Saudi Arabia's Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz was named the kingdom's new defence minister on Saturday in a royal decree read on state television.

The appointment of Prince Salman, 76, follows the death of his elder brother Crown Prince Sultan, who had held the position for five decades, last month.

Prince Salman, governor of Riyadh province for nearly 50 years, now controls the top-spending ministry in Saudi Arabia, which has long used arms purchases to turn its military into one of the best equipped in the Middle East and to bolster ties with Western allies such as the United States, Britain and France.-Reuters