on the broadcast tonight, an nbc news exclusive. the wikileaks founder, a hunted man, facing accusations of rape. and tonight, we've spoken to the lawyer for the two women while the state secrets continue pouring out. your money and the art of the deal. we may be on the brink tonight of a tax deal that will affect every american. and did john boehner really just say at? weighing in, who's heavy enough to qualify for weight loss surgery? it's mostly women who get it. should more of them qualify for it? the meaning of life. a fascinating experiment opening new frontiers of what life may be and where it is. and why even the president

is worried about what might happen in cleveland tonight. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. there are now people looking for him all over the world. julian assange, the man behind wikileaks is wanted by the police agency interpol and reviled by many. last night, the internet rumor was that he was spotted in a bar here in new york with a newly shaved head. today, we were told otherwise. he's wanted for questioning not yet in connection with the leaks. he's wanted in sweden on allegations of sexual molestation and rape. tonight, we've spoken exclusively with the attorney for the two women in the case. our senior investigative correspondent lisa myers is here in new york with the story. lisa, good evening. >> reporter: brian, the lawyer for the women is emphatic that these allegations have nothing

to do with politics, wikileaks, or the u.s. government. he argues that it's in everyone's interest for assange to be arrested and returned to sweden for questioning. assange's lawyer confirmed that the founder of wikileaks is still in britain. at an undisclosed location. >> he's not in hiding, evading any interpol arrest warrant. he has genuine concerns for his personal safety as a result of numerous, very public calls for his assassination. >> reporter: today, sweden's highest court confirmed the court order seeking his arrest for questioning. but british police say they need more information about the allegations of rape and sexual molestation made by two women, wikileaks volunteers. in stockholm, the swedish prosecutor told nbc's peter alexander that this case is being handled just like any other. that there was no pressure. >> there have been no conflicts whatsoever from the other

countries or authorities. >> reporter: in an interview with nbc news, the lawyer for the two women also rejected assange's claim that all this is dirty tricks. >> that is nonsense. i can tell you that. >> reporter: nonsense? >> it's nonsense, yes. >> reporter: he says the allegations stem from two separate incidents in august. days apart, involving young women who didn't know each other at the time. >> these women are alleging that mr. assange forced them to do something against their will. >> yes. that is so. >> reporter: mr. assange insists whatever happened was consensual. >> i'm not surprised that is his standpoint, of course. and that is why it has to be interrogated. >> reporter: assange's lawyer says he's tried to cooperate with prosecutors. >> obviously, he vehemently denies the allegations. and is incredibly keen to clear his name. >> reporter: he says for all the international intrigue about

assange, this case is a very personal one, about assange's treatment of two women. >> they have been abused, they've gone to the police in the same way as unfortunately thousands of women do every year. >> reporter: and nothing political about it? >> no. i understand that this is in the interest of julian assange to say that this is a conspiracy and so on. but it is not. >> reporter: he would not discuss details of the incident, saying he didn't want to jeopardize the investigation and predicts assange will ultimately be arrested and returned for questioning. nbc news has requested an interview with mr. assange. >> lisa myers here in the studio to start us off tonight. lisa, thanks. as we mentioned, as all of this plays out around the globe, the secret documents keep tumbling out of wikileaks onto the web and newspaper front pages. the diplomatic cables revealed just today are all about afghanistan, a nation where the u.s. is in year nine of a costly war.

afghanistan is depicted as a cess pool of corruption and everything is for sale, and its leader, hamid karzai, as unstable and erratic. our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell has been going through this latest round of documents. with us again from the washington newsroom, andrea, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. we knew the karzai regime was bad, but these cables show just how corrupt u.s. officials believe it really is. according to one cable cited by "the new york times" tonight, after afghanistan's new cabinet took office last january, the u.s. embassy wrote home that the agriculture minister appears to be the only minister that was confirmed about whom no allegations of bribery exist. the u.s. ambassador carl eikenberry wrote in july of 2009, it remains to be seen whether karzai will refrain from this blame america tactic he uses to deflect criticism of his administration.

his inability to grasp the most rudimentary principles and his insecurity as a leader, combined to make any admission of fault unlikely. an august of 2009 report says karzai pardoned five border police caught with 273 pounds of heroin in their vehicle. before the august election in 2009, $600 million was drawn out of afghan banks with hundreds of millions routinely flown out of the country. according to "the new york times," a cable quoted one afghan official explaining that there are four stages of which his colleagues skim money from u.s. development projects. when contractors bid on a project, at application for building permits, during construction, and at the ribbon cutting ceremony. this year, the white house has noticeably pulled back from overt criticism of karzai, acknowledging the conflict as between pressuring karzai to clean up the pressure and trying not to alienate him any put as

the u.s. hopes to begin withdrawing u.s. troops next summer. brian? >> andrea mitchell in washington with the latest round of leaks. andrea, thanks. on capitol hill tonight, there was movement toward agreement on extending the bush era tax cuts, even though talks between democrats and republicans were tense and some harsh words were exchanged. it's a high-stakes game that will ultimately affect every american. our white house correspondent savannah guthrie watching it all tonight. savannah, good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you, brian. some kind of deal to extend these bush era tax rates is all but certain, but a breakthrough not likely for a few days. and even though behind the scenes there seem to be quite a bit ol progress from the public's view, it looked like two sides still very much at war. >> can you tell us if there's a deal on tax cuts, sir? >> reporter: the president signaled tax cut talks were full steam ahead. >> i believe it will get resolved. that doesn't mean there may not be some posturing over the next several days.

