Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited to address a joint meeting of the US House of Representatives and Senate on June 22 during his state visit, the leaders of the US Congress said on Friday. This is one of the highest honors Washington affords to foreign dignitaries.

"On behalf of the bipartisan leadership of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, it is our honour to invite you (Prime Minister Modi) to address a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, June 22," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a letter to PM Modi.

"During your address, you will have the opportunity to share your vision for India's future and speak to the global challenges our countries both face," they said in a statement. The address would celebrate the enduring friendship between the United States and India, the letter added.

President Joe Biden will host PM Modi for an official State visit to the US, which will include a state dinner, on June 22. This will be the second time that PM Modi will be addressing a joint meeting of the US Congress.

The government said in a statement that PM Modi will visit the US, following an invitation from President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. This will be Modi's sixth visit to the US since taking over as PM in 2014. The two leaders are also expected to meet at the G7 and Quad summit meetings later this month in Hiroshima and Sydney respectively.

The last Indian PM to travel to the US for a state visit was Manmohan Singh in 2009, when he was hosted by then president Barack Obama.

The Indian side said that the leaders would reflect on their shared vision for a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific and discuss opportunities to expand and consolidate the Quad engagement. PM Modi's state visit to the US will likely be the most keenly followed bilateral engagement in a series of high-profile meetings he's expected to have in the next few months, starting in Japan on the margins of G7 and culminating in his visit to France for the Bastille Day celebrations on July 14.

The Prime Minister's meeting with Biden will also come days before India hosts the SCO summit on July 4, on the margins of which he's expected to have bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and also Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Source: Times of India

It is almost impossible to define  India's relationship with the US. India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the same at an event for Indians living in the United States.

He also said that these two countries now see each other as 'favorable, best, pleasant partners'.

Jaishankar said at the program of expatriate Indians in Washington, "I am often asked that where the relationship between these two countries is going?" It is difficult for me to define the limits of this relationship or express expectations about it because, this relationship exceeded all expectations in all aspects. That is why today I do not try to define the relationship between the two countries. We are gradually increasing the level of this relationship.

According to NDTV, Jaishankar held a meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, administration officials and industrialists this week.

In this context, he said, 'India and the United States need to work together. It is important for Washington to have a relationship with those who speak well and think well about the United States.

According to him, we are looking for new fields. The more we do this together, the more successful we will be. Like ISRO's Chandrayaan, India-US relations have reached new heights.'

A few days ago, the G-20 summit was completed in New Delhi. The US also helped make the conference a success.

Jaishankar said this in a program organized at the Indian Embassy in Washington. He said that the help that the United States has given to make this conference a success should be said in front of everyone.

Jaishankar also rejected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations while sitting in the United States.

Trudeau alleged that Indian agents were behind the killing of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. In this context, Jaishankar said, "This is not India's policy."

New Delhi has suspended visa services for Canadian citizens amid India-Canada diplomatic standoff. Jaishankar also opened up about it in Washington.

He said, 'There was an obligation. Misinformation was being spread about our diplomats, embassies. How will they go to the office to issue visas? It is a question of law and order. The question of the Vienna Convention. According to the Vienna agreement, we have to provide security to our diplomats and embassies. 

In conversation with Hudson Distinguished Fellow Walter Russell Mead, Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar highlighted resilient supply chains, digital trust and transparency, and the prevention of production monopolies as key priorities for the United States–India relationship.

Important quotes from the event are below.

1. There is significant untapped potential in the India-US relationship. India and the United States have never really worked together. That is a very thoughtful observation because dealing with each other is not the same as working with each other. And in the past, both have always dealt with each other, sometimes not entirely happily. But working with each other is really uncharted territory. It is a territory which two countries have both entered in the last few years.

2. The US and India are both invested in the rules-based international order. Both India and the U.S.A. want to see a certain stability and a certain set of rules and a certain, distribution of power, which is advantageous to both. And mutual interests are not clashing in that respect. So at the biggest picture level, there's a very powerful case really for India and the US to work together.

