"Shia imam Sheikh Mohammad Tawhidi told Daily Mail Australia the Saudi Arabian team's decision not to participate in the minute of silence was not about the minute itself, but about the people who were being mourned.

 

'They did not stop for a moment of silence because according to Wahhabi Islam - which governs Saudi Arabia - it is not wrong or a sin for a Muslim to kill a non-Muslim. In their eyes the attackers are martyrs who are going to paradise.

 

He noted this may not be the personal view of every player within the team, but they would have been 'ridiculed' in Saudi Arabia had they commemorated the victims of the London terrorist attack."

"The report says a number of Gulf nations, as well as Iran, are providing financial support to mosques and Islamic educational institutions which have played host to extremist preachers and been linked to the spread of extremist material.

 

At the top of the list, the report claims, is Saudi Arabia.

 

Endorsing the report, UK lawmaker Dan Jarvis said it shed light on 'very worrying' links between Saudi Arabia and the funding of extremism."

"Fundamentalism is surging in Indonesia. This did not happen naturally.  Saudi Arabia has been working for decades to pull Indonesia away from moderate Islam and toward the austere Wahhabi form that is state religion in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis’ campaign has been patient, multi-faceted, and lavishly financed. It mirrors others they have waged in Muslim countries across Asia and Africa.

 

The center of Saudi Arabia’s campaign to convert Indonesians to Wahhabi Islam is a tuition-free university in Jakarta known by the acronym LIPIA.  Students learn an ultra-conservative form of Islam that favors hand amputation for thieves, stoning for adulterers, and death for gays and blasphemers.  Some students promote terror groups like Hamas Indonesia and the Islamic Defenders Front, which did not exist before the Saudis arrived."

"Islamic State circulates images of Wahhabi religious textbooks from Saudi Arabia in the schools it controls.  These books encouraged intolerance toward women, Jews, and the West – and instructed that converts away from Islam, supposed sorcerers, and others should be killed."

 

"The country is an Islamic state governed by a monarchy; the king is head of both state and government.  The public practice of any religion other than Islam is prohibited, and there is no separation between state and religion.

 

Some school textbooks continued to contain overtly intolerant statements against Jews and Christians and intolerant references by allusion against Shia and Sufi Muslims and other religious groups. For example they stated that apostates from Islam should be killed if they do not repent within three days of being warned and that treachery is a permanent characteristic of non-Muslims, especially Jews."

"The Saudi kingdom, an active promoter and sponsor of Wahhabism, the fundamentalist strain of Islam that serves as the backbone of modern Islamic extremism, is the second largest source of foreign fighters for ISIS — roughly 2,500 have joined.

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin himself estimates that between 5,000 and 7,000 people from Russia and other former Soviet republics have traveled to Syria to take up arms with ISIS and other militants."

"The government announced that its employees would get an additional week of vacation for the festive holiday of Eid.

 

The change means the 70% of Saudi nationals employed by the government -- more than 3 million people -- are in line for 23 consecutive days of vacation."

"Saudi Arabia's plan to build the world's tallest building is one step closer to reality. Construction on the Kingdom Tower is underway and is expected to to be complete in 2020.

 

The skyscraper is part of the country's Kingdom City project, a $20 billion enterprise spearheaded by the Saudi royal family to transform Jeddah into a metropolitan empire."

"Saudi Arabia's government has launched a new scheme to provide housing aid to its citizens, in the hope of ending a shortage of homes.

 

King Abdullah announced a plan to build 500,000 homes in Saudi Arabia over several years. Some $67 billion of state funds were earmarked for the plan."

"Taliban fighters have claimed that Russia is supplying them with weapons including snipers and heavy machine guns.

 

America's top general in Afghanistan said earlier this year that he was 'not refuting' reports Moscow was providing support, including weapons, to the militant group.

 

Separately, General Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander who also heads the US military's European Command, said Russia is 'perhaps' supplying the Taliban as they fight US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.  He told lawmakers he had seen Russian influence expand in multiple regions, including in Afghanistan."

