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Cuba has released all of the 53 dissidents it had promised to free as part of a historic deal last month to begin re-establishing diplomatic ties with the U.S., an American official said today.

"We welcome this very positive development and are pleased that the Cuban Government followed through on this commitment," a senior administration official said in an email.

On Dec. 17, President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced a reset of the countries' historically hostile relations. As we reported, U.S. officials said both nations would normalize banking and trade, and that the U.S. would ease travel restrictions and limits on imports and exports. The agreement included a swap of jailed intelligence assets and the release of former USAID subcontractor Alan Gross.

Cuba also agreed at the time to release 53 detainees regarded as political prisoners by the U.S.

NPR's Michele Kelemen tells our Newscast unit that "the U.S. Interests Section — which is expected to be upgraded to an embassy as relations improve — confirmed the releases of the 53 political prisoners. The U.S. says they were individuals jailed for promoting political and social reforms on the island."

There has been intense secrecy over the names of the prisoners, which the U.S. has not yet made public. Earlier today, Reuters reported that the White House will provide the names of all 53 to Congress and expects lawmakers to make them public, the officials added."

U.S. officials say they would pressure Cuba to free more dissidents. Cuba's government has denied the existence of political prisoners, saying they are in fact U.S.-paid mercenaries.

News that all 53 dissidents have been freed comes ahead of U.S.-Cuba talks set to take place next week and cover topics from investment to immigration. Michele notes that Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson will lead the U.S. delegation — and become the highest ranking U.S. official to travel to Cuba in decades.

Alan Gross

Raul Castro

President Barack Obama

Cuba

In a speech today at an elementary school in Washington, D.C., Education Secretary Arne Duncan laid out the president's position as the nation's largest federal education law moves on a "fast track" toward reauthorization.

According to his prepared remarks, Duncan called the 13-year-old No Child Left Behind law "tired" and "prescriptive." Nevertheless, he declared that the central requirement of No Child Left Behind should stand: annual, mandated statewide assessments in grades 3-8 plus once in high school.

Some Republicans in Congress have been discussing the idea of reducing or eliminating testing requirements.

In his speech Duncan invoked famous phrases used by both President Obama and President George W. Bush, the latter of whom introduced those requirements.

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What Schools Could Use Instead Of Standardized Tests

"This country can't afford to replace 'the fierce urgency of now,' " he said, "with the soft bigotry of, 'It's optional.' "

Duncan acknowledged that high-stakes accountability testing is one of the "hardest topics" in the nation's education debate. He called, as he has previously, for action on the state and district level to cut back on "redundant" and "unnecessary" additional tests.

He also said the federal government will request funding to improve the quality of tests, beyond the $360 million already spent to create Common Core-aligned PARCC and Smarter Balanced tests. And he wants student test scores to be included in teacher evaluations, as part of a "multiple measures" system.

The Senate education committee is scheduled to hold a hearing specifically addressing testing on Jan. 20, the same day as President Obama's State of the Union speech.

Among other notable points in Duncan's speech today were:

The President's budget request will include $2.7 billion in increased education spending. Of that, $1 billion will be designated for high-needs Title I schools.

A renewed call for expanded access to preschool.

A call for distributing funding more equitably among public schools in high- and low-income areas. According to a 2014 report, in 19 states high-poverty districts receive less state and local funding than low-poverty districts.

Imagine this: You just got home from work and, instead of doing the usual kale salad and lean steak for dinner, you grab a bag of chips and lie down in bed.

The sensors — in your cabinets, in your room, on your wrist — can tell that you're not yourself. The data across devices can talk to each other and infer: You're sad. And so, out pops an alert to recommend a movie to lift your mood. Or a latte at just the right strength.

I haven't seen this smart home at the International Consumer Electronics Show, which wrapped up Friday in Las Vegas. But that's the vision industry leaders are selling.

The words "predictive" and "actionable" are the new buzzwords as companies try to figure out how to sell us smart things. So far — aside from some hits like the Nest thermostat — consumers are not lining up to buy and according to Gartner, these products are at the peak of a hype cycle.

Last year, industry leaders talked about making things pretty. This year, it's about making things super-smart — a strategy that toys with and tests our appetite for privacy.

