Four people have died from the MERS virus in Saudi Arabia, bringing the death toll from the SARS-like virus in the kingdom to 32, the health ministry said on its website Monday.

Two people died in the western city of Taif and the other two were pronounced dead in Eastern Province, where most cases have been registered, said the statement.

An Emirati military jet crashed during a routine training mission in the Gulf country, killing the pilot, the UAE Armed Forces General Headquarters said in a statement.

"Competent authorities were inspecting the scene to investigate causes of the accident," said the statement published by the official WAM news agency late on Sunday.

Five Syrians from a New York-bound EgyptAir flight escorted by fighter jets to a Scottish airport after the discovery of a suspicious note are seeking asylum in Britain, police and the airline said Sunday.

Police Scotland confirmed that five passengers had not rejoined the flight as it continued its journey from Cairo and were being dealt with by the UK Border Agency, the BBC reported.

A car bomb killed at least 10 Syrian soldiers and wounded 10 others in an overnight attack near a military airport on the outskirts of Damascus, a monitoring group said on Monday.

"At least 10 soldiers were killed and at least 10 others were injured," Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Agence France Presse.

New Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah visited al-Aqsa mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem on Sunday, in a first for a serving Palestinian premier, the official WAFA news agency reported.

Al-Aqsa mosque is Islam's third holiest site.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday insisted that Moscow had abided by "rules and norms" when providing weapons to Syria and demanded other G8 countries which are contemplating arming rebels do likewise.

Putin was speaking in London after holding talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron which could set the tone for the G8 summit, with the West at odds with Moscow over the conflict.

Saudi King Abdullah on Sunday congratulated moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani on his election as the new president of the Iran, the kingdom's Shiite rival across the Gulf.

"We are glad to congratulate you in the name of the people and government of Saudi Arabia... wishing prosperity to the people of the brotherly Islamic republic of Iran," King Abdullah told Rowhani in a letter carried by the official SPA news agency.

Pope Francis called Sunday on the leaders of the world's top industrialized nations meeting in Northern Ireland to push for an immediate ceasefire in Syria.

On the eve of a two-day G8 summit, Francis wrote to British Prime Minister David Cameron calling on the powers to act fast to end a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Libya's premier was due to meet local authorities in Benghazi on Sunday, a government source said, as special forces units patrolled the city a day after clashes with gunmen killed six soldiers.

Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was due to travel to the eastern city with members of his government to discuss the security situation, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Gunmen shot dead an appeal court judge in the eastern Libyan town of Derna on Sunday, official news agency LANA cited the head of the court, Abdelaziz Trabelsi, as saying.

"Judge Mohammed Ibrahim Houidi, president of the criminal division, was killed on Sunday morning as he left the appeals court building in Derna," he said.