Dozens of Kuwaiti activists staged an unprecedented protest Monday outside the courtroom where opposition leader and former MP Mussallam al-Barrak was being tried on charges of insulting the emir.

"Jail us in place of Mussallam al-Barrak," chanted the activists who were prevented entry into the small courtroom in the Palace of Justice in the heart of wait City.

The final results on Monday for Jordan's general election held last week saw tribal leaders, pro-regime loyalists and independent businessmen sweep to power after a boycott by the Muslim Brotherhood.

"The Independent Election Commission board has approved the parliamentary election's preliminary results, officially endorsing them as the final results," the IEC said.

Egypt's main opposition bloc on Monday rejected an invitation by President Mohamed Morsi for talks on the violence and political turmoil sweeping the country and instead called for fresh mass demonstrations.

With another person killed in a fifth straight day of clashes in Cairo and the unrest showing no signs of abating, the Islamist-dominated senate ratified a law that would grant the armed forces powers of arrest.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said his troops have gained the upper hand against rebels in the 22-month conflict and could win in "two weeks" should Turkey stop its support for insurgents, a Lebanese newspaper reported Monday.

"The army has a very large lead on the ground and has achieved significant gains," Assad told "visitors" at his palace in Damascus, al-Akhbar, a pro-regime Lebanese daily reported without identifying who the visitors were.

Egypt's cabinet on Monday approved a draft law that would allow President Mohammed Morsi to deploy the armed forces on the streets "to participate with the police in preserving security and protecting vital establishments."

The law, which has to be ratified by the Islamist-dominated upper house of parliament, would apply until after the next legislative elections and be invoked whenever the president deems it necessary, state news agency MENA said.

Iran on Monday took a "big step" towards sending astronauts into space by 2020, successfully launching a monkey above the Earth's atmosphere, Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi told state television.

Arabic-language channel Al-Alam and other Iranian news agencies said the monkey returned alive after traveling in a capsule to an altitude of 120 kilometers (75 miles) for a sub-orbital flight.

U.S. President Barack Obama said in an interview published on Monday that he was wrestling with a decision on whether the U.S. should get involved to resolve the conflict in Syria.

"In a situation like Syria, I have to ask, can we make a difference in that situation?" he said in an interview with the New Republic magazine.

One person was killed in Cairo Monday as clashes between police and protesters raged into a fifth day, and President Mohammed Morsi scrambled to contain deepening divisions with calls for national dialogue.

The unidentified man was killed by birdshot to the head, a police official told AFP, as demonstrators and police lobbed rocks at each other on a bridge and in an underpass leading to Tahrir Square and tear gas hung heavily in the air.

Iran has arrested 11 journalists working for media outlets seen close to the country's marginalized reformists for their alleged cooperation with foreign Persian press, local reports said on Monday.

The arrests come as Iran gears up for its June 14 presidential election, after the result of the previous June 2009 vote triggered protests in Tehran and other cities, sparking a bloody crackdown by the regime on demonstrators.

Three people were killed as Yemen's army launched an offensive against Al-Qaida-linked militants suspected of holding three European hostages abducted last month, tribal sources said on Monday.

"Three people died" and several others were wounded in the operation since late Sunday in the Al-Qaida stronghold town of Manaseh in the central province of Bayda, tribal sources and medics said.