U.S. stock futures are slightly down this morning after a stellar showing Monday. Both the S&P 500 index and Dow Jones industrial average set records, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed above 5,000 for only the third time since the dot-com bubble of 2000.

European shares are largely flat in trading today, while Asian indexes closed mostly lower.

Here’s what else you need to know about today.

1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses Congress.

Netanyahu will take to the floor of Congress this morning at the bequest of Republican leaders. He’s expected to reveal U.S. compromises made in its dealings with Iran in an effort to derail negotiations to curb Iran’s nuclear program. The Israeli Prime Minister fears that any compromise could lead to Israel’s nuclear annihilation. Netanyahu’s relationship with President Obama and the White House has grown increasingly tense as he undermines U.S. efforts to work with the Islamic nation. Secretary of State John Kerry is continuing those negotiations today when he meets with his Iranian counterpart in Geneva.

2. Alibaba in hot water in Taiwan.

Alibaba BABA crossed the line with Taiwanese officials after it violated investment rules by registering its business in Taiwan as a Singaporean entity, thus hiding its Chinese ownership. Alibaba was told to withdraw from the market within six months and fined $3,800. An Alibaba spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that the company set up shop in Taiwan in 2008, before the nation allowed investment by Chinese companies. Alibaba.com’s Singapore unit is a subsidiary of its Cayman Islands-registered Alibaba.com Ltd.

3. Did U.S. auto sales heat up in February?

U.S. auto sales numbers come out today, and analysts anticipate that last month was another good period for carmakers. New car sales could reach almost 1.3 million, an 8% boost compared to February last year, according to auto research company Kelley Blue Book. That would make February the 12th straight month of sales growth. General Motors GM is expected to maintain its lead in the market share battle with Ford F and Toyota TM coming second and third, respectively.

4. Springleaf buys Citigroup’s OneMain.

Subprime lender Springleaf LEAF will shell out $4.25 billion in cash for Citigroup’s consumer finance unit OneMain Financial. OneMain is part of Citi Holdings, the unit Citigroup C created during the financial crisis to hold its unwanted assets. It has been slowly selling or closing the units within Citi Holdings as the bank looks to focus on wealthier clients. OneMain provides small loans for unexpected personal expenses like medical bills or a new washing machine. OneMain will add to Springleaf’s reach with the growing number of non-prime customers.

5. Live from Beijing … it’s Saturday night!

After 40 years on U.S. televisions, “Saturday Night Live” will launch a Chinese version in partnership with Sohu.com, which operates video streaming sites. Sohu.com already streams the U.S. version to its Chinese viewers, but now they will have their very own show featuring comedians and musicians from across China. The deal was struck by Broadway Video Entertainment, a company created by SNL creator Lorne Michaels that also produces such shows as “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Portlandia.”

In an interview with Reuters, Obama also cautioned that it will take more time to fully establish normal relations withCuba after more than a half-century rupture.

“My hope is that we will be able to open an embassy, and that some of the initial groundwork will have been laid” before the April 10-11 Summit of the Americas in Panama City, Obama said.

“Keep in mind that our expectation has never been that we would achieve full normal relations immediately. There’s a lot of work that still has to be done,” he said.

Washington and Havana announced on Dec. 17 that they planned to restore diplomatic relations following 18 months of secret face-to-face talks.

While critics, including some members of Congress, have called the end of U.S. attempts to isolate Cuba a gift to the authoritarian Cuban government, Obama said there are already signs it is prompting Havana to liberalize.

“We are going down a path in which we can open up our relations to Cuba in a way that ultimately will prompt more change in Cuba. And we’re already seeing it,” the U.S. president said.

“The very fact that, since our announcement, the Cuban government has begun to discuss ways in which they are going to reorganize their economy to accommodate for possible foreign investment, that’s already forcing a series of changes that promises to open up more opportunities for entrepreneurs, more transparency in terms of what’s happening in their economy,” he said.

“And that’s always been the premise of this policy; that, after 50 years of a policy that didn’t work, we need to try something new that encourages and ultimately I think forces the Cuban government to engage in a modern economy. And that will create more space for freedom for the Cuban people,” Obama said.

U.S. and Cuban negotiating teams held a second round of talks in Washington on Friday on normalizing ties. Both sides said they had made progress, although they did not set a date for formal renewal of diplomatic relations that the United States severed 54 years ago.

Josefina Vidal, head of the United States division of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, told state media on Sunday thatCuba is willing to restore diplomatic relations as soon as the Obama administration declares its intent to take Cubaoff a list of state sponsors of terrorism.

It was the first time Cuba has said publicly that it is willing to restore relations before it is removed from the list.

Wall Street futures are flat this morning as investors wait to hear what Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has to say when she testifies before the Senate banking committee this morning in her semi-annual report on monetary policy (she’ll appear before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday). Markets are waiting for any indication about when the Fed may raise interest rates. European shares are also flat, although Greek stocks gained 7% in trading on news that a loan extension deal could be near. Asian markets ended the day mostly higher.

Here’s what else you need to know to start your day.

1. Janet Yellen begins her two-day testimony.

Yellen will address lawmakers this morning, while investors listen on carefully for any indication the timing for an interest rate hike this year. A rate increase could come as early as June, even if Yellen and Fed officials don’t remove the “patient” language from their policy statements, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker predicted in an interview with Market News International. The economy has continued to post strong employment gains, small but improving wage growth and new stock market highs. This is all evidence that Yellen may choose to normalize Fed policy soon, though she will seek to assure lawmakers that any interest rate adjustment will be careful and gradual.

2. Greece gets closer.

Greek leaders met the midnight deadline last night to submit a new proposal of economic overhauls in order to secure a four-month extension on its loan agreement. European leaders are reviewing the list to ensure it meets the standards set by the country’s creditors. Greece has agreed to maintain current state-asset sales, consolidate its pension funds to limit costs, and overhaul its tax collection and administration, according to Bloomberg News, which obtained a draft of the list. Eurozone leaders seem to be happier with this round of measures and indicate that it could be sufficient to start wrapping up negotiations, Bloomberg reported.

