Free Republic

The back legs of the baby elephant are consumed by fire as it chases after its startled mother, screaming. In the chilling photo, a flaming ball of tar...the source of the fire, along with a few hurled firecrackers — is frozen in the air as a crowd sprints away from the petrified pachyderms. Many things in the photo are unclear: the fate of the calf and its mother, the reason the men are attacking them on a road cut through a forest, whether the practice has a formal name or is just a random bit of sadism. But in an...

The Maoists launched a co-ordinated assault Maoist rebels have attacked a security post in central India, killing 50 police officers, police say.The attack, one of the worst in decades of insurgency, happened in the rebel stronghold area of Dantewada, in Chhattisgarh state. The Maoists, who have fought a 30-year insurgency, say they are fighting for the rights of landless farmers and neglected tribes. Thousands have died in their campaigns in central and southern India. Co-ordinated assault The rebels attacked the security post - manned by 75 policemen - in Bijapur just before dawn on Thursday. Under cover of darkness,...