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.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
Comments