3. Hewlett-Packard gives investors more info.

HP HP reports its first quarter earnings after the market close today. Investors will be looking for more information on how the company plans to split itself later this year. HP said in October that it would break itself up into two separate companies, one that would focus on personal computing and printing, and another that would capture its corporate business, software, infrastructure and finance units. CEO Meg Whitman is likely to provide more guidance on the split during the conference call today. Investors are particularly interested in how HP plans to divide the amount of cash and debt each company will have.

4. Keystone XL bill hits Obama’s desk.

President Obama has promised to veto the Keystone XL bill if it comes his way -- and it looks like today may be the day. The bill has passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate. A veto, which would be Obama’s third during his time as president, would halt the efforts of Congressional Republicans. The pipeline would connect the oil sands of Canada with refineries on the Gulf Coast, and opponents say it could cause widespread environmental damage. Analysts are predicting that this block could trigger the “veto era” of Obama’s presidency as other issues, such as changes to the Affordable Care Act and new sanctions on Iran, come his way.

5. Europe: Get your iPhones ready.

Visa Europe is beefing up its security features. Visa Europe said it would unveil a “tokenisation” service, which uses random codes for a user’s credit card details when the information is submitted to a merchant. That would reduce worries of online theft and pave the way for services such as Apple Pay. Similar services are used in the U.S. by Visa V (the former parent of Visa Europe), MasterCard MA and American Express AXP , which has led to growing use of mobile payment services.

U.S. stock futures are under pressure this morning after Greek bailout talks stalled late Monday, raising fears ahead of the expiration of Greece's bailout loan later this month. The market worry threatens to dent the market's rally last week that drove the Dow above 18,000 and the broader S&P 500 index to a new record.

Here’s what else you need to know about today.

1. Greek talks stalled, and EU officials set an ultimatum.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis refused to give into European demands as another meeting between Greece and its creditors ended in a deadlock yesterday. EU officials gave Athens an ultimatum, saying they have until Friday to come up with a plan to keep its bailout alive. Greek leaders continue to reject the current bailout agreement without presenting a viable alternative. The EU-Greek aid package runs out at the end of February, and Greece could run out of cash by the end of March.

2. Hackers allegedly stole millions from banks.

Via a sophisticated digital break-in, hackers were able to steal at least $300 million from up to 100 banks. The criminals developed a piece of malicious software that was able to phish bank employees and infect hundred of machines. They watched carefully to find an administrator and recorded the keystrokes that would allow them to transfer large sums of money from banks in Russia, Switzerland, Japan, the U.S., and the Netherlands into their own dummy accounts abroad. The hackers would also have ATMs randomly dispense cash for an associate to pick up at the right time.

3. U.S.: The digital James Bond.

The United States has developed a method to permanently embed spyware and sabotage methods in computers and networks in targeted nations, including Iran, Russia, Pakistan, China, and Afghanistan. Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab found evidence that implants were installed in systems abroad by the “Equation Group,” which appears to be part of the National Security Agency. The techniques found on international computers mimic details displayed by the Stuxnet worm, which disabled about 1,000 centrifuges in Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.

4. President Obama’s immigration policy temporarily halted.

A federal judge in Texas has put a stop -- for now -- to the President’s executive order that would protect as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation and provide them with work permits. The first group of people are due to start receiving applications on Wednesday. Texas and 25 other states filed a lawsuit opposing the initiatives, and a judge found that the states satisfied the minimum legal requirements to bring the suit. The White House maintains that the President acted within the law and with decades of legal precedent.

5. Dominique Stauss-Kahn’s trial coming to an end.

Five of six plaintiffs dropped their allegations against Strauss-Kahn after deciding there isn’t enough evidence that the former International Monetary Fund chief broke the law. Strauss-Kahn, who was a potential French presidential candidate in the 2012 election before being accused of sexual assault, has admitted to having orgies and being “rough” in his romantic encounters. None of that is illegal, and it’s likely that he will not be found guilty of aggravated pimping. He’s one of 14 people accused of participating in a prostitution ring operated out of the Hotel Carlton in Lille, France.

The tech titan’s CEO was one of many big names to take the stage at Friday’s White House summit on cybersecurity and consumer protection, held at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. Other leaders, from both public and private sectors, included the secretaries of Homeland Security and Department of Commerce and the CEOs American Express, Kaiser Permanente, AIG and Pacific Gas & Electric, to name a few. (President Barack Obama himself spoke later on Friday to announce his next cybersecurity-related executive action.)

The goal of the summit? To get corporations, tech vendors, law enforcement, consumer and privacy advocates, government and others to collaborate and share information in an effort to better prevent and respond to cyberattacks. The White House purposely chose to hold the summit in the heart of Silicon Valley, where much of the innovation in next-generation cybersecurity tools is taking place.

Indeed, much of the discussion at the event centered on how the public and private sectors can best work together to fight cyberattacks and the need for more nimble tools. Apple’s Cook, however, chose to dedicate his time on stage to pitching Apple Pay, talking up the fact that the company doesn’t sell information about its customers, and making an impassioned appeal for the importance of privacy–not just for security purposes but for the purposes of human rights.

According to Cook, Apple never sells consumer information to other businesses–that is not part of its business model.

“We have a straightforward business model” that does not include selling personal data, Cook told the audience.

Cook then went on to say that Apple Pay, the company’s mobile payments system, is safer than the traditional “plastic” credit cards. He also announced that, come September, Apple Pay would be available for some “government transactions” including national park entry fees. Cook added that Apple was also working on linking its service to Social Security and veterans benefits.

Apple’s CEO AAPL ended his talk with an impassioned plea for privacy and freedom of expression across the world.

“History has shown us that sacrificing our right to privacy can have dire consequences,” said Cook. “We still live in a world where all people are not treated equally, [where] too many people do not feel free to practice their religion or express their opinion or love who they choose, a world in which that information can make the difference between life and death. If those of us in positions of responsibility fail to do everything in our power to protect the right of privacy we risk something far more valuable than money: we risk our way of life.”

