India enjoyed a positive image across 23 countries, with a median of 46% adults holding a favourable view of India, while a median of 34% held unfavourable views, according to an international survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, a Washington DC-based fact tank.

The report, released ahead of the gathering of world leaders for the G20 Summit in India in September, pointed to a variance between how Indians perceived Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India’s influence, and the views of adults in other countries. For instance, 79% of Indian respondents had a favourable view of Mr. Modi, with a majority 55% having a ‘very’ favourable view. In contrast, in other countries, a median of 37% reported having confidence in Mr. Modi. Kenyans had the highest faith in Mr. Modi, with 60% saying they trusted him to do the right thing regarding world affairs, while only 12% in Argentina said they had confidence in the Indian Prime Minister.

The report also detailed how outside India, substantial respondents in many countries did not offer an opinion on India or Mr. Modi, with 40% of U.S. adults surveyed saying they had never heard of Mr. Modi. Among Americans who had heard of him, “The prevailing sentiment is negative: 37% have little or no confidence in his ability to do the right thing regarding world affairs, compared with 21% who are confident in him.”

A similar pattern was evident with regard to perceptions of India as a rising power. While seven-in-ten Indians believed their country has recently become more influential, only 28% across 19 countries said the same. Most respondents in these counties believed that “India’s influence had not changed much in recent years (48% median),” but only 19% of Indians agreed with this view.

While perceptions of India skewed positive across the 23 countries surveyed, European attitudes toward India have turned negative over time, the report stated. Favourable views of India had declined by around 10 percentage points or more in all five European countries where past data was available. The greatest change was seen in France, where only 39% held a favourable view of India now, as compared with 70% in 2008.

Among other key findings, the survey also found that Indians stood out from their cohorts in other countries for their highly favourable views of Russia and Vladimir Putin, and unfavourable views of China. “Whereas a median of only 14% across 22 countries have a positive view of Russia, a 57% majority of Indians see Russia favourably,” the report noted. When it came to China, India was “the only middle-income country surveyed where a majority has unfavourable views of China”. In contrast, the U.S. was seen more favourably in India (65%) than in many of the countries surveyed.

One continuing trend from previous surveys was the persistence of negative attitudes toward Pakistan in India. The survey found that around 75% of Indian adults held unfavourable views about Pakistan, with 57% holding a ‘very’ unfavourable opinion. This pattern has held since 2013, with unfavourable views of Pakistan never dipping below 60%, the report observed.

Interestingly, while Mr. Modi emerged as the politician who commanded the highest percentage (80%) of favourable views within India, 60% of Indians saw Rahul Gandhi in a favourable light while 34% viewed him unfavourably.

The Pew Center report is based on a nationally representative survey of 2,611 adults in India, 3,756 American adults, and 24,674 adults in other countries from Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa, North America and Latin America. The surveys were conducted during February-May, 2023.

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.

Diplomatic relations between India and Canada are on the verge of ending over the death of Indian pro-Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Both countries have expelled each other's diplomats.

In this situation, the New York Times report claimed that the United States had provided information to Canada about the killing of Nijjar. Through that information, Canada found India's link in Nijjar's murder.

The New York Times report, quoting an official from the 'Five Eyes Partners', an alliance of intelligence agencies from the US, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, claimed that US intelligence provided information to Canada immediately after the assassination. However, at that time the US was not aware of the possibility of India's involvement in the killings.

Meanwhile, Trudeau claimed on Saturday that Canada had sent information to New Delhi about the killing of Nijjar a few weeks ago. However, India said that Canada could not provide India with any evidence against the information.

On the other hand, Canadian intelligence claimed that Nijjar was a cleric. In response, New Delhi said Nijjar was not a religious guru, but a murderer.

According to India, Nijjar became the head of the Gurdwara by scaring his brother Raghbir.

Hindustan Times reported that pro-Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead inside the Gurdwara on June 18. Hardeep was shot more than 20 times.

According to reports, Nijjar lived in the Punjabi-dominated Sari region of British Columbia, Canada. Hardeep was behind the Khalistani protests in front of the Indian High Commission in Vancouver, Canada in the past few years.

The Russian government has allowed the country's banks and financial institutions to transact in Russian currency.

This information was reported on the official Facebook page of the Russian Embassy in Bangladesh on Saturday (September 23).

According to the information given on the Facebook page, Russia has allowed 30 other countries to trade in ruble currency except Bangladesh. The countries are - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Algeria and Bahrain.

Also included are Brazil, China, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Qatar, Malaysia, Mongolia, Morocco, Oman and Pakistan.

Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Korea, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Vietnam are also allowed to trade in ruble. However, Argentina, Hong Kong, Israel, Mexico and Moldova have been excluded from the list.

Recently, before Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said that the discussions on commercial transactions in the country's single currency have been going on for quite some time.