good morning. president obama receiving a warm welcome in india. state officials calling it a new era in u.s. and india relations. >> we are waiting for india's prime minister narendra modi. this is the room it will happen.

it was originally scheduled for 5:50 eastern and pushed to 6:15 eastern and we will bring you the comments live. >> i'm suzanne malveaux. >> i'm victor blackwell. president obama scheduled to speak in a few moments from now. he arrived in new delhi this morning. the prime minister modi greeted him at the tarmac. as we have discussed this morning, it's not usually protocol for the prime minister to come to the airport, to the tarmac to welcome the president. but it shows the personal friendship between these two men. he met the india's president and visited the presidential palace. >> president obama visiting the memorial to india's father of the nation, of course. this for a beautiful wreath laying ceremony and tree planting ceremony as well. you see it there. he is going to be the first u.s. leader to attend india's republic day parade that is happening tomorrow. he is also the first u.s.

president to visit india twice. >> let's talk more about the president's visit. white house correspondent michelle kosinski is live from new delhi. we also have cnn law enforcement analyst tom puentes is on the phone from washington. >> we are wag for both leaders to make their respected prepared statements. we know there are a lot of very important issues that have been on the plate there and they have been talking behind the scenes. two things, michelle, a possible nuclear deal, and also talking climate change. what kind of details do you have what we might learn this morning? >> yeah. those are real possibility. >> reporter: the big headline today in india, though, coming from india officials, hasn't' been confirmed by the white house, is that there has been a deal reached between the u.s. and india on nuclear defense. and nuclear reactors being built here into interest and that

something that has been worked on more than a decade by the u.s. there have been some stipulations on both sides that have caused an impasse and the deal has really been stalled until about 2008. but what the india press is reporting is that there have been relaxation on both sides allowing this to go forward. on the india side, they have a liability law that has been in effect and changing that law is hugely unpopular with the india congress. that has been part of this big impasse. but the reporting is that that is been relaxed. we don't know the details of how exactly because the congress hasn't wanted to change it, it's possible that india has created an insurance pool to take care of the liabilities that would otherwise be faced by companies that wanted to build reactors here. the u.s. and france have been wanting to get in on the market here, but because of that liability they faced, they weren't able to do it and just seen as not feasible. the u.s. side, they have been

demanding all nuclear material coming to india for use here had been to be tracked by the u.s. government. it's being reported that that, too, has been relaxed but we are really waiting to hear, first of all, the official announcement that a deal has actually been reached this time, and then the details of it. it's unclear whether this is going to be, you know, in this -- the talk that they are going to give to the press, but it seems like that is a point of it. this is the big headline today in india. >> you bring up an excellent point, michelle. it was back in march of 2006, i actually covered president bush's trip to india with then the leader singh. this was something he was trying to accomplish in 2006, that nuclear deal. what do you suppose is the breakthrough here? do you think two leaders and two new men who have that kind of relationship to make something like this work, or do you think it's the political and

international climate that we are in today that we could actually see something like this move forward? >> reporter: great question. i think it's probably some of both. modi being the new prime minister. he is seen as a reformer who really wants to modernize those parts of india that are not. he has been traveling around and it's written he has been promising every state that he visits 24-hour electricity. i mean, i think that is interesting for us in the states to hear that that is not a reality yet for many parts of india, but that is what he wants to accomplish. and other governments are hearing him make those promises and thinking something is going to have to happen. they have to have a lot more nuclear power some way of meeting those promises. that laid the groundwork for some kind of deal to be made. it's really a possibility this has happened now. also just modernizing the relationships. after more than a decade of working on a deal like this both

