Assad sentence celebrations, Houthi attack kills six and UAE businesses to pay music copyright fee

Syrians in the city of Deraa, where the 2011 uprising began, celebrated after a court sentenced Bashar Al Assad to death in absentia. Damascus also sentences his brother Maher, security official Atif Najib and other officials on charges of murder and torture. The Yemeni government says that six people have been killed in a Houthi missile attack on a cargo ship in the Red Sea. The Iran-backed group has also claimed an attack on a Saudi ship carrying military equipment. In the Strait of Hormuz, shipping has fallen to just seven commodity vessels in a day, down from a 10-day average of about 12. Traffic had recovered in June as hopes of a US-Iran deal grew, but has fallen sharply since talks broke down. Lebanon’s parliament has approved a law to abolish the death penalty, making it the first country in the Middle East to end capital punishment. The move formalises a moratorium that has been in place since 2004. In the UAE, businesses including cafes, restaurants and hotels will soon have to start paying an annual fee to play copyrighted music. The Ministry of Economy said 10 per cent of the money collected will go to a fund that supports musicians. Trending Middle East is AI-assisted, using original reporting published in The National and curated and edited by humans.