Kolkata, The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has decided to felicitate batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar for his contribution to cricket.

Announcing this here today, city Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said Tendulkar would be felicitated by the KMC at the Town Hall but the date was not finalised yet.

The date would be fixed according to his availability in the city, he said.

The KMC would also felicitate theatre personality Shobha Sen, folk singer Amar Paul and actress Sabitri Chattopadhyay for their contribution to their respective fields on March 6, Bhattacharya said. (PTI)

LOS ANGELES: Bob Iger wasn’t bluffing. The Disney CEO has been telling Wall Street for months of his plans for studio executives to shorten traditional movie release schedules, and it appears the time has arrived for the first grand experiment.

A day after the revelation that UK exhibitors are being asked to accept a tightened theatrical window for Disney’s spring feature “Alice in Wonderland,” The Hollywood Reporter has learned that U.S. theater owners have been similarly approached.

Normally, movies play in first-run theaters for up to 16 weeks. Disney is talking about a theatrical run of just under 13 weeks for “Alice,” a 3D motion-capture/live-action fantasy directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp.

The studio would benefit from truncating the theatrical run because the movie, with its family-friendly subject matter and well-known cast, is well positioned to do big success as a home entertainment title. The quicker Disney can get it into DVD and Blu-ray Disc release, the better for its bottom line.

It’s likely that Disney also will accelerate the availability of “Alice” on video-on-demand, which home-entertainment executives have come to view as less of a threat to DVD/Blu-ray income and more as a complementary revenue stream.

Exhibitors have made it clear that they need a compensating upside from the moves. Less clear is how the studio will provide such a benefit, but film-rental terms are always subject to some negotiating.

These days, most releases come with “aggregate” terms. In such cases, distributors and exhibitors agree to split box office by a set percentage of a film’s entire run, with up to 55 percent going into studio coffers on pricey high-profile releases. But on some pictures, studios still pencil in a growing share for exhibitors during the course of a run.

It’s possible that Disney will use such an approach to offer a sweeter-than-usual early taste of the receipts for theater owners in exchange for their agreeing to book the film for a truncated theatrical run.

In any event, exhibitors are getting assurances that Disney will proceed cautiously in broadening its experiment to future movie releases.

Disney’s sales job in the U.K., where it sought to lop as much as five weeks from its regional run, was a bit easier. European theater owners know the theatrical market will be squeezed greatly when the soccer World Cup kicks off in June.

Meanwhile, another benefit of the shorter theatrical run for “Alice” — set to unspool worldwide March 5 in a combination of 2D and 3D venues — would be its freeing up 3D screens for other extra-dimensional features, including Warner Bros.’ April 2 release “Clash of the Titans.”

For Iger, who’s been trying to reinvigorate the Disney film studio through a major executive shuffle, changes to traditional release windows simply are a matter of maximizing studio profits. As recently as Tuesday, the Disney topper mused during an earnings conference that window experiments might be a way of improving the studio’s bottom line.

British Prime minister Gordon Brown has assured Pakistan of their full support and cooperation in war against terror. On the other hand, Peresident Asif Ali Zardari has told that the South Waziristan operation will continue till the objectives are achieved.
In a telephonic conversation between the two leaders, Mr Brown lauded the role of Pakistan and its contributions to eliminate terrorism from the region.He also said that Britain will continue to cooperate till the restoration of economy and rehabilitation of the operation affectees. The leaders also exchanged views on the availability of Pakistani goods in the European markets. The British PM wished President Zardari a very happy eid. Mr Zardari told the PM that the Pak army is achieving its objectives in the Waziristan operation, and that it will continue till situation goes back to normal.

WASHINGTON: Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday left open the possibility of sending more US troops to Afghanistan but warned of stretched military resources and the risk of a possible backlash.

Gates said he and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, had told the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, that “we want him to ask for what he thinks he needs.”

“And I think you have to allow your commanders that freedom,” he told a news conference.

But with about 132,000 troops currently in Iraq, Gates said there were constraints as to how many extra troops could be sent to Afghanistan at least until after Iraq’s elections in January.

“I would say also that the availability of forces is still a challenge, as well,” he said.

Gates also repeated his concerns about too big of a US military “footprint,” saying for the moment Afghans see the coalition as “their partner.”

“I just worry that we don’t know what the size of the military presence might be that would begin to change that.”

“And I think we need to move with considerable care in that respect and in close consultation with both our allies, but especially with the Afghans and the Afghan government,” Gates said.

The defence secretary’s comments come amid intense speculation that the commander in Afghanistan is preparing to make a case for more troops in the fight against the Taliban and allied insurgents.

President Barack Obama already ordered an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan and the number of US forces is set to reach 68,000 before the end of the year.

Asked why US forces were not sent in earlier to southern Afghanistan, where thousands of Marines have deployed over the summer, Gates said “The forces weren’t available to send in until fairly recently. We got them in there as fast as we could.”

McChrystal, who is drafting an assessment of the Afghan war effort that is due to be submitted by early September, is under pressure to seize the initiative from the insurgents amid anxiety in Congress about an open-ended US mission.

Gates said he could not predict how long US troops would have to stay in Afghanistan, saying there were too many uncertainties.

But he said the insurgents could be defeated “in a few years” while economic and civilian aid efforts represented a “decades-long enterprise.”

General James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the same press conference that the military was also looking closely at how to combat improvised explosives, which were the main cause of casualties among NATO-led troops.