King Salman dispatches Al-Abdullah, hands more power to Mohammed Bin Salman

Less than a week after the death of his half-brother Abdullah (GSN 985, special issue), Saudi Arabia’s new king, Salman Bin Abdelaziz Al-Saud, announced generous handouts to citizens and made sweeping changes to the apparatus and personnel of government, demoting several of the late king’s sons and promoting his own. In a series of decrees issued on 29 January, King Salman detailed extensive appointments and institutional changes which must have been long in the planning; while many of the changes were not surprising, the rapidity of their execution was, catching many in Riyadh off guard.