All this brought up a few questions:

What are the predictive, actionable products at CES?

There's a huge range. It's a movement!

In his keynote speech, Ford CEO Mark Fields talked about using car sensors to build profiles on drivers. He clarified that customers would own their data and opt in, if they so choose. And Fields added, "if we use that data, we need to ensure that customers are receiving services or features that they find valuable." Like, get a lower insurance rate.

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Self-Tracking Gadgets That Play Doctor Abound At CES

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When It Comes To Smartphones, Are Americans Dumb?

Privacy, Security Focal Points At CES

Big Ass Fans has a ceiling fan that, the company claims, can learn the owner's comfort preferences over time and adjust speed accordingly. So, just integrate with your body tracker by Jawbone and, when you're sleeping and chilly, no need to look for that remote.

In Whirlpool's interactive kitchen of the future, a smart vessel in the refrigerator would integrate with the cooktop and backsplash to tell you what ingredients are in the fridge and help forge recipes. You could also track last-minute guests via GPS.

Do I want the consumer tech industry to sell me tracking as a service?

Privacy and security are both issues. During a keynote, Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez pushed back on industry players who are designing products that stockpile data.

"I question the notion that we must put sensitive consumer data at risk on the off-chance a company might someday discover a valuable use for the information," she said.

And Ramirez said while customers hear that the data is anonymized, that promise isn't perfect. "There is always the possibility that ostensibly anonymized data can be re-identified," she said. Ramirez says the best practices for tech products and for regulators is still a work in progress.

And that's all happening while cyberattacks are on the rise.

Is there a consumer market for privacy?

First off, it could be that the privacy concern — heightened in the post-Snowden era — is what's stopping people from buying a lot of smart devices. A study on the wearables industry by L2 indicates that's the case.

But in terms of products that explicitly market to the privacy-conscious consumer, I didn't see a glut. I did check out a smartwatch from GoldKey that can make encrypted phone calls.

Consumer Electronics Show

A video has surfaced of the now-dead suspect in the attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris claiming allegiance to the self-declared Islamic State.

In the video, what appears to be Amedy Coulibaly, 32, is seen seated next to a Kalashnikov rifle with the symbol of the Islamic State behind him. He is wearing a white tunic and bandana.

The respected SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors terrorist activity, says it has authenticated the video.

"I am pledging my allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims, Abu Bakr al Bagdadi," he says, referring to the self-declared leader of ISIS. The video, apparently filmed sometime between Wednesday's attack on the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and the Friday siege of the supermarket.

Words on the screen in French ask: "Are you linked to the brothers who attacked Charlie Hebdo?"

"We are a team, in league together," Coulibaly responds. "I am with the team who did Charlie Hebdo," he says.

During the hostage standoff at the supermarket, Coulibaly also telephoned France's BFMTV television to say that he had coordinated his efforts with the Charlie Hebdo assailants.

One of those alleged assailants, Chrif Kouachi, gave a separate telephone interview to BFMTV before he was killed as police stormed his hideout in a warehouse outside of Paris on Friday.

"I just want to tell you that we are defenders of the Prophet," he said, according to a transcript from The Independent. "I, Chrif Kouachi, was sent by al-Qaeda in Yemen. I was over there. I was financed by Imam Anwar al-Awlaki."

The al-Qaida reference is to the extremist group's Yemeni affiliate, Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP. Al-Awlaki was the leader of that group before he was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011.

Chrif Kouachi and his brother, Said, are believed to have participated in the attack on the magazine.

Meanwhile, unnamed French and Turkish intelligence officials reportedly have said they now believe that a woman, the partner of Coulibaly who was first thought to be a fourth suspect, was in fact outside France when the attacks took place.

France 24 says: "[Police] are still searching for [Coulibaly's] girlfriend, Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, who was identified as his suspected accomplice in the killing of a young female officer in southern Paris on Thursday. However, the police may have been mistaken about Boumeddiene's direct involvement in the shooting as news broke Saturday that she had left France for Turkey on January 2. Investigations are underway to check if she might have crossed the border into Syria on January 8."

AQAP

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Charlie Hebdo

France