The king inherits a long list of challenges from iran to yemen to isis and a whole lot more. Speaking of isis the fate of two japanese men held hostage by the terror group is uncertain. The deadline for japan to pay 200 million ransom has come and gone. Isis threatens to kill the men if japan doesnt pay. And theyre now facing their own major troubles. Yemens president resigned after the Prime Minister and entire cabinet stepped down. Still not clear who will take charge. The u. S. Has reduced their personnel staff in the embassy because of all the concerns. Here with us our chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto, and researchers and cnn Business CorrespondentRichard Quest whos joining us from davos, switzerland. Jim, let me start with you. The resignations in yemen. There were drone strikes against al qaeda terrorists in yemen. Thats going to be much more difficult. This former government a very close ally public ally. President hadi would make public statements on the Drone Campaign which is difficult for a leader in the region to do. So the loss of that friendship, assuming he stays out of government that would be a loss. That said the drone operation can operate independently if the u. S. Believes theres a danger there. But it will strike and it we receive that before when weve had less cooperative leaders in place there, but of course you want cooperation on the ground. President obama said it cited yemen as a success story. But that u. S. Drone campaign relied heavily on cooperation from the Yemeni Government for intelligence, for information, on who was where. They had good assets in that part of the country. Yes, however there were some mistakes that were taken place, some intelligence that the government decided were not accurate. And the yus wound up killing innocent people . Yes. It seems the information they got was not that reliable considering the government that just resigned didnt have influence all over yemen. So what happens next . Whats going on . Youre well plucked in over there. They handed over the parliament. The majority of this parliament belongs to the Political Party which is the peoples general congress. However it doesnt seem that thats the case right now. The houthi Rebel Movement wants hadi in place. They dont want to accept his governments resignation and overall it seems its going to take a period of three months to have new elections and see who the president will be. For the team being the houthis are in charge. It seems like that. Theyre in charge on the ground but legally speaking the Vice President should be in charge. President hadi did not have a Vice President. So legally speaking the speaker of the parliament would be next in line but that doesnt seem to be the case. Lets go to davos, switzerland, Richard Quest, our man on the scene. Lets talk about saudi arabia the death of King Abdullah richard. This is a Major Development obviously. You spoke, i understand with the secretary of state john kerry. What about the reaction over there at the World Economic forum which youre covering . Reporter well john kerry was leaving after giving his speech and i managed to grab a sentence from him. I asked him if he saw any difference, anything changing in u. S. saudi arrangements and he said no not at all, not from the conversations i had, he didnt see any change. That seems to be the view of many people here because they knew that King Abdullah had been ill and infirm for some time. The brother had been running things for quite some time. The king has moved very quickly, wolf to put in some of his own people for example, as chief of staff, head of security. But crucially he has left the existing ministers in place. Now, this is all very good but you know very well wolf what can happen in the first few days is People Choose to test the vacuum that might exist, and thats why we saw a spike in Oil Prices Just a small one, wolf but a spike in oil prices. The transition looked smooth but theres little doubt that it will be tested. The saudis clearly, jim, theyre critical allies of the United States in a whole host of areas including oil for that matter but the president is now planning on going to pay his respects personally to saudi arabia, is that right . Thats right. Its going to be the Vice President , Vice President biden. He didnt go to funeral. Typically the funeral happens in 24 hours, but its a smaller funeral, just leaders in the region. But Vice President biden will be going to pay his respects. The saudis hate the shiites. They didnt like the shiite uprising that took place. Thats right. Now it seems with the change we have to sit and see whether salman is going to be hard core or not. It doesnt seem that way but its too soon to speak. Thanks, guys very very much. A rare one on one. I sit down with the secretary of state Roberta Jacobson. Shes in havana. Shes leading the delegation right now. I asked her weather the Obama Administration is ready to remove cuba from it. Even some resistance from some leading democrats but we talk about that russian spyship in havana that all of a sudden appeared. If you have moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis like me and youre talking to your rheumatologist about a biologic. This is humira. This is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. This is humira giving me new perspective. Doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. Humira works for many adults. It targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. 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After more than 50 years of animosity animosity, delegates from the United States and cuba have taken the first historic steps now to reestablish relations. It comes after last months dramatic announcement by president obama and the cuban president raul castro that the countries would restore full diplomatic ties. In many parts of latin america theres still a long long way to go. Just a little while ago, i spoke with the u. S. Assistant secretary of state for western hemispheric affairs. And joining us now, the assistant secretary of state Roberta Jacobson. Roberta, thanks very much for joining us. I know youve about had a lot going on in havana these past few days but, kwukly i understand you had a chance to meet with some cuban dissidents earlier today. What did they have to say to you . What was their message . Well i think, wolf their message overall was one of unity in being firm in their desire for democracy and human rights in cuba. And even where there may be a diversity of views on the u. S. Policy they were unified in their belief that there needs to be change in cuba to empower them as political actors and to bring greater freedom to cuba. Are they happy president obama made this historic decision to normalize relations with cuba . Well there was a diversity of views, as i said. Some of them support the measures, some of them dont necessarily believe this is the best way to go. But overall it was a really positive conversation in that theres nothing like