eamon javers has more from havana. >> reporter: a small group of american tourists watched obama's speech on live television from a most unlikely location right in the heart of castro's cuba. >> it's an ironic experience to be in cuba and have cuba in the basement of the hotel nationale and watching obama's state of the union. i love it. >> reporter: people are watching in havana and wanting to burst into a flood after the obama administration opened up a total of 12 categories of travelers allowed to the isolated islands. >> when what you're doing doesn't work for 50 years, it's time to try something new. and our ship in cuba policy has the potential to end the mistrust in our hemisphere. >> reporter: wednesday, american diplomats arrived inavana to begin historic talks with their counterparts. the american delegation is led by roberta jacobson who becomes the first assistant secretary of state. this is the russian ship victor leeonov. arrived in havana harbor as the u.s. delegation was getting set to come here to havana. the russians say nothing meant by this just ordinary naval operati

eamon javers has more from havana. >> reporter: a historic day here in havana as the highest level of american delegation arrives on the island in 38 years. they're talking about normalization of relations between cuba and the united states and possibly reopening the u.s. embassy which was closed in the early 1960s. so far, we've seen positive statements from both the cuban side and from the u.s. side. the cubans spoke on camera a bit on what they had to say. >> the talks had been carried out in a very respectful flexible environmental way. i would foresee that we continue to work in the same spirit. >> this first round of talks has been a positive and productive dialogue. we just got real and concrete terms, the required steps for the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between our countries. >> reporter: as you might expect fairly positive and upbeat signal from both sides here but fairly vague on the specifics of what exactly has been agreed to as of now. one of the big issues of course in the u.s. for people coming to cuba has been what if anything are you allowed to bring bac

in havana i'm eamon javers for "nightly business report." >>> still ahead, millions of families use 529 plans to save for college but the president has a proposal to change them. could end up costing you. >>> millions of families use 529 plans to save for college. one of the reasons they're so popular? tax savings. currently, earnings are not taxed as long as the funds are used to pay for college expenses but the president is proposing to eliminate that tax benefit. today, white house press secretary josh earnest said the plan is part of bigger reforms. >> the reforms the president proposed for the 529 program are reforms that he would consider only in the context of the other education reforms he put forward and when you consider that entire package of reforms, the tax cut that we're looking at middle class families is $50 billion. >> john harwood is in washington with more on this proposal and why is the president pushing this? this is a very popular instrument for people of all different economic brackets john? >> reporter: well the president is trying to target federal resources to

eamon javers has some more breaking news. eamon. >> if you go to the @centcom county on twitter, you'll see the u.s. central command's account on twitter has been hacked by isis or isis sympathizers. that account has been spewing isis-related propaganda here for the last little while today. nbc news's jim miklaszewski over at the pentagon says that the pentagon officials say the centcom account has clearly been hacked. it's not clear the extent of this hack, whether it was just a hack of this twitter account or whether there's some broader problem here for the pentagon. typically, when we've seen these things in the past, it's just been the twitter account. whoever who has taken control of this account right now is posting a series of documents and other things. not clear if those are classified or sensitive or whether they were just in the public domain, on the web available anyway. but something to monitor as we go through the afternoon. >> and it comes a to the very moments that the president is speaking about cybersecurity

we will be going to washington to our eamon javers right here., everybody, with some breaking news. what's going on eamon? >> hi kelly. that's right. nbc news capitol hill producer alexm oe is reporting paul ryan who ran for vice president back in 2012 is saying he is not going to be a candidate for president in 2016. paul ryan telling this to nbc news in a phone interview saying it is amazing the amount of encouragement i've gotten from people, from friends and supporters, but i feel like i'm in a position to make a big difference where i am, and i want to do that paul ryan said. now, where is he and what is this big difference he's talking about? well, paul ryan is expected -- or is the incoming chairman of the house ways and means committee, the tax writing committee. this decision by paul ryan so early on in the cycle likely to fuel speculation that he wants to get deeply involved in tax reform which is one of those issue areas where we thought we might be able to see some progress between democrats and republicans this year as republicans ta

