on the broadcast tonight, it's happening again. the russians are the targets of tonight's wikileaks secrets, especially putin and the hunt goes on for the man behind the leaks. unkindest cuts. america is going broke and a fix has to come from somewhere. but where, name one. retirement, health care, defense, taxes? well, tonight, the fight is on. mean season. 2 million americans just lost a critical safety net. tough times are about to get even tougher. and "making a difference" for children halfway around the world. one woman's simple idea that took off beyond her wildest dreams. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. it has happened again. and this time it's the russians. there's a new batch of wikileaks documents, leaks of u.s. state department cables which have revealed what a lot of diplomats really think about the world. in this new batch, splashed across the web and on front pages tonight in great britain and here in the u.s., there are allegations the russians are running a mob state. someone has compared russian leaders putin and medvedev to batman and robin and putin comes under sharp attack as a macho character, oddly disengaged and at times working from home. the reach of these wikileaks documents circles the globe and it's not over. we want to get to our washington newsroom and our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell is till looking through the documents.

>> reporter: good evening, brian. these newly released cables expose deep fault lines in the u.s.-russian relationship. and uncertainy about the power sharing between prime minister putin and medvedev, who became president of russia in 2008, when putin was barred from seeking a third term. some u.s. diplomats describe medvedev as slowing accruing power, and others are more skeptical, saying medvedev continues to play robin to putin's batman. surrounded by putin loyalists and subservient to putin's political dominance. there's a cable from 2009 titled "questioning putin's work ethic," which describes his fatigue, his hands off behavior and his isolation. the cable, which was approved by the u.s. ambassador to russia says, there are consistent reports that putin resents the workload he carries, even describing him as a no-show, working from home. more troubling are descriptions of russian corruption and

growing authoritarianism. one state department cable quotes a senior spanish prosecutor investigating organized crime saying "russia has become a virtual mafia state, with the kremlin using mafia bosses to carry out its wishes, doing dirty work such as gun running and arms trafficking." one cable from february of this year quotes defense secretary robert gates was quoted as saying russian democracy has disappeared, calling the government an oligarchy run by the security services. what does putin think about all this? in an interview with cnn's larry king, putin called gates deeply misled and advises americans don't interfere. the administration worries there are more cabling that could expose details of the s.t.a.r.t. negotiation with russia. brian? >> andrea mitchell starting us off in washington. wikileaks now spreads across the globe. and the man behind this whistleblower website, an australian named julian assange, is nowhere to be found.

investigators believe he's on the run and hiding out from the outrage over what he's done. the international police agency interpol has issued a red alert for assange. they want to talk to him about some serious allegations. for that matter, a lot of people would like to talk to him right about now. our report from our senior investigative correspondent lisa myers. >> reporter: interpol's decision to put assange on its most wanted list quickly reverberate around the globe. [ speaking foreign languages ] >> reporter: the so-called red notice says he's wanted for sex crimes in sweden. prosecutors there want to question him about allegations of rape and sexual molestation by two women, wikileaks volunteers. allegations assange denies and calls dirty tricks. essentially, interpol is asking countries to be on the lookout for assange.

>> interpol is sending a message to these countries that they should take whatever steps are practical to find julian assange and arrest him. >> reporter: a british newspaper, which published the latest batch of secret documents, reported that assange was in a secret location somewhere outside london. today, his lawyer denied he's on the run and said law enforcement officials know where to find him. he called the allegations not of prosecution, but a persecution. >> we're in a rather surreal swedish fairy tale where nothing has happened like this before in sweden or else in civilized europe. >> reporter: nbc's peter alexander is in stockholm tonight. >> the swedish prosecutor says at least for now she's not commenting on any of the allegations made by assange's lawyer. >> reporter: the allegations came after wikileaks made public thousands of secret documents about the war in afghanistan. was the timing a coincidence? or is this, as assange claims,

all political to punish him? >> my own experience with dealing with the prosecutors in sweden and others involved in the case, including the two women who complained and friends of assange, left me skeptical this was a political issue. >> reporter: tonight, assange who has been living the life of a fugitive, has even more reason to look over his shoulder. lisa myers, nbc news, washington. now to washington, where on capitol hill today, some crucial questions about the economy, about your money are being hashed out from the fight over extended the bush era tax rates and unemployment benefits to the difficult decisions about how to reduce the staggering federal budget deficit. our own kelly o'donnell has been covering it all all day and with us tonight from capitol hill. kelly, good evening. >> reporter: hi there, brian. the urgency and the politics have ramped up here tonight, over a money crisis that has many scared about the cash in people's pockets today and for generations to come.

a pivotal day for your money on capitol hill. the president sent his treasury secretary and budget director here to try to hammer out a deal to keep some or all income taxes from going up next month as scheduled. >> it's ridiculous what's going on around here. >> reporter: all 42 republicans promise to block everything, including extending unemployment benefits, until democrats agree to extend all tax cuts and fund government operations before they run out friday. >> we need to show the american people we care more about them and their ability to pay their bills than we do about the special interest groups legislative christmas lists. >> reporter: the president said he's not concerned. >> i think we got off to a good start yesterday. there are going to be ups and downs to this process but i'm confident we'll be able to get it done. >> reporter: now a bigger fight begins over the country's crushing federal deficit. >> america must act to get its debt under control.

