By Menna AlaaElDin, Jonathan Saul and Kate Abnett

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Leaking crude oil from a tanker grounded off a nature reserve in Oman has created a slick covering almost 400 square kilometres, the country's government said on Monday.

The Caroline Bezengi is loaded with close to one million barrels of Russian oil bound for Asia and first reported difficulties on June 8 off Yemen, with two maritime ​security sources saying initial assessments indicated a blast had occurred onboard.

No party has taken responsibility for attacking the vessel.

BEIRUT, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Lebanon's parliament on Tuesday abolished the death penalty and replaced all existing death sentences with life imprisonment, the speaker's office said in a statement.

The move makes it the first country in the Middle East to formally end capital punishment, after maintaining a de facto moratorium on executions since 2004, although dozens of people had remained technically on death row. Crimes that were punishable with a death sentence included murder and treason.

BEIRUT, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Syria will host a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency in the coming days to announce "significant progress" on the issue of nuclear materials, Syria's Atomic Energy Commission said early on Tuesday, without providing further details.

Since the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, Syria's new authorities have committed to working with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog to address the legacy of nuclear activities during decades of Assad family rule.

Israeli forces on Tuesday demolished the home of a Palestinian who died in July in the most lethal clash in months in the occupied West Bank, residents and the army told AFP.

The clash broke out on July 24 when a group of Israeli settlers approached the town of Tell, leaving dead one settler, one soldier and four Palestinians including Farouq Ramadan, whose home was demolished.

The image on X depicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara surrounded by menacing soldiers.

Beneath the picture, a caption read: "Their end will be the same as the Ceausescus... It's them or us."

The message, posted by an account under the name "Daniel Omer", appeared to be wishing the right-wing premier the same fate as Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, summarily executed with his wife in 1989. 

A Syrian court on Tuesday sentenced former ruler Bashar al-Assad to death after a trial in absentia, convicting him of atrocities committed during the country's nearly 14-year civil war.

It is the first such ruling under Syria's transitional leaders, who ousted Assad in December 2024, vowing to provide justice and accountability for crimes committed under his rule.

Assad fled to Moscow as Islamist-led forces closed in on Damascus after a lightning offensive.

By Naveen Thukral and Mayank Bhardwaj

SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Near-record inventories, technological advances and the rise of key exporters such as Brazil and Russia have made the global food system more resilient to this year's "super" El Nino than similar past events.

World farm production has outpaced consumption and population growth since the 1980s, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and analysts say.

By Mohi Narayan

NEW DELHI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to six on Monday, compared with a 10-day average of about 11 vessels, shipping data showed, amid fading hopes of a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran.

Four commodity vessels, including two empty oil product tankers, entered the waterway, data from Kpler showed on Tuesday as of 0420 GMT. Two vessels — a small tanker laden with liquefied petroleum gas and another carrying residual fuels — exited the Strait, the data showed.

Aug 10 (Reuters) - The Yemeni military said seven people including military personnel and civilians were killed and 30 others wounded in a Houthi attack on the Red Sea port city of Mocha, civilian infrastructure and armed forces.

"Four members of the armed forces and three civilians have been killed, and 30 others injured," the Yemeni military said in a statement early on Monday.

Air defences intercepted and shot down 11 Houthi drones that participated in the attack, the military said.

By Steve Holland and Jacob Bogage

WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday responded to Iran's conditions for a peace deal with his own demands that Iran pay compensation for people killed in wars, attacks and protests, in a rhetorical escalation likely to complicate efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.