Madanis spar over hosting Eid Milan

Noted Islamic cleric Arshad Madani and his nephew and Rajya Sabha MP Mahmood Madani hardly miss an opportunity to have a go at each other. The latest clash between the two, who head factions of the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind, is over hosting of Eid Milan.

The two popular Islamic leaders are organising Eid Milan in Delhi this week, but on the same day and at the same time. They have sent out invites to the who’s who of the community and the Capital’s political class, and it is not surprising that the guest list looks almost identical.

Arshad now claims that he had announced the date for the function first and Mahmood Madani deliberately chose the same day (September 24) to run him down. “He could have chosen another day.

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Jodhaa, A Wednesday sweep Mumbai off its feet on a starry night

The readers of Screen chose Akshay Kumar, but Akki chose Aamir Khan. The readers chose Aishwarya Rai, but Ash chose the entire crew of Jodhaa Akbar. The presentation of the Best Actor in Popular Category (Male and Female) Awards — selected through a system of SMS and email voting by Screen readers — produced heartwarming displays of genuine humility in starry Bollywood on Wednesday evening.

“According to me, the best actor is Aamir Khan for Ghajini. This is for you Aamir, from me and the people,” Akshay Kumar said in a passionate and touchingly modest speech after being chosen for the Best Actor in Popular Category (Male) Award for Singh is Kinng at the Nokia 15th Annual Star Screen Awards. Akshay left the Award statuette on the podium.

Aishwarya Rai, winner of the Best Actor in Popular Category (Female) Award, said she would accept, but only on behalf of the entire crew of Jodhaa Akbar.

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Helping hand, some muscle

I am sorry.

We could have provided you a more "spectacular" protest today if security arrangements were little more relaxed than 17,000 police personnel, including commandos, on their toes. For those of you who couldn't see us, there was a heart-rending yak dance as our parallel freedom torch was carried through in Delhi, and if that was not enough, one Buddhist nun knelt down in front of a policeman and said, "Please help us, China is killing our people inside Tibet." But this was the sideshow.

China has once again proved that with its military power it can even turn the central heart of the capital of a free and democratic country like India into a military zone, throw the city's roads into gridlock.Even if for a few hours.

I started my day with a protest plan but was unsure of executing it in this maze of security. The aim was to make ourselves heard. With fellow activists, we revisited our plans first thing in the morning and by 11 am, our plans had already changed several times as we got to know more de- tails about the security. Many of our activists got arrested even before they could do anything. By 4 pm, it was impossible for our people to reach the protest site in groups. I was constantly coordinating but the more phone calls I made, I realized that our protests were dissipating in the face of an impenetrable fortress around Rajpath.

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Will carry it, not for china but with a prayer forTibet, blogs Aamir Khan

After Indian soccer star Baichung Bhutia, it is the turn of film actor Aamir Khan to express his solidarity with the Tibetan cause - but in a completely contrasting fashion.

While Bhutia declined an invitation to participate in the Olympic torch relay when it comes to India on April 17, saying it was his way of standing by the people of Tibet, Aamir Khan today spurned calls for a similar boycott and said he will run "...not in support of China... but with a prayer in my heart for the people of Tibet..."

Stressing that he had "the highest regard and respect for the struggle that the people of Tibet are going through," Aamir Khan said he would still run because the Olympic Games did not belong to China but to the entire human race".

In fact, if we were to try and find on this planet a place to hold the Olympic Games where the government of that place has not been responsible for human rights violations (in one way or the other), then I suspect that we would be left with very few options, if any at all," he wrote in his blog today.

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