eamon javers joins us now. what do we know, eamon? >> it's pretty obvious there for a while, u.s. central command's twitter account and its youtube account were spewing isis-related propaganda for a period of time earlier today. not clear exactly how long centcom lost control of those accounts. they say they are back in control of both of those accounts now and defense officials are telling nbc news that this was embarrassing, but not necessarily a major security concern, because those are public-facing entities. the twitter account and the youtube account are designed to put out information to the public anyway, so nothing classified or sensitive would necessarily have been on there. nonetheless, an embarrassing breach on a day where the president was talking about cybersecurity here in washington. and obviously, in the wake of the attacks in paris and the concerns about isis, propaganda and activity recruiting jihadists over the internet. all a focus of major international intelligence agencies right now. but as we know, right now, those accounts are back under the control of ex

let's head back to cnbc's eamon javers on the ground in havana.ll right now, sir, what do you think we would hear inside that room? >> reporter: i would love to know, craig. know the noises are under way. we know that the cuban delegation arrived first. neither side made a statement so we don't have any clue going into the room and what it is they are going to talk about. we do know generally what the issues are. we do know that the u.s. side wants access for the cubans for the u.s. intrasection here building that the u.s. occupies here on the island that doesn't officially have the status of a u.s. embassy. they want cubans to be able to be in there and want u.s. diplomats to get out and about here on island. no progress yet. we're expecting a statement later on this afternoon. i want to just highlight for you how it's being played in the state-run media. got the local newspaper here. this is called grandma. this is run by the government and named after grandma which is the boat that fidel castro rode. we have this story here about literacy and a

cnbc's eamon javers. we've got a reid alert right now. this is from yemen, where officials say that country's president and his cabinet have all resigned after days of escalating violence at the hands of yemeni rebels. presidential officials say that the yemeni president, who's a close u.s. ally, resigned after being pressured to make further concessions to the rebels. yemen's president has agreed to some political concessions. he did that yesterday after his residence and presidential palace came under attack. >>> now to a suspicious death at the navy base at guantanamo bay. u.s. navy captain john nettleton, the commanding officer at gitmo, has been relieved of duty after allegations he was having an affair with a woman on the base. that woman's husband was recently found dead. nbc news chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski joins me now. how was all of this uncovered? >> even for the u.s. navy this is really a strange case. this is about two weeks ago when the body of a civilian employee at the u.s. navy base at guantanamo was fo

jane, thank you very much. >>> back to the still-developing story with eamon javers on centcom having its twitter feed hacked. eamon, what more do we know? >> reporter: as of right now, sue, we know that jim miklaszewski has been talking to defense officials at the pentagon and they told him that neither the twitter or youtube counties that centcom operates are classified and take a look at some of these documents that have been posted and say there's no security threat from those documents right now. what they're saying is that this is embarrassing but not a security threat to the pentagon. a lot of the documents that have been posted there apparently were in the public domain. nonetheless, a little bit spooky to see that @centcom account hacked on twitter, with messages like, "american soldiers we are coming, watch your backs." >> absolutely incredibly disturbing and, i think, unnerving for average americans who really wonder how they got in there and why there's some material that's on that site. it's just a very disturbing story. >> reporter: and sue, when you talk about identity

for "nightly business report," i'm eamon javers in new york. >>> solid growthchisefranchisees but hurdle for growth. that story next. >>> look for more auto recalls in 2015. that's what the head of the national traffic safety administrati e after millions of recalls last year with faulty ignition switches and other problems drivers and car owners are much more aware of design flaws and safety issues with their cars. >> and more alert to safety issues concerning their health that apparently thanks to the affordable care act health insurance exchanges and to expanded medicaid coverage. a new gallup poll said the share of americans without health insurance dips below 13% at the end of last year. a steep drop for more than 17% the year before. in the meantime just today, as of january 1, 6.6 million people selected a health plan through healthcare.gov marketplace. >>> good news about small business hiring. the national federation of independent businesses. picked up in december and new workers. >> another area that's expected to see a lot of growth during the next year is franchising. kate r

