i collect arothe united states and cuba moved toward normal relations after 50 years of hostility. russian vladimir -- russian president vladimir putin is giving his annual press conference. much of this -- the focus is on the struggling economy. and more fallout as sony pictures pulls the movie that reportedly prompted a cyber attack threat from korea -- north korea. and cuba could benefit from early relations with the united

states. we will be looking at the winners in both countries from his work move. and 10 years after the tsunami in asia writ families apart -- rips families apart, new members of the survivors. ♪ first, the u.s. and cuba have officially opened talks on restoring diplomatic relations. in that surprise move, barack obama and castro agreed to a number of new measures to improve ties, starting with a prisoner exchange. at that move has been slammed by the republican party in the united states. and as president obama needs the approval of the republican-controlled congress to end the economic embargo, the situation is not likely to be easily resolved. here is a report.

click a seismic -- >> it is a seismic policy change celebrated in cuba and beyond, but it will also shake up american politics stop republic -- american politics. republican policy has long been the voice of exiles who fled the island in miami. now, the president has bypassed them and some republicans say he has capitulated to a communist government. click the white house has conceded everything -- >> the white house has conceded everything. there will be no effort of freedom of the press, freedom of speech, of elections, and no binding agreement was made to truly open up the internet. no commitment was made to establish political parties, or even begin the semblance of transition to democracy. >> obama needs the approval of a

republican-controlled congress to end the economic embargo that has isolated the island for five decades. it is unlikely to be forthcoming. but he may not have run out of executive options. obama unilaterally announced exceptions to the embargo, as he already has by saying travelers will be allowed to use u.s. credit cards in cuba although any such rules can be revoked by a future president. the likely democratic candidates, hillary clinton, seems to welcome the move, popular with younger hispanic voters, meaning cuba could well be a divided election issue in washington. >> my colleague spoke to latin american specialist olivier. he started by asking him about the lifting of the embargo in cuba. >> this is going to be tough. it will take time. i think he already killed a few birds with one stone.

he will be a hero in latin america at the next americas in panama. this is a major change overall. >> a lot of critics are saying it is a gift to castro. he has not actually said he will do any more democratic reforms or change at all, and he has won this great price, if you like, from the u.s. >> it is true, but the u.s. has not achieved much in 50 years as obama mentioned. the embargo was useless, basically. it could turn out to be quite the contrary. it could achieve, with these measures, what he had not achieved in 50 years of embargo. killing the socialist model in cuba is within his reach right now. >> that was latin america's specialist -- latin american specialist olivier. let's take a look across latin america.

>> all smiles in argentina which has become an unexpected celebration. >> it is a decision that will go down in history, and i think it's very important because in history, the u.s. has been a small great country, a small, but great country, which has given 53 years of isolation and blockade. >> and they have agreed to engage on an equal footing. it is still framed in the terms of a long struggle to escape the overbearing influence of the great power to a north -- the north. decades ago, a latin american government led by hugo chavez had a fractious relationship with the u.s. this move is showing obama wants to bury the hatchet.

>> the gesture by u.s. president barack obama must be recognized. it is a gesture of carriage -- courage and it's necessary. it's a step forward, perhaps the most important one of his presidency. >> the policy change is seen above all, as an important recognition of the islands sovereignty. -- the island path sovereignty. >> mexico has consistently act cuba as the brother of the hemisphere so that it has the same right as the rest of the countries in the region. >> the obama presidency has been mostly notable in latin america for its absence. now it has opened a new chapter in the region's history. >> let's turn our attention to moscow, where it is a big day for russian president vladimir putin. he is in the midst of an annual verizon conference -- press

conference -- annual marathon press conference, already three hours in. it comes as there is growing pressure over the dramatic collapse of the ruble. it has lost one and half of italia against the u.s. dollar since january. he has been fighting back, though, saying he is certain the situation will improve in the next two years. >> i do not think i can call the situation a crisis. you may call it what you like, but i say the government and the central bank on the whole have seen correctly and adequately to the situation. what are we doing echoed -- what are they doing? may have raised the key interest rate, and i don't think this rates will be raised for this whole time of difficult circumstances. >> juliet has been at the press conference and joins us now.

