Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Monday held talks with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on “the current situation in the Arab arena and the situation in Syria,” Syrian official news agency SANA reported.

Muallem and a Syrian delegation on Sunday held talks in Doha with an Arab League ministerial team on ways to end the unrest in revolt-hit Syria.

Abdul Rahim al-Kib, an academic, has been elected as Libya's prime minister in a public vote carried out by the members of the ruling National Transitional Council, an Agence France Presse correspondent reported.

Kib, who hails from the Libyan capital Tripoli, came out in front in the battle for the post ahead of four other candidates in the first round, garnering 26 out of 51 votes.

Security forces shot dead eight civilians and an army deserter in separate incidents in revolt-hit Syria on Monday, a rights group said.

Six people were shot dead in the protest hub city of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

King Abdullah is expected to name his half-brother Prince Salman, who is governor of Riyadh, as the new defense minister to succeed the late Crown Prince Sultan, a Saudi official said Monday.

"The monarch will name Prince Salman as a defense minister later on Monday," the source told Agence France Presse, requesting anonymity and without giving further details.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hailed UNESCO's acceptance of Palestine as a full member on Monday as "a victory" for his people's rights, at the White House condemned the step describing it as "premature."

"Accepting Palestine into UNESCO is a victory for (our) rights, for justice and for freedom," his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina quoted him as saying in a phone call from Amman.

Egypt's ruling military jailed a veteran dissident and blogger on Sunday on charges of inciting deadly clashes between soldiers and Christians this month, his sister and a fellow activist said.

Alaa Abdul Fatah, who was jailed for his activism under ousted president Hosni Mubarak's government in 2006, was remanded in custody for 15 days, said his sister Mona Seif, who is also a leading opponent of military trials.

Libyan ex-prime minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, held in a Tunisian prison, fears for his life as the sole holder of Libyan state secrets since Moammar Gadhafi’s death, his lawyer said Monday.

"After the death of Moamnar Gadhafi, he became the only one to hold the secrets of the Libyan state, and has become valuable prey for the secret service," lawyer Mabrouk Kurchid told a news conference in Tunis.

Palestinians won a crucial vote to enter UNESCO as a full member on Monday, scoring a symbolic victory in their battle for statehood ahead of a similar vote at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, as the U.S. said it is stopping financial contributions to the U.N. body over the step.

"The general assembly decides to admit Palestine as a member of UNESCO," said the resolution adopted by 107 countries, with 14 voting against and 52 abstaining.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen ruled out the possibility of a no-fly zone for Syria, in remarks to an Agence France Presse correspondent as he travelled Monday to Tripoli to mark the end of the alliance's air war in Libya.

"It's totally ruled out. We have no intention whatsoever to intervene in Syria," Rasmussen said when asked if there was a possibility NATO would now spearhead a no-fly zone in Syria.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen made a surprise visit to Tripoli on Monday, saying he foresaw no major role left for the alliance in Libya hours before its air mission was due to end officially.

His visit comes seven months after Western powers fired the first barrage of missiles against Gadhafi forces in an air war that played a major role in ousting the veteran dictator.