Bangkok - Kuwaiti Prime Minister Nasir Muhammad is to visit communist Laos next week to commemorate the recent establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Lao Foreign Affairs Ministry officials said Friday.

Nasir was scheduled to visit the capital, Vientiane, Tuesday and Wednesday, weeks after the two countries established diplomatic relations on July 14.

"When he is in Laos, we will sign five documents, including agreements on protection of foreign investments and avoidance of double taxation," said Yong Chanthalangsy, Lao Foreign Ministry spokesman.

Nasir was scheduled to meet with Lao President Choummali Saignason and Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh.

New York  - The UN military observer mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea began Thursday to liquidate its headquarters in the capital cities of both countries, one day after the UN Security Council terminated its mandate.

The council's decision stemmed from the failure of both countries to accept a compromise solution over their border dispute. The two- year war between Ethiopia and Eritrea ended in 2000 with a ceasefire that was to be monitored by the UN mission. The UN said the war claimed at least 70,000 lives on both sides.

New York  - Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni reiterated Thursday a warning often heard from her government that the current conflict in the Middle East is between extremist and moderate militants and not between Israelis and Palestinians.

Livni was at United Nations headquarters in New York for talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about the situation in the region and the "global threat" of Iran.

Colombo  - Eight South Asian nations Thursday agreed on introducing terrorism as one of the subjects in an agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters among the countries, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said.

The foreign ministers or their representatives who met during the ministerial meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Co- operation (SAARC) agreed on the text of the agreement for final approval by the countries' heads of state over the weekend.

Tripoli - Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi was expected to arrive in Russia on Thursday for talks with Premier Vladimir Putin over economic cooperation and potential lucrative gas projects, according to media reports.

With estimated gas reserves of about 1.5 trillion cubic metres, Libya is a major gas exporter with an ambitious plan for a gas pipeline to Europe.

Russia's gas firm Gazprom is eyeing opportunities in Libya and hopes through its strategic partnership with Italian oil company Eni to secure a share in Libya's lucrative gas market.

Eni and Libya's National Oil Corporation co-own a pipeline that takes Libya's gas exports to Italy's southern island of Sicily.

Washington, July 31: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, on a US visit, has said that he also expected an India-like civil nuclear deal from the US, and added that Washington should not discriminate between the two South Asian nations.

“There should be no discrimination. If they want to give such nuclear status to India, we expect the same for Pakistan,” Gilani reportedly said while talking with Richard N. Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, at a meeting jointly organised with the Middle East Institute.