>> reporter: even as negotiators led by tim geithner met for the third time in two days, house democrats were looking to put republicans on the spot. >> let me say, there will be no tax bill for any situation unless there is a tax cut for middle income people in our country. >> reporter: an up or down vote on extending tax cuts only for those making less than $250,000 a year. essentially daring republicans who want tax cuts for all earners to vote no. >> the motion is adopted. >> reporter: republicans were furious over what they consider a gimmick. >> trying to catch my breath so i don't refer to this -- this maneuver going on today as chicken crap, all right? but this is nonsense! >> reporter: under pressure from the liberal wing of the party, democrats are now considering

whether to stage a similar vote in the senate, all but certain to fail to hammer republicans. >> remember when you guys discovered the word "death tax?" it had its effect in a way i didn't like, but it had its effect. now we have millionaires, tax breaks. >> reporter: a deal on all of this could come as early as next week. it's not just those income tax rates on the table. the white house is also pushing for an extension of unemployment benefits as part of any deal as well as business tax breaks. brian? >> savannah guthrie at the white house tonight. savannah, thanks for your reporting. a dramatic moment in washington tonight. you don't see this often, even over the course of a lifetime. the censure of a member of the house of representatives. >> will the gentleman from new york, mr. rangel, kindly appear in the well. >> democrat charles rangel

tonight standing in the well of the house, accepting the punishment as read by speaker pelosi. he has represented his harlem congressional district for 40 years. he today became the first house member since 1983 to be formally censured by his peers. the worst punishment short of expulsion. he said the censure was painful to accept. he was convicted of 11 ethics violations, including failure to pay taxes. the vote to convict tonight was 333-79. if you have spent time on the east, you night know what they call lake-effect snow. it's when weather whips across the moisture of the great lakes and then dumps it on or near buffalo, new york. and a whole lot of other places. well, it has started in earnest for the season, and a whole lot of people are paying dearly tonight and have been sinclast night. our own ron alan has made his way to an i-90 overpass in west

seneca, new york. ron, how are we holding up there? >> reporter: the conditions out here are pretty tough. heavy snow is falling. there's two feet or more on the ground in some areas and the big problem is over there behind me. that's i-90. and you can see the lights of a long line of cars and trucks sitting there in gridlock. it started last night around 8:00 when a big truck jackknifed and crashed, blocking hundreds of cars and motorists, leaving them stranded, many through the night and through the day. it is the first major snowstorm of the season for upstate new york. and it has completely paralyzed a vast stretch of the region's main highway. drivers stranded, sharing mare misery on cell phones on the local evening news. >> i was very optimistic up until midnight. then the state troopers came through and said it will be a while. >> well, we started building a snowman. >> reporter: this woman sat in traffic for more than 11 hours.

>> it just halted to a stop right around 9:30, quarter till 10:00. that's where i sat all night until this morning. >> reporter: the blizzard conditions are the latest act of a powerful storm that swept up the eastern seaboard, starting with tornadoes in the southeast. more than 50 homes destroyed outside atlanta. in buffalo, near the great lakes, all the white stuff is what's known as lake-effect snow. >> lake-effect snow happens when you have cold, arctic air pouring over that warmer lake water which right now is in the low to mid 40s, picks up that moisture and dumps it, creating these lake-effect bands. >> reporter: new york state police say they have no idea when the massive traffic jam will be cleared. but they are giving it all they've got. >> our main objective is get this road open, east bound and west bound, continue to use our atvs to check stranded motorists, make sure no one is in harm's way and hopefully by

this evening this will be the tip of the buffalo knife. >> reporter: they are making some progress. at one point the jam stretched for ten miles, it's down to about four miles. they think they've gotten most of the cars out. the problem now is getting the big trucks out of here. a lot of people, of course, are very tired, angry and frustrated to understand how this could have happened. brian, back to you. >> we're hoping for the best for all those folks in their vehicles. ron alan up near buffalo, new york tonight. thanks. if you go east further across the atlantic, winter has hit hard. things are at a standstill tonight in parts of great britain. in some places you can't move by road, rail or air and we wanted to show you how their evening news was covering the near total paralysis. >> vehicles abandoned and people forced to sleep in cars and trains through a long and freezing night. it's a whiteout. this stark, still scene signals the extent which britain is

grinding to a standstill. >> i'm going to go back home. ring the boss and say, day off. >> reporter: the snow closed the railway stations, too. trains were stranded where they stopped. when it left the platform, this one was billed as the gatwick express. >> there's nothing going out and coming in except for more of this snow. >> i've been here for 27 hours. they provided cardboard blankets, which is not much of a help. >> would be a good night to own a pub or be in one, we imagine. the situation in the uk tonight. when our broadcast continues in just a moment, attention, all those especially women who have even considered that weight loss surgery, a story you need to hear tonight. later, nasa scientists discovered we have company here on earth we never knew about until today. ere's the life you .

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a medical question tonight, how much overweight do you have to be to qualify for that lap band surgery to surgically bring about weight loss? and should more people be eligible for it? it's a question of particular interest to women in america. they're the vast majority of patients for this surgery. and tomorrow, an fda panel will consider a request by manufacturers of the lap band who want to loosen these rules. our report from our chief science correspondent robert bazell. >> reporter: michelle larson once weighed 307 pounds. then a surgeon implanted