eamon javers is down there with 100 bucks. you just got a big bump in miles. so this is a great opportunity for an upgrade. sound good? great. because you're not you you're a whole airline... and it's not a ticket you're upgrading it's your entire operations, from domestic to international... which means you need help from a whole team of advisors. from workforce strategies to tech solutions and a thousand other things. so you call pwc. the right people to get the extraordinary done. ♪ ♪ who do you work for? your boss? yourself? your family? our financial advisors are free to realize a plan to fit your family's unique needs. we'll listen. we'll talk. we'll plan. baird. >>> welcome back. 250 point rally on the dow today. this after the european central bank became the latest to pursue quantitative easing. the markets are marking it up right now. 1.5% gains across the board. there is the heat map. a lot of green. >> u.s. as we know and cuba holding high level talks to restore diplomatic ties that we haven't had in more than 50 years. >> and eamon javers is on sp

eamon javers joins me now. it's interesting that some of the representatives that met with jacobson disagreed with the president's policy of opening up. they think it is in the framework as she just told me of the rewarding cuba for not -- >> that's the same -- >> not producing progress on human rights. human rights is defined differently by the cuban. >> not just an issue of lost in translation, but diplomatic translation what exactly you're talking about. you hear the same sentiment among cubans in miami, that a lot of this is rewarding the castros and you've heard that from some republicans on capitol hill as well. there is say little concern when you talk to the average cubans on the street in havana as we've done this week that some of this opening up of the u.s. will sort of deluge havana and they are not ready for it in terms of every day practical things like infratrukt infrastra tukt. there's real practical concerns and diplomatic concerns about all of this. >> despite the fact that the talked conclude

eamon javers joins us from washington. what is the answer to that question? is a good question, and basically what centcom and the other elements of the u.s. military is going on twitter is the same thing the rest of us is doing on twitter is trying to draw attention to ourselves. if you look at the tweets that centcom has put out, it's a stream of good news from centcom's perspective about what it's accomplishing in the world, particularly in the fight against isis or isil as they call it. this tweet is though we're back. that's the tweet they put out after this hacking incident yesterday once it regained control of their twitter account. the office of the secretary of defense says that they have now switched the passwords to the 50 social media accounts they control. there are thousands of these overall throughout the military though, guys, and the problem for the military here is not that they lost classified information in this attack, but this is a short-term small pr win here for isis which has been really savvy in its use of social media to try to reac

eamon javers live in havana with more on what they're hoping to accomplish. morning. historic moments here in havana. a short while ago with the arrival of the american delegation, we just got video in of their arrival this morning. it is the highest-ranking delegation to arrive in cuba in 38 years. they're going to talk about the future of the bilateral relationship between the two countries, so at odds over the years. this, just a day after president obama called on congress during his state of the union address to reform the embargo against this nation. take a listen to the president speaking last night. >> what you're doing doesn't work for 50 years, it's time to try something new. and our shift in cuba policy has potential to end a legacy of mistrust in our hemisphere. >> reporter: we had a chance last night to go to historic hotel here it's a hotel that was once owned by american gangsters. it featured in the cuban revolution castro's picture all over the place. we talked to american tourists at that hotel about their reaction, as they watched the state

with eamon javers in washington. >> just a few moments ago white house press secretary was briefing reporters at the white house and issued veto threat against the keystone pipeline bill. there had been doubt about whether or not the president would sign a keystone pipeline bill if passed by congress. josh earnest saying if it is passed the president will not sign it. that is going to be one of the first orders of business of the new republican united states senate which is being sworn in today. clearly the white house has decided it is in their political best interest not to sign this bill. part of the calculation that will go into that of course is the crash that was seen in oil and gas prices. that boosts the president's political position here in making the calculation shat he would veto the pipeline. >> that is going to be an interesting fight down on the hill. >>> ford is pushing investment in connectivity with new platforms that will keep not only ford drivers connected behind the wheel. phil lebeau is live in las vegas with details on that. >> you know it's not only about connectivity

