Obama: Link with India is stronger, deeper and broader than ever - CNN International

Obama pushes U.S. jobs in IndiaNEW: Trade between the nations is a two-way street, the president saysNEW: "India isn't emerging. It has emerged," Obama addsNEW: India isn't out to steal American jobs, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saysOn the trip, Obama has unveiled about $10 billion in contracts for U.S. exports to India

New Delhi, India (CNN) -- The relationship between the United States and India is "stronger, deeper and broader" than ever before, U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday at a joint news conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in India's capital, New Delhi.

The opportunities for cooperation between the nations will only grow as India gains economic power, Obama said.

"India isn't emerging. It has emerged," the president said.

He described a "growing trust" between the two largest democracies in the world, as they work to boost trade.

"We make some of the best products in the world and we want to sell them to a growing Indian market," Obama said.

At the same time, those economic exchanges offer Indians the opportunity to build their businesses as well, he said, citing solar technology as an example for the potential to create jobs in the United States and India.

"We shouldn't be resorting to protectionist measures. We shouldn't be thinking of it as a one-way street," added Obama, who said India is not an economic "bogeyman."

Singh said likewise: "India is not in the business of stealing jobs from the United States of America." He called economic ties between the countries a win-win situation, as Obama did.

On Saturday, the president unveiled about $10 billion in contracts for U.S. exports to India. It is Asia's third-largest economy and one of the world's few growth markets.

Promoting broader trade relations with India is a delicate balancing act for Obama, given American frustration with the outsourcing of jobs to the country.

India's biggest challenge is infrastructure, said Singh, who said his country will need $1 trillion in infrastructure investments over the next five years. He expressed hope that United States will contribute toward that.

He also lauded American technology, saying that India needs U.S. know-how in the civilian as well as military fields.

Obama praised India's military support, saying that it had contributed to the war in Afghanistan and efforts to leave terrorists no haven.

The president and first lady Michelle Obama arrived New Delhi on Monday, with the prime minister greeting them on arrival.

The Obamas had a full day of events scheduled, starting with a wreath-laying at a memorial for Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi and ending with a state dinner with Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil.

In between, Obama is slated to address Parliament.

The Obamas are on the third and final day of their visit to India.

After India, Obama will travel to Indonesia, then to the G-20 meeting in South Korea and APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit in Japan.

The Obamas are on a 10-day Asian tour.

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Obama, in Mumbai, to announce reforms to boost US trade with India - Washington Post

MUMBAI - Days after reaping the political consequences of a poor economy, President Obama intends to announce a series of reforms Saturday to increase trade between the United States and India, his first stop on a 10-day Asian tour focused largely on promoting economic growth at home.

In an address to several hundred American and Indian chief executives in this seaside commercial hub, Obama will announce changes in the export-control system that guides trade between the two countries, administration officials said. Those include removing several Indian space and defense companies from the so-called entities list, which identifies firms that make products with dual civilian and military purposes and makes it more difficult for them to trade with the United States.

Obama will also tell the U.S.-India Business Council that he will support India's membership to four international alliances responsible for regulating trade in nuclear, chemical and biological materials, including the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Indian leaders have aspired to membership, but U.S. non-proliferation groups immediately criticized the move for weakening the world's ability to monitor nuclear trade.

Obama touched down just before 1 p.m. local time in a country whose leaders and people have high hopes for his visit. His three-day stay follows months of perceived drift in a relationship that administration officials say is central to Obama's ambitions in Asia.

The high U.S. unemployment rate played a central role in midterm elections that went sharply against Obama's party, and he intends to speak more directly throughout his Asian trip about how his foreign policy goals relate to U.S. economic interests.

Administration officials say he will take part in announcing a set of business deals, some of them in the works for months, after a meeting with American chief executives at the business forum. The agreements - including sales of military transport aircraft, diesel engines, jet engines and other U.S. manufacturing products -- total $10 billion and support 54,000 jobs in the United States, according to administration officials.

"A president's visit is an action-forcing event," said Michael Froman, deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs. "It helps concentrate the minds of decision makers."

Although the primary focus of his visit here is improving economic relations, Obama's first stop represented a show of solidarity with the Indian people.

He made his way -- first by helicopter, then motorcade -- to the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, a focal point of the November 2008 terrorist attacks by a group of men from Pakistan. Gunmen killed more than 170 people, including Americans, over a days-long siege.

Obama and first lady Michelle Obama each placed a white rose on a memorial to the victims. The president then signed the hotel guest book before telling the roughly 50 people gathered - family members of those killed, survivors and hotel employees present for the Nov. 26 attacks -- what "an extraordinary honor it is to be here in India."

"To those who ask if this is designed to send a message, my answer is simply: Absolutely," Obama said of his first stop. "In our determination to give our people a future of security and prosperity, the United States and India stand united."

