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HYDERABAD, India: The police continued to find and defuse bombs throughout the southern Indian city of Hyderabad on Sunday, a day after a pair of synchronized explosions ripped through two popular gathering spots, killing at least 42 people and wounding scores of others. State and national officials are calling the blasts in Hyderabad, a city with a history of Muslim-Hindu tensions, acts of terrorism. After the attacks, the police defused 19 more bombs - all fitted with timers and placed in plastic bags - at bus stops, movie theaters, road intersections and pedestrian bridges. The police said each of the...

In a rare marketing ploy, the No. 2 U.S. movie theater chain, AMC Entertainment, is offering a money-back guarantee for boxing picture "Cinderella Man," hoping to boost interest in the struggling film amid a record box-office slump. Advertisements offering on-the-spot refunds to AMC patrons unhappy with the film began running June 24 in newspapers and on the exhibitor's Web site (www.amctheatres.com), AMC spokeswoman Pam Blase said Tuesday. The ads, welcomed by the film's distributor, Universal Pictures, say in part: "AMC believes Cinderella Man is one of the finest motion pictures of the year!" Blase said AMC provides occasional rebates to...

War of the windowsPic biz frets as B.O. fades & DVD usurp key datesBy IAN MOHR One side is ready to boycott. Another is making peace offerings. The topic on everyone's mind but nobody's lips: the incredible shrinking window between a film's theatrical opening and its release on DVD. The factions -- exhibitors, indie distribs and the major studios -- don't want to talk about it, but all sides agree: The rules are quickly changing and something needs to be done -- fast. Last year, studios waited an average of four months and 16 days to release theatrical pics on...

Ex-Gov. Smith dies at 91 By JOHN FUQUAY AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Preston Smith, Texas' 40th governor, who graduated from Lamesa High School and owned movie theaters in Lubbock, died Saturday in University Medical Center three days after being admitted with pneumonia. Longtime friend Otice Green said Smith's family was with him when he died at 4:45 p.m. He was 91. "It was a very sudden at tack," Green said. "He was feeling fine Monday, recovering, and he was with his daughter, then he began feeling bad. Other factors began to set in, and he experienced one failure after another." Services are scheduled...