News In Brief

no dozing off, please

The Rev. Chris Sterry had a lot to tell his parishioners about the Old Testament. So much that 28 hours, 45 minutes after he started preaching at a Whalley, England, church, he was still delivering his sermon. Sterry set out Friday to beat a Guinness book record for an unscripted speech: 27-1/2 hours. By Saturday, the preacher had covered the Book of Genesis and was lecturing on Daniel to 100 parishioners who came and went. To qualify, Sterry couldn't repeat himself or pause more than 10 seconds. He took 15-minute breaks every 8 hours.

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NEED MILK? TRY playing BACH.

British scientists found that dairy cows produce 3 percent more milk when listening to relaxing music. Researchers pumped tunes into cow sheds 12 hours a day for nine weeks. Songs like "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel and other slow music seemed to make cows less stressed, researchers said. But cattle are selective. When they listened to upbeat songs, productivity dropped.

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Poll finds corruption remains high in developing countries

Finland is viewed as the least corrupt country in the world in which to do business, while Bangladesh is seen as the most corrupt, according to Berlin-based Transparency International (TI), a nonprofit anticorruption group. Its yearly ranking of 91 countries is based on surveys that asked investors, analysts, and the public about perceived corruption among public officials. Least- and most-corrupt countries, according to TI's poll:

Least corrupt: Most corrupt:

Finland Bangladesh

Denmark Nigeria

New Zealand Uganda

Iceland Indonesia

Singapore Kenya

- Reuters

(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Monitor

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