Bedouins who kidnapped a Singapore tourist in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula Friday released him after several hours, a security source said.

"He was handed over to the security forces," the source said.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat will meet here next week with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a bid to try to breathe new life into stalled peace talks, a U.S. official said Friday.

Clinton had already met with Israeli negotiator Yitzhak Molho and "she'll see Erakat next week," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian and Chinese counterparts will discuss differences over what to do about the conflict in Syria at a G20 summit next week, the U.S. said on Friday.

"Obviously disagreements persist with regard to Syria, but it will be a good opportunity for the presidents to meet and work it through," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, referring to the Mexico talks.

Most Turks oppose direct intervention by their country in neighboring Syria, a Turkish opinion poll revealed Friday, as the escalating conflict threatens to become outright civil war.

Fifty-seven percent said they were against Turkey intervening in Syria, while 11.7 percent said they were for a military confrontation with the Damascus regime, according to the poll sponsored by an Istanbul-based think-tank, the Center for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM).

Public security in Tunisia was "normal throughout the country" ahead of Friday prayers, after which several religious groups had planned protest rallies, an interior ministry spokesman said.

At the last minute Thursday, fundamentalist Islamic groups and the moderate Muslim Ennahda party in power called off the rallies they had planned to hold following Friday prayers, after the government issued a ban.

The U.N. observer force on Friday accused both sides in the Syrian conflict of hampering its peace mission and admitted its limitations in the face of escalating violence.

France, meanwhile, said that world powers could hold a summit on the Syrian crisis as the deadly anti-regime revolt entered its 16th month.

A controversial court decision on the eve of Egypt's second round presidential vote gives the nation's army the means to keep its key political role and challenge the Muslim Brotherhood, analysts say.

The constitutional court's decision on Thursday to invalidate parliament on the grounds that a third of its members were elected illegally was a blow for Islamists, who currently dominate the house but stand to lose ground in any new election.

The number of Syrian refugees registered in Turkey has topped 30,000, a Turkish foreign ministry official told Agance France Press on Friday.

"Four hundred more Syrians crossed into Turkey on Thursday, bringing the total number to 30,800," said the official, who wished to remain anonymous.

At least 26 people were killed in violence on Friday as thousands protested against the regime across Syria, activists and a monitoring group said.

Activists uploaded videos of protests outside mosques or street marches on what they named a "Friday of Readiness."

More than 2,000 Jordanians braved blistering temperatures on Friday to demonstrate across the country against recent hikes in commodity prices, demanding sweeping political change and constitutional reform.

"Instead of raising prices, hold the corrupt accountable. Reform the constitution and let the people see the light," read one of the banners carried by around 1,000 protesters, including Islamists, leftists and youths, who marched in central Amman.