otherwise, we risk the united states becoming a second rate economic power. >> reporter: today, the president's bipartisan debt commission outlined recommendations that could cut the deficit by $3.9 trillion by 2020. >> no more fun and games, smoke and mirrors. >> reporter: on social security, the commission says raise the retirement age over time. up to 69 years old by 2075. lower cost of living adjustments. reduce benefits for wealthier seniors. and gradually raise the level of workers' income taxed for social security. and for your overall tax bill, some of those popular deductions could be scaled back. like home mortgage interest and the child tax credit. but to easy the sting, the commission says income tax rates should be lowered significantly, dropping the middle bracket from 28% to 22% as an example. so far only a couple of senators said they support those ideas

and on tax cuts tomorrow, house democrats say they will vote on extending the cuts only for the middle class but there aren't the votes in the senate to get that through. brian? >> kelly o'donnell on the hill tonight, thanks. about that commission president obama created to identify where the money should come from to cut back on federal spending, it was chaired by democrat erskine bowles of north carolina. he was president clinton's chief of staff. and former republican wyoming senator alan simpson. they sat down with the budget, came up with these suggestions, which are being hashed up, hacked apart and debated. but as they see it, they have a job to do and every american has to face up to this. we talked to both men late today from washington. >> this is a haircut greater than any hair i have left on doing something with everybody in the united states in a balanced, fair way, and getting rid of $1.2 trillion in these tax cuts.

most of them go to the top 1% earners in the united states. >> this is the moment of truth. every business, every family, every university, every city, every state has faced these problems. washington hasn't. this is the moment of truth. the path we're on today is completely unsustainable. if we don't get this debt under control, this country will go bankrupt. >> here's a question for either of you. if these cuts go through, though not exactly as you've called for, as you would like to see them, if there's a process that gets us more or less to the same place, will you be happy and content with that? >> we'll sleep well. hallelujah. what we've got to do, we proposed $1.7 trillion worth of cuts in the discretionary budget. $400 billion of cuts in health care. if we take the tax rates down, to 23%. somebody can do better, god bless them.

but we have to do something. because staying as we are is not an option. >> it seems to me there's two arguments. there's what you're trying to accomplish and then there's how you're trying to accomplish, and there are, as you know, critics of what you're trying to do. james k. galbraith writes in "the new york times," their proposal is an assault on the middle class, the working class and the poor. >> i think you find just the opposite. we take social security out for 75 year solvency, we fix medicare, we hope it's a step in the right direction. we got to move forward. >> senator simpson, if i gave you 30 seconds of free tv time, what is your 30-second pitch on the urgency and importance of doing something about this? >> any young person that started paying attention, this might not be the greatest generation, it might be the grieveous

generation. and sober up, we're sweeping the streets. >> tough words. we talked to them today while they were making their rounds on capitol hill. after being lit just last night, the world famous christmas tree here at 30 rock in new york got a good shaking to its core today, as winds hit 60 miles an hour in the city of new york, and there were some places with stronger gusts and a lot of damage. you can imagine what today's monster storm system did to air travel along the eastern seaboard and elsewhere. weather channel meteorologist jim cantore has been watching it blow through at new york's laguardia airport all day. jim, good evening. >> good evening. it whipped up the hudson in quite a way. the ferries heading over to ellis island had to be postponed as a result of that wind. that happened at about 2:00 this afternoon. back to the airport situation. here's how we got here. take a look at this 12-hour radar loop. all this green area, rain with winds, 30, 40, 50, even 60 miles an hour as you mentioned here. that created a tremendous backlog. delays at times up to six hours

here at laguardia. we're cutting that rate in half tonight. what this storm is going to do is unleash us from these 60-degree highs we had today here in new york, back to more seasonable conditions and open up the snow gates, especially for the great lakes. so everybody getting a dose of reality coming back. the first day of climatology winter went off with a big bang here in new york. >> jim cantore at laguardia tonight. jim, thanks. when our broadcast continues tonight, a scary holiday season for families losing something big they count on for this time of year. later, how needles, and thread and word of mouth are making a difference in the lives of children. needles, and threat and word of mouth are making a difference in the lives of children. on the wings of lunesta. eep is here, and if you wake up often in the middle of the night... rest is here, on the wings of lunesta. lunesta helps you fall asleep and stay asleep, so you can wake up feeling rested. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery

