World Vignettes 8212; Longest clothesline

PHNOM PENH: A 15-man Cambodian team has broken a world record by building a 6.1-km clothesline in 11 days on the bank of the Mekong river. ...

PHNOM PENH: A 15-man Cambodian team has broken a world record by building a 6.1-km clothesline in 11 days on the bank of the Mekong river. The team on Monday used 1,632 poles, 22,000 clothes-pegs and hung 7,000 T-shirts for the line, breaking the previous record of 5.2 km, held by Holland. Unilever, an English-Dutch company promoting a laundry detergent in Cambodia, sponsored the record-breaking attempt in an effort to revitalise foreign investment that plummeted after a bloody coup in July. The Cambodian team began work on December 4, and the world-record clothesline spells out the name of the detergent, Viso.

Safe landing

LINCOLN: A jumper who plummeted 3,500 feet to the ground when his parachute didn8217;t open miraculously walked away with only stomach pains, police has said. Experts said Bren Jones8217; fall was probably slowed by another jumper who became entangled with him for a while. And it can8217;t have hurt that he landed in a soft, muddy field in rainy northeast England. Jones, 56, jumped on Sunday from a plane that took off from a private airstrip at Hibaldstow in Lincolnshire county, a police spokesman said. An air ambulance took Jones to Lincoln hospital, where a spokeswoman said he was was sore but sitting up in bed on Monday.Rite8217; of funeral

TEL AVIV: In a compromise between his Muslim and Jewish wives, a Palestinian who converted to Judaism and back again to Islam has finally been buried, the Yediot Aharonot daily has reported. Shuakat Kuza was laid to rest on Sunday in a Muslim cemetery next to a Jewish cemetery in Haifa after an agreement between his rival wives, the paper said on Monday. Two separate funeral services were held for Kuza, who converted to Judaism in November 1995 and changed his name to Yehoshua Ben-Avraham in order to marry his Jewish lover of 30 years.

Roman shave

ROME: Barberia Peppino8217; is in Rome8217;s best district, Via Della Vite, right next to the Spanish Steps. 8220;Servizi per appuntamento8217; 8212; appointments only 8212; says the sign. From the outside the shop does not appear to be anything special, but tourists who walk by without giving it a second glance do not realise what they are missing. Peppino is not just the best barber shop in the whole of Rome and an insider8217;s tip for the luxury of a professional wet shave. In Italy the fine art of the barber8217;s blade has survived despite electric razors and other vulgarities. For the visitor about to enjoy the delights of his first barber8217;s shave, there is bound to be a certain amount of angst8217;. 8220;Have the blades been sterilized?8221; he asks, understandably avoiding any mention of the word AIDS. The barber, a greying man in a white apron and dark tie, gives a knowing smile. 8220;The razor is always new,8221; he replies.