With Crown Prince Nayef's death, a new heir will now need to be crowned. (Flickr/Creative Commons)

In Saudi Arabia, members of the al-Saud ruling family buried heir Crown Prince Nayef Sunday, who died of an undisclosed illness at the age of 78, Saturday.

Prince Salman, 76, Nayef's next oldest brother is his suspected successor. If Salman is appointed successor, he would be the third person to hold the post of crown prince in eight months.

Salman is considered to be slightly more liberal than the recently deceased Crown Prince Nayef, however, it is still not thought that he will challenge the status quo too strongly.

Read more at Reuters here and at the Telegraph here.

Read more Neon Tommy coverage of the Middle East here.

Reach Executive Producer Jackie Mansky here.