Arizona sheriff angered by ad

Arizona sheriff angered by ad

PHOENIX

Upset by an ad placed in a Phoenix newspaper, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is calling on Arizonans to avoid traveling to Mexico.

The half-page full-color advertisement appearing in Friday’s Arizona Republic features a man who appears to be in the military gazing through binoculars with words proclaiming, “We are looking for people from Arizona.”

In a news release issued Monday, Arpaio says the ad “went well beyond being irresponsible; it appears to threaten Arizonans.”

The advertisement was, in fact, intended to draw tourists from Arizona. It was paid for by Sonora Turismo, an agency in the Mexican state of Sonora.

Spokesman Adolfo Salido said the ad was to run for two days and that only half of it was published Friday. The rest ran in Saturday’s paper and included the caption “In Sonora, we are looking for people from Arizona who want to have a great time;” that ad pictured people on the beach, having fun.

Soldier ordered to remove video

ANCHORAGE, Alaska

An Alaska-based soldier is under investigation for reportedly posting a video on his Facebook page showing Iraqi children being taunted.

A soldier’s voice on the 30-second video asks two young boys in English if they’re gay and if they would grow up to be terrorists. The boys did not appear to understand the questions.

Army spokesman Maj. Bill Coppernoll says Spc. Robert A. Rodriguez was ordered to remove the video from his site. It wasn’t immediately clear if Rodriguez, who is stationed at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, shot the video or just posted it.

Coppernoll says the Army will take appropriate action based on its investigation.

hTallest man in US

ROCHESTER, Minn.

Guinness World Records has recognized a Minnesota man as the tallest man in the United States.

The Guinness World Record Association measured Rochester’s Igor Vovkovinskiy at 7 feet, 8.33 inches tall during NBC’s “The Dr. Oz Show” on Monday. He edged out Norfolk, Va., deputy sheriff George Bell by a third of an inch.

The 27-year-old Vovkovinskiy is originally from Ukraine but moved to Minnesota with his mother when he was 7 years old for treatment at the Mayo Clinic for a pituitary disease that spurred his rapid growth.

Vovkovinskiy now attends the Minnesota School of Business and is pursuing a degree in paralegal studies.

Guinness says the world’s tallest man is Turkey’s Sultan Kosen. He measures in at 8 feet, 1 inch tall.

7 arrested in killing of 6 NATO soldiers

KABUL, Afghanistan

Afghan authorities Monday announced the arrests of seven people in last week’s suicide car bombing that killed six NATO soldiers including four colonels — three of them American and one Canadian.

The blast was the first in a series of major Taliban attacks against NATO targets — the insurgents’ apparent response to a planned NATO offensive in the south and peace overtures by the Afghan government.

Associated PRess