The world's tallest man - who also has the largest hands and feet - has been named by Guinness World Records for the launch of its 2010 book.

At 8ft 1in (2.47m), Sultan Kosen, from Turkey, is about 4in (10cm) taller than previous title-holder Bao Xishun.

The 27-year-old's hands measure 10.8in (27.5cm) and his feet 14.3in (36.5cm).

Mr Kosen, whose height is due to the medical condition pituitary gigantism, said he hoped his new-found fame would bring him love for the first time.

"The first thing I want to do is have a car that I can fit in, but more than that I want to get married," he said.

"Up until now it's been really difficult to find a girlfriend. I've never had one, they were usually scared of me. I'm hoping now I will find one."

He went on: "Hopefully now that I'm famous I'll be able to meet lots of girls. I'd like to get married."

Read more and watch video @ BBC News

There's something touchingly innocent about the argument put forward by many people that the BNP should be allowed space in the mainstream media as this will "expose their ignorant ideas". Because history doesn't necessarily prove this to be the case. I don't suppose that, in 1941, many people thought: "You see, this is all working to plan. Now he's invaded Russia everyone will see just what an idiot this Hitler really is."

The arguments of the far-right groups are already obviously ridiculous. The latest slogan they march under is "Stop the Islamification of England". But how many people have had their lives Islamified against their will? Is there a single tea shop owner in Dorset who has to tell her customers: "Sorry dear, we're not allowed to serve a scone until after dark as it's Ramadan." Do radio stations have to start the day: "Allaaaaah – ah-aaaah allaaaaaah. Good morning, this is BBC Radio Sussex calling you to prayer."

Read more @ The Independent

Police officers will no longer have to fill out lengthy forms when they stop and search people in the street, the home secretary will announce.

The forms have been criticised for being complicated and bureaucratic.

Alan Johnson will say that in future only the ethnicity of the person stopped and the reason why will have to be recorded.

He will make the announcement at the Police Superintendents' Association annual conference on Wednesday.

This move will save 200,000 hours of officers' time a year, the home secretary will say.

Read more @ BBC News

England has become the "divorce capital of Europe", according to a senior family lawyer.

The system is paternalistic and unprincipled, says Lady Deech, chair of the Bar Standards Board.

Huge assets can be divided equally after only a few years of marriage, sending the wrong message, she says.

A leading defence lawyer says judges do recognise that women in short marriages should not be compensated in the same way as in long marriages.

Wrong message

Lady Deech says settlements that automatically keep ex-wives in comfort at the expense of ex-husbands are wrong.

"Trot down the road to the law courts and there you'll find a woman with maybe no particular qualifications, married for a short time to a celebrity of some sort, will walk away with many, many millions", Lady Deech says...

Read more @ BBC News

Here Javed Iqbal from Hajiabad describes what happened when the army raided his village.

Pakistan's army says it has investigated the incident and denies Mr Iqbal's version of events.

Our village is called Hajiabad and is located in the Charbagh area of Swat.

The security forces came into our village on 20 June 2009 and blew up the house of a local Taliban Commander, Sher Mohammad Qasab.

After doing this, they searched my house and that of my sister, which are located side-by-side next to the Taliban commander's.

At that time I told the army officials that they must inform us before coming as the Taliban are hiding in the area.

"If they ambush you, while you are on such a mission, it will be us villagers who will suffer most in the crossfire," I said.

That day they went away quietly, but they came back two days later.

This time they arrested five of my neighbours, although we told them they are not Taliban militants.

After that they asked me the whereabouts of the home of another commander, Shireen.

When I told them all I knew, they went to his brother's house rather than his own and set it on fire.

At that point, they asked Shireen's sister-in-law, who had come out of the house, where he was.

She said she had no knowledge of his whereabouts.

They then asked her to go and search for him immediately.

She replied that was not possible as she was a lone woman but they insisted.

During this argument, some of the army personnel opened fire and the woman was hit and injured.

...

My 70-year-old father, Munir Khan, my elderly mother, Bibi, and my two teenage sisters, Saira and Shazia remained behind in our home.