sides possibly now coming to a realization there has been to give and take and relaxer of those stricters on both sides. >> tom, before the top of the hour we discussed the 2014 mumbai attacks and what the president has described as safe havens for terrorists in pakistan. i wonder if this is a personal afinity with the prime minister in india and comments he made and what we expect from him in minutes. will make the fight in pakistan more difficult for the u.s.? >> reporter: i think, victor, they want at least behind the scenes talk about that. whether they bring that up here, to the extent they talk about it here, i'm not sure what is coming. the concern if people are unaware of the 2008 attack, the terrorists just were able to hostage a fishing boat off the

shores of pakistan and take that boat across the water a short distance to the port of mumbai and then killed the crew and the captain of that boat and they were ashore with their guns and grenades and gps's to start the attack that lasted all weekend. , you know, when we talk about foreign fighters that can go from syria and iraq to france and england or across the atlantic to canada and the u.s., for india, the proximity is so much closer that it's a grave concern. it was very easy for that group to just go across the water and land on their shores and start attacking. so, you know, the vulnerablity felt by india by that attack, if it's not czechs and pakistan, it makes them very afraid of that. >> tom, stay with us and, michelle, with a moment.

many of the sddignitaries comin into the room. we expect in seven or eight minutes president obama and prime minister narendra modi to come out and offer some comments and it's customary they would take questions from the press, although that has not been confirmed. we expect that they will. well, of course, bring those to you live. before that starts, though, and we will interrupt, if necessary, let's bring in jamonica and talk about a change to the schedule. the president cut short his visit or will cut short the visit to go on to saudi arabia to meet the new king salman who took over after the death of king abdullah. what can we expect from the visit to saudi arabia? quickly. >> victor, really an official vis visit. we have seen heads of state head

to go saudi arabia. an important move to the united states to show the highest level of commitment. historic ties that are decades long, not only economic ties, but military also coming at a very important time to show continuity in this relationship, to try and force a new relationship with the new monarch at a time that saudi arabia is a key ally. this stable and strong country in the region with so much unrest, whether it is yemen or to the north isis with a threat. they are so important for the u.s. here showing its commitment after some disagreements between the u.s. and saudi arabia over the last couple of years when it comes to regional policies of america here. and also the nuclear negotiations with iran.

victor? >> real quick here jomana. before the two leaders speak, how do you expect the fragile subject of human rights will come up between the leaders, if at all. many saying, saudi arabia, including the new king, will go ahead and force some of the brutal tactics of discipline inside of that country, including beheadings of those who do not follow their laws. >> well, the west has been, including the united states, very cautious. they have been calling for more reforms, suzanne, in saudi arabia. the new king is not really expected to make any drastic changes to what is going on in the country. he is expected to continue in the same line, same policies of his predecessor king abdullah. the issue of reforms and human rights and more rights for women and minorities there is going to be something under the spotlight in saudi arabia. but definitely there is no

expectation when you talk to experts that there is going to be any major change. now, the previous king, king abdullah, was known as a cautious reformer. he did try to do more when it comes to giving women more rights in that country. but there were marginal gains under king abdullah according to watchdog groups following the situation in saudi arabia, and that is not really expected to change much now. there's a lot of pressure on the royal family, on the monarchs there when it comes from the hard liners and hard line clerics in that country. suzanne? >> of course, this conversation about human rights in saudi arabia comes as there is this blogger who has been sentenced to a thousand lashes for allegedly or he was convicted, but allegedly criticizing islam. he received the first 50. the weekly lashings have been postponed but it's interesting to see if that is part of the

conversation when president obama travels to saudi arabia on tuesday at the end of his trip to india. live pictures on your screen from new delhi. we are waiting for the arrival of president obama and the india prime minister narendra modi. we were given the two-minute warning two minutes ago so we expect they will walk into the room pretty soon. >> one of the colorful things we have been learning about the president's trip is people in india are fascinated about the president's blackberry and what he uses it for and what kind of messages he is sending. there has also been a real interest in the first lady as well, michelle obama, in the world of fashion. they dress the designers, of the designers, from the designers, in that country of india.