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we mentioned this earlier. congress has not extended unemployment benefits and that meant 2 million americans woke up this morning to the sobering realization that, as of now, this time of year, their assistance is gone. republicans say they want to pass an extension but only if it's paid for by other federal budget cuts. for the families cut off, it's anything but a happy start to the holiday season. our own kevin tibbles has the story from carol stream, illinois. >> reporter: imagine a place about the size of houston, texas, where everyone is unemployed and no one has an income. >> there's my pretty girl. >> reporter: toni is living in that place right now. >> you know, it's a pretty brave face right now, but let me tell

you, i don't sleep. >> reporter: for a year and a half, the former trade show organizer has been jobless. her house in foreclosure, and when her unemployment benefits run out this month -- >> i worry about me, i worry about my cat, i worry about whether we're going to have to live in a car. >> reporter: unless congress takes action, benefits for 2 million americans will stop at the end of december and 4 million more by the end of 2011. and all of this is happening at the height of the holiday season. for many, the times couldn't be worse. >> if they don't receive unemployment benefits, it will be devastating. i think these families have run through all of their financial resources. >> reporter: though costly in budgetary terms, economists say unemployment benefits also give the economy a significant shot in the arm. anywhere from $1.60 to $2 is generated by every dollar spent on unemployment insurance. >> we are obviously helping very distressed households. households that take that money and spend it very quickly, get it into the economy very rapidly.

>> reporter: 18 months out of work and christy smith continues to visit the good will job center in los angeles. she has no choice. she's raising two kids on her own. >> it's a consistent fight, it's a consistent battle. it might not happen today, but it might happen tomorrow, maybe next week, maybe next year. >> i need one job. >> reporter: just one? >> just one. >> reporter: but for many, like their benefits, time is running out. kevin tibbles, nbc news, carol stream, illinois. just weeks before the deep water horizon oil rig blew up and started the worst u.s. oil disaster ever, the obama administration surprised a lot of people by announcing a plan to allow a major expansion of off-shore drilling along the east coast. well, today, they reversed that decision, saying there will be no new off-shore drilling in the atlantic for at least the next five years. interior secretary ken salazar said the revised plan is the result of lessons learned from that bp disaster.

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a festival of lights tonight in washington, d.c. jews around the world celebrating the first night of hanukkah. earlier today, the giant national menorah was lit. today is world aids day and a large red ribbon symbolizing support for the fight against aids has been hanging this week on the north portico of the white house. more than 33 million people around the world are living with hiv currently, the virus that causes aids. most of them in subsaharan africa. in this country, the cdc estimates more than a million americans are currently infected. it was this day 55 years ago that a woman named rosa parks

refused to give up her seat on a public bus in then segregated montgomery, alabama. and almost instantly became an enduring symbol of the civil rights movement. so enduring, in fact, that today's special google logo as you went on the page commemorates the anniversary of that day. when we come back here tonight, an american woman's dream trip inspires an idea that's "making a difference" for children and it's catching on big time. children and it's catching on bigtime. [ male announcer ] one look can turn the everyday into romantic. ♪ an accidental touch can turn ordinary into something more. moments can change anytime -- just like that. and when they do men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a clinically proven, low-dose tablet you take every day, so you can be ready anytime the moment is right. tell your doctor about your medical condition and all medications, and ask if you're healthy enough for sexual activity.

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finally tonight, a great piece on "making a difference" for children. it happened in an almost accidental way when a woman from the detroit suburbs took a birthday trip to africa, noticed something about the children, and decided to do something about it. nbc's chris jansing has our report tonight from trenton, michigan. >> reporter: rachel o'neal's husband took her on a safari for her 50th birthday to fulfill her life-long dream. but the trip would turn life as she knew it on its head. from rural uganda to malawi, she saw a sadness in the children. >> when you look in these little girl's eyes, you can see it.

you can see that they know they've got a long road ahead. >> reporter: unable to forget their faces, she jut lined a simple idea in her journal. >> i would like to see if a woman's group would like to sew dresses all year long to bring back next year. their little clothes are so torn and filthy. >> reporter: her goal was ambitious, 1,000 dresses. but one problem. what were you thinking? you don't sew. >> no, i don't sew. i wasn't thinking. i just thought i want to give these little girls something. >> reporter: the first night, in a church basement, six women made just four dresses, but word of mouth spread and community groups got involved. then what happened next, rachel o'neal says she could never have imagined in a million years. boxes of dresses started showing up on her doorstep. dozens, then hundreds. >> montana. another mississippi. maine. >> reporter: more than 100,000 dresses so far.

every few weeks, volunteers sort, iron and pack the dresses. and of course, sew. >> every dress is special. i make it like it were for my own little girl. >> reporter: dresses for girls and now pants for boys have been mailed to 16 different countries, including the u.s. three years after scribbling in her journey, rachel o'neal looks around and is amazed. >> makes me want to cry. that's how i feel. i really do feel connected to these women. >> reporter: a journey back to africa is a connection that bridges thousands of miles. lighting the eyes and the smiles of thousands of little children. chris jansing, nbc news, trenton, michigan. >> told you that was a great story. and because we know how charitable and generous so many of you are, if you would like to join in the work of little dresses for africa or would just like to learn more about the organization, find it on our

website, nightly.msnbc.com. for now, that's our broadcast for a wednesday night. thank you for being here with us. and as we take another look at the tree out back, all lit up for the holidays, i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night from new york. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com a big what humbug as home owners fight to keep thieves are stealing their christmas decorations. >> a grinch with a grudge. a south bay neighborhood is banding together tonight to help catch a thief who