Kuwait’s exiled opposition returns home after royal pardon

KUWAIT CITY (AP) — Several prominent Kuwaiti opposition figures have returned home from a decade of self-exile after getting amnesty from the ruling emir. The long-awaited move celebrated Tuesday is aimed at ending a political paralysis that has burned a hole in public finances. Faisal al-Muslim was the latest to be greeted by screams of joy from relatives. Al-Muslim is among several opposition Islamist lawmakers who had been sentenced to prison for storming the Kuwaiti Parliament amid the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011. Kuwait’s political deadlock has bred a worsening financial crisis in the wealthy oil-rich sheikhdom, with the government unable to raise the public debt ceiling and drum up badly needed billions as Kuwait’s general reserve fund runs dry.