so they have clearly been watching the first couple in a way that you would expect. there are all kinds of culture components to this trip as well. >> when you mentioned cell phones. interesting. when the prime minister was in the u.s. last year, he wrote a piece for the "wall street journal" in which he highlighted the possibility of made in india and strengthening the business ties between the two countries. it sounds phenomenal. that his country has gone from 40 million cell phones to 900 million cell phones in a decade. >> wow. >> how attractive would that be to get a manufacturer into india? we, obviously, know that business will be a part of the conversation as this liability law that michelle kosinski talked about a moment ago. who is on the phone? give it to me again, michael. okay. lieutenant general mark hurtling on the phone. i may have to cut you off, sir,

but the question is what are we hoping for as it relates to strengthening the strategy between the u.s. and india as it relates to attacking extremism and the terrorism safe havens the president has called them next to pakistan? >> that's part of it. victor, the other piece of this, this is very important, about ten years ago, india was one of the four countries which we, in the military and the national security arena, called the brick countries, that we really had to watch in the 21st century, brazil, russia, india and china. as part of the president's shift to the pacific, india was one of those countries we wanted to make better coalitions with. a nation of 1.2 billion people, as you said, huge business opportunities. in fact, my other job at a hospital is attempting to do some coordination knowing that about 30% of u.s. doctors are actually india residents or come

from india, and the fact there is an opportunity to build coalitions because of the intersection between india and china and india and pakistan as you pointed out. the dynamics of making better relations to this nation is phenomenal with the future within the 21st century. >> one of the things, too, we expect they are going to talk about that is going to be potentially groundbreaking is climate change and china has always been frustrated. it's the third largest carbon -- i mean, india is frustrated. third largest carbon polluter after the u.s. and china and doesn't feel it has to limit its production because it hasn't been a part of the long-term problem we have seen from other industrialized nations. do we think curtailed because of their

reluctance to that take kind of responsibility like the other nations? >> that is exactly right. the president just returned from china where he did strike a deal that was monumental in terms of changing the approach toward climate change. if he can get both the chinese and the indians to do these kind of things and the united states has signed up for additional initiatives in this clim chain arena is one of the things he mentioned in the "state of the union" address and is an important area they are going to address. i think it was instrumental he was planting a tree as part of the welcoming ceremony. normally a cultural thing for the india is plants a tree for the future. i think that is the discussions they will have in terms of climate change. >> that tree planted just a few steps away from where president bill clinton planted a tree on his visit to india at the memorial to mohammed gandhi. we are awaiting the arrival of

the president and prime minister. we will try to slip in a quick break but if they come in, we will interrupt and bring you the speech. push your enterprise and you can move the world. ♪ but to get from the old way to the new, you'll need the right it infrastructure. from a partner who knows how to make your enterprise more agile, borderless and secure. hp helps business move on all the possibilities of today. and stay ready for everything that is still to come. that's the way i look at life. looking for something better. especially now that i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem.

i was taking warfarin, but wondered if i kept digging, could i come up with something better. my doctor told me about eliquis... for three important reasons. one, in a clinical trial, eliquis was proven to reduce the risk of stroke better than warfarin. let's listen in to the president obama and prime minister of india with joint statements. let's take a listen. >> ladies and gentlemen, friends of the media, i welcome you to this media interaction. we will begin with opening remarks by the two leaders, following which, they have consented to respond to one question each. i now request the prime minister of india to make his opening

remarks. >> mr. president and members of the cuba, it is a great pleasure and privilege to welcome back president obama and the first lady in india. mr. president, we are honored that you accepted our invitation to be our guest. and i know how busy you are. it is special because on this day, we celebrate the values shared by the world's two largest democracies.

and the president of india twice. it reflects the transformation in our relationship. it shows your deep personal commitment to this partnership. it tells us that our two nations are prepared to step forward and to accept the responsibility of this global partnership of our two countries and for shifting the character of the century. the promise and potential of this relationship had never been in doubt. this is a national global partnership. it has become more in the

digital age. even more in a world for ever changing and widespread -- the success of this partnership is important for our progress and for advancing peace, stability, and prosperity around the world. we have begun transforming our relationship, but we have to convert a good start into lasting progress. translating a vision into sustained action and concrete.

