McCann Family Pals Win Libel Settlement

A British tabloid company has paid some $650,000 in libel damages after printing false information about the friends who dined with Madeleine McCann’s parents on the night of the 3-year-old’s disappearance. The Express Newspapers chain apologized to the group and agreed that its claims were “wholly untrue,” the Guardian reports.

Both newspapers also printed apologies to the so-called tapas seven. “The defamatory stories written about us were not only extremely damaging on a personal level but we strongly feel were detrimental to the search for Madeleine,” said a member of the group. "Our only aim is to see her safely recovered and reunited with the family who so adore her."
(More Madeleine McCann stories.)