The State Department was little help on this, or on much else about Saudi Arabia.

In February 2006, Angola surpassed Saudi Arabia to become the number one supplier of oil to China.

Azerbaijan currently has diplomatic relations with 160 countries: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, the People's Republic of China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Libya, Luxembourg, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Republic of India, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

* Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen

* 2005 – President of Mauritania Maaouya Ould Sid ' Ahmed Taya is overthrown in a military coup while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia.

* 1980 – Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar burns after making an emergency landing at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people.

The world of Arab music has long been dominated by Cairo, a cultural center, though musical innovation and regional styles abound from Morocco to Saudi Arabia.

Omari came from Asir Province, a poor region in southwestern Saudi Arabia that borders Yemen, and graduated with honours from high school, attained a degree from the Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, was married, and had a daughter.

He is alleged to have often served as an Imam at his mosque in Saudi Arabia and is believed by American Authorities to have been a student of a Saudi cleric named Sulayman al Alwan, whose mosque is located in Al-Qassim Province.

A man with the same name as those given by the FBI turned up alive in Saudi Arabia, saying that he had studied at the University of Denver and his passport was stolen there in 1995.

* Amputation is used as a legal punishment in a number of countries, among them Iran, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Islamic regions of Nigeria.

Born in Saudi Arabia, Nami had served as a muezzin and was a college student.

Nami, much like Abdulaziz al-Omari, Wail al-Shehri, Waleed al-Shehri, and Mohand al-Shehri was born in the ' Asir Province in Saudi Arabia.

Born to the Quraish tribe of Saudi Arabia, Nami served as a muezzin at the Seqeley mosque after having reportedly become very religious sometime in early 1999.

By October he had taken a prospective hijacker Mushabib al-Hamlan from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia where they both procured B-1 / B-2 tourist / business visas on October 28 – but Hamlan then decided not to proceed and is thought to have returned to his family.

In mid-November 2000, the 9 / 11 Commission believes that Nami, Wail and Waleed al-Shehri, all of whom had obtained their U. S. visas in late October, traveled in a group from Saudi Arabia to Beirut and then onward to Iran where they could travel through to Afghanistan without getting their passports stamped.

This probably followed their return to Saudi Arabia to get " clean " passports.

Ahmed al-Haznawi was the son of a Saudi imam from the Al-Bahah province, which is located in an isolated and underdeveloped part of Saudi Arabia.

On November 12, 2000, Haznawi applied for and received a two-year US B-1 / B-2 ( tourist / business ) visa in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

From November 27, 2000 through December 27, 2000, Haznawi was in Saudi Arabia for Ramadan.

In Saudi Arabia, eating in public during the daytime is prohibited during the Muslim month of Ramadan.

In Saudi Arabia, all businesses except hospitals are made to close during Islamic prayers, held five times daily.

Saudi Arabia has provided enormous financial assistance to Bosnia-Herzegovina since its independence in 1992.

He is a well-respected Sunni cleric who studied in the Sudan, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

On 15 May 2006, Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, a cleric and successful businessman educated in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan, was declared the winner of elections for President of the Republic.

193-Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, People's Republic of China, Colombia, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte d ' Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, European Union, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, The Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, North Korea, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Republic of Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Federated States of Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, São Tomé and Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

The Ja ' fari school ( Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Bahrain, India and Saudi Arabia ) is associated with Imam Jafar-as-Sadiq.

It is known to exist in northern Saudi Arabia, southern Jordan, northern Iraq ( Kurdistan ), and Nicholas Birch of the The Christian Science Monitor claims there is circumstantial evidence for its existence in Syria, western Iran, and southern Turkey.

Saudi Arabia and Iran also armed and directed Afghan militias.

The main forces involved during that period in Kabul, northern, central and eastern Afghanistan were the Hezb-i Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar directed by Pakistan, the Hezb-i Wahdat of Abdul Ali Mazari directed by Iran, the Ittehad-i Islami of Abdul Rasul Sayyaf supported by Saudi Arabia, the Junbish-i Milli of Abdul Rashid Dostum backed by Uzbekisten, the Harakat-i Islami of Hussain Anwari and the Shura-i Nazar operating as the regular Islamic State forces ( as agreed upon in the Peshawar Accords ) under the defense ministry of Ahmad Shah Massoud.

Large reserves of hydrocarbons are being tapped in the offshore areas of Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, and Western Australia.

border countries: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan

In the Islamic regimes of Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, North Sudan and Yemen, homosexual activity is punished with the death penalty.

Homosexual relations are a crime and face punishment in some Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, or Islamic Republics such as Iran.

The death penalty is currently in place in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mauritania, northern Nigeria, Sudan, and Yemen.

Some like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Uzbekistan and Malaysia have high levels of hostility due to the influence of religion and politics.

According to the International Lesbian and Gay Association ( ILGA ) seven countries still retain capital punishment for homosexual behavior: Afghanistan, Iran, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Yemen.

Saudi Arabia and Iran also armed and directed Afghan militias.

This includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Australia 4, Austria 6, Bangladesh 1, Belgium 3, Bulgaria 19, Canada 2, China 16, Croatia 14, Cuba 1, Cyprus 7, Denmark 3, Estonia 5, Finland 1, Germany 54, Greece 627, Hong Kong 12, Iceland 3, India 10, Iran 2, Israel 26, Italy 36, Japan 2, Latvia 24, Lebanon 6, Monaco 29, Netherlands 10, Nigeria 2, Norway 43, Poland 29, Portugal 2, Romania 15, Russia 85, Saudi Arabia 1, Slovenia 2, South Korea 5, Spain 1, Switzerland 54, Syria 4, Turkey 84, Ukraine 25, United Arab Emirates 3, United Kingdom 4, United States 10 ( 2002 est.

Strategically located in the Northern Persian Gulf between the major markets of Saudi Arabia and Iran, the airport has one of the widest range and highest frequency of regional services with connections to major international destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America.

Major proven resources ( in billion cubic meters ) are world 175, 400 ( 2006 ), Russia 47, 570 ( 2006 ), Iran 26, 370 ( 2006 ), Qatar 25, 790 ( 2007 ), Saudi Arabia 6, 568 ( 2006 ) and United Arab Emirates 5, 823 ( 2006 ).

Its length is 989 kilometres, with Iran covering most of the northern coast and Saudi Arabia most of the southern coast.

Countries with a coastline on the Persian Gulf are ( clockwise, from the north ): Iran, Oman ( exclave of Musandam ), United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar on a peninsula off the Saudi coast, Bahrain on an island, Kuwait and Iraq in the northwest.

In 2002, the Persian Gulf nations of Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, produced about 25 % of the world's oil, held nearly two-thirds of the world's crude oil reserves, and about 35 % of the world natural gas reserves.