Kuwait

Kuwaiti athletes at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games were forced to compete under the Olympic Flag.

Kuwait’s sporting crisis has deepened today after the Public Sports Authority (PSA) dissolved the country’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) and Football Association (KFA) for alleged financial irregularities.

In a move brought about by the introduction of controversial sports laws, which granted the Government power to take over all sports bodies and National Federations, as well as being able to control decisions including appointments and financial matters, the PSA implemented special commissions to oversee the two organisations, according to state news agency KUNA.

Thousands mourn in Kuwait's mass funeral after Shiite attack

An upstart local affiliate of the Islamic State group, calling itself the Najd Province, claimed responsibility for the attack that was carried out by a suicide bomber during midday Friday prayers inside one of Kuwait's oldest Shiite mosques.

The IS group views Shiites as heretics and refers to them derogatively as "rejectionists" among other slurs.