Members of Syria's main opposition group were on Monday meeting in Turkey to form a rival government to President Bashar Assad's regime.

Twelve candidates are running for the job of an interim prime minister for areas the rebels control. The candidates are mostly exile-based technocrats, although two of the nominees live in the government-controlled areas.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi arrived in Pakistan on Monday, on a South Asian tour that will also take in India as he works to promote trade and investment in his nation's troubled economy.

Morsi will meet with President President Asif Ali Zardari during the one-day visit, the first to Pakistan by an Egyptian leader since Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1960s, Pakistan's foreign ministry said.

A former Israeli judge wanted by Israel on fraud charges arrived back in the Jewish state on Sunday to face trial after he was extradited from his refuge in Peru, officials said.

A police spokesman said that Dan Cohen, who fled to Lima in 2005, was arrested on arrival at Ben Gurion airport.

Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court began hearings Sunday on an appeal lodged on behalf of the Islamist president against a lower court's cancellation of a controversial parliamentary election he had called for April.

The Egyptian State Lawsuit Authority lodged the appeal against the March 6 court order on Wednesday, arguing that President Mohamed Morsi had acted within his sovereign powers when he called the election.

Britain's Prince Charles met the head of the world's largest Islamic grouping in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Sunday, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation said in a statement.

OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu briefed Prince Charles "on the various intra-OIC programs and activities in support of agricultural development, food security and drought resilience," it said.

Former chief of staff Moshe Yaalon was named Israel's new defense minister on Sunday to succeed Ehud Barak, a statement from the ruling rightwing Likud party said.

"In a period so critical to the security of the state of Israel, with all the region around us in turmoil, it is important that this position be filled by a man so rich in experience as Moshe Yaalon," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement released by the party.

A car bomb exploded near the outskirts of the south Iraq city of Basra on Sunday, killing 10 people and wounding 16, the head of the Basra provincial council security committee said.

The bombing at a bus station came soon after another went off in the center of Basra, Iraq's main port city, at about 11:00 am (0800 GMT), causing no casualties, Ali al-Maliki said.

Syrian rebels have seized several weapons depots in the village of Khan Toman in Aleppo province after days of fierce clashes, a military source told Agence France Presse on Sunday.

"Opposition fighters gained control over weapons and ammunition stores in the village of Khan Toman in southern Aleppo province on Saturday after fierce fighting that went on for more than three days," the source said.

At least 112,000 civilians were killed in the 10 years since the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq that ousted Saddam Hussein, a new report published on Sunday said.

Including combatants on all sides of the decade-long conflict, as well as yet undocumented civilian fatalities, the figure could rise as high as 174,000, according to the Britain-based Iraq Body Count (IBC) group.

The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq overthrew a dictator, but 10 years on the war is seen to have destabilized the Middle East, exposed the limits of military power and left America no stronger than before.

With U.S. forces having withdrawn after the deaths of almost 4,500 American troops and an estimated $1 trillion outlay, there is little soul-searching in Washington today about a war that has faded from public consciousness.