Soon, we may take the elevator to outer space!

I was in Taipei, the capital of R.o.C. Taiwan, earlier this week which is home to the tallest building in the world apart from rebel Chinese.

Confusion reigned - is the Petronas or the Sears Tower the tallest? Taipei 101, what is that?

After a few rounds of fisticuffs with my French colleague, and a bit of research with Uncle Google; I had to rest my case. The Petronas Towers are no longer the tallest buildings.
The Taipei 101 is the tallest building in the world.
With 101 floors, it stands tall at 1670 ft./509 m. And boy, is it ugly!

Rank	Building	Year	Floors	Height (m.)
1.	Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan	2004	101	509
2.	Petronas Tower 1, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	1998	88	452
3.	Petronas Tower 2, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	1998	88	452
4.	Sears Tower, Chicago	1974	110	442
5.	Jin Mao Building, Shanghai	1999	88	421
6.	Two International Finance Centre, HK	2003	88	415
7.	CITIC Plaza, Guangzhou, China	1996	80	391
8.	Shun Hing Square, Shenzhen, China	1996	69	384
9.	Empire State Building, New York	1931	102	381
10.	Central Plaza, Hong Kong	1992	78	374

Interestingly, Asia rules the roost, while Europe is still living in the renaissance period.
I ain't complaining. Compared to these finite stairways to hell, I find infinite beauty in the classical archs and domes of Europe.