"Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has died and will be succeeded by his half-brother, Crown Prince Salman, at the helm of the world's biggest oil exporter.
King Abdullah, who was born in 1924, died at 1 a.m. in Riyadh, the royal court said in a statement. He became Saudi Arabia's sixth king in August 2005 and de facto ruler in 1996 after King Fahd was incapacitated by a stroke. Prince Muqrin, 69, another half-brother, has been named Crown Prince, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said. Oil prices surged after the announcement."