the economy has obviously been a big issue here -- a big issue there today. and he is trying to strike an optimistic note saying it is not a crisis. does he strike you as having any concern about the situation at the moment at all? >> president putin started his annual press conference with a speech on dictators. the economic situation is very serious now and the ruble has reached new lows earlier this week, and people in russia are very worried about what is going on. he said it would take at least three years before it will get better. but nonetheless, he said the government is adopting similar measures to the measures the government took in 2008 when there was another financial crisis then. >> julia we are having a few

sound issues what we are going to try to press on anyway. earlier in the press conference, the president was asked about a ukrainian journalists about the crisis there. but he seemed to skirt the issue. tell us about that. >> as you said, the press conference has been going on for more than three hours, and 1300 reporters are here, and anyone can ask him any question really. and of course, ukraine was one of the major topics that putin was expected to talk about. he did voice to the ukrainian reporter, in his answer, he said that he stressed that these fighters in ukraine have not been paid. he avoided all of the other questions that this reporter asked him, but nonetheless on the question is about nato, he is concerned about nato's

expansion eastward. but nonetheless, he said he is prepared to deal with issues such as anti-terrorism and drug and economics. but he said that their issues have not been listened to by the west. this conference is still going on, and any other reporters will be hoping to ask their questions, and i will be hoping to ask mine as well. >> we will be getting more on the state of the russian economy coming up at 20 past the hour. >> we are getting reports from nigeria that boko haram militants have killed some 30 people and kidnapped possibly 100 more, including women and children. that attack happened in the trouble north. the town is located on the road

to the town where boko haram abducted more than 200 girls from a school in april. this comes after 116 boko haram fighters were killed in an attack on an army base. the fark --farc rebels have declared a unilateral cease-fire. the announcement comes soon after peace talks with the colombian government got back on track to try to end 50 years of conflict. greek lawmakers failed to elect a new president in a new round of voting wednesday. under the country's constitution, and majority of at least 200 votes in the 300 seat assembly is required. clinching 160 votes was not enough for the the government candidate, stavros. >> just 40 votes short of a win, the greek prime minister lost a

vote in parliament that would have installed his candidate for president. he remained optimistic despite wednesday's failure to avert mass elections. >> we have two more rounds ahead of us. we are hopeful a president will be elected. conditions are difficult for the country, and i'm certain greek lawmakers are aware that the country cannot afford any adventures. >> the opposition hailed the government's defeat. failure to elect a president triggers early elections, and recent polls have signaled a victory for siretsa. >> recent days has fell in two -- have fallen into a void. today is a new day. democracy cannot be forced, and ultimately, people will lead the change.

>> the second round of voting is scheduled for december 23. it suggests a rocky road ahead for the government if they want to overturn the polls. >> they want -- there has been more hollywood fallout from the cyber attack on sony pictures. the studio has canceled the release of the movie "the interview" after threats of terrorist attacks. those threats came from hackers last month, who leaked tens of thousands of sony's documents. the u.s. officials have confirmed that north korea was behind the attack. >> faced with threats of the same as 9/11, sony pictures came. it canceled its release of a comedy about a fictional killing of the north korean leader. sony suffered one of the largest ever hacks unaccompanied. but it was the pirates threat to theaters that pushed sony to cancel the release.

government sources say it is north korea behind the affair, and the fbi's leading an investigation. >> when the threat moved from the virtual world to the physical world, that is when the dominoes started to fall. because before when it was just leaked, there were things that were affected for sony employees, as well as high-profile celebrities, but it did not really affect the public in the way it has now. >> despite police insisting there was little evidence of any concrete danger, one by one, all the major u.s. cinema chains refused to broadcast the film. >> i cannot imagine a worse precedent than theaters pulling this movie, studios deciding not to distribute movies like this or to make movies like this. that is really chilling. >> the new york premiere canceled sony said it does not plan to release a $42 billion parity to video on demand either.

the company has yet to announce whether the film will be released in other countries. >> let's take a look at our top stories. the u.s. and cuba making moves toward normal relations after 50 years of hostility. and russian president vladimir putin is holding his annual marathon press conference. much of the focus is on russia's struggling economy. time to take a look at what has been grabbing headlines. let's start with the focus on the political situation in cameroon. >> young cameroonians have only known one president. he is on the front page this week for some he has been in power since 1982. young cameroonians are having hard time finding a place in society. it is a society that has been

confiscated by the older generation. and with rampant unemployment all of the ingredients are therefore an explosive cocktail. the magazine reports a government minister, who wants to remain and other myths, who says that unemployment can be as 60% to 70% in cameroon, and he goes on to say that the hardest hit are young graduates. according to the magazine, cameroon is a ticking time bomb, and it wonders if it could follow in the footsteps of burkina faso and the the stage of the next revolution. there could be some violent social upheaval, but it is likely to be harshly repressed as is most political opposition in cameroon, because according to the magazine, the president has no intention of leaving power or giving in to the demands of the younger generation. >> focusing on a scandal involving one of the vice president of the far right group, the national front. >> last week, connecting closer

to a gossip magazine caused a controversy because it touted a close advisor to the leader of the national front party. -- it's out ed a close advisor to the leader of the national front party. it showed him in a photo with his boyfriend and it shocked -- it sent shockwaves, not so much because of his sexuality, but it was an invasion of privacy. a satirical magazine here in france is making fun of all this. it is allegedly showing his parents and they are reading the magazine and they say, oh, my god, we did not know he was part of the national front. this has caused by reading rate -- fiery debate. first of all, and outing people, especially from a party that is not known for its tolerance, and it sparked a very fiery debate about the public life of --

