Xi Jinping, 69, begins historic third term as China's president

Indians erupted in celebration on Monday, March 13, after Naatu Naatu, the breakout hit from the action movie RRR, won the Academy Award for best original song, making history as the first movie from the country to win the honour.

The song - a fast-paced number that has found fans all over the world, spawned a TikTok challenge and has millions of views on YouTube - won a standing ovation when it was performed at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday night.

Indians had won Oscars previously, but no Indian film had won an Academy Award before Sunday night in Los Angles. RRR and The Elephant Whisperers, which won best documentary short film, gave the country two Oscar-winning films in one night.

"No words can describe this surreal moment. Dedicating this to all our amazing fans across the world. THANK YOU!!," the Twitter account for RRR posted.

Television showed images of people dancing to the song in the streets, minutes after the award was announced, even as #NaatuNaatu was a top trend on Twitter.

"The popularity of Naatu Naatu is global. It will be a song that will be remembered for years to come," Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on Twitter, congratulating the team behind the song.

"Entire India is proud. They have brought India to the world stage," singer Prudhvi Chandra, one of the singers of Naatu Naatu, told the India Today.

In the Telugu film directed by S.S. Rajamouli, Naatu Naatu begins when the two leads, played by Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr., flaunt their dance skills after being bullied as the only Indian people invited to a British party in colonial times.

When a young British man aims racist insults at the leads, they decide to educate him using the song Naatu Naatu.

During the scene, which was filmed at Ukraine’s grand Mariinskyi Palace, everyone at the party, including the scoffing British man, tries to master the moves.

At the Oscars, composer M.M. Keeravani burst into song while accepting the award on stage, along with songwriter Chandrabose.

"I feel this is about just the beginning of everything so that the world -- particularly the Western World -- focuses more on Indian music and Asian music, which is long due," Keeravani said backstage after winning the award.

The Elephant Whisperers is about a couple in South India who adopt a baby elephant and care for him.

Belagavi, Mar 20: KPCC president DK Shivakumar said he appealed to Nirmalananda Swamiji of Adichunchanagiri Mahasamsthana Mutt to take lead against BJP’s communal agenda of creating disturbance in the society, through imaginary characters Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda, claiming that both have killed Tipu Sultan.

He said Nirmalanandanatha Swamiji along with seers from other communities and Kannada organisations in Karnataka should undertake a movement against "acts of tampering" with history and giving a wrong message to the society. 

Shivakumar alleged BJP leaders are trying to hurt sentiments of the people by tampering with the history in a false way and said it is condemnable.

"There was a history and gazetteer about the life and death of Tipu Sultan while BJP National General Secretary C T Ravi, Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan and Union Minister of State for Agriculture Shobha Karandlaje were attempting to present wrong imaginative history," he said.

Shivakumar said that Tipu Sultan was killed 200 years ago, but now BJP wants to give a new twist to the history by stating that Urigowda and Nanjegowda killed him. "We too have read the history of Tipu Sultan and no such persons existed. It's the imagination of BJP leaders and now they want to make a film on their story."

Nirmalanandanatha Swamiji should oppose such acts and stage a movement against them by taking seers of different communities and Kannada organisations with him.

"The acts of BJP leaders were to tamper with history and anti-Hindu. Wrong history was propagated by BJP's 'WhatsApp university'. The seer should not talk with the producer or director of the film or enter into any compromise. I have held talks with the seer over the phone and have been making an appeal through media,'' he stated.

Shivakumar said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai panicked after Congress commenced the announcement of its guarantees to the people if voted to power. 

"Bommai has been announcing schemes now which should have been implemented earlier. Now, elections could be announced anytime and he has been announcing programmes for women and youth after Congress announced them. Instead, they should have been made part of the BJPs election manifesto. BJP has been following the line of thinking of Congress," he said.

"Congress has been fixing the narrative for the Assembly election while the BJP's narrative was corruption. BJP has given the most corrupt government in the country and does not have any concern for youth and women," he added.

