KUWAIT (AKI) -- Two women are among the members of Kuwait's new cabinet sworn in by the country's Emir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, after recent elections in which Islamists made strong gains.

The 16-member cabinet includes seven new members and four of them belong to the ruling al-Sabah family.
Among the new ministers is Fadil Safar, a Shia activist, who was previously arrested after taking part in a rally to mourn Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's military commander.
Mughniyeh was martyred in a bombing in Damascus in February and his funeral attracted thousands of supporters.
Safar was appointed minister of public works and municipalities.
One of the women to join the cabinet is Mudhi al-Humud, a university professor at the Arab Open University now appointed as Minister for Housing and Development.
The second woman is Nuriya Subeeh Barrak Al-Subeeh, who was reappointed as Minister of Education. She held the post in the former cabinet that resigned after the 17 May parliamentary election.
Parliament passed a law in May 2005 giving women the right to vote and run in elections for the national assembly, but none of them won a seat in the 50-member Parliament.
The Parliament does not include seats for the 15 appointed cabinet members.
Under Kuwaiti law, the cabinet does not require a vote of confidence from the Parliament.