A model presents a creation by British designer Alexander McQueen as part of his Fall/Winter 2009/10 ready-to-wear women's collection during Paris Fashion Week March 10, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
A model displays a creation by British designer Alexander McQueen as part of his Fall/Winter 2009/10 ready-to-wear women's collection during Paris Fashion Week March 10, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
A model wears a creation by British designer Alexander McQueen as part of his Fall/Winter 2009/10 ready-to-wear women's collection during Paris Fashion Week March 10, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
A model displays a creation by British designer Alexander McQueen as part of his Fall/Winter 2009/10 ready-to-wear women's collection during Paris Fashion Week March 10, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
A model presents a creation by British designer Alexander McQueen as part of his Fall/Winter 2009/10 ready-to-wear women's collection during Paris Fashion Week March 10, 2009.
September 17, 2009
Alexander McQueen's darkly beautiful show in Paris (II) - Lifestyle News
8'1" Turk takes title of world's tallest man - Lifestyle News - SINA English
8'1" Turk takes title of world's tallest man - Lifestyle News - SINA English8'1" Turk takes title of world's tallest man
2009-09-17 05:49:26 GMT2009-09-17 13:49:26 (Beijing Time) SINA.com
In this Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009 photo, Sultan Kosen from Turkey stands in front of Tower Bridge in London. AP Photo
The world's tallest man, Sultan Kosen from Turkey, poses for photographers next to school children at an event in London September 16, 2009. Kosen, who is 2 metres 46.5 cm (8 feet 1 inch) tall and also claims the record for the largest hands and largest feet, attended the event to promote the Guinness World Records 2010 book. Reuters photo
LONDON – A towering Turk was officially crowned the world's tallest man Thursday after his Ukrainian rival dropped out of the running by refusing to be measured.
Guinness World Records said that 8 foot 1 inch (2.47 meter) Sultan Kosen, from the town of Mardin in eastern Turkey, is now officially the tallest man walking the planet. Although the previous record holder, Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk, reportedly measured 8 feet 5.5 inches (2.57 meters), Guinness said he was stripped of his title when he declined to let anyone confirm his height.
Stadnyk, 39, told The Associated Press he refused to be independently measured because he was tired of being in the public eye.
"If this title had given me more health or a few extra years, I would have taken it, but the opposite happened, I only wasted my nerve cells," he said.
"If I have to choose between prosperity and calm, I choose calm."
Kosen, 27, told reporters in London that he was looking forward to parlaying his newfound status into a chance at love.
"Up until now it's been really difficult to find a girlfriend," Kosen said through an interpreter. "I've never had one, they were usually scared of me. ... Hopefully now that I'm famous I'll be able to meet lots of girls. I'd like to get married."
Kosen is one of only 10 confirmed or reliably reported cases in which humans have grown past the eight foot (2.44 meter) mark, according to Guinness.
The record-keeping group said he grew into his outsize stature because tumor-related damage to his pituitary triggered the overproduction of growth hormones. The condition, known as "pituitary gigantism," also explains Kosen's enormous hands and feet, which measure 10.8 inches (27.5 centimeters) and 14.4 inches (36.5 centimeters) respectively.
The tumor was removed last year, so Kosen isn't expected to grow any further.
The part-time farmer, who uses crutches to stand, said there were disadvantages to being so tall.
"I can't fit into a normal car," he said. "I can't go shopping like normal people, I have to have things made specially and sometimes they aren't always as fashionable. The other thing is that ceilings are low and I have to bend down through doorways."
But he noted some advantages too, including the ability to see people coming from far away.
"The other thing is at home they use my height to change the light bulbs and hang the curtains, things like that."
Kosen's trip to the U.K. — his first outside Turkey — was organized by Guinness to publicize the release of its 2010 Guinness World Records book, this year's repertoire of weird and wonderful records.
(Agencies)
BBC NEWS | Technology | Denmark pulls 'promiscuous' video
BBC NEWS | Technology | Denmark pulls 'promiscuous' videoDenmark pulls 'promiscuous' video
AdvertisementDanish actress Ditte Arnth Jorgensen played the role of single mother
A video promoting tourism in Denmark has been removed from YouTube after complaints it promoted promiscuity.
The three-minute clip shows a young blonde woman, trying to find a man whom she had a one night stand with, who fathered her child "August".
VisitDenmark's manager, Dorte Kiilerich said the film was supposed to be a "nice and sweet story of a woman".
But Denmark's Economy Minister, Lene Espersen, said it "was not a very well-thought-out picture of the country".
In the advert, the woman says - in English - that she was "trying to find August's father".
"We met one night a year and a half ago when you were on vacation here in Denmark.
"We met... and then decided to have a drink and, yeah, it's really embarrassing but it's more or less what I remember.
"I don't remember where you're from or even your name."
'Tasteless'
Critics says the video implied that along with traditional tourism, Denmark was a place to go to have unprotected sex with strangers.
One Danish newspaper, Ekstra Bladet, labelled it "grotesque" and a "waste of taxpayers' money".
The video also prompted a slew of angry comments, with one user saying it was a "tasteless, tactless way of attracting attention".
Ms Kiilerich said she regretted any offence the video may have caused, but the intent had been to tell "a nice and sweet story about a grown-up woman who lives in a free society and accepts the consequences of her actions".
The YouTube clip received more than 800,000 hits and although the official video has been removed, copies have been spreading across YouTube.
It has also spawned numerous parodies, with men from across the world saying they were "not bimbos" and trying to find the mother of their child.
Was Denmark right to pull the video? What is the best way to promote a country? You can send us your views using the form below.
Twitter Digest for Wednesday, September 16, 2009 (GMT)
Twitter Digest for Wednesday, September 16, 2009 (GMT)Twitter Digest for Wednesday, September 16, 2009 (GMT)
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