"Corruption in employment has led to youth being deprived of opportunities. There was the involvement of a minister and officials in corruption and MLAs acted as a conduit. BJP had been demanding evidence of corruption and Lokyukta has given it," he further said.

Various countries have welcomed the restoration of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, while the regime in Tel Aviv seems to view the development as a “fatal blow” to its regional coalition building against the Islamic Republic.

After several days of intensive negotiations hosted by China, Iran and Saudi Arabia finally clinched a deal on Friday to restore diplomatic relations and re-open embassies, seven years after ties were severed over several issues.

The important development soon became a hot topic in regional as well as international media and reactions from other countries began to pour in.

“The return to normal relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia provides great capacities to both countries, the region, and the Muslim world,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who is set to soon meet with his Saudi counterpart to make the necessary arrangements, wrote in a post on his Twitter account.

“The good neighborliness policy, as the key axis of the Iranian administration’s foreign policy, is strongly moving in the right direction and the diplomatic apparatus is actively behind the preparation of more regional steps,” he said.

Riyadh eyeing continuation of dialogue

Saudi National Security Adviser Musaid Al Aiban, who negotiated the agreement with his Iranian counterpart Ali Shamkhani, said that Riyadh “welcomes the initiative of His Excellency President Xi Jinping, based on the Kingdom’s consistent and continuous approach since its establishment in adhering to the principles of good neighborliness.”

He said Saudi Arabia takes “everything that would enhance security and stability in the region and the world,” while “adopting the principle of dialogue and diplomacy to resolve differences.”

“While we value what we have reached, we hope that we will continue to continue the constructive dialogue, in accordance with the pillars and foundations included in the agreement, expressing our appreciation for the People’s Republic of China’s continued positive role in this regard.”

China: This is ‘victory for dialogue’

China’s Top Diplomat Wang Yi praised the agreement as “a victory for dialogue, a victory for peace, offering major good news at a time of much turbulence in the world.”

China will continue to play a constructive role in handling hotspot issues in the world and demonstrate its responsibility as a major nation, Wang said. “The world is not just limited to the Ukraine issue.”

Nasrallah: Agreement could lead to new horizons

Addressing a local event on Friday, the secretary general of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the agreement will be “to the benefit” of the region.

“The rapprochement of Iran and Saudi Arabia proceeds in its normal path and can open new horizons for the region and Lebanon,” he said.

The Iranian foreign minister also held separate phone conversations with his Omani, Iraq, and Qatari counterparts who embraced the resumption of ties.

Turkey and the United Arab Emirates also welcomed the new development in separate statements.

US welcomes ‘de-escalation’

In the first reaction, the United States claimed that it embraces “de-escalation” in West Asia.

“Generally speaking, we welcome any efforts to help end the war in Yemen and de-escalate tensions in the Middle East region. De-escalation and diplomacy together with deterrence are key pillars of the policy President Biden outlined during his visit to the region last year,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson told Reuters.

Ansarullah hails move against foreign interference

Mohammed Abdulsalam, the Yemeni Ansarullah resistance movement’s chief negotiator, said the region is in need of resumption of “normal ties” between its countries.

“The region needs the resumption of normal ties between its countries for the Islamic nation to reclaim its lost security as a result of foreign, especially American-Zionist, interferences,” he tweeted.

Foreign interference, he said, has taken advantage of differences in the region and used Iranophobia to wage aggression on Yemen.

‘Dangerous development for Israel’

Meanwhile, the Israeli regime did not seem to take the development so well. Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called the agreement a “political victory” for Iran and a “serious and dangerous development for Israel.”

“This delivers a fatal blow to efforts to build a regional coalition against Iran,” he said.

Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid also described the reconciliation deal as a dangerous development that strips Israel of its regional defensive wall. “The agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran reflects the complete and dangerous failure of the Israeli government’s foreign policy,” Lapid said.

Benny Gantz, former minister of military affairs, also reacted to the rapprochement, stating that it was a cause for concern.