Kuwait: Ahmad Al Saadoon, a veteran politician and three-time speaker of Kuwait Parliament, has been elected the new speaker.
The Kuwaiti emir on Wednesday inaugurated the new opposition-dominated parliament by calling on MPs and the government to cooperate, end disputes and fend off internal and external dangers.
"Our country is facing a host of internal challenges and external dangers that are hampering progress... and stalling development," Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah told the new parliament elected on February 2 in snap polls.
We must show "unity and cooperation to face these dangers and its evils," said the emir, referring to ongoing turmoil in several Arab countries and a series of internal political crises which rocked the oil-rich Gulf state.
"Fending off these dangers should top your list of priorities... and preserving national unity and fighting dissent... should be your most important duty," Shaikh Sabah told MPs.
The elections, the fourth in less than six years, were held following youth-led street protests that forced former prime minister to quit in November. The emir later dissolved the previous parliament.