hearing from people themselves on the ground incredibly brave and valiant people who have struggled, many of them for years, been in and out of prison what their changes are and how we can Work Together in the future. These first round of talks, i understand they went well according to you. How much how much more time is necessary, do you believe, before there will be full diplomatic relations between the United States and cuba, u. S. Embassy, and Cuban Embassy in washington and exchange of ambassadors . Well, i think the talks went well in the sense that you had these first conversations, and most importantly, both sides were able to put on the table what their needs were what their requirements were, and the full range of agenda, but it is going to take more conversations. We think its critically important that the cuban people have free access without cuban officials taking down names of those who enter our embassy. We think its critical that our personnel be allowed to travel more freely around cuba. The cuban government has things that they want to get resolved. So i would say that it will take some time for us to work this part of things out. I dont have an exact time frame. But, remember that opening embassies is part of opening it. But well move as quickly as we can and obviously both sides have to agree to the opening of embassies. But youre talking about months not years, right . Oh certainly, certainly. So in the next several months. When is the next round of negotiations the next round of talks . Well we havent fixed a date yet, but we would hope that they can occur in the next couple of weeks. We certainly would like to do so. I think theres a desire certainly on the part of the u. S. Administration to have these conversations as quickly as possible. You certainly saw with the president s announcement and then the publication of the regulations by treasury and commerce within a month that we are moving quite quickly. Thats a reflection of the commitment and the urgency that we feel and we hope the cuban government feels the same. Have you invited the cuban diplomats to s tos to come to washington for the next round of talks . We have invited them to washington, but we still have to work on date. As you know theres a lot of opposition a bunch of republicans and some democrats as well dont like this normalization of relations with the communist regime of castro in cuba. Senator marco rubio has told me on a few occasions hell block any funding or try to block any funding for an embassy in havana. Hell vote to reject, not to confirm or impose any u. S. Ambassador to cuba. What do you say to these critics . Well i think that we certainly urchs that there are criticisms. The president took actions that are fully in his power to take and the power of the executive branch and the executive branchs pursue and will continue to implement changes within the executive branch purview. There are obviously things that will need to be done in consultation with congress. We will continue to have those consultations. There are many members of congress who have been supportive of the change in policy. We will have conversations with both sides both sides of the aisle, both chambers and with opponents and supporters but we will be able to move forward on diplomatic relations, for example, which are within the purview of the president. And then if there are things we need to move forward with such as the confirmation of an ambassador which obviously requires the advice and consent o of the senate well do so. Thats all part of the process and we hope to convince them that our ends and our goals remain the same and that the past 50 years have proven to us that the previous policy did not work but that, frankly neither do we have any illusions about rapid change with this government in cuba. I also asked the assistant secretary of state Roberta Jacobson whether obama is ready to remove those responsible for terrorism. Stand by. Also we spoke about the new russian spy ship thats now docked in havana. What is it doing there . She weighs in on that and a whole lot more. Thats coming up. Plus new information. Awe poreful prosecutor is found dead just hours before he was to testify in a highprofile terror case. It sounds like a hollywood script. Its very real and its playing out right now in argentina. 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When it is timely when it is appropriate, i look forward to traveling to cuba in order to formally open an embassy and begin to move forward. Do you think that were all months away from that . I think i think nobody says that better than my boss and he used the words timely and appropriate. He knows better than anybody that when you have to move forward on something that has to overcome 50 years of distrust and difficulty its not easy and that it has to be something done by mutual consent. So neither of us has unrealistic expectations. We certainly dont anticipate that this will take years to get done, but its very difficult to put a precise date on it because it depends not only upon us and how quickly we can get things done but also upon the cuban government which has not always moved swiftly in response to thinks that we would like to get done. So weve just had our first round of conversations, and ive learned over the years to predict how quickly things will go is sometimes not the best not the smartest move. As you know, the cubans they want the state department to remove cuba from the lit of statesponsored terrorist countries. Are you ready to do so . What we are doing is what the president asked the secretary of state to do which is to review the designation of cuba on the States States statesponsored terrorist list and review it with him in six months. We began that process immediately after the president s announcement and we will continue that process without prejudging outcome of it. We did hear from the cubans their request that they be removed from that list and we told them what im telling you, which is weve begun that process. We dont know exactly what the outcome will be, but we will do it as quickly as possible understanding that it is both important to them but more importantly has been requested by the president and by my boss the secretary of state. One final question. This russian spy ship that docked in havana earlier this week whats going on here . Well what i can tell you, wolf, is that you know i have no information on why that ship is here. It is certainly something that we have seen before in the past. The fact that cuba has a relationship with russia of longstanding is not exactly news but i dont know the particular reason that its here right now, so i couldnt really comment on the particular timing of it or why theyre here. But it is something that has occurred in the past. Roberta jacobson is the assistant secretary of state for the western hemisphere. Thanks very much for joining us. Thank you, wolf. Up next protesters take to the streets of yemen. 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