Iran has indicted 15 people on charges of spying for the United States and Israel, Tehran's chief prosecutor said Tuesday, according to the Fars news agency.

"An indictment has been issued by the prosecutor's office against these 15 people," Jafari Dolatabi was quoted as saying.

Kuwait prosecutors have questioned two former MPs over money laundering charges after millions of dollars were allegedly deposited in their bank accounts, local media reported Tuesday.

Kuwait's al-Jarida newspaper, one of four local papers to report on the interrogations, said former pro-government lawmakers Mukhled al-Azemi and Hussein al-Huraiti were interrogated late Monday on the source of the funds.

More than 5,000 people are now believed to have been killed in the Syrian government's crackdown on protests, U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay told the U.N. Security Council on Monday.

More than 14,000 people are estimated to have been detained and 12,400 have fled into neighboring countries, Pillay told a closed session of the 15-nation council, according to diplomats.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday that "history will judge" the decision by his predecessor president George W. Bush to invade Iraq in 2003.

As an Illinois state senator, Obama had slammed the planned invasion as "a dumb war."

Tunisia's veteran opposition leader Moncef Marzouki was elected president Monday, a month and a half after the north African country held its first post-revolution election.

The fierce opponent of ousted strongman Zine el Abidine Ben Ali was elected with 153 votes in the 217-member assembly, with three of the 202 deputies present voting against, two abstaining and 44 casting blank ballots.

Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz met with Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi on Monday at a time of strained relations between their countries, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Riyadh has accused Tehran of interfering in neighboring Arab states and warned that its nuclear program could pose a threat to regional security.

Israel's closure of a wooden access ramp to the al-Aqsa mosque compound is tantamount to a declaration of war on Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, Hamas warned on Monday.

"This is a serious step that shows the Zionist scheme of aggression again the al-Aqsa mosque," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told Agence France Presse.

A Yemeni protester was wounded Monday when police dispersed hundreds of demonstrators demanding a secession of southern regions in the capital of former South Yemen, activists said.

Security forces at dawn stormed a camp of tents that southern separatists erected in al-Oroud Square in Aden after they met U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar, activists said.

Israel has approved construction of 40 homes and a farm in two new settler enclaves near the southern West Bank town of Bethlehem, Haaretz daily reported on Monday.

"Israel's military establishment has approved the establishment of a new, permanent neighborhood and a farm near the West Bank settlement of Efrat," the paper said.

Syrians were voting Monday in municipal elections held amid a general strike called by the opposition and as security forces killed another seven people as they pursued a crackdown on dissent.

The elections committee, in a statement received by Agence France Presse, said "voting is proceeding in a democratic spirit," adding that voting turnout was "good." It did not elaborate.