Spirits free to roam among ti living

SINGAPORE: Nobody seem s overly worried, but people in Singapore believe that the gat es of hell opened Sunday, reports AP.

Chinese tradition holds :ha t the gates stay open dunng the seventh lunar month — Au gust 7 to September 5 in the Western calendar this year — when the spirits of the dead are free to" roam among the Hvin g.

Restless spooks with living relatives are said to visit their homes to share the comfoiTs there But the ghosts of those who died without descend.! .its. or wljo were ignored by their kin while alive, may wander the streets, hungry and evious

Unless appeased with fc»xl and entertainment before they return, these wayward spirt'.s might cause mischief

Open-air puppet shows. Chinese operas and pop concerts are staged for the dead and their descendants.

Ancestor-worshipers als o burn Hell money mock cur rency issued by the Bank of Hell, to ensure the ghosts have enough cash.

Some provide the spir its with make believe passports known as "permits for the souls."

Public feasts are arrang ed and the hungry ghosts are in vited to partake. Chicken, pork, rice and fruit are the staples The food and drink is later consumed by the living guests

Capdies and incense sticks burn throughout this city state, where 76 per cent of the three million people are Chinese. ,

Not a formal holiday, the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts was celebrated in Singapore as'early as 1836. according to the federation of Chinese (Jian Associations

Nowadays, the Tourist Promotion Board Touts its an attraction for visitors.

The origin if the fes.Uval is obscure, but ancestor worship as always been a part of Chinese culture •

Cactus juice remedy for round, worms in pigs

KATHMANDU: Cactus juice is 100 per cent effective to make the pigs get rid of round worms, reports Xinhua

This was found by the animal disease and analysis service section of an agriculture centre in Nepal, local press re ported on Sunday.

According to the research work, one teaspoon or 0.15 grams of cactus Juice administered to a pig weighing 25 kilograms will save the pigs from rqund worms.

But administration of a larger dose of cactus juice can cause loose motions, said the agriculture centre

The new medicine will benefit the poor farmer of the re mote and hilly regions-of the country.

'Vampire' gets death sentence

MOSCOW: A 24-year-old man in the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan has been sentenced to death for raping, killing and drinking the blood of four young boys, a newspaper re ported Friday, says AP. .

Akhmat Azimov was qonvicted in Andizhan, a city about 300 kilometers (1.90 miles) east of the capital. Tashkent, the daily newspaper Trud (Labor! reported Fridav

Azimov was sentenced to four years in prison in 1990 for deserting the army, but he escaped in 1992 and that "marked the beginning ef Akhmat Azimov tiie vampire " the newspaper said

"I abducted handsome little kids only boys." Azimov told the court- He said he raped and killed ihe youths and after ward. "1 drank their blood."

Azimov travelled throughout Uzbekistan abducting boys In . many towns, according to court testimony He confessed that his first victim was a 5-year-old boy who was too weak to walk by himself

He led away boys from schoolyards, bus terminals and even private homes. Trud reported

"I got so used to that. I couldn't live without it. said Azimov, who did not appeal his death sentence

Uzbekistan, like most other former Soviet stales, carries out the death penalty with a single shot in the back of the head.