Tambien hay una forma de en vez de caracteres, mostrar cierto numero de letras u oraciones, como tu lo desees.
Código PHP:
<?php
$texto = 'The Dutch shop worker who said she may have seen Madeleine McCann has criticised detectives for not following up her story.
The possible sighting was reported to Portuguese officers in June last year - but it has only now been made public with the release of previously secret police files.
The girl entered Ms Stam\'s party shop in early May last year with a man and a woman and two other children, according to a witness statement to Dutch police.';
$oraciones = preg_split('/\./', $texto);
$limite = 1; //Aqui pon el numero de oraciones -1. Osea, si ponemos 1 en realidad el limite seran 2 oraciones.
for($i=0; $i<=$limite; $i++)
{
echo $oraciones[$i].".<br>";
}
echo '<a href="noticia_completa.php?ID='.$row['ID'].'">Mas ...</a>';
?>