Story Timeline
8 days · 4 summary articles
A body was found near the training camp of Iran’s 2026 World Cup squad in Canada on Friday, police in Vancouver confirmed, as authorities investigate a suspected homicide linked to the tournament’s preparations. The discovery came hours after emergency crews in Amsterdam called off their search of a fitness-centre explosion that injured seven people, while unrest over asylum policies flared in Belfast, Utrecht and Wijk bij Duurstede.
In Vancouver, Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman Sergeant Sarah Chen said officers were called to a wooded area adjacent to the Iran team’s training facility in Coquitlam at 16:47 local time on Friday. “A deceased adult male was located,” she told reporters. “The cause of death is not yet determined, and a homicide investigation is underway.” The body was found approximately 200 metres from the team’s temporary lodgings, which are being used for pre-tournament acclimatisation. Canada Soccer and FIFA have both issued statements expressing shock and pledging full cooperation with investigators. The Iranian Football Federation has not responded to requests for comment.
Across the Atlantic, Dutch authorities in Amsterdam announced that no further victims had been recovered from the rubble of a sports hall in the Nieuw-West district, where an explosion on Thursday night injured seven people. Fire chief Mark de Vries told a press conference that the search was formally concluded at 03:15 on Saturday. “We have swept every cubic metre of debris twice,” he said. “There are no additional casualties.” Police have made multiple arrests in connection with the blast, which is being treated as a criminal investigation. A spokeswoman for the Amsterdam public prosecutor’s office declined to specify the number of detainees or the suspected cause.
Meanwhile, tensions over asylum policy continued to escalate in Europe. In Belfast, local residents told *Welt* that they felt “under siege” after a knife attack on Thursday night that left one person in hospital. The suspect, a Sudanese asylum-seeker, was remanded in custody on Friday. In the Utrecht town of Wijk bij Duurstede, seven people were arrested early on Saturday after rioting broke out during a protest against a planned emergency asylum shelter. Police reported that windows were smashed and a vehicle set alight before officers dispersed the crowd with baton charges. The same town witnessed similar unrest on 3 June.
Elsewhere, a 70-year-old man was pushed under a tram in Helsinki on Friday evening, police said, while a 49-year-old technician remained in critical condition in Nicosia after a compressor explosion. In Berlin, officers are examining allegations of assault against police during a confrontation in Friedrichshain that left several people injured.
1 further source not geolocated