mr. president, in the last few months, i see new statement and confidence in this relationship. i see renewed energy. thank you for your leadership and for setting the tone last september when i visited the white house. the nuclear argument, what the center is of our transformed relationship which demonstrated new trust. it also created a new economic opportunities and expanded our option for clean energy. in the course of the past four months, we have worked with a

sense of efforts to go forward. i am pleased that six years after we signed a bilateral agreement, we are moving towards cooperation. consistent with our law, our international legal obligations, and tactical and viability. president obama had also assured me a strong u.s. efforts in support of india's full membership of the four international export regions. today, we also decided to take up our growing defense cooperation with a new label. we have agreed in principal to

coproduction of specific advanced defense products. this will help domestic defense industry and expand manufacturing sector in india. we will also explore cooperation in the year of advanced defense technologies. we have renewed our defense agreement. it will depend of cooperation on maritime security and remains a principle global plate taking on a new character even as existing challenges persist. we agreed that we need a

comprehensive global strategy. there should be no distinction between that. every country must fulfill safe havens and bring terrorism to justice. the cooperation against terrorist groups and we will enhance our -- including in the year of technology. president obama, and i agree, strong and growing economy relationship. it's vital for the success of our strategy partnership. economic growth in two countries is becoming stronger.

our business climate is improving. this gives me a great optimism of the economy. in addition, we have established a number of effective bilateral mechanisms to identify opportunities and also help our system more. we will also assume our dialogue on -- we will also this on social security agreement that is so important for the hundreds of thousands of indian professionals working in the united states. for president obama and me, clean energy is a personal and national pride. we discuss our ambition,

national efforts, and the use of clean and usable energy. we also agreed to further enhance our excellent and innovative market in this area. i asked him to lead international efforts in making renewable energy more accessible and effortible to the world. president and i expressed hope for a successful -- on climate change this year. we will continue to have the cooperation in science and technology, innovation, agriculture, health, education. these are central to the future of our two countries and also give us an opportunity to help

others around the world. indeed, our partnership will only be complete if our responsibility to work together to promote and collectivity in the vast region. president obama and i agreed to pursue this goal with sense of priority. the president and i have an excellent idea on global issues, in particular, renew our commitment and cooperation to advance peace, stability, prosperity in asia, pacific and indian ocean region. we deem it krl fcritical for th countries and we will closely help afghanistan through its transition.

our relationship extends at the new level today. we have outlined a proud reason for our friendship and cooperation that reflects the opportunities and challenges of this century. france -- are the whole of the holy life. we have decided to give this critical partnership a new trust and sustained attention, for this, we have agreed that india and the united states must regular submit greater frequency and we also establish hard lines between myself and barack and the national security advisers. at the beginning of this year, we start a new journey.

let me welcome you once again, mr. president. it is a great pleasure to have you with us. thank you very much. thanks a lot. >> i must say thank you, prime minister modi, for those very generous words. i want to express my profound gratitude to not only you, but the people of india, for the incredible hospitality that has been shown to me and michelle. we are thrilled to be back in india. [ speaking in foreign language ] mr. prime minister, thank you for the invitation to join the people of india on republic day. i'm honored to be the first american president to attend this celebration, as well as the first president to visit india

twice. and this reflects my commitment since the beginning of my presidency to deepen our ties with india. i'm pleased to be joined by members of my administration, as well as members of congress and business leaders from the united states, all who believe that a strong relationship with india is critical for america's success in the 21st century. as two great democracies and two countries dedicated to the empowment of our people including millions of indians, we are natural partners. when i addressed your parliament on my last visit i laid out my vision how india and the united states could build a defining partnership for the 21st century and since then, we have made significant progress. our trade has increased, our

