World At A Glance

JAKARTA: At least 20 people have died in two days of clashes between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia’s eastern island of Ambon. Extra police have been rushed in, police said on Thursday. They said 150 special police had arrived to join 400 sent after the troubles erupted on Tuesday. Some 5,000 people, including ethnic Chinese, have sought shelter at police headquarters in Ambon City, capital of Maluku province. One diplomat said several embassies in Jakarta were making arrangements to evacuate their nationals from the Moluccan island. Diplomats in Jakarta said a small group of foreigners, mostly tourists, were trapped at the airport, unable to return to Ambon City or take a flight out as the authorities have closed the airport.

BANGKOK: Four tame but hungry tigers attacked and killed their keeper in a private restaurant cum zoo in northern Thailand, police said on Thursday. The tigers at Baan Sua (Tiger House) restaurant, about 800 km north of Bangkok in Phrae province, had not been fedfor days because the restaurant’s business had slumped, a local police spokesman said. The tigers killed the keeper, Ya Fu, on Wednesday as he was working with them in their cage. Other workers subdued the animals after the attack. “The tigers were apparently starving due to the poor performance of the restaurant lately,” the police spokesman said.

BREMEN (GERMANY): A handicapped man who tried for nine hours to cross a road was finally driven home by police after nobody offered to help, police in the northern German city of Bremen have said. A pharmacist raised the alarm at 7 pm on Tuesday after noticing the 65-year-old man had been attempting to cross the road since 10 am. “I wanted to catch a bus home, but because I’m handicapped and can’t walk that fast, I didn’t trust myself crossing the busy street to get to the bus stop,” he told police. The man said the pharmacist had come out of his shop and asked him if he was cold, but otherwise nobody had offered to help. “I didn’t like to ask. Ididn’t want to burden anybody,” the man said, and thanked police for driving him home.