our correspondent jim miklaszewski live with the details on this, jim, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian, the u.s. has not released this latest video, the first proof in three years that army sergeant bowe bergdahl is still alive. now, bergdahl was an army first class or was a private first class when he was abducted in afghanistan nearly five years ago. it is still believed that he is being held by the haqqani terrorists in pakistan, his cap tors released a first video showing him fit and well fed. but u.s. officials say in the latest video he appeared frail and shaken. as proof of life he made references to nelson mandela in south africa. his family in sun valley, idaho is happy about the news and in a statement told bergdahl himself to remain strong, your endurance will carry you to the finish line, breathe. now, there is no indication that this video means that bergdahl will be freed any time soon. but late tonight, bergdahl's father told nbc news that his family has never lost hope. >> jim miklaszewski, thank you, at the pentagon for us tonight, jim, thank you. >>> th

jim miklaszewski, nbc news, the pentagon. >>> another blast of frigid air is sweeping through the northern part of the country tonight, and it brought blizzard conditions to parts of minnesota today, closing roads and schools. this same storm was being felt in the dakotas after it whipped across montana with fierce winds, and it caused a big pileup in south dakota. now tonight it's all moving east. >>> still ahead tonight, trading places. one of the most important conversations a family can have. tonight, dr. nancy snyderman shows us how it transpired with her parents. >>> and later, the pre-dawn oscar announcements this morning and all the folks who thought there must be some mistake. >>> tonight here, we are re-visiting an occasional series of reports we first brought you years back, called trading places. its stories of our own correspondents who are serving as caregivers for their own aging parents. well, tonight, our chief medical editor dr. nancy snyderman tells a very personal story about the two parents who raised her, and an important conversation that had to happen as they entere

with me to sort it out, jim miklaszewski, and eamon who has spent many years covering the middle east for us. thank you for being on the program. >> you bet. >> mik, is there any role the u.s. has, even under the radar, in iraq and fallujah, and considering the massive american losses ten years ago to secure that city, what is going on in the halls of the pentagon right now? is there some consternation about this, that this may have been in vain? >> certainly, there's no immediate combat role in iraq, as second of state kerry said. nobody is even considering the possibility of putting u.s. boots back on the ground there in iraq. it's important to remember, though, given the protests of senators mccain and graham that, you know, when the u.s. was bargaining or negotiating with iraq to keep some trainers and advisors there in iraq after the vast majority of troops withdrew, it was clear that president obama, his administration had no intention of keeping anybody in iraq, any combat forces. right now, there are only 200 u.s. american military, but they're all confined to the embassy ther

here with us from the pentagon we have msnbc chief pentagon corporate jim miklaszewski with the latestaq. jim? >> reporter: overnight for the first time iraqi forces have launched a concerted effort to retake the town of fallujah. that was seized by al qaeda-linked militants and rebels over the weekend. now, fallujah was considered so important to the war in iraq that american forces launched two major assaults on the city to take it back from militants. they were bloody and costly for americans. 146 americans were killed in those two separate attacks, but as of this morning, those -- the town of fallujah and ramadi in the anbar province are both under control of militants. now, over the weekend, secretary of state john kerry said the idea of putting american forces back on the ground in iraq to help the iraqis take back fallujah was out of the question. instead, they are going to try to provide some aid to the iraqi military to take back those towns, including speeding up delivery of hell-fired missiles and some surveillance drones. but at least as far as two republican senators are c

nbc's jim miklaszewski has the story from the pentagon. jim, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. their jobs in the military could not be more critical. after all, they're the ones who have their fingers on the nuclear triggers. now, 34 of those nuclear missile launch officers are being investigated for possible cheating on an exam. these are the very proficiency exams that they have to take every month to prove that they're up to the job. according to air force officials, at least one of these nuclear launch officers is accused of taking the results, the answers to the questions in an upcoming exam and distributing those to more than three dozen other officers at the air force base in montana. these are not the only recent problems that the air force has had. recently they had to fire a general for a drunken episode inside moscow. this cheating exam itself was only uncovered because the air force was already investigating these missile launch officers for illegal drug possession, savannah. >> plot thickens. jim miklasz

nbc's jim miklaszewski has the latest. good morning. >> good morning, natalie, u.s.ilitary and intelligence officials are not commenting on this story which first appeared in today's "new york times." it's well understood that the u.s. is constantly launching cyber attacks against friends and foes alike worldwide. in this case, it's revealed that tiny transmitters have been implanted in the computer systems of over 100,000 computer systems worldwide. and the way they work, many of these transmitters are implanted in the computers at manufacturing. but they can also be implanted in the plug-ins for the usb cords, the same kind of usb cords that many of you use every day. now, according to u.s. military officials, these attacks have occurred not only against the chinese military but some friends including european trading partners and saudi arabia. but the fact these tiny transmitters can be planted in these plugs indicates there's going to be a rush to go out and replace many of these usb cords on computer systems worldwide today, natalie. >> i can only imagine. jim m

>> jim miklaszewski at the pentagon. thank you. >>> weather may be to blame for a fiery plane crash in aspen, colorado, sunday that killed a pilot and injured two others who were also pilots. the twin-engine private jet slipped and then burst into flames as it tried to land at the airport. officials say all three people who were on board were from mexico. winds were gusting up to 35 miles per hour at the time of the crash. >>> former nba star dennis rodman is once again back in north korea. rodman arrived in pyongyang this morning. he and other former nba players are scheduled to take part in an exhibition game to celebrate kim jong-un's 30th birthday. rodman says his goal is to form a connection between the united states and north korea. >> not every country on the planet's that bad. especially north korea. people say so many negative things about north korea. i want people, the world to see it's not that bad. >> well, north korea's human rights record, though, has been described as one of the world's worst by north kor

i'll tell you what -- i go back to what jim miklaszewski told me.his was at the end of landry's career. he walked and standing by tom landry and landry said this isn't how football was when i began. they are too fast, too big, they all get hurt. think about light years. the violence has advanced light years. they don't have, you know, a steroid policy, so to speak. they let these guys bulk up, run too fast. willie you say every collision is like a car accident. >> on field level it's scary. >> i've been there for concussions and practice where it takes your breath away how hard they hit each other. >> these retired players one story after another. having an impact. at some point -- i saw some high school kids out prague and i guess they have a protective dome over the helmet itself. >> they talked to dr. oz who is one of my favorites. he made this bold statement, i am letting my son play football. it was like, wow, you're kidding me. because i know so many parents who would not. and would be horrified to hear a doctor thinks it's okay. they want lac

i wanted to be this jim miklaszewski center and i think it's the mika talker.omcast technology center is its nickname. my name will be on the granite of the cornerstone. standing at 1,121 feet tall. the project will house a new four seasons hotel and bring in jobs to the city. >>> dallas morning news. jcpenney announced plans to cut 3,000 jobs and have a savings of $6565 million a year for the company. they have had revenue declines under the former ceo ron johnson who was pushed out last april. the stores are expected to close by may. >>> from "the san francisco chronicle." apple will refund nearly $33 million to children who made purchases from their parents's phones without the parents consent. children were racking up thousands of dollars worth of charges while playing games or using apps. the ftc will evaluate cases after the class action suit was filed. >> one of those games is my 8-year-old's favorite game too. >> which one? >> the pet one. i think there is this pet one. i dread to think how much money she has been racking up but i have to go home and ch