Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has distanced himself from remarks made by one of his senior aides, who dubbed Egypt's government a "shocking dictatorship" and said there was no dialogue between the countries.

Barak said the comments, made by Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad, do not reflect Israel's position. Barak also said that Gilad's words came after he spoke at length about the importance of the peace treaty and proper relations between Israel and Egypt.

An explosion shook the area near the Dama Rose hotel in the heart of the Syrian capital on Sunday, wounding 11 civilians, state media reported.

"An explosion caused by terrorists went off near to the Dama Rose hotel and the union federation, which left a number of people wounded and causing damage to the area," Syrian TV said, using the regime's term for armed rebels.

A Baghdad court sentenced vice president Tareq al-Hashemi, one of Iraq's top Sunni officials, to a fourth death sentence in absentia on Sunday over a foiled car bombing targeting Shiite pilgrims.

Hashemi, a prominent critic of Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, has dismissed the charges against him as politically-motivated in a case that has raised sectarian tensions in a country that only recently emerged from brutal communal bloodshed.

A car exploded outside a police station in Libya's second city of Benghazi on Sunday, causing damage to the building and lightly wounding four policemen, according to the official LANA news agency.

The attack came as the country's new authorities try to empower the national army and police but struggle to rein in armed militias born out of the 2011 conflict that toppled long-time dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Bishop Tawadros was chosen as new Pope of Egypt's Coptic Christians Sunday when a blindfolded altar boy picked his name from a chalice in a ceremony invoking divine guidance for the beleaguered minority.

Acting head of the church Bishop Pachomius took the ballot from the boy's hand and, showing it to those crowded into St. Mark's Cathedral, announced: "Bishop Tawadros."

Israeli President Shimon Peres on Saturday saluted as "courageous" remarks by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in which he appears to relinquish Palestinian refugees' right to return to their former homes in what is now Israel.

"Abu Mazen's courageous words prove that Israel has a real partner for peace," Peres said in a statement, using the name by which the Palestinian president is informally known in Arabic.

Iraqi police on Saturday arrested the head of a jail from which dozens of al-Qaida militants escaped weeks ago, hours after he left hospital after being treated for wounds suffered in the incident.

Brigadier General Laith al-Salmani is now being investigated in connection with the September 27 jailbreak, when more than 100 inmates escaped from the prison in Tikrit, although several were killed or recaptured in the following days and weeks.

Details emerged on Saturday of plans to reshape Syria's opposition into a representative government-in-exile, on the eve of key talks between regime opponents.

The talks starting Sunday in the Qatari capital Doha come amid U.S. criticism of the main exiled opposition group, the Syrian National Council (SNC), which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this week was not representative.

A cargo of weapons originating in Turkey was seized by Yemeni authorities on Saturday in the southern port of Aden, the defense ministry Internet website26sep.net reported.

Citing security sources, the report said the arms had been found in boxes used for biscuits, in a container dispatched from Turkey.

Israel lodged a complaint with United Nations monitors on Saturday after three Syrian tanks entered the demilitarized Golan Heights zone that separates the two countries, a military spokeswoman said.

"Three Syrian tanks entered the demilitarized zone near the central Golan heights and the Israel Defense Forces filed a violation complaint to the U.N.," a statement said.