"The sanctions initially proposed by the U.S. – which included completely cutting off oil imports – were significantly diluted largely at Russia’s behest. Moscow is one of the biggest food-aid donors to North Korea.

 

A brand new ferry system was even set up just four months ago to carry cargo and passengers between Vladivostok, Russia, and Rason, North Korea. This week, it emerged that U.S. officials now believe Russian smugglers are operating to undercut sanctions by way of these two ports. The alleged movements are believed to provide something of a lifeline to Kim Jong Un’s regime, and could effectively keep it from faltering under the hefty and mounting sanctions."

"In early May the Kremlin sent a tanker full of fuel across the Atlantic as part of a deal to keep the communist island running for three months. It was the first such shipment Cuba had received in years from its former benefactor, but it wasn’t the only sign Russia has returned to a region it had all but abandoned after the Cold War. Moscow is building a satellite-tracking station in Managua and considering reopening Soviet-era military bases in the region, as well as expanding economic ties and doling out aid in countries across Central America and the Caribbean."

"Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan said he is concerned about the completion of this new base: 'While seemingly a modest investment, the construction of this base sends a clear message to the Arctic community about Russia's ongoing militarization of this strategically important region.'

 

'We need to wake up to the fact that the United States is an Arctic nation, with significant strategic interests in the region...we are falling behind.'"

"More than 2,900 people are already working at the 4.9 million square-foot facility, and more than 4,000 jobs (including temporary construction work) will be added this year through the partnership between Tesla and Panasonic.  By 2018, the Gigafactory, which is less than a third complete, will double the world’s production capacity for lithium-ion batteries and employ 6,500 full-time Reno-based workers, according to a new hiring forecast from Tesla.

 

Tesla stands apart as an all-American carmaker, battery maker, and solar producer. About 95 percent of the Model 3’s components will be made in the U.S., and 25,000 of the company’s 30,000 employees are based there."

"The race is on to get the mineral out of the Nevada ground and into your iPhones, Bolts, and Powerwalls.  At least six startups have recently placed or leased claims in the area.

 

Nevada may be supplying a battery market that’s almost twice the size of today’s."

"The groundbreaking Chevrolet Bolt EV is the car of tomorrow.  Today.  The Bolt EV is not GM’s first pure electric car.

 

It is, simply, a world-class small car, and that’s before you factor in the benefits inherent in the smoothness, silence, and instant-on torque provided by the electric motor.  238 is the number of miles the EPA has certified the Bolt EV will travel on a full charge."

"SDG&E customers looking to experience the excitement of driving electric are being offered $10,000 off the purchase of a 2017 Nissan Leaf or any 2017 BMW i3 model. This is in addition to the up to $10,000 in state cash rebate and federal tax credit incentives.

 

All-electric cars have fewer parts which result in no oil changes and less maintenance costs. Electric cars on freeways and neighborhood streets in the San Diego region reduces greenhouse gases and improves air quality. Moreover, when EVs plug into SDG&E’s grid they receive 43% renewable energy and no coal."

The official US Government source for fuel economy information

"Saudi Arabia and Russia discussed the possibility of extending their production-cut agreement for another three months during a meeting in St. Petersburg in July.

 

The agreement between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-OPEC members is due to expire at the end of March. Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino was set to visit Russia and Saudi Arabia to discuss compliance with the cuts and a possible extension of the deal."

OPEC MEMBER COUNTRIES

  • SAUDI ARABIA
  • ANGOLA
  • ECUADOR
  • KUWAIT
  • ALGERIA
  • IRAN
  • IRAQ
  • LIBYA
  • GABON
  • VENEZUELA
  • UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
  • QATAR
  • NIGERIA
  • EQUATORIAL GUINEA

"Khalid Al-Falih, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, met in private with some of the world’s top commodity hedge funds in July, taking the unusual step of personally canvassing investor views on the state of the market.

 

Al-Falih asked the oil traders why the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC] had achieved only partial success reviving the market and what else the group could do to push prices higher."

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