Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, has succeeded his older brother as king of Saudi Arabia

After the death of King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia quickly announced that one of his younger brothers, Crown Prince Salman, was succeeding him.
The man taking control of the world's top oil exporter is well established in the Gulf kingdom's corridors of power.
Salman, 79, is "a stalwart of the royal family" who is "viewed as a pragmatic and cautious reformer, much like his predecessor," says CNN's Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi.
He has served as defense minister and deputy prime minister of Saudi Arabia, a vital U.S. ally in the Middle East, for years. Like Abdullah, he's one of the dozens of sons of Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abdulaziz