3. For the future of technology manufacturing, the US needs partners, and India needs opportunities. Information-embedded economy has created a very powerful new convergence between India-U.S.A. because, at a global level, the United States will need partners. India will need opportunities and possibilities. So American priorities like iCET [the Initiative for Critical Emerging Technologies], the IRA [Inflation Reduction Act], and the Chips Act, these are all factors which will create a stronger sort of bonding.

India's Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the South Pole of the Moon for the first time in its history on August 23 evening. But, the Chinese scientist Wang Xiaoyuan made an explosive comment on such information. He claimed that India's Chandrayaan-3 did not land on the moon. His comments caused uproar. Criticism and controversy have started.

The country's scientist Wang Xiaoyuan gave this information in an interview with the Chinese language newspaper Science Times. The Indian magazine Business Today gave such news citing Science Times.

Wang Xiaoyuan said the place where the rover landed was at 69 degrees south latitude, not near the South Pole. The South Pole is defined between 88.5 degrees and 90 degrees.

In that interview, he also said that the landing site of Chandrayaan-3 is not at the south pole of the moon and it is not near the south pole of the moon. The information about Moon landing at the South Pole is incorrect, as the distance from the Chandrayaan-3 landing site to the Moon's South Pole region is 619 km.

Xiaoyuan is not the first Chinese scientist to question Chandrayaan-3's achievements.

Earlier, Beijing-based space expert Pang Zhihao told state media Global Times that China is far more advanced in many fields. Since the launch of Chang-2 in 2010, China has been able to send orbiters and landers directly into Earth-Moon transition orbits.

Pang Zhihao also said that the engine used by China is also very advanced. India's lander Pragyan has a lifespan of one lunar day and cannot withstand lunar nights, but China's nuclear-powered UTU-2 rover holds the record for longest operation on the lunar surface.

We all know that 24 hours day and night. After the tiredness of the whole day, we sleep at night, waiting for a new dawn. But think once, where the sun does not set, how will the new dawn come? Or where there is no night, when the people will sleep to remove the tiredness of the day? Do you think there is a place? Not unreal, there are places on earth where the sun never sets. After a long sleep where people do not see the dawn.

In today's discussion, we will know some places in the world, where the sun does not set even at night!

Norway: Norway is called the land of the shining sun. The country's geographical location makes it different from other countries in the world. From May until the end of July, the sun does not set in the Norwegian sky. As a result, Norwegian people do not see the night for two and a half months! Another specialty of the country is that the sun can be seen on the horizon even at night from the port of Hammerfest, Norway, as it is located in the Arctic region.

Nunavut, Canada: The Canadian territory of Nunavut is located 2 degrees above the Arctic Circle. The sun does not set here for about two months of the year. Not only that, the sun cannot be seen for 30 consecutive days in this place during winter. That is, the people here live under the shadow of the sun for two months on the one hand, in the same way they have to live in a long night for a month.

Iceland: Iceland is famous for its absence of snakes and mosquitoes. After Great Britain, Iceland is the largest island in Europe. The sun can be seen in this island even at night in June.

Barrow, Alaska: The sun is visible in the night sky from late May to late July (summer) in this area of Alaska. There is the reverse side of the coin! Not only does the sun never set, there are continuous nights here from early November to early December. That's why this place is also known as 'Polar Nights'.

Finland: Finland is called the land of thousand lakes and islands. The sun does not set for 73 consecutive days during summer in this European country. Similarly, the sun does not appear here for 32 consecutive days in winter. Because of this strange natural disparity, most people in that country believe that people sleep more in winter and less in summer.

Sweden: We all know that 365 days make up a year. But Sweden's year ends in one day! Because half of the year is day here, the other half is night. Even pulled again! So taking the day and night as the sun, it can be said that the year in Sweden is spent in one day! And people here spend half of the year in the dark and the other half in the light.