Two British tabloid newspapers made unprecedented front-page apologies on Wednesday to the parents of missing girl Madeleine McCann for suggesting they might have killed their daughter and covered up her death.
The Daily Express and Daily Star said there was no proof to support the allegations against Kate and Gerry McCann, whose daughter went missing on holiday in Portugal last May, and said they had agreed to pay "substantial" damages.
Madeleine's disappearance prompted intense international media coverage.
"We accept that a number of articles in the newspaper have suggested that the couple caused the death of their missing daughter Madeleine and then covered it up," the Daily Express said.
"We acknowledge that there is no evidence whatsoever to support this theory and that Kate and Gerry are completely innocent of any involvement in their daughter's disappearance."
The High Court in London will formally settle the case on Wednesday, and the Sunday Express and the Daily Star Sunday are expected to apologize again in their issues this weekend.
The McCanns hired the London media law firm Carter-Ruck earlier this month to sue for libel. The damages were reported to be more than $1.0 million.
Algarve disappearance
Madeleine McCann disappeared shortly before her fourth birthday while on a family holiday in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, prompting a huge police investigation.
The McCanns believe she was abducted from their holiday apartment while they were dining with friends nearby.
They hired private investigators to help find their daughter after Portuguese police named them as suspects in September. The investigation dominated newspapers and TV bulletins for months.
Roy Greenslade, professor of journalism at City University London, said the apology was unprecedented and that it was significant the newspapers had settled out of court.
"It shows just how culpable they were that they didn't even try to fight the action in court," he told BBC radio.
Despite a string of reported possible sightings from Morocco to Spain to France to Malta, Madeleine is still missing.
No one at the Daily Express and Daily Star's publisher was available for comment.