military has exercised together more, we are cooperating on key global challenges from nuclear proliferation to global health. mr. prime minister, your election and your strong personal commitment to the india/u.s. relationship, gives us an opportunity to further energize these efforts. i was proud to welcome you to the white house last fall. your reputation proceeded you, as many of you know in new york, the prime minister appeared in madison square garden and was greeted like a bollywood star and it was, i think, a signal of the deep friendship between our people, as well as our close ties that we are working to expand even further. at the white house, we agreed to take this partnership to a new level. we advanced that work today. prime minister modi, thank you for hosting me, including our

chipay churcha. we need more of those in the white house. even as this has a symbolism we made progress. the prime minister has indicated the united states and india have declared a new declaration of friendship that elevates and formalizes our partnership and not only is it grounded in the values we share but it commits us to more regular meetings at the leaders level and sets up frequent consultations across our government. we agree our trade and economic partnerships must focus on improving the daily lives of our people. the prime minister described for me his ambitious efforts to empower rural indians with bank accounts and ensure clean water and air for the india people and we want to be partners in this effort. the last few years trade between our two countries has increased by some 60% toward a record of a hundred billion dollars and we

want to trade even more, so we welcome the reforms that the prime minister is pursuing to make it easier to do business here in india. today, we achieved a breakthrough understanding on two issues that were holding up our ability to advance our civil nuclear cooperation and we are committed to moving towards full implementation and this is an important step that shows how we can work together to elevate our relationship. we also, as the prime minister noted, agreed to resume discussions about a possible bilateral investment treaty and we will continue to pursue export reforms to get more high expectations with india. we will promote clean energy and climate change. we very much support india's goal for solar energy and stand ready to speed this with

financing. and improve air quality in indiana and help india assess and help vulnerable communities become more resilient and going forward, we have agreed to work together to make concrete progress this year towards phasing out hydrofloral carbons under the protocol and the prime minister and i made a personal commitment to work together to pursue a strong global climate agreement in paris. as i indicated to him, i think india's voice is very important on this issue. perhaps no country could potentially be more effective by the impacts of climate change and no country is going to be more important in moving forward, a stronger agreement than india, so we appreciate his leadership. we agreed to deepen our defense and security cooperation. we renewed the framework that guides our defense cooperation for another ten years, and in

major step forward for our relationship, our defense technology and trade initiative will allow us to jointly develop and produce new defense technologies. we have also agreed to a new vision for the asian pacific so we are doing more to advance our shared security and prosperity in this critical region. i thanked the prime minister for india's strong counterterrorism cooperation and reiterated even as america's combat mission is over in afghanistan, we are going to continue to be strong and reliable partners for the afghan people who have benefited from india's generous over many years. i thanked the prime minister for his continued support for ongoing efforts to prevent iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and arrive at a just diplomatic solution. finally, we discussed what more we can do as global partners. i reiterated, and reiterate to the indian people today we

support a reformed u.n. security council that india is a permanent member and at the same time, we see india playing a greater role in ensuring international security peace and meeting shared challenges. as a contributor to u.n. peace missions india can do more to protect the citizens in conflict zones and welcome india's membership in combating diseases and promoting global health. so, mr. prime minister, thank you for welcoming me. i very much look forward to tomorrow's ceremonies which i'm told are truly spectacular. i'm looking forward to a chance to speak directly to the indian people on the radio and in my speech on tuesday about what i believe we can achieve together. this new partnership will not happen overnight. it's going to take time to build and some patience, but it's clear from this visit that we have a new and perhaps

unprecedented opportunity and deepening our ties with india is going to remain a top foreign policy priority for my administration. so let me just say thank you very much. >> i now call upon julie pace to ask her question. >> thank you mr. president and mr. prime minister. mr. president, i wanted to ask you about the situations in yemen and ukraine. on yemen you held up the counterism there for a model you hope to achieve in your mission against against the islamic state group. how did sd that affect the u.s. efforts there and will it cause you in any way to retool aspects of your broader counterterrorism strategy and rebels are

