Modi to address joint session of Congress as U.S. and India forge closer ties

WASHINGTON — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver a speech to Congress on Thursday afternoon in a sign of growing ties between the world’s two largest democracies. Modi will make the rare address to a joint session of Congress the same day President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden host him for a state dinner, an honor typically reserved for the closest allies of the U.S. While Modi faces criticism from some U.S. lawmakers and advocates over human rights and his country’s reluctance to break with Russia in its war in Ukraine, the Biden administration and leaders of…