eamon javers is live with details. hey, eamon. >> hi, carl.hat we're looking at right now is live pictures of a news conference by robert ta jakobsson, assistant secretary of state and highest-ranking official to come to cuba in 38 years. wrapped up a series of talks with her cuban counterparts on a range of issues from how the two can handle oil spills offshore to how they'll both handle ebola if it makes its way to his part of the world. what we're expecting to see in the press conference some indication of what was achieved during these talks, if they've come up with a time frame for additional talks, time fame frame to reopen as u.s. embassy here. remember the embassy here was closed back in the 1960s and has not reopened since. also whether the cubans will be reopening their embassy in washington. a lot of talking points here ha we're going to be watching for, but both sides going into this have said that they've seen encouraging signs throughout the past couple days here. so positive noises and we'll see if there are any specifics here c

eamon javers in washington with more on that. >> that's right.mney is telling folks he will not run for president in 2016. that puts the end to a little boom that we've had here of mitt romney news. a lot of people speculating he might run and this morning, we heard that he was convening a conference call at 11:00 a.m. for his close supporters to tell them what his decision has been. nbc news is learning that the decision is not to run. that will clear the field now in the republican -- on she republican side for jeb bush of florida to make his move. they were pulling from the same group of donors and particularly staffers. we saw the key romney aide from iowa report to the bush camp earlier this week. that was a key defection. carl clearly mitt romney now clearing the way, jeb bush looks to be the big winner of this decision this morning. >> all right. thanks very much. maybe ann romney got her way when she said, no no no. thank you. more on amazon google apple, big movers in today's sessions. "squawk alley" all over it. we're back in two. good

eamon javers a stepping in with that. >> just within the past hour, u.s.ls have announced charges against three alleged russian spies active in the new york area. the government officials are saying that two of them were posing as russian diplomats but were actually russian intelligence offers. one of them was what they call a knock, a nonofficial cover person. this person allegedly posing as an employee of a russian bank. what they were interested in here in the united states though is not clear. the press release on this gives some of the details but it's a little bit vague. saying that they were recruiting young women at a new york university, also saying that they were targeting a consultant in new york and also saying that they were asking questions at one point about the new york stock exchange itself, not clear at all what their questions were about the new york stock exchange. i have been e-mailing with some fbi officials just over the past half hour and they're all staying pretty buttoned up about this, just sticking to what's in the press release

eamon javers, what's happening?ontrolled senate just passed that keystone xl pipeline bill. the measure passed 62-36 here. two senators not voting today. obviously, republicans backing in control in the united states senate. this is a big priority for them up there. we're going to have to wait and see now whether they're going to reconcile this with the house bill or simply send this one along to the president of the united states. ultimately, though it's expected that president obama would vito a keystone bill. sol all of this might be sort of a political exercise at this point. but republicans putting a marker down saying, they're now in control in the united states senate. >> yeah, we were watching to see if they would get 67. eamonn thank you very much for that. meanwhile, our julia boorstin is digging a little bit deeper into those amazon results we're just getting. julia, what else are you seeing request m >>m? >> a lot of people are very interested in amazon prime. a lot of investors were hoping to get a tota

eamon javers joins us with this russian spy ring. >> that's right.e svr, that's the successor to the kgb in russia. they arrested one man in the bronx and the other two were posing as diplomats and were able to leaf the country. the one arrested was arrested in the bronx yesterday. it's not clear what they were doing but it appears they were focused on economic intelligence gathering in the new york area. and one area that's raising a little bit of concern is this exchange that was released from an audiotape made by the fbi of these alleged russian agents when obviously they weren't aware the fbi was listening. and they're talking here about questions to the new york stock exchange. they are working with a news organization that a u.s. government official tells me was tass. look at this exchange here. agent number one said well i thought about it. i don't know whether it will work for you but you can ask about etfe exchange. agent two says yes i got it. agent one, how they are used. the mechanisms of use for destabilization of the markets. agent numb