(This story was updated with additional information)

The order sets the stage for new private-sector led “information sharing and analysis organizations” (ISAOs) – hubs where companies share cyber threat data with each other and with the Department of Homeland Security.

It is one step in a long effort to make companies as well as privacy and consumer advocates more comfortable with proposed legislation that would offer participating companies liability protection, the White House said.

“We believe that by clearly defining what makes for a good ISAO, that will make tying liability protection to sectoral organizations easier and more accessible to the public and to privacy and civil liberties advocates,” said Michael Daniel, Obama’s cyber coordinator, in a conference call with reporters.

Obama will sign the order at a day-long conference on cybersecurity at Stanford University in the heart of Silicon Valley.

The move comes as big Silicon Valley companies prove hesitant to fully support more mandated cybersecurity information sharing without reforms to government surveillance practices exposed by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Cybersecurity industry veterans said Obama’s anticipated order would be only a modest step in one of the president’s major priorities – the defense of companies from attacks like those on Sony and Anthem Inc.

Obama has proposed legislation to require more information-sharing and limit any legal liability for companies that share too much. Only Congress can provide the liability protection through legislation.

Businesses are unlikely to share a lot of timely and “actionable” cyber intelligence without liability relief, said Mike Brown, a vice president with the RSA security division of EMC Corp.

“Until that gets resolved, probably through legislation, I’m not sure how effective continued information-sharing will be,” said Brown, a retired Naval officer and former cyber official with the Department of Homeland Security.

Senator Tom Carper, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security committee, introduced a bill this week that incorporates much of Obama’s plan. But Republicans control Congress, and they have yet to sign on to the idea.

“This is an urgent matter and we are working with anyone that we can up on the Hill to make that happen,” said Daniel, who had not yet reviewed Carper’s bill.

Getting a bill through Congress will require at least the support of big Silicon Valley companies such as Google GOOG and Facebook FB .

Those companies, however, have refused to give full support to cybersecurity bills without some reform of surveillance practices exposed by Snowden that have hurt U.S. technology companies’ efforts to win business in other countries.

“Obviously there have been tensions,” Daniel told reporters.

“But I think that’s the kind of thing where the only way to get at that is to continue to have dialog and to continue to engage, and the president has been committed to that,” he said.

Google, Facebook and Yahoo YHOO are not sending their chief executives to the Stanford conference because of the rift, according to an executive at a major technology company. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook AAPL will give an address.

Obama also will meet privately with some executives on Friday. They are expected to press again for surveillance reform and support for strong encryption, which some in the administration have faulted recently on the grounds that it enables criminals and terrorists to hide their activity.

Big technology companies and a host of startups have been beefing up encryption in Snowden’s wake to make blanket intelligence collection overseas more difficult.

Wall Street is quiet this morning as U.S. stock futures remain little changed. European shares are down as investors watch the brewing Greek drama carefully. Asian indexes ended the day mostly mixed.

Greece is a focus for investors today, as the finance minister of Greece, Yanis Varoufakis, is set to meet with his euro zone counterparts in Brussels. Varoufakis is expected to propose a revamp of his nation's bailout program.

Shares of Apple AAPL will also be in focus today. On Tuesday, the tech giant became the first U.S. company to see its stock close with a market value above $700 billion.

Among the companies reporting earnings today: Pepsi PEP , Tesla TSLA , AOL AOL and Whole Foods WFM .

Here’s what else you need to know about.

1. The Greek negotiations continue.

European finance ministers will meet in Brussels later Wednesday, and Greece is set for tough talks with its creditors. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has pledged not to return to an era of austerity, gaining a vote of confidence in the nation’s Parliament. Tsipras told Parliament that he would seek a short-term “bridge” agreement and a needed reduction of Greek debt. He is looking to strike a new deal rather than extend the current loan program. Germany has other ideas. It feels Greece must comply with the terms of its bailout, making the likelihood of a compromise minimal.

2. Tesla gives an update.

Tesla TSLA reports quarterly earnings later today, and investors will be looking for an update on the company’s battery plant construction, sales of its flagship Model S sedan, and details about the planned summer launch of the Model X SUV. Chief Executive Elon Musk may also provide an update on the 2017 rollout of the lower-priced, higher-volume Model 3 car, and more on weak sales in China. A report says Musk is prepared to fire overseas executives over the China sales issue.

3. Airbus wins $2.8 billion in new business.

Asiana Airlines, South Korea’s second-largest carrier, has tapped Airbus for 25 new planes. That nearly doubles the 36 it already has on order. The purchase of the single-aisle aircrafts is valued at $2.8 billion and will replace some of the airline’s existing jets. The 180-seat A321neo planes will be delivered between 2019 and 2025. Asiana recently returned to profit due to rising traffic between its South Korean base and China and is beefing up its fleet of mid-range aircraft amid intense competition from low-cost carriers like Jeju Air, which have been winning more market share from larger competitors.

4. Keystone XL comes to a vote.

The U.S. House of Representatives will vote today on the approval of the construction of the Keystone XL, a pipeline that would connect the oil sands of Alberta, Canada with refineries on the Gulf Coast. The bill is expected to easily pass the House, though President Obama has vowed to veto it. The Keystone has raised hackles on both sides of the debate: environmentalists are concerned about global warming and potential oil spills, while proponents say it will create jobs and ensure U.S. energy security.

5. The fashion world descends on Lincoln Center.

New York Fashion Week kicks off today and will run through Thursday of next week. The glitterati will be seen both on the streets and on the catwalk as brands seek to show off their latest and greatest. Menswear, a nearly $61 billion industry, is expected to steal the show this year, including Kayne West’s debut of the Yeezy 750, a collaboration with Adidas. You may have even gotten a sneak peak of the canvas-colored shoes when he took to the Grammy’s stage Sunday night.

--Reuters contributed to this report.

"It was pretty effective," Ellman says with a laugh. "My parents were responsible for implementing it and they did a great job."