Obama did not mention the role of Pakistan, an essential if unpredictable U.S. ally in the Afghanistan war. Indian authorities have accused Pakistan's intelligence service of training the gunmen, an allegation that Pakistan's government has denied.

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Alcohol more harmful than heroin, crack cocaine: Study - Times of India

LONDON: Alcohol is a more dangerous drug than both crack and heroin when the combined harms to the user and to others are assessed, British scientists said on Monday.

Presenting a new scale of drug harm that rates the damage to users themselves and to wider society, the scientists rated alcohol the most harmful overall and almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco.

According to the scale, devised by a group of scientists including Britain's Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) and an expert adviser to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), heroin and crack cocaine rank as the second and third most harmful drugs.

Ecstasy is only an eighth as harmful as alcohol, according to the scientists' analysis.

Professor David Nutt, chairman of the ISCD, whose work was published in the Lancet medical journal, said the findings showed that "aggressively targeting alcohol harms is a valid and necessary public health strategy". He said they also showed that current drug classification systems had little relation to the evidence of harm.

Alcohol and tobacco are legal for adults in Britain and many other countries, while drugs such as ecstasy and cannabis and LSD are often illegal and carry the threat of prison sentences.

"It is intriguing to note that the two legal drugs assessed -- alcohol and tobacco -- score in the upper segment of the ranking scale, indicating that legal drugs cause at least as much harm as do illegal substances," Nutt, who was formerly head of the influential British Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), said in a statement about the study.

Nutt was forced to quit the ACMD a year ago after publicly criticising ministers for ignoring scientific advice suggesting cannabis was less harmful than alcohol.

The World Health Organisation estimates that risks linked to alcohol cause 2.5 million deaths a year from heart and liver disease, road accidents, suicides and cancer -- accounting for 3.8 percent of all deaths.

It is the third leading risk factor for premature death and disabilities worldwide.

In an effort to offer a guide to policy makers in health, policing, and social care, Nutt's team rated drugs using a technique called multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) which assessed damage according to nine criteria on harm to the user and seven criteria on harm to others.

Harms to the user included things such as drug-specific or drug-related death, damage to health, drug dependence and loss of relationships, while harms to others included crime, environmental damage, family conflict, international damage, economic cost, and damage to community cohesion. Drugs were then scored out of 100, with 100 given to the most harmful drug and zero indicating no harm at all.

The scientists found alcohol was most harmful, with a score of 72, followed by heroin with 55 and crack with 54.

Among some of the other drugs assessed were crystal meth (33), cocaine (27), tobacco (26), amphetamine or speed (23), cannabis (20), benzodiazepines, such as Valium (15), ketamine (15), methadone (14), mephedrone (13), ecstasy (9), anabolic steroids (9), LSD (7) and magic mushrooms (5).

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Sikhs urge Obama to visit Golden Temple on India trip - BBC News

21 October 2010 Last updated at 16:11 GMT The Golden Temple, or Harmandar Sahib, is Sikhism's holiest site Sikh groups have urged US President Barack Obama not to avoid visiting the Golden Temple in Amritsar during his India trip next month, amid reports he is now unlikely to go there.

A US official told the BBC there were "logistical" issues.

Mr Obama would need to cover his head to enter the temple and there are reported concerns opponents would use this to show he is a closet Muslim.

The Golden Temple, or Harmandar Sahib, is Sikhism's holiest site.

Sikhs have been urged to use social network sites to press Mr Obama to go ahead with the visit.

'Support and guidance'

A US official told the BBC there had never been a final decision to go to the temple but conceded that it had been planned as a possible place for Mr Obama to visit.

The official said it was not definite that Mr Obama would not visit, but that it was unlikely.

Correspondents say that it had earlier been strongly hinted that Mr Obama would visit, and it appears the White House has not done its homework on the Golden Temple and the requirements and sensitivities associated with entering it.

Sikh officials said a simple cap for Mr Obama would suffice

Officials at the temple said that although heads needed to be covered, a simple cap for Mr Obama would suffice.

Hansdeep Singh, a senior staff attorney for the United Sikhs lobby group, said: "If these rumours are true, this is a tremendously disappointing moment for the entire Sikh community and religious minorities in general."

One Indian foreign ministry official told Agence France-Presse news agency an advance team of US diplomats had prepared the temple visit.

"We provided them with all the support and guidance they needed but now it is for US officials to decide whether Obama should go to the temple or not," the official said.

Mr Obama is a Christian, but a Pew Research survey of 3,003 Americans in August showed that 18% believed the president was a Muslim.

The poll found beliefs about the president's faith were closely linked to political judgements about him. It found that people who believed Mr Obama was a Muslim "overwhelmingly disapproved" of his job performance.

The United Sikhs group said that if Mr Obama did not visit it would be "a missed opportunity".

It said: "We implore the Sikh community and all others concerned with raising the visibility of religious minorities [to write and express], in a respectful manner, how important it is for President Obama to visit Harmandar Sahib through the White House's Twitter and Facebook sites."

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