A few days later I saw my parents in a dream after which I started getting worried about them.

[At this point Iqbal starts crying]

Local phone lines were not working due to the army operation, therefore I sent my youngest brother back to the village.

He came back a few days later with the news I was dreading - my family had been massacred by the army.

I immediately returned home and was told by my neighbours that it happened on 3 July.

According to them, on that day, security forces personnel came to the village and went into my home.

They set the house on fire and moments later gunfire was heard from inside the house.

My neighbours said they later learned that all my family had been killed.

...

Read more @ BBC News

Two rockets have been fired into northern Israel from Lebanon. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Remnants of a Katyusha rocket were found in Israel, police said.

Israel and the Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah fought a devastating 34-day war across the border in July 2006.

Read more @ BBC News

In the villages of Afghanistan, many young men are working for the government during the week, but fighting for the Taliban at weekends.

"We don't get paid," says Gul Mohammad.

"It's voluntary - all for the sake of God. We even buy fuel for the operations ourselves. And our own ammunition and bullets."

Gul Mohammad (his name changed to protect his identity) is not what you might think of as a typical Taliban fighter.

He is educated, in his 20s, married with children and, during the week, he works in a government office.

"I'm a civil servant - that's how I support my family, with my salary and by growing wheat, here in the village.

"At the same time, I work for the Islamic Emirate (the name the Taliban use for their regime in Afghanistan). I've been fighting for the Taliban for about two years."

Read more @ BBC News

Youths have attacked a man outside a mosque in the same London suburb where an OAP was allegedly murdered by youths as he left a mosque.

The 30-year-old Asian man was attacked by a group of youths as he left the mosque in Gatton Road, Tooting, south-west London, at 2215 BST on Tuesday.

He suffered head injuries in what police describe as a racial attack.

It followed a fatal attack on Ekram Haque, 67, as he left Church Lane mosque in the area on 31 August.

Read more @ BBC News

The targeted boycotting of businesses involved in Israel's occupation of the Palestinian Territories is legitimate

The Norwegian government's divestment from Elbit Systems is an entirely appropriate response to Elbit's business involvement with the occupation of the West Bank. Despite the howls of protest from Israeli officials, the Norwegians' decision is a principled stand, which bears the closest of scrutiny, especially when viewed in the context of previous decisions by the country's council of ethics regarding state investments.

Claims that Elbit is being unfairly singled out due to its being an Israeli company ring hollow given that Norway's public pension fund also refuses to invest in 30 other firms' shares, including Boeing, Wal-Mart and British Aerospace. Elbit's role in constructing and maintaining Israel's separation barrier – deemed illegal in its entirety by the international court of justice (ICJ), and in part by the Israeli supreme court – means that any fund interested in maintaining an ethical stance towards investment ought to steer well clear of Elbit's stock.

While an indiscriminate boycott of all Israeli produce is both wrong-headed and counterproductive, that does not mean specific sanctions ought to be proscribed in cases where the companies involved are clearly making money from piling misery on the Palestinians. It has been pointed out that Norway's fund managers could go even further than simply scratching their investment in Elbit, given that almost two-thirds of the 41 Israeli companies in which the Norwegian pension fund holds stock "have significant economic interests in the continued Israeli occupation", according to the Coalition of Women for Peace.

Read more @ The Guardian's Comment Is Free

Russia today categorically denied media reports that the Arctic Sea ‑ the Russian cargo ship apparently hijacked by pirates ‑ had been carrying a secret cargo of anti-aircraft weapons destined for Iran.

Its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, dismissed claims made in Russian and British newspapers that the ship was concealing a delivery of the S-300, Russia's most advanced anti-aircraft system. The arms had been loaded on to the ship in Russia's Baltic port of Kaliningrad, the reports said.

Lavrov called the claims an "absolute lie". He promised that Moscow would carry out its own investigation into the boat, which vanished after passing through the Channel on 28 July, apparently carrying a £1.1m cargo of Finnish timber.

"We will make it as transparent as possible so everyone can see that the rumours are false," he said.

Read more @ The Guardian