launching new offensive. how can you justify not taking a different approach given that the agreement has all but failed and sanctions may have had an impact on the russian economy but don't appear to be changing russia's calculus when it comes to change? mr. prime minister, officials say they hope the china and india to cut emissions. i wonder if you feel any pressure to take that kind of action because of the china agreement and can a paris climate summit produce a substantial result without that type of commitment from india? thank you. >> go ahead. >> well, first of all, with respect to ukraine, what i've said consistently is that we have no interest in seeing russia weakened or its economy

in shambles. we have a profound interest, as i believe every country does, in promoting a core principle, which is large countries don't bully smaller countries and don't encroach on their integrity and sovereignty and that is at stake in ukraine. what we have done is to consistently isolate russia on this issue and raise the costs that russia confronts. now, when you say that we should take a different approach, julie, i don't know exactly what you're referring to. i've been very clear that it would not be effective for us to engage in a military conflict with russia on this issue. but what we can do is to continue to support ukraine's

ability to control its own territory and that involves a combination of the economic pressure that's been brought to bear in sanctions, the diplomatic isolation that has been brought to bear against russia. and as important as anything, making sure that we are continuing to provide the support that ukraine needs to sustain its economy during this transition period and to help its military with basic supplies and equipment. as well as the continuing training and exercises that have been taking place between nato and ukraine for quite sometime. we are deeply concerned about the latest break in the cease-fire and the aggression that these separatists with russian backing, russian equipment, russian financing, russian training and russian troops, are conducting.

and we will continue to take the approach that we have taken in the past, which is to ratchet up the pressure on russia and i will look at all additional options that are available to us, short of military confrontation, and try to address this issue. and we will be in close sched e consulttation with our national partners and particularly european partners to be sure they stay in lock-step with us on this issue. what we have been very successful at it maintaining unity across the atlantic on this issue and that is going to be a continuing priority of mine. but, ultimately what i've said before remains true. if mr. putin and if russia are hell-bent on engaging in military conflicts, their military is more powerful than ukraine's and, you know, the question is going to be whether

they continue to pursue a path that not only is bad for the people of ukraine, but is for -- bad for the people of russia and are we able to raise the costs as we create an off-ramp diplomatically that additionally the kremlin starts pursuing a more sensible policy and starts resolving this issue. with regard to yemen, my top priority has and always will be to make sure our people on the ground in yemen are safe. that is something we have been emphasizing for the last several months and builds on the work that we have been doing over the last several years. it is a dangerous country and a dangerous part of the world. our second priority is to maintain our counterterrorism pressure on al qaeda in yemen

and we have been doing that. i saw some news reports that suggested somehow that that counterterrorism activity had been suspended. that is not accurate. we continue to go after high value targets inside of yemen and to continue -- we will continue to maintain the pressure that is required to keep the american people safe. we are concerned about what has always been a fragile central government and the forces inside of yemen are constantly threatening to break apart between north/south, between sunni inside of yemen and this is one more sequence in what has been an ongoing turbulent process inside of yemen and what we are advising, not just the various factions inside of

yemen, but also working with our partners like the gulf countries who have impact and influence inside of yemen, is that at this point, what is needed is to respect a constitutional process that can resolve some of these differences peacefully and assure that all of the groups inside of yemen are resorting to political, rather than military, means to resolve these differences. but i guess, you know, the point, julie, is yemen has never been a perfect democracy or an island of stability. what i've said is that our efforts to go after terrorist networks inside of yemen without a occupying u.s. army, but rather by partnering and

