Kuwait names new Cabinet

The ruling Al Sabah family kept key posts in the country's new Cabinet announced Thursday. It is the first Cabinet to be formed under Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, who became emir last month.

Photo: Kuwait names new Cabinet

Kuwait names new Cabinet

The portfolios of defense, foreign affairs and energy were unchanged. The interior portfolio, which was held by Sheik Nawwaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah, who was chosen crown prince, was handed to the defense minister, Sheik Jaber Mubarak Al Sabah.

The Cabinet formed by Sheik Nasser Al Mohammed Al Sabah, who was appointed prime minister on Tuesday, kept the country's first-ever woman member of Cabinet, Massouma al-Mubarak.

It included one lawmaker, the minimum requested by law. Parliament speaker Jassem al-Kharafi said earlier this week he did not expect a drastic change in the new Cabinet because it would only serve for about one year and a half, before parliamentary elections in the summer of 2007, reports the AP.

I.L.