The Ellman household's Magna Carta is no longer in effect, but its creator remains a policymaking junky. Now 36, Ellman has spent the past ten years working for Barack Obama. As a co-chair of Washington-based law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Practice Group, she's currently working with the Obama Administration to encourage policymaking efforts that will allow commercial drones to be flown in U.S. airspace.

Ellman first met Obama when she was a student at the University of Chicago Law School. "Most people think of him as President Obama, but I got to know him first as Professor Obama," Ellman says. He was teaching courses on constitutional law and, after Ellman was elected as the president of the Law School Democrats, the future U.S. president became her faculty advisor.

In their one-on-one meetings, Obama encouraged Ellman to get involved in local Chicago politics--including his own campaign for the Senate. She frequently quizzed him about his motivations for going into politics. "I was inspired by how strongly he believed that policy could change the world," Ellman recalls. "That feeling was contagious."

Obama also urged Ellman to help organize a 2004 Democratic National Committee event, which was held in Chicago. "At one event, the plan was for Senator Obama to present Senator [Hillary] Clinton with an award--but he went off-script and invited me up onstage to be the one to present the award to Senator Clinton," she recalls. "He was always doing little things like that to encourage and inspire all of us."

By 2007, Ellman was a newly-minted law school graduate with a joint degree in Public Policy and Law. Then a Senator, Obama began to set his sights on the presidency; he personally invited Ellman to join his presidential campaign as a senior policy associate.

She was tasked with translating Obama's broad ideals into real world policies. "I handled all sorts of issues: open government, healthcare, education, the arts," Ellman says. "For one nine-month period between 2007 and 2008, I lived out of a suitcases, traveling the country to meet the American people and learn how policy impacts them every day. I also met some amazing role models: Samantha Power stayed with me for a week in New Hampshire and I traveled the state of South Carolina with Susan Rice"

After Obama became president, Ellman had the opportunity to take on key positions at the White House. She was the Legal Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel and then the Chief Counselor for the Open Government Partnership.

"Whenever we'd run into each other at the White House, President Obama would enjoy talking about our time at University of Chicago," she says. "I think he really enjoys reflecting on his days as a professor, especially now, when so few people know him from his life before elective office."

One of her earliest tasks was to gather feedback from the American public to help shape policies. This was at a time was Twitter was new and her team was just learning how to use Facebook. "I truly saw the potential for integrating technology and policy--and I have never looked back," she says. "This is the basis for what I've done in my career and what I hope to continue to do." She helped design the "My Policy" online campaign to bring citizen's ideas to the table and led the team that created We the People, a petitions website that allows citizens to express their views directly to the federal government on policy. She then headed the working group responsible for analyzing policies on drone use in the U.S.

Though she's thoroughly enjoyed her time in government, Ellman continues to notice a huge gap in Washington: There is not enough collaboration between lawmakers and innovators. She says policymakers are often several steps behind the scientific community and outdated regulation often holds back the implementation of new ideas.

"A lot of innovators are frustrated with the policy process and this is understandable," Ellman says. This is partly because policymakers are often caught up in the potential risk of a new technology, while innovators are keen to start working on applying it in exciting new ways.

Like drones. Scientists and entrepreneurs are excited about developing new commercial uses for drones--from filmmaking to improving agriculture to inspecting pipes to delivering packages. In other countries, drones have already become part of everyday life; in Japan, crop dusting has been carried out by drones for close to 20 years. Yet, it's currently illegal to fly drones commercially in U.S. airspace. Ellman wants to to change this.

"This is a new industry where there's so much creativity and potential, but there's a lack of good policy," Ellman says. "Many lawmakers assigned to this issue are not up to speed about what the technologies look like, what their use cases are and why anybody would be enthusiastic about drones."

Over the last five years, Ellman's become something of a drone expert. She's been working with the Federal Aviation Authority and other executive branch policymakers to craft policy documents that will soon be released by the government. Her ultimate goal is to create policy that makes good use of drones, but also wins the public's trust.

Her mission is not without its challenges. Drones may offer businesses and law enforcement extraordinary efficiency and life-saving benefits, but they also create uncharted territory regarding safety and privacy.

"There are lot complexities here," Ellman says. "My approach to balancing the opportunities and challenges presented by drones has been to bring innovators and policymakers -- communities that have very little in common -- together. Policymakers need to learn about the capabilities and risks of the technology and only innovators can provide that knowledge."

Should her strategy work, Ellman believes the sky is the limit when it comes to drone innovation. "The possible applications of drones are only limited by our imagination."

The fiscal 2016 budget includes $561 million for the Health and Human Service’s 317 immunization program, a decrease from the current $611 million allotted to the initiative.

The defunding comes amid a severe measles outbreak that has officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) worried about how it may spread. At least 102 people have been infected by the airborne disease, raising a renewed debate over mandatory vaccinations, as well as the importance of adult immunizations.

The 317 immunization program aims to provide vaccines at no cost to eligible adults. The program has existed for over 50 years and plays a critical role in achieving national immunization coverage targets. It aims to protect public health by ensuring that under-insured populations receive the necessary vaccinations, from measles-mumps-rubella to the seasonal flu vaccines.

Officials believe that health insurance expansion will further increase access to immunizations and decrease the number of people who need Section 317 vaccinations.

However, even with the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act, the number of uninsured Americans is at near-historic low, with 11.3% still without insurance as of the second quarter of last year, according the National Center for Health Statistics.

The cut in the immunization program only affects immunization access for under- and un-insured adults; the Vaccines for Children initiative is safe. The 2016 budget includes an increase of $128.1 million in mandatory funding for the program, which provides vaccines at no charge to children under 19-years-old.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

The plan involves collecting and analyzing the genetic data from more than 1 million American volunteers in order to deepen the breadth of genetic data that could be used to better understand how diseases affect people, and how medicines could better target and treat those illnesses.

President Obama initially previewed the Precision Medicine Initiative in his State of the Union address last week, saying that he wants “the country that eliminated polio and mapped the human genome to lead a new era of medicine -- one that delivers the right treatment at the right time.”