intelligence sharing with that local government is the approach we are going to need to take, and that is continues to be the case. the alternative would be for us to play whack amo every time there is somebody inside a country to deploy u.s. troops and that is not a sustainable strategy. we will continue to try to refine and fine-tune this model, but it is the model that we are going to have to work with because the alternative would be massive u.s. deployments in period of ti perpetuity and create its own blow-back and cause more problems than it would potentially solve and we are going to have to recognize that there are going to be a number of countries where terrorists have located that are not strong

countries. that's the nature of the problem that we confront. terrorists typically are not going to be locating and maintaining bases and having broad networks inside of countries that have strong central governments and strong militaries and strong law enforcement. by definition, we are going to be operating in places where, oftentimes, there is a vacuum or capabilities are somewhat low, and we have to just continually apply patience, training, resources and we then have to help, in some cases, broker political agreements as well. so it is a long arduous process. it is not neat and it is not simple. but it is the best option that we have and what we have shown is that we can maintain the kind of pressure on these terrorist networks, even in these kind of

difficulty top rate environments. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> so one of the things that the prime minister of india was asked about was the -- the -- the climate agreement between the united states and india and whether or not it would really have some muscle, some teeth to it. we know that the president, having reached a deal with china recently -- that was the question put to the prime minister here is whether or not that would be as substantive as the one we have seen between the united states and china. we have got an english interpretation so let's go ahead

and listen in. [ speaking in foreign language ] we are work to go get the english translation so we can get a better understanding what we are hearing from the prime minister. suzanne was talking a moment ago about the climate change agreement and what we are also hearing from the prime minister. i think we have got another question here. let's listen in. >> between the united states and china does not impose any pressure on us. india is an independent country and there is no pressure on us

from any country or any person. but there is pressure. when we think about the future generations and what kind of a world we are going to give them, then there is pressure. climate change itself is a huge pressure. global warming is a huge pressure. and all those who think about a better life and a better world for the future generations, those who are concerned about this, then it is their duty and conscience. they would want to give a better future lifestyle to the generations and good life and good environment. there is pressure for all of those people. there is pressure on all countries, on all governments and on all peoples. thank you. >> last question. >> thank you. good evening to both the prime minister and president barack obama. my question is for prime

minister modi. but let me both congratulate you taking the relationship forward. [ speaking in foreign language ] president obama [ speaking in foreign language ] president obama [ speaking in foreign language ] thank you. [ speaking in foreign language ]

>> all right. we have been listening to the prime minister of india. he is taking the final question there. we have been listening to both of these leaders here and the president addressing a number of important issues but, mostly, really paying attention -- we are not only talking about climate change here and a possible nuclear deal between these two countries, but the state of security around the world, particularly when it comes to dealing with terrorists. we want to bring in our own michelle kosinski to talk about this, because one of the things that the president was asked about was the state of yemen and we have seen, just within the last week, the prime minister, as well as the president, resigning from yemen and a group of rebels, the shiites essentially taking over that country. the president was asked about what impact that would have on the united states' cooperation with that country on counterterrorism efforts. michelle, i want you to address that, because it's something

that he spoke about and he said, well, our top priority is americans who are inside of the country and that we have confidence we will be able to continue those counterterrorism efforts, but to me it seemed like he really downplayed that because, i mean, these are for the not folks who welcome a u.s. presence inside that country, whether it be air strikes, drone strikes, or special ops when it comes to intelligence. i think the u.s. has a very, very big problem in yemen now. >> reporter: yeah, it's going to be something that has to be looked at. they could continue drone strikes. as for anything deeper on the ground, i think that is really the question. when you consider drone strikes, the number of them has gone down considerably in the last few months. there has been obviously trouble brewing there and now it's reached a head. i think what was interesting this is a question that has been building for the president. you don't always get a chance to

