2. The Saudi king’s official title is “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.” King Abdullah Bin Abd el-Aziz Al Saud has been king since 2005.

3. According to Forbes magazine, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah is the 8th most powerful person in the world and the world’s most powerful Muslim.

4. Saudi Arabia has 83,000 square miles (2,149,690 square km) in total area, which makes it the 13th largest country in the world. It is the largest country in the Middle East, about the size of Western Europe and one-quarter the size of the U.S.

5. Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the world without a river.

6. Based on fatalities per head of population, a World Bank report in the year 2000 found that Saudi Arabia along with Malaysia, Thailand, and South Africa were the most dangerous countries in which to drive. Saudi Arabia fared even worse when this was measured in fatalities per vehicle.

7. In 2012, Saudi Arabia banned smoking in government offices and most public places, which includes a ban on shishas (water pipes) and prohibits the selling of tobacco to minors. Saudi statistics state that country is the world’s fourth largest importer of tobacco, and Saudis spend about US$8 million a day on cigarettes.

8. Motorists in Saudi Arabia have invented a perilous but exciting new driving sport called Sidewalk Skiing, which involves balancing a car on its side while the car is in motion.

9. Fifteen of the 19 accused hijackers of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001, came from Saudi Arabia.

10. Construction on Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Tower began in 2014. The new, tallest building in the world will stand 3,280 feet (1 km) high and will dwarf the Burj Khalifa hotel in Dubai by 600 feet (183 meters).

http://weibo.com/peterliu