Obama earmarked $215 million in his 2016 budget proposal to kickstart the effort, including $130 million for the National Institutes of Health to create a national research database to collect a wide range of health data, including volunteers’ genomes.

The goal is to create a data-rich, searchable database that would allow researchers to better pinpoint the sources of diseases and create individually-tailored treatment plans. The new effort will “bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetes -- and give all of us access to the personalized information we need to keep ourselves and our families healthier,” Obama said.

Kathy Giusti, founder and executive chairman of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, says that we have only “scratched the surface of what is possible” when it comes to precision medicine, and “the successes to date are life-changing for those who benefit, and have laid important groundwork for similar approaches across all cancers.”

Researchers have worked for several decades to understand the underlying basis of diseases and develop medicines targeted to the genetic profile of individual patients. This movement is known as “personalized,” or “individualized” medicine.

It requires reams of data to compare how specific diseases are expressed across different patients, or even how healthy patients avoid certain diseases. For instance, certain research labs are studying DNA from healthy volunteers and looking for rare genetic outliers that actually protect against disease rather than lead to illness. Those good genetic outliers could point to treatments for the rest of us.

In one case, researchers found that people naturally missing working copies of a gene known as PCSK9 had almost no bad cholesterol in their blood. Scientists used that insight to develop drugs that block the PCSK9 gene in order to lower cholesterol. It worked. Two such drugs are nearing the Food and Drug Administration’s approval, and studies have found that they help lower cholesterol levels, sometimes by as much as 75%.

Large-scale genomic studies are possible today because of the lower cost and time needed to sequence a genome. It costs about $1,000 to analyze one person’s DNA -- a fraction of the nearly $3 billion it cost to decode the first human genome 15 years ago.

The White House’s initiative calls on the National Cancer Institute, the FDA and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to all play a role in the effort to create and maintain this new database. President Obama is also hoping that the private sector, including universities and foundations, will get involved to “lay the foundation” for the initiative.

The NCI will use the genomic data to create a new cancer knowledge network that will specifically focus on advances in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of various cancers.

--Reuters contributed to this report.

READ MORE: Obama’s push for a huge genetic biobank, and what it means for your health.

By Zeke J. Miller, TIME

Just one week after proposing the idea in his State of the Union Address, President Obama was forced to withdraw a proposal to change the way tax-preferred college savings plans work after criticism from Republicans and members of his own party.

A White House official confirmed Tuesday that Obama is no longer calling to tax income from so-called 529 plans in his budget to be released next week, but will maintain the other elements of his plan to make college more affordable. The administration had argued that the plans benefited those higher on the income scale and planned to use the savings to pay for the president's free community college proposal and expanded tax breaks that would help those at lower incomes.

"We proposed it because we thought it was a sensible approach, part of consolidating six programs to two and expanding and better targeting education tax relief for the middle class," a White House official said. "Given it has become such a distraction, we're not going to ask Congress to pass the 529 provision so that they can instead focus on delivering a larger package of education tax relief that has bipartisan support, as well as the President's broader package of tax relief for childcare and working families, paid for by eliminating the trust fund loophole and making sure the wealthy pay their fair share."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi pressed Obama to drop the proposal with administration officials Tuesday aboard Air Force One as she joined Obama on his trip from India to Saudi Arabia. The White House said that Obama's other proposals to close the so-called trust-fund loophole on inherited wealth and a new fee on the liabilities of the nation's largest financial institutions would more than cover the cost of his education proposals.

On Tuesday, Speaker of the House John Boehner called on Obama to withdraw the proposal. "529 plans help middle-class families save for college, but now the president wants to tax those plans," he said. "It's another example of his outdated, top-down approach- when our focus ought to be on providing opportunity for all Americans. And so, for the sake of middle-class families, the president ought to withdraw this tax increase from his budget when he submits it soon."

But that hasn't gotten in the way of a budding bromance between these two world leaders. It was on full display Sunday as Modi broke protocol to hug Obama while the U.S. president disembarked from Air Force One in New Delhi.

"The two leaders have surprised everyone with the speed and scale with which they've decided to take this relationship," says Tanvi Madan, director of the Brookings Institution's India Project.

For a president who has been sharply criticized for a failure to build personal friendships with world leaders, Obama's special place in Modi-world is striking. During his trip to New Delhi on Monday, Obama serves as chief guest at the country's Republic Day parade--one of India's highest honors and one never before offered to an American president. Protective of its neutrality and wary of disrupting economic ties to countries like Russia, Indian leaders tend to downplay the U.S. friendship in public.

Obama's role as chief guest signals that "India has gotten over its psychological barrier of having the U.S. be this public partner--and acknowledging its role in helping India to rise," Madan notes. The Delhi-born Madan is my guest this week on the Apple iTunes podcast Smart Women, Smart Power, sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in partnership with Fortune.

Madan credits the Modi-Obama friendship with a common interest in retail politics. "Modi is a showman who believes in communicating directly, including through social media [where] he tweets," she notes.

Sound familiar? There's more: The Indian prime minister's campaign last year borrowed from Obama's campaign, right down to "yes we can!" calls at rallies and the iconic Shepard Fairey "Hope," "Change" and "Progress posters. (Modi's themes were "Change," "Action," and "Unity.")

Since his election last spring, Modi has hung an "open for business" sign on his country and encouraged foreign investors to overlook the country's checkered history toward outside firms. On Sunday, the two leaders announced a breakthrough plan to enable U.S. investment in India's nuclear energy industry.

In the U.S., which is India's 6^th largest investor, wary CEOs have shown renewed interest in India, hopeful that this might be similar to the opportunity that China offered to pioneering firms two decades ago--but with an already established rule of law.

In our podcast conversation, Madan details the reforms Modi has pursued, sometimes using executive actions to bypass legislative opposition. Nothing so far adds up to the big-bang change that business was hoping for, and Madan cites slow progress and an uncertain business climate as valid reasons for concern.

Still, here is Madan’s advice to prospective investors: "If you're willing to be in it for the long haul, you are going get returns. But expecting immediate returns--that's not going to happen. The American businesses that have done well there--Ford, Boeing, GE--have really made an investment in the country, to stay there for the long term. And they've actually done well by it. Ford has opened its largest manufacturing plant any place outside the U.S."

