A third child died Tuesday from a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in northern England that Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “touches a nerve” with the whole country.
Starmer was among a stream of people to pay tribute at the site of Monday’s knife attack in Southport, near Liverpool, that left five children and two adults with critical wounds. Three other children were hurt.
Laying flowers with hundreds of other wreaths, Starmer thanked emergency workers who responded to the stabbing spree and said: “I came here to pay my respects to the victims and families who are going through raw pain and grief that most of us can’t imagine — I can’t imagine, as a dad myself.”
Nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar died in hospital early Tuesday, police said. Bebe King aged six and Elsie Dot Stancombe aged seven were the two who died Monday.
A vigil for the victims was to be held in the town on Tuesday.
Police said the two wounded adults had been trying to protect the children. Tributes have already been paid to the bravery of dance and yoga teacher Leanne Lucas, who was among the victims.
A 17-year-old youth from a nearby village arrested shortly after the killings remained in custody, police added, without giving details of his identity.
They have only said that the attack was not considered “terror-related” and that noone else was being sought. Interior minister Yvette Cooper said police were pursuing “every single avenue”.
US pop star Swift said she was “completely in shock” over “the loss of life and innocence, and the horrendous trauma inflicted on everyone”.
“These were just little kids at a dance class. I am at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families,” she added on Instagram.
Aguiar was the daughter of Portuguese parents from Madeira. “Her parents are in a state of shock,” Portugal’s communities minister Jose Cesario told AFP.
Her family said in a tribute, “keep smiling and dancing like you love to do our princess, like we said before to you, you’re always our princess and no one would change that.”
Bebe King’s family said, “no words can describe the devastation that has hit our family as try to deal with the loss of our little girl Bebe.”
Residents of the seaside town said they were struggling to come to terms with the deaths.
“The town is in shock and in mourning”, local MP Patrick Hurley told AFP, calling it the “most horrific atrocity that Southport has experienced in living memory”.
It is a “very small town, a close-knit community and everybody will be intimately affected by this”, he added.
“I just cannot believe that it happened so close to home,” resident Leanne Hassan told reporters.
Hassan’s daughter was at a nearby nursery which was locked down after the attack. Her daughter was safe, “but unfortunately that’s not the reality for a lot of parents waking up today,” she added.
Local business owner Colin Parry recounted to UK media how he saw “about 10 kids go running past him, all bleeding”.
“One of them collapsed on the floor outside the neighbour next door,” he told the Press Association news agency.
The teenager arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder is from the neighbouring village of Banks but was born in Cardiff, according to police.
His identity has not been revealed. Police said a name shared on social media was “incorrect and we would urge people not to speculate on details of the incident while the investigation is ongoing.”
Witnesses told UK media the attacker arrived at the scene in a taxi on Monday morning and entered the venue wearing a mask.
Armed officers detained the suspect later and seized a knife.
While such attacks are rare, Monday’s incident evoked memories of a school massacre in the Scottish town of Dunblane in 1996, which claimed the lives of 16 pupils and their teacher in Britain’s worst mass shooting.
King Charles III offered his “most heartfelt condolences, prayers and deepest sympathies” following the “utterly horrific” incident.
Heir to the throne, Prince William, and his wife Catherine said “as parents, we cannot begin to imagine what the families, friends and loved ones of those killed and injured in Southport today are going through”.
Saudi Arabia has updated its tourist eVisa programme for 2026, limiting eligibility in Africa to only three countries as part of its list of 66 nations whose citizens can apply through the Kingdom’s online visa platform.
The move leaves most African countries, including Nigeria, outside the simplified entry scheme.
The electronic visa allows eligible travellers to visit Saudi Arabia for tourism, leisure activities, family visits and Umrah, excluding the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Applications are completed online, eliminating the need for embassy visits and lengthy visa processing.
Saudi authorities said the eVisa forms part of ongoing efforts to expand tourism, attract international visitors and simplify travel procedures through a fully digital application system. The visa is available only to citizens of approved countries and territories listed on the Kingdom’s official tourism portal.
