Kuwait announces formation of new Cabinet to defuse crisis

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Kuwait says it has formed a new government to defuse a protracted political feud that has blocked economic reforms in the oil-rich state. The country’s state-run news agency reported on Monday that Kuwait’s newly-appointed prime minister, Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al Sabah, will lead the 12-member Cabinet until early elections. The ministers will take over a government that had submitted its resignation over three months ago. It represents Kuwait’s fifth government in the last two years alone, as the country’s emir-appointed Cabinet and elected parliament — unique among Gulf Arab sheikhdoms — battle over power-sharing.