The delegation of business chiefs so far includes Ajay Banga of Mastercard MA , Dave Cote of Honeywell HON , Bob Iger of Disney DIS , Indra Nooyi of Pepsi PEP , Arne Sorenson of Marriott MAR , and Vivek Ranadive of Tibco TIBX , Fortune has learned.

Officially, Obama is traveling to attend India's Republic Day celebrations as the guest of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (the President even scrambled scheduling of his State of the Union address to accommodate his attendance). But the presence of the corporate captains the White House hustled to recruit for the mission indicates the economic stakes. Warming diplomatic ties between the world's oldest democracy and its largest are encouraging American companies seeking expanded access to India's $2 trillion economy.

Modi is pushing to make his country friendlier to foreign investment with new incentives and regulatory reforms. He unveiled a "Make in India" campaign in September aimed at promoting the country as a manufacturing haven. And the US and India are chasing a five-fold increase in bilateral trade, to $500 billion, by 2020.

Yet policy hurdles remain -- on immigration, trade, intellectual property, and climate change, among others.

Those will be grist for a pair of meetings the American CEOs are slated to hold with leading Indian executives on their visit. The US-India CEO Forum, a government-appointed group co-chaired by Cote and Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry, will host the first huddle. (That group was organized around Obama's first visit to India, in 2010, but one source familiar with it described it as "dormant" in recent years.) Then Obama and Modi will join the chiefs for another organized by the US-India Business Council, a lobby promoting economic cooperation.

The countries are also looking to strengthen defense ties, though it's not yet clear whether they will announce any procurement deals on this visit.

By Lily Rothman, TIME

It was six years ago, on Jan. 22, 2009, two days after he became President, that Barack Obama issued an executive order designed to "promptly close detention facilities at Guantanamo." The closing of that prison at the U.S. naval base at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay would, he said, take place no less than a year from that date.

Five years after the 2010 deadline passed -- and even as relations between the U.S. and Cuba begin to thaw -- the detention facilities remain in use. More than 100 prisoners remain there, even though that number is declining and officials have said that Obama would still like to achieve the closure before he leaves office.

But how did the U.S. end up with such a facility in Cuba in the first place?

The story of Guantanamo goes back more than a century, to the time of the Spanish-American War. And, during that time, it's been, as it is now, a source of controversy.

Until 1898, Cuba had belonged to Spain; as the Spanish empire diminished, Cubans fought for their independence. The U.S. joined in to help its neighbor and, though the Spanish-American War ended up focused mainly on the Spanish presence in the Philippines, Cuba was the site of the sinking of the USS Maine, the event that precipitated American military involvement. (Remember "Remember theMaine"? That's this.) When the war ended, Spain gave the U.S. control of Cuba -- among other territories, like Puerto Rico -- and, about three years later, Cuba became an independent nation.

However, that independence was not without a catch: as part of the Platt Amendment, the document that governed the end of the occupation, the new Cuban government was required to lease or sell certain territory to the United States. Here's how TIME later summarized (with numbers accurate for 1960) what happened next:

The U.S. rights in Guantanamoare clear and indisputable. By a treaty signed in 1903 and reaffirmed in 1934, the U.S. recognized Cuba's "ultimate sovereignty" over the 45-sq.-mi. enclave in Oriente province near the island's southeast end. In return, Cuba yielded the U.S. "complete jurisdiction and control" through a perpetual lease that can be voided only by mutual agreement.

For a low rental ($3,386.25 annually), the U.S. Navy gets its best natural harbor south of Charleston, S.C., plus 19,621 acres of land, enough for a complex of 1,400 buildings and two airfields, one of them capable of handling entire squadrons of the Navy's hottest jets, e.g., 1,000-m.p.h. F8U Crusaders, 700-m.p.h. A4D Skyhawks. In terms of global strategy, Guantanamo has only marginal value. It served as an antisubmarine center in World War II, and could be one again. But its greatest worth is as an isolated, warm-water training base for the fleet. With an anchorage capable of handling 50 warships at once, it is the Navy's top base for shakedown cruises and refresher training for both sailors and airmen. What Cuba gets out of the deal is 3,700 jobs for the technicians and laborers who help maintain the base, a payroll of $7,000,000 annually for hard-pressed Oriente.

When Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba the 1950s, there was briefly a period during which the fate of Guantanamo seemed in question. As TIME reported in the Sept. 12, 1960, issue, Castro threatened to kick the Navy out if the U.S. continued to interfere with the Cuban economy; however, he also said that he knew that, if he did so, the U.S. could take it as a pretext to attack and get rid of him. Castro would continue to bring up his displeasure at the U.S. presence in Cuba -- in 1964, he cut off the water supply, to which the Navy responded by building its own water and power plants -- but the lease stayed, as did the military families based there.

Guantanamo returned to the news in the 1990s when it got a new set of residents. In 1991, in the wake of a coup d'?tat in Haiti, thousands of Haitians fled by sea for the United States. In December of that year, Guantanamo Bay became the site of a refugee camp built to house those who sought asylum while the Bush administration figured out what to do with them. Throughout the years that followed, the camp became home to thousands of native Cubans, too, who had also attempted to flee to the U.S. for political asylum. In the summer of 1994 alone, TIME wrote the following May, "more than 20,000 Haitians and 30,000 Cubans were intercepted at sea and delivered to hastily erected camps in Guantanamo." In 1999, during conflict in the Balkans (and after the Haitian and Cuban refugees had been sent home or on to the States), the U.S. agreed to put up 20,000 new refugees at Guantanamo, but that plan ended up scrapped for being too far from their European homelands.

The decision to house al-Qaeda detainees at Guantanamo was reached shortly after 9/11 -- and, nearly as immediately, the world began to wonder just what their status would be.

A former Pentagon official told TIME's Mark Thompson last month that some would like the Guantanamo Bay facility to be closed entirely, although that's very unlikely to happen. If the long history of Guantanamo Bay proves anything, it's that, though regimes and requirements may change, the U.S. Navy is likely to stay.

