Kuwait's new prime minister named a 15-member Cabinet Monday, with members of the Gulf state's ruling family receiving key government posts. Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, who was appointed prime minister Sunday, tapped the outgoing Cabinet's oil minister, Sheik Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah, to head up the new Energy Ministry, which combines the oil, electricity and water portfolios. Members of the ruling Al Sabah family also kept other key posts in Sheik Sabah's first Cabinet, including interior, foreign affairs and defense, according to the state-owned Kuwait Television. The Foreign Ministry portfolio, which was Sheik Sabah's for almost four decades, went to Sheik Mohammed Al Sabah, who was minister of state for foreign affairs in the outgoing Cabinet. Kuwait's longtime ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammed Abul-Hassan, became information minister. Sheik Sabah was appointed prime minister Sunday by his brother the emir, Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, raising hopes for reform in this close U.S. ally and fledgling democracy. For the first time since the country's 1961 independence from Britain the prime minister is not the same person as the crown prince. Sheik Sabah has been running Kuwait since the crown prince and outgoing prime minister, Sheik Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah, fell ill with colon problems in 1997. **PHOTO CAPTION*** This combo shows Kuwait's Crown Prince Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah (L) and next to him Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah. (AFP/File)