Kuwait and Iraq have jointly asked the United Nations to start repairing border markers, delayed for years due to Iraqi objections, a senior Kuwaiti official said on Wednesday.

Kuwait's permanent representative to the UN. .Mansour al-Oteibi told the official KUNA news agency the request was made in a joint letter by him and his Iraqi counterpart, Hamed al-Bayati, on Tuesday.

Kuwait's Finance Minister Mustafa al-Shamali has testified before a parliamentary committee probing corruption allegations against the former prime minister, the head of the panel said Sunday.

"The committee has informed Shamali it was not satisfied with the replies it has received (from the government) so far and demanded complete answers," Faisal al-Muslim said after the meeting that took place late on Saturday.

A Kuwaiti court Thursday fined a local television station 500,000 dinars ($1.8 million) for airing a program deemed offensive to the Gulf state's ruling family, according to the court ruling.

The program, aired in October 2010 by SCOPE TV director and former lawmaker, Talal al-Saeed, charged that ancestors of the Al-Malek branch of the Al-Sabah ruling family attempted to overthrow the government 50 years ago.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has given a visiting Kuwaiti minister a shotgun that belonged to Saddam Hussein, a source at Talabani's office in Sulaimaniyah told Agence France Presse on Tuesday.

"The Iraqi president on Friday presented to Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah, minister of the diwan (royal court) of the Kuwaiti prince, a Brno rifle that belonged to Saddam Hussein which Talabani recovered after the liberation of Iraq" in 2003, the official said.

Kuwait's parliament on Thursday provisionally passed amendments to the Gulf state's penal code stipulating the death penalty for those who curse God, Islam's Prophet Mohammed or his wives.

Forty-six MPs, including cabinet ministers, voted for the key amendments that will come into effect only after another round of voting and government approval. The second and final vote will take place in two weeks.

Jordan has nudged Israeli and Palestinian negotiators back to discussions on the peace process, a government official said on Thursday, adding that the two sides had met in Amman during the night.

"Israeli and Palestinian officials met last night in Amman for discussions," the official told Agence France Presse, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Police on Sunday extended the detention of a Kuwaiti arrested last week for allegedly burning an Iranian flag in protest at a Shiite tweeter's apparent insult to the Prophet Mohammed, a legal source said.

Nahar al-Hajeri, who was arrested on Thursday, was questioned and then sent to the central jail for three weeks pending further investigation and trial, the source told Agence France Presse.

Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah was in Baghdad on Thursday for a landmark Arab summit, in the first visit by a Kuwaiti head of state to Iraq since Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion.

At the opening of the summit, the emir called on Syria to listen to reason and cooperate with U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

Kuwait on Thursday condemned Sunni activists for setting ablaze an Iranian flag during a rally to protest a Shiite tweeter's insults against Islam's Prophet Mohammed.

A foreign ministry official expressed his "rejection and condemnation of this irresponsible action," the official KUNA news agency reported, citing a statement.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has accepted the credentials of the first Saudi ambassador to Baghdad since Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the president's office said on Wednesday.

"Iraq is keen to build the best relations with the kingdom, which will benefit and be in the best interests of the two countries and the two peoples," Talabani said, according to a statement which also said that the credentials were presented Tuesday evening.