Bhootnath in Pakistan

Bhootnath hit theatres in Pakistan on the same day as its global release - May 9, after being passed by the Pakistan Censor Board in its original version, reports PTI from Mumbai.
Eros International distributed the film in association with Pakistan-based Evernew Group and HKC Entertainment.
The heads of these organisations feel that Bollywood films have a big market in Pakistan, especially when they involve actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan.
Trade sources feel that relations between the two nations have improved since the time when Yash Chopra was denied permission to shoot parts of Veer Zaara in Pakistan.

Poor couple sell son

Driven by penury, a couple in Bihar’s Samastipur district allegedly sold their two-and-a-half-year-old son to a Kolkata-based man for Rs 12,000, PTI reports.
Official sources said on Tuesday that Ram Briksha Sada and his wife Punia Devi allegedly sold their son, Dipnesh Kumar, to Baleshwar Sharma of Chapara.
The deal was struck in Kolkata two months ago when the couple ran short of money for the treatment of Dipnesh, who has been ill for quite some time.

Two pushed off moving bus

A man and his three-year-old daughter were killed after they were pushed out of a private bus by its conductor for paying Rs 2 less than the fare on Tuesday, IANS reports from Jharsuguda in Orissa.
The victims, yet to be identified, were pushed out of the moving bus by the furious conductor, and died after coming under the wheels of the bus. The conductor has been arrested.

Nischol acquitted

Actor Navin Nischol and his brother Pravin were acquitted of the charges of abetment of the suicide of Navin’s wife Gitanjali, due to lack of evidence
Gitanjali had committed suicide in April last year by hanging herself. In a suicide note, she had written that she was depressed and that the two brothers used to harass her.

Hawks training resumed

The Indian Air Force has announced that flight training has been resumed on the Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers, declared operational after safety inspections, PTI reports from New Delhi.
The trainers were grounded “temporarily” to carry out checks following the crash of one of the newly acquired Hawks on April 29.

Movie on Maoists soon

Actor-producer Suniel Shetty is all set to play a real life character in Red Alert-The War Within, a film about the Maoist movement in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, news agencies reported from Mumbai.
The Rs 100 million budget film will star Suniel as Narasimha, a farm labourer who, in need of money finds himself in the midst of Maoists.

No coterie politics: Rahul

Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi has rejected allegations that he was indulging in “coterie politics” within the party, reports DHNS from the Orissa capital of Bhubaneshwar.
“I do not know what coterie is. I work with so many people. If somebody feels that this is coterie politics I do not have any problem with that,” Rahul Gandhi retorted.
Former union minister Akhilesh Das, had recently quit the Congress and joined the Mayawati led BSP accusing the scion of the Gandhi-Nehru family of running the party with the help of a coterie consisting of his loyalists.

Unions call strike on Aug 20

The trade unions affiliated to both the Left and the BJP on Tuesday joined the chorus against the “anti-people” economic policies of the UPA government leading to spiralling prices and violation of labour rights and called for a countrywide general strike on August 20, reports DHNS from New Delhi.
The National Convention of Trade Unions (NCTU) held here on Tuesday at the call of Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions decided to go in for general strike, AITUC leader Gurudas Dasgupta told Deccan Herald.