Egyptian prosecutors on Wednesday questioned a stand-up comedian on blasphemy charges following a guest appearance on the show of popular satirist Bassem Youssef, himself the subject of an investigation.

Ali Kandil is accused of insulting Islam during a segment on Youssef's show Elbernameg in February, in which he poked fun at the discourse and style of some Muslim clerics -- bringing to television screens what is already widely said in Egyptian homes.

Kuwait parliament on Wednesday passed a bill requiring the government to buy 744 million dinars ($2.6 billion) in private bank loans owed by citizens and reschedule repayment after waiving interest.

Fifty members, including all 13 cabinet ministers present, voted for the bill that according to some MPs would cost state coffers between $1.0 billion and $2.5 billion over a 15-year period.

Syria's Muslim Brotherhood may be President Bashar Assad's best-organized political adversaries, but they are also loathed by some dissidents who accuse them of trying to dominate the opposition, backed by funds from Qatar.

The accusations date back to the start of uprising against Assad, but came to a head on March 19 after the election of rebel prime minister Ghassan Hitto, with some activists saying his selection was "pushed" by the Brotherhood.

France has not decided whether to support the lifting of an EU arms embargo on Syria, its foreign minister said Wednesday, in a u-turn from its previous stance favoring the supply of weapons to the war-torn country's rebels.

"We have to give a response end of May. Until then, I can't tell you yes or no," Laurent Fabius said on BFM-TV, after being asked what position Paris would take over the renewal of the near two-year-old embargo.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is to meet on Sunday in Amman with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is pushing for a renewal of peace talks, a Palestinian official said.

"U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with president Abbas next Sunday in Amman," he told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.

President Mohammed Morsi on Wednesday stressed Egypt's commitment to freedom of expression, insisting his office was not behind a probe against a popular satirist that has raised international concerns.

"The presidency reiterates the importance of freedom of expression and fully respects press freedom," Morsi's office said in a statement.

Syrian President Bashar Assad accused Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of not having said "a single word of truth" about Syria's conflict, in an interview with Turkish media posted on the web.

"Erdogan has not said a single word of truth since the beginning of the crisis in Syria," Assad told journalists working for Turkish television Ulusal and Aydinlik newspaper.

Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon warned on Wednesday that Israel would respond to any attacks on its territory and not allow its people to come under fire "in any form.”

His warning was issued after militants in Gaza fired a rocket at southern Israel, and as a Syrian mortar shell and small arms fire hit the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights.

Gaza militants fired a rocket into southern Israel on Tuesday, after the death in custody of a Palestinian who suffered from cancer, Israeli police said.

"There was a rocket that was fired," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Agence France Presse. "It landed in an open area," he said, adding there were no immediate reports of casualties or property damage.

A majority of Palestinians believe the U.S. will fail to revive the Middle East peace process, according to a survey after Barack Obama's visit to the region, seen by Agence France Presse on Tuesday.

The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research's report, conducted March 28-30, surveyed 1,270 people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.