Friday, December 04, 2009 JAKARTA: An Indonesian labourer who hoped to be named the world's tallest man is actually five centimetres (almost two inches) shorter than record-holder Sultan Kosen of Turkey, an official said Wednesday.Suparwono, who like many Indonesians goes by just one name, was said to be 2.71 metres (8.89 feet) tall compared to Kosen's record height of 2.47 metres.But official measurements taken by Indonesia's Museum of Records found the 25-year-old Suparwono stood at 2.42 metres, enough to make him Indonesia's tallest man but not enough to qualify for the Guinness World Records."After our team from the Museum of Record measured him lying down and in the standing position we found that his height is 2.42 metres," museum director Ngadri said."We had reports this morning including the result of measurements from a hospital which were 2.71 metres. But we have to stick to our measurement," he said.Suparwono shot to fame this week after one of his relatives in his home village of Tri Tunggal Jaya, in Sumatra island's southern Lampung province, invited neighbours to take pictures of him.Within days he was appearing on television talk shows in Jakarta as the "Giant of Lampung".Suparwono said sometimes he felt "proud" of his height but "it also gives me problems because I can't live like normal people", citing the difficulty of fitting into public buses and finding clothes large enough for his frame."I started to realise my exceptional height when I was 10 years old. At that time, I was already the tallest at my school and in my village," he siad between television appearances."I eat three kilograms (almost seven pounds) of rice every day and at least 15 eggs," he added.Suparwono lives with his parents and earns money doing odd jobs around the village.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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