A widowed Indian peasant’s heart-warming decision to raise an orphaned bear cub as part of his family has ended with him being jailed for breaking wildlife laws.

A seven-year-old girl married a stray dog as part of a ritual to ward off the “evil eye” on her and her family in eastern India.

Maoist guerrillas ambushed a police van today and killed 18 people, mostly police officers, in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, officials said.