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”.
Barcelona completes contract renewal with head coach Hansi Flick, per official announcement.
According to Fabrizio Romano, Flick’s new contract with Barcelona runs until June 2028, with an option to extend until June 2029, meaning the coach could stay for three more seasons.
In his first season in charge, Flick led the team to a domestic treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup.
This season, Barcelona won the Spanish Super Cup again and retained the La Liga title, bringing his total to five trophies in two seasons.
Erling Haaland will follow in the footsteps of David Beckham and Vinnie Jones by taking his first steps into the acting world, with the Norwegian striker set to make his film debut.
The Manchester City striker will voice a character described as ‘an animated version of himself’, in the upcoming animated film Viqueens.
This is according to the Hollywood Reporter, who say that the 25-year-old is playing a Viking called Haaland in the motion picture.
The adventure-comedy is directed and co-written by the award-winning Harald Zwart, the Norwegian director known for The Karate Kid and Agent Cody Banks.
‘As a Norwegian storyteller making a Viking adventure for a global audience, having Erling Haaland join feels incredibly exciting,’ said Zwart.
‘Erling has already become a kind of real-life Viking icon around the world – powerful, fearless and uniquely Norwegian.
‘Bringing him into this universe as himself gives the film an unexpected energy and authenticity that felt completely right for this story.’
Solveig Langeland, managing director of Sola Media, added: ‘Erling Haaland transcends sports – he’s a global cultural figure.
‘His involvement brings another exciting dimension to a film that already combines international adventure, humour, and emotional storytelling in a way we believe will resonate with audiences everywhere.’
He follows the likes of Beckham and Jones, who have already hit the cinema screens around the country.
Beckham made his silver screen debut in his pal Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur back in 2017 alongside film stars Charlie Hunnam and Eric Bana, playing hardened battleguard Trigger in the flick.
Meanwhile, Jones is known for portraying gangsters on screen, and as recently as 2024 played gamekeeper Geoff in Ritchie’s series The Gentlemen, featuring Theo James.
He famously also played Coach Dinklage in She’s the Man, and was The Juggernaut in X-Men: The Last Stand.
Haaland may need a while before he becomes the big actor that Jones has become, though, with plenty of years on the pitch still ahead of him.
The striker’s focus will currently be on winning the Premier League with Manchester City, as they look to hunt down Arsenal, who are two points ahead at the top, with two games to go.
Haaland will next be in action on Tuesday night as they travel to Bournemouth.
Iran’s national football team was headed to Turkey on Monday to play a final friendly match and apply for visas to fly to the United States for the 2026 World Cup, Iranian media reported.
The team plan to participate in the tournament despite co-host Washington having launched a war against Iran with a massive wave of attacks alongside ally Israel on February 28.
The fighting has been on hold for weeks thanks to a ceasefire, but peace talks have failed to make a breakthrough and new drone attacks against Gulf countries at the weekend combined with threats from US President Donald Trump raising fears of a return to fighting.
The team “departed this morning for Antalya, Turkey to play its final friendly match before flying to the United States for the 2026 World Cup,” the Tasnim news agency reported.
It said the squad consisted of 22 domestic-based players alongside their coaching staff.
On Saturday, head coach Amir Ghalenoei said they would also be completing visa applications for the US while in Turkey.
Iran secured their spot at the World Cup in March 2025, but since then the United States has twice launched attacks on the country.
US officials have insisted that Iran is welcome at the tournament, while organiser FIFA has said it will go ahead as planned and rejected Iranian suggestions that their games be moved to co-hosts Mexico or Canada.
“I think let ’em play,” Trump said in late April.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any problem would not be with Iranian players but “some of the other people (they) would want to bring with them”, suggesting they may have ties to the Revolutionary Guards, which Washington has branded a terrorist organisation.
Last month, officials from Iran’s football federation abandoned a trip to the FIFA congress in Canada, saying they had been “insulted” by Canadian immigration officers.
One of their delegation, Mehdi Taj, is a former member of the Revolutionary Guards, which Canada has also designated a terror group.
The Iranian football team hope to play two friendlies in Antalya.
They have already confirmed one match, against The Gambia, on May 29, said Sam Mehdizadeh, an Iranian-Canadian who heads a company that sets up friendlies for the team.
“No visas have been issued yet,” Taj, the head of Iran’s football federation, told Iranian media on Thursday.
On Saturday, FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom held a meeting in Turkey with the federation, describing it as constructive, as did Taj.
When the squad reaches the United States, Iran will set up their base camp in Tucson, Arizona.
The team, who are in Group G, are due to kick off their campaign against New Zealand in Los Angeles on 15 June, before facing Belgium in the same city and then Egypt in Seattle.
AFP
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