Welcome back from the long weekend. Wall Street futures are up this morning, and European shares are doing well. Asian indexes were also up, closing the day with big gains.

Earnings season kicks into high gear today, with reports from Morgan Stanley, Dow stocks Johnson & Johnson and IBM, and also Netflix. Also, burger chain Shake Shack has unveiled a pricing range for its planned IPO. (If you love reading about food, check out this story by Fortune's Beth Kowitt, on New York City restaurant chain Dig Inn, which has just raised $15 million.)

Here’s what else you need to know about today.

1. The State of the Union.

President Obama will address the nation tonight and reveal a slate of reforms that will target “unfair” tax loopholes and reduce the financial burden facing middle class families. He will call on Congress to raise taxes and fees on the wealthiest to finance tax breaks for low- and middle-income households. The speech follows a spat of announcements from the president as he toured across the U.S., including a new initiative to provide free community college and endorsing paid sick leave.

2. Earnings flood in.

As earnings season kicks into high gear, a host of companies are set to report today. Morgan Stanley MS led the way this morning, with earnings that were up significantly compared to a year earlier as the bank’s legal costs dropped. Revenues rose to $920 million, or 47 cents a share, from $36 million, or 2 cents a share, a year earlier.

Johnson & Johnson JNJ , Delta DAL and Coach COH all report quarterly earnings this morning, as well.

Netflix NFLX will report after the market close, and investors will be watching to see how the company is doing with its overseas progress. IBM IBM is also set to report after the closing bell.

3. Google may be readying a big investment in SpaceX.

Google GOOG is on the verge of investing $1 billion in Elon Musk’s space company, which would help the search giant build its efforts to deliver Internet access via satellites, according to The Wall Street Journal. The investment would value SpaceX at more than $10 billion. Google is hoping to expand Internet access to even the most remote areas of the world, thus providing even more users for its services.

4. China growth slows.

China’s economy grew at 7.4% last year, falling short of the government’s projected 7.5% growth rate. That’s the slowest growth China has seen in 24 years. The sluggish economy is partially due to shrinking exports and a struggling property market. Notably, Chinese policy makers reported numbers that were below projections, which hasn’t happened since 1998. Officials have been widely criticized for tweaking numbers to align with target estimates.

5. Senate debates Keystone XL.

On Capital Hill, the debate over approval of the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline continues in the Senate and is expected to be a weeks-long battle. Senate Republicans are pushing for its passage, and voting on amendments could begin as soon as this afternoon. There are currently three amendments in line for voting: Sen. Ed Markey’s export ban on oil shipped through the Keystone; Sen. Rob Portman’s energy efficiency package and Sen. Al Franken’s requirement that the pipeline be made using U.S. steel.

Following last month’s announcement of normalization of relations with the island nation -- located less than 100 miles from the coast of Florida -- the Obama administration announced Thursday that it is easing restrictions on travel to the country.

For the past 60 years, Americans have had few legal ways to secure travel to Cuba as a result of an embargo enacted in the 1960s. The embargo was a response to the communist government of Fidel Castro, an ally of the Soviet Union. The policy has been hotly debated in the years since, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.

Starting Friday, Americans will be able to go to Cuba without a specific license if the reason for the trip falls under any of 12 relatively broad categories, including family visits, journalistic activity, professional research or meetings, humanitarian projects and official business of the U.S. or foreign governments. Once you get there, things will be easier too, as American credit and debit cards can be used on the island and the per diem spending rate has been eliminated.

The previously announced change in imports, which allows visitors to bring in up to $400 worth of goods including up to $100 in tobacco products, will also go into effect. Furthermore, non-Cuban Americans living in the United States can now send up to $2,000 per quarter to people living in Cuba, up from $500. This won’t apply to certain members of the Cuban government and the Cuban Communist Party.

Thursday’s announcement “takes us one step closer to replacing out of date policies that were not working and puts in place a policy that helps promote political and economic freedom for the Cuban people,” said Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew in a statement. “These revised regulations, together with those issued by the Commerce Department, will implement the policies on easing sanctions related to travel, remittances, trade, and banking announced by the President on December 17.”

Since President Obama’s announcement in December, the status of the US policy has been hotly debated. A number of Republicans, especially Florida Senator Marco Rubio, have come out strongly against Obama’s decision.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story mistakenly characterized the history of the Cuban travel embargo. Though it has been possible to travel to Cuba in the past, restrictions will be eased on Friday. The earlier version also said the new rules about sending money to citizens of Cuba only applied to Cuban Americans. In fact, the new rules apply to non-Cuban Americans. The story has been updated to reflect these issues.

Wall Street futures have erased early morning gains and are now trending down after a move by the Swiss National bank took markets by surprise. The bank unexpectedly scrapped its cap on the franc, sending the currency soaring against the euro. Meanwhile, European shares retreated, and Asian indexes closed out the day mostly positive.

Here’s what else you need to know to start your day.

1. Swiss National Bank shocks the markets.

The Swiss shocked global markets this morning when the nation’s central bank unexpectedly changed course, abandoning its minimum exchange rate of 1.20 francs per euro and slashing its benchmark interest rate. The nation ended its three-year-old policy designed to protect its economy from the Eurozone debt troubles. The move sent the Swiss franc soaring to a record against the euro and roiled equity markets.

2. Earnings reports: Bank of America, Citigroup and Intel.

Earnings season is ramping up. This week it’s all about big banks. This morning, Bank of America BAC , the second-largest U.S. lender by assets, reported four-quarter profits that were down 11% due to declines in fixed-income trading. Earnings-per-share were 32 cents, just beating the average analyst estimate of 31 cents a share, according to Bloomberg data. It was the bank’s second profitable quarter last year as spending on mortgage disputes and investigations into foreign exchange manipulation cut into its bottom line.

Citigroup C , in the midst of a pullback from consumer banking in several international markets, reported a slim fourth-quarter profit after taking charges of $3.5 billion to settle legal claims and overhaul its operations.

