thought was a risk to digital privacy.

“The New York City Board of Elections’ decision was theirs to make, but we believe sensitive voter information should always be protected,” Caitlin Girouard, a spokesperson for the governor said in a statement. “When it comes to the current administration, we need to be extra vigilant to ensure New Yorkers’ information isn’t being used for politically motivated ill will,” Girouard said. Before being uploaded online, nosy citizens needed to buy a paper or CD copy from the elections board allowing city officials to have some idea of who was looking into the elections information.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/new-york-city-posts-4-6-million-voters-personal-information-online