2nd tallest building

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For today’s Geo Quiz — dueling skyscrapers. The world’s tallest skyscraper officially opened today in the Gulf emirate of Dubai.

Fireworks and light shows lit up the concrete glass and steel tower called the Burj Khalifa. The structure cost an estimated one and a half billion dollars. And it’s topped with a huge spire.

It officially eclipses what WAS, until today, the world’s tallest skyscraper. This skyscraper in Taiwan held the title for five years. It was designed to withstand typhoons and earthquake tremors that sometimes occur in the Asia-Pacific region.

It survived all that, but it’s now slipped to second place. Name the building, if you can…

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Geo Answer:
For our Geo Quiz we were looking for what is today – the SECOND tallest building in the world. The answer is TAIPEI 101 in Taipei, Taiwan. It’s only the SECOND tallest, because today Dubai inaugurated a taller tower.

It’s the Burj Khalifa. Here’s how tall it is. Picture the Empire State Building. Now, put another Empire State Building on top of the old one. And the result is almost — ALMOST — as tall as the Burj Khalifa. Bernhard Zand reports for the German weekly, Der Spiegel.