DUBAI (Reuters) – Kuwait television interrupted regular programming to cut to Koranic verses on Tuesday, a move which often signifies the death of a senior member of the Gulf Arab state’s ruling family.
There was no immediate announcement from authorities.
Kuwait’s ruler, Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, 91, has been in hospital in the United States since July following surgery for an unspecified condition in Kuwait that same month.
Sheikh Sabah has ruled Kuwait, an OPEC oil producer and ally of the United States, since 2006 and has steered its foreign policy for more than 50 years.
On Sept. 14 Kuwait’s prime minister had informed his cabinet that the emir’s health was improving.
(Reporting by Lisa Barrington, Ahmed Hagagy and Aziz El Yaakoubi; Writing by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Gareth Jones)
