Kuwait’s new ruler announced his prime minister on Thursday as he bids to end the chronic political stalemate afflicting the major oil-producing Gulf nation. Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, who was sworn in as emir last month, named Sheikh Mohammed Sabah al-Salem Al-Sabah, a popular ex-foreign minister, as the new premier. He replaces Sheikh Ahmed Nawaf al-Ahmed al-Sabah, son of the late emir whose death has raised hopes of a political shift in the conservative country bordering Iraq and Saudi Arabia. While sovereign powers remain concentrated in the hands of the ruling Al-Sabah family, Kuwai…