Gulf Arab states will consider placing Hizbullah, which is openly involved in the Syrian conflict, on its terror list, al-Rai daily quoted highly placed diplomats on Thursday as saying.

Bahrain will ask foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to discuss "placing Hizbullah on the terror list" at a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday, the newspaper said.

Oil-rich Kuwait will finance development projects in Oman worth $2.5 billion as part of pledges made two years ago by members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the non-OPEC sultanate announced on Monday.

Based on the framework agreement signed by representatives from both countries' governments in Muscat, Oman will receive the funds in 10 years with $250 million to be granted annually, Oman's state news agency ONA reported.

Kuwait's appeals court Monday quashed a five-year jail term given to opposition leader and former MP Mussallam al-Barrak last month for allegedly insulting the emir and ordered a retrial, a defense lawyer said.

"The (appeals) court declared the lower court verdict against Barrak illegal and cancelled it. It also agreed to call witnesses in the next hearing," Mohammad Abdulqader al-Jassem told Agence France Presse.

Hani Hussein, oil minister in OPEC member Kuwait, has resigned apparently to avoid being questioned in parliament over a $2.2-billion penalty payment to U.S. Dow Chemical and other alleged irregularities, a newspaper reported Monday.

Hussein told Al-Qabas daily he hopes "the new oil minister will provide the political cover for the massive change" introduced to the oil sector last week.

Kuwait on Sunday urged its citizens to avoid Lebanon and those already there to leave "as soon as possible" after two rockets hit a stronghold of Hizbullah in Beirut.

"Due to the unstable situation in Lebanon and the expected consequences... a foreign ministry official urged citizens to exercise caution and to abandon travel to Lebanon at present," the KUNA news agency cited an official statement as saying.

Kuwait's vital oil sector has undergone a major reshuffle, with new executives appointed for the subsidiaries of Kuwait Petroleum Corp, after a new KPC chief was named, the national oil firm said Monday.

The decisions were taken at a meeting late Sunday by KPC board of directors headed by Oil Minister Hani Hussein, replacing all the top executives of the eight subsidiaries and other departments in the KPC.

Kuwait has deported hundreds of expats for traffic offenses in the past month, a report said on Sunday, drawing condemnation from a human rights group.

The al-Anbaa newspaper cited a senior interior ministry official as saying that as many as 1,258 foreigners have been deported for traffic violations since a crackdown began about a month ago.

State owned Kuwait Airways Co has chosen Airbus over the Boeing Co on the purchase or lease of new airplanes, Kuwaiti Communications Minister Salem al-Othaina said on Wednesday.

"KAC received two offers from Airbus and Boeing and the board of directors approved the offer from Airbus because it is lower in cost," Othaina told the official KUNA news agency.

Kuwait is to bar foreigners from attending public hospitals in the mornings, local media reported on Thursday, in a decision activists labelled as "racist".

The decision comes after complaints in parliament of Kuwaiti patients having to wait for treatment at public health facilities because of the large number of expatriates.

Kuwait's government boycotted a parliament session on Tuesday after MPs filed requests to grill the oil and interior ministers over alleged violations, including a $2.2 billion penalty payment to U.S. Dow Chemical.

"Due to the absence of cabinet ministers and as I was informed the government will not attend, I adjourn the parliament session until Wednesday," speaker Ali al-Rashed told those MPs present in the chamber.