King Abdullah II on Monday named International Court of Justice judge Awn Khasawneh as prime minister, replacing Maarouf al-Bakhit, whose government has been accused of failing to meet growing demands for reforms, a government official said.

"Khasawneh is currently meeting with the king, who entrusted him to form the new government," said the official who requested anonymity.

Syrian soldiers fought gunmen suspected to be army defectors in the flashpoint central province of Homs on Monday in clashes that left five troops dead, a human rights group said.

"Five soldiers were killed and others wounded as a result of clashes pitting the army and security forces against gunmen believed to be defectors at a checkpoint near the town of Qurayn in Homs province," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Agence France Presse.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged Syrian President Bashar Assad to immediately stop the killings of civilians and to accept an international probe on human rights violations.

"There are continuous killings of civilian people. These killings must stop immediately," said the U.N. chief in Bern.

Families of former Libyan regime officials streamed out of Sirte on Monday, including the mother and brother of Moammar Gadhafi's spokesman Moussa Ibrahim, an NTC field commander said.

"These are families of regime officials; there is Moussa Ibrahim's mother and brother among them," said Wessam bin Hamaidi gesturing at seven cars loaded with men, women and children fleeing a disputed pocket of Gadhafi's hometown.

France is in the final stage of negotiations with the United Arab Emirates for the sale of Rafale fighter jets, Defense Minister Gerard Longuet said on Monday.

"We are in the final negotiation," Longuet said on LCI television of talks on the UAE acquiring the French-made fighters, adding that the chances were "very strong" that a contract would be signed.

A group of 40 Palestinian detainees being exiled overseas under a deal to free a captured Israeli soldier will be sent to Turkey, Syria and Qatar, Hamas said on Monday.

"At the moment, the countries that will accept prisoners are Turkey, Qatar and Syria," a Hamas official in Gaza told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

Saudi King Abdullah was hospitalized for a new back surgery in Riyadh, following two similar operations last year in the United States, the SPA news agency early Monday.

The 87-year-old was operated in November for a debilitating herniated disc complicated by a hematoma that put pressure on his spine and underwent another surgery to repair several vertebrae.

Iran is "ready to examine" information the United States says supports accusations Tehran plotted to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Monday.

"We are ready to examine with deliberation any issue, even if it was fabricated. We have asked America to provide us with information of this scenario," Salehi was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

A pro-Gadhafi TV channel confirmed the death of the toppled Libyan leader's youngest son, Khamis, who had been reported killed by National Transitional Council fighters late in August.

Arrai, a Damascus-based broadcaster that has become the favored forum for Gadhafi and the remnants of his ousted regime, said late Sunday that Khamis was killed August 29 in Tarhuna, some 80 kilometers southwest of Tripoli while fighting "enemies of the homeland."

Deadly clashes erupted overnight in the Yemeni capital as tension spiked following a new wave of killings of anti-regime protesters by troops loyal to veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Eight people were killed and 27 wounded in the street battles, which saw tribes and troops opposing Saleh ranged against loyalists, medics and a tribal source said Monday.