about the private life of public figures here in france. >> we are doing an annual look back at the year that was. >> several lists this week. you might have wanted to forget 2014 but one says it is unforgettable. they have 26 lists, to be exact. it takes the best of-worst of lists to a whole new level. you have the best comebacks of 2014. number one on that list, russian tanks in ukraine. there is also the top 10 scandals around the world. the abortion scandal in spain and also a very controversial sculptures scandal that we can't here in france, a tree that look a lot like some sort of a toy. i will not going to much detail about that. and there is also one about the

cars of the world cup. it's a fun read. and speaking of a fun read, the economist is quite fun this week. i do not usually say that. the magazine is known for being rather dry and serious. this way, they have a christmas double issue. you can read about important issues like the baseball card bubble, the divine -- the decline of golf, or how turkey, the animal, got its name. >> how did it get's it -- get its name you >> moving on to another topic. you can see this robot here saying, me, a human? why are we talking about the sacco robots -- talking about this? robots have come a long way. they have gum -- come from being machines for the service of man to man's best friend. it's also scary, because it begs the question, could robots

one-day take over the world? other people who are going to take over the world are the new royal twins in monaco. we still have yet to see photos of the two, gabriella, and jack. but their mom here, she's on the front page. >> please tell me that was taken after her birth. >> it was before, probably. after conquering the heart of prince albert, she is conquering monaco. >> sounds great. time now for business. stephen carroll is here with us. but stay with the theme of cuba, a dominant theme here today and the potential economic boost that cuba might get with relations renewed with the u.s. >> 50 years of trading bargo has cost is economy -- trade embargo

has cost is economy $1.1 trillion. the relaxed restrictions announced by president obama and roll castro raul -- raul castro could provide a boost in one sector of the economy cigars photo quick this cigar shop in new york is looking forward to the possibility of stocking cuban made cigars. >> there is a certain mythology to cuban made cigars. we welcome this. our flagship in new york things it's wonderful for business and for everyone involved. >> it is the sector that has the potential to boost the economy in the coming years. the u.s. and trade -- the u.s. trade embargo thing lifted could bring significant capital to the country. >> it will be easier for

americans to send money to the country and to support the emerging private sector, even with trade and capital infusions. all of that should help a rather weak cuban economy. >> cubans have a range of goods and services they could potentially export to their wealthy neighbor. cubans have -- u.s. imports will be welcome. medical expertise and biotechnology will go the other way. the communications sector has potential to grow with u.s. input. and while president obama's announcement has authorized the use of trade and construction materials, it could help cuba's crumbling infrastructure. >> president vladimir putin boston marathon press conference just -- president vladimir putin's marathon press

conference just wrapped up a moment ago. >> he is trying to reassure people he had the economic situation under control especially in the wake of the battering the ruble has taken this week. vladimir putin said there are external factors, including western sanctions and falling oil prices, and that they were the cause of the fallen the markets. he said it would take less than two years for russia to rebound whether or not there is a change in oil prices. let's take a listen. >> of course, the situation is been provoked by external factors, always. but we have diversified our economy in the last two decades. it was difficult to change anything, especially taking into account favorable economic situations where money was invested by business into the area that made the most profit.

>> of course, that change in the value of the ruble had been the dominant topic for this week and even before president putin started speaking, we had seen a rally in the value of the ruble but as the press conference continued, it started to slide again. let's take a look at how it evolved over the week. we started out at a level around where we are now, but there was a massive plunge on tuesday night when the russian central bank to the surprise step of hiking interest rates 6.5% of -- up to 17%. the idea was to stop the currency plummeting. it did not work. we saw it plunge by another 11% on tuesday. then relearned learned the finance ministry, too, was also taking part in trying to prop up the currency by spending is growing the -- foreign currency

reserves, up to $9 billion. the russian authorities trying to prop up that amount of money but it's really a very serious change in their currency value. vladimir putin spoke at length during the press conference about this. he said it caused a hardship, but said that the central bank and the government had the situation under control. he said the measures they have taken were adequate to try to combat this move in the value of the currency. what is interesting, of course is that as they -- as he was speaking, the currency had started going down again on some of the rally that we had seen. it will be interesting to see how the ruble situation evolves as the days and weeks go on. let's take a look at the stock market. the russian stock market was very impressed with what vladimir putin had to tell them today. it started out the day of over 1%, but has gained significantly since then, as you can see. the markets up 6% in trading.

across europe, a positive day in the markets. a lot of it has to do do with what federal reserve chair janet ye