Intel INTC reports after the close of trading and is anticipated to report earnings-per-share of 66 cents on sales of $14.72 billion.

3. BP readying North Sea job cuts.

The energy giant will shed 200 staff jobs and 100 contractors in its North Sea operations today. BP employs nearly 3,000 people in Aberdeen, Scotland, the central hub for the offshore oil industry in the area. The move comes as oil prices continue to flounder below $50 a barrel, having fallen more than 50% in six months. BP BP said in December it plans to cut thousands of jobs across its global oil and gas business.

4. Samsung and Blackberry throw cold water on takeover.

Samsung and Blackberry have denied reports that Samsung is looking to buy the Canadian smartphone maker. Samsung called the news “groundless,” and Blackberry BBRY said it had “not engaged” in talks with the Korean-based electronics maker. Reuters had originally reported through anonymous sources that Samsung approached Blackberry with an initial offer price of $13.35 to $15.49 a share. That would value Blackberry at as much as $7.5 billion.

5. President Obama to address paid leave and sick time.

President Obama is expected to announce a handful of initiatives today that would boost paid leave and sick time. He will ask Congress to pass the Healthy Family Acts, allowing U.S. workers to earn up to seven days a year of paid sick time. The White House will also outline a plan to help states implement their own paid leave programs, and President Obama will sign a presidential memorandum to grant federal workers the ability to take six weeks of paid sick time after having a child.

--Reuters contributed to this report.

“President Obama will call on Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act, which would allow millions of working Americans to earn up to seven days a year of paid sick time – and call on states and cities to pass similar laws,” she wrote in a post on LinkedIn.

“The president will outline a new plan to help states create paid leave programs, and provide new funding through the Department of Labor for feasibility studies that will help other states and municipalities figure out the best way to implement programs of their own.”

Obama will also sign a presidential memorandum to ensure federal government workers have the ability to take six weeks of paid sick time upon the birth of a child, she wrote.

Wall Street is having a good Monday morning. Stocks look set to move higher at the open after last week's very volatile week -- the Dow posted a triple-digit move in each of last week's trading sessions. European indexes are higher, and Asian shares were mixed at the end of trading.

Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

1. Detroit auto show in high gear.

The annual Detroit auto show is in full swing today with presentations from the CEOs of top car companies, including Fiat Chrysler, GM GM , Ford F , Nissan and Tesla TSLA . About 40 vehicle introductions are expected today, including some entirely new designs as well as variants of existing models. GM will reportedly reveal a new electric vehicle with a style and price-point that can compete with the forthcoming Tesla Model 3.

2. Big pharma buyouts.

Two pharmaceutical companies announced big acquisitions Sunday evening. Switzerland’s Roche will pay $1.03 billion for Foundation Medicine FMI , a biotech company that matches cancer patients with the best treatments. Meanwhile, Ireland-based Shire doled out $5.2 billion to buy NPS NPSP , a New Jersey-based drug maker that specializes in gastrointestinal diseases. It’s Shire’s first deal following its failed attempt to sell itself to AbbVie ABBV last year.

3. Goldman sees oil going even lower.

Goldman Sachs GS has released a report that predicts U.S. crude oil will fall to $39 a barrel and the global standard will drop as low as $43 in six months before prices bounce back toward the end of the year. Much of the decline in oil prices is due to increasing inventories over the first half of this year. The price of oil futures declined even further below $50 this morning.

4. Obama digs in on cybersecurity.

President Obama will discuss three new proposed laws today that seek to help protect consumer data and privacy in the digital age. The proposals include a regulation that would require companies to tell consumers within 30 days if their data have been compromised. Obama will present his proposal at the Federal Trade Commission at 11:55 a.m. ET today, though Congress would still need to approve any legislation.

5. Another earnings season kicks off.

Another earnings season kicks off later this afternoon when aluminum giant Alcoa AA issues is results for the fourth quarter of 2014. The company’s 2015 aluminum demand forecast is a must-watch and will provide a sneak peak into what businesses are expecting for this year’s economy. Analysts expect Alcoa’s earnings-per-share to reach 25 cents on sales of $6.05 billion. Earnings season will start to perk up later this week, on Wednesday morning, when JPMorgan JPM and Wells Fargo WFC report their fourth-quarter results.

The sports league announced plans Thursday to offset the carbon output of its 30 teams during the current season, and lower energy use moving forward, in a deal with Baltimore-based Constellation Energy, a power and renewable energy supplier.

Constellation will provide carbon offsets and renewable energy certificates that match the 550,000 metric tons of carbon that the league uses in a season. Some of the offsets will come from sources such as wind farms, landfill gas projects and solar panel installation at its venues. The plan is the first of its kind in pro sports, according to the league.

On a conference call from the NHL headquarters in New York City, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said that the partnership “advances our commitment to promoting responsible energy use by the NHL, including our teams, our venues and our fans.”

The NHL declined to discuss the cost of partnering with Constellation and stated on the call that the league did not put out an RFP to find other businesses to work with on the initiative. “We decided that we wanted to be with Constellation and that they wanted to be with us,” said Bettman. “In terms of cost, we're not going to go into the details.”

In a statement Bettman added: “Our sport was born on frozen ponds and relies on winter weather. Everyone who loves our game will benefit by taking an active role in preserving the environment and the roots of the game."

Joe Nigro, CEO of Constellation, said in a statement that by promoting responsible energy use, the NHL is "setting an example for the sports industry, fans and communities."

Allen Hershkowitz, the president of the Green Sports Alliance, an organization that works with sports leagues in the U.S. to become more environmentally aware, praised the move on the call.

“Frankly, nothing like this has ever happened in pro sports,” he said, but added that the NHL’s footprint of 550,000 tons of carbon is small. It represents just 1/30th of the emissions produced by a single coal plant, for example.

“So why is this so important?” Hershkowitz continued. “The NHL is using its market and cultural influence to educate millions of people around the world.”

The NHL’s partnership with Constellation comes months after the league released a sustainability report in July, the first of its kind for a pro sports league in North America.