Below is the list of African countries eligible for Saudi Arabia’s eVisa.
1. Mauritius
2. Seychelles
3. South Africa
The South African government says more than 53,000 foreign nationals have been deported or repatriated since launching a “migration management” campaign five weeks ago.
Most were from Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, officials say, and the number is likely to rise as repatriations and deportations continue.
South Africa is carrying out one of its biggest crackdowns on undocumented migrants in years, following weeks of anti-immigration protests that have seen violence, intimidation and looting.
Protesters have been demanding tighter border controls and mass deportations, accusing migrants of contributing to high unemployment, rising crime rates and collapse of public services.
The UN has warned against using migrants as scapegoats for South Africa’s socioeconomic challenges.
Anti-migrant activists have threatened to stage weekly protests to pressure the government until their demands are met, and there are fears the protests could turn violent.
The demonstrators had set an “unofficial deadline” of 30 June for all undocumented migrants to leave the country, which has seen many foreigners leave to escape violence and intimidation.
Several countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya, have flown their citizens home in recent weeks.
Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi announced on Sunday that 53,499 foreign nationals have been processed for deportation and repatriation, “which is dominated by the Malawians, followed by Zimbabweans and Mozambicans”.
“We are striving to achieve an orderly and regular migration which is mindful and sensitive to the concerns raised by our people, while observing human rights and dignity of all people in our country, irrespective of their citizenship and immigration status,” Kubayi told a news conference in Pretoria.
She said the repatriation and deportation process has helped them catch people who were wanted by the police for alleged criminal activity.
Authorities will continue to enforce its immigration laws, she added, but warned that protesters should not conduct unauthorised searches of homes and businesses that are suspected of sheltering undocumented migrants.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged public concerns about immigration but has condemned attacks against migrants, warning citizens against taking the law into their own hands.
South Africa is the continent’s wealthiest nation and has long attracted migrants searching for better economic opportunities, some of whom enter the country illegally.
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Plans for a 64-team men’s World Cup are set to be assessed after the 2026 tournament, with Fifa boss Gianni Infantino saying the event needs to be “for the whole world”.
The proposal for an expanded tournament was put forward last year, and Infantino says the success of the expanded 48-team tournament means Fifa should look at how a 64-team World Cup could work.
“These are all issues that we will be examining after the World Cup,” Infantino told Swiss broadcaster Blue Sport, external when asked if the tournament could grow to 64 teams.
“When organising a World Cup, it’s important to organise it for the whole world – not just Europe and South America, but effectively the entire world. Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup.
“You can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high, and it’s getting higher and higher, all over the world. If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving.”
Infantino said that the first 48-team World Cup has been “a huge success”, citing the progression of nine out of 10 African teams to the knockout stages.
“At the last World Cup, there were only five teams from Africa,” he said. “That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams – to give them this opportunity to participate.”
The Fifa council approved the expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams in 2017.
An official proposal to boost the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams was put forward by South American governing body Conmebol in April 2025, but no decision has been reached.
The 2030 edition will be mainly co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with the three opening matches to be hosted by Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to celebrate the centenary of the competition. Uruguay hosted the first World Cup, in 1930.
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin is among those to have dismissed the 64-team proposal, with the Slovenian saying it is a “bad idea” for both the tournament itself and the qualifying process.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa agreed, saying further expansion would bring “chaos”.
Victor Montagliani, president of the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean (Concacaf), said the suggestion “doesn’t feel right” and he believes the expansion would damage “the broader football ecosystem”.
However, Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House’s World Cup task force, said the United States could consider making a bid to host the 2038 World Cup and would be able to “handle it” if expanded to 64 teams.
Fifa’s official position has always been it will discuss expansion ideas with stakeholders and it is duty bound to consider any proposals from council members.
The Fifa council would make the ultimate decision, but there are no signs it is something expected to happen imminently.
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