Kuwait’s emir Sheikh Sabah al-Sabah dissolved the Parliament by royal decree on Sunday over unspecified security concerns and amid low oil prices, setting the stage for early elections. In his decree the emir said that “regional circumstances” and “security challenges” had prompted the dissolution of Parliament. Government subsidised gasoline prices have been raised and other benefits have been cut, leading to growing dissent. The Kuwait’s Parliament had planned to question numerous government officials in the coming week about subsidy cuts, so it appeared possible that stopping their testimony could have played a part in the emir’s timing. (New York Times)