Candidates in today’s Kuwaiti elections – the first with women participants - made a final pitch for voters to endorse electoral reform, the issue that caused the emir to dissolve parliament last month.

The former Iranian president said today that talk of US contingency planning for a military attack on Iran was overblown because such a move would be too dangerous.

Kuwaitis waited today for the expected abdication of their ailing emir, Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah, a move that has been sought for days to resolve the country’s unprecedented leadership crisis.

Kuwait’s ailing emir, Sheik Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah, has abdicated following an agreement within the ruling family, a politician said tonight.