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Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court in Wales court in Wales, United Kingdom, has sentenced Christopher Phillips, from Porthcawl, Bridgend, to two years and four months in prison after he kept the body of his deceased mother, Sylvia Phillips, in a freezer for nearly three years while continuing to receive her financial benefits.

Police were called to the property in February after concerns were raised about Sylvia’s welfare. She had not been seen by medical professionals since 2022, despite continuing to receive prescriptions and previously maintaining regular contact with healthcare services.

When officers arrived, Phillips claimed his mother was in London visiting cousins but failed to provide any further details, prompting a search of the house.

During the search, police discovered a freezer with flowers placed on top. Inside was the body of a woman in her 80s, later confirmed to be Sylvia Phillips.

Phillips initially answered “no comment” to all police questions but later pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful and decent burial of a d+ad body and fraud by false representation.

He has now been sentenced to two years and four months in prison for the offences.

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Iran has executed two men convicted of spying for Israel, as authorities continue a surge in executions linked to alleged espionage during the country’s ongoing conflict with Israel and the United States.

The executions were carried out on Monday, according to Iran’s judiciary, marking the latest in a series of hangings involving individuals accused of working with Israeli intelligence since the war began in February.

“Omid Behzad and Pouria Safvat were hanged this morning for transmitting the coordinates of sensitive military and security sites to Mossad agents,” said Mizan, the media outlet for Iran’s judiciary, referring to Israel’s foreign intelligence service.

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Iranian authorities did not disclose when the two men were arrested or tried. However, Mizan said they were found guilty of “espionage and collaboration with the Zionist regime”.

“They helped the intelligence services achieve their objectives by providing them with information on military and security centres during the war,” Mizan added.

Executions in Iran have increased sharply since the conflict erupted on February 28 following large-scale US-Israeli strikes that resulted in the death of the country’s supreme leader.

According to international rights organisations, Iran remains the world’s second-highest user of the death penalty after China.

Figures released by Norway-based Iran Human Rights and Paris-headquartered Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) showed that at least 1,639 people were executed in Iran last year, the highest annual total recorded since 1989.

On Tuesday, Amnesty criticised what it described as an “escalation” in executions after Iranian authorities confirmed the hanging of two men convicted of participating in anti-government protests during the winter.

(AFP)

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Spanish authorities said at least 72 people have died following the mass influx of migrants into the North African enclave of Ceuta, as Madrid stepped up border security and European nations called for stronger protection of the bloc’s external frontiers.

The death toll from the mass migrant influx into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta has risen to 72, local authorities said on Sunday, days after tens of thousands of people crossed from Morocco in the territory’s largest-ever migrant surge.

Most of the estimated 60,000 migrants, many of whom swam around the border post or crossed by sea, have since returned to Morocco following the unprecedented influx.

Miguel Angel Perez Triano, the Spanish government’s delegate to Ceuta, said the latest confirmed death toll stood at 72, up from the previously reported 67.

He added that more than 1,000 people had received medical treatment since Thursday. While the situation in Ceuta had improved significantly, officials said efforts to restore normality were still ongoing.

Authorities said many migrants drowned while attempting to swim across the sea, while others were crushed trying to climb the breakwater and border fence. Officials said economic hardship and social media rumours encouraging people to make the crossing had contributed to the mass movement.

Expressing grief over the tragedy, Karima Abenaz, a French national with family in Morocco, said it was heartbreaking to see young people and even infants dying during the dangerous journey.

Meanwhile, Ceuta regional leader Juan Jesus Vivas told El Pais that the city’s morgue had received 88 bodies, a figure that also included people who died in smaller migration attempts over the previous two weeks. He added that Moroccan authorities were also recovering bodies from the sea, although no official figures were available.

Authorities have reinforced police and army patrols and on Saturday installed a 500-metre (1,600-foot) floating barrier off Ceuta.

Twenty-two EU member states wrote a letter asking for coordinated action to protect external borders and other measures after the Ceuta incident. Italy suspended passport-free Schengen travel arrangements with Spain for one month.

Spain has adopted a more open stance on migrants than most other EU countries, introducing a programme to grant residency to more than half a million undocumented people.

It has rejected suggestions that the scheme encouraged the rush into Ceuta, saying that those who entered Ceuta irregularly could not travel on to mainland Spain or elsewhere in the Schengen zone.