ask the president about this directly so now that the chance was there, of course, it came up. julie pace from the a.p. asking president obama, you said in the past that yemen was something of a success in the way the u.s. was able to handle counterterrorism strategy there. what did you mean by that? and isn't it going to change now? i mean, much has been made about president obama's statement. actually using the word success as it relates to yemen. so the president got a chance to explain that saying that, no, it's never going to be a big success but in the way that they were able to continue counterterrorism operations, that they were able to get some cooperation from the government. so there is your big question. now that they may not have any cooperation from the existing government, i don't even know if anybody can define what government there is there now. what is going to happen there? obviously, it's not going to be as deep in terms of working on the ground or getting intelligence out of there, even a safety in which people might

be able to operate. but drone strikes, potentially that might be the only way, suzanne. >> the question also got to a larger issue of the president's reluctance to send in military, not only into yemen but ukraine. julie asked about the failure of this cease-fire. we heard friday night more than a dozen people were killed in that attack and although for a period seemed to have cooled a bit, there certainly is this continuing back and forth and reluctance answer resistance from russia and putin. if there is contradiction during the president day -- let me get the question for you in a moment. here is the president. >> i do think that, in addition to a personal friendship, that we have been able to build in a fairly brief amount of time, we're also reflecting the warmth

and affection between the indian people and the american people. you know, part of the reason we are such natural partners is because we share values as former colonies, as the two largest democracies in the world and entrepreneurial nations and believe in the freedom and dignity and the worth of all individuals. so it's not surprising then that we have a friendship because hopefully we are reflecting the values of our peoples, and what i'm very excited about is given the prime minister's energy and ambition for his country and lifting people out of poverty

and moving forward on the reform agenda he has put forward, that that affection can then be translated into very specific actions and we are seeing that reflected here today. he is right, though, we can't tell you everything that we talked about. although i will share one thing and that is we compared how much sleep each of us is getting. it turns out that modi is getting even less sleep than me. but, of course, that is because he is still new. after you've been doing this about six years, maybe he'll be able to get an extra hour, all right? thank you very much, everybody. >> thank you. thank you. thank you. >> so the president there speaking about personal relationship between himself and the prime minister. back to michelle kosinski and this discussion over ukraine.

the president's reluctance to get militarily there. we talked about yemen and ukraine and there is libya, afghanistan, syria and speaks to a larger reluctance on this president. >> right. >> reporter: but i think the president was consistent in what he said. remember, this question comes up every time there is an additional round of sack sanctions by the u.s. and its european partners and then something else escalates there. the question of is this enough? russia, obviously, isn't changing its behavior. what the white house keeps saying is we know that. not as if russia is going to listen about you they keep isolating itself further and talking about the economy going to pot and foreign investment tearing out of the country as fast as it can. that is the stance the white house takes. the president said it here and this was in relationship to both yemen and russia, it's not as if we are going to send in troops every time something like this happens. the alternative to sanctions and

working diplomatically would be massive u.s. military deployments indefinitely. he pretty much settled the question about wthat, that the u.s. is not going to get involved militarily in all of these conflicts and the white house obviously feels that would be a disaster for the u.s. to do that. then you look what is the alternative to that? well, it's going to continue to be things like sanctions and attempts at diplomacy. when you look what is going on on the ground in crimea it makes everybody nervous and russia and ukraine's neighbors on edge and it makes the u.s. worried about what is going to happen in terms of u.s. influence and what is going to happen to that part of the world where so many of our allies are. >> michelle, thank you so much. we appreciate you. you are following the breakings in out of india and a lot of important points there with you the president having to deal with so many crisis and so many

places and specifically the middle east and conflicts that, as you had mentioned before. there is different grades of u.s. involvement and, clearly, hesitation to escalate and move forward when it comes to a military response by the united states. >> we will talk more about this throughout the morning. we continue now with "new day." right now, president obama in india. the major news, an agreement between the two countries on nuclear. plus it looks like isis has pulled its ransom demand after claiming it executed one of those japanese hostages. well, now they want a prison swap. the super bowl just a week away. but everyone is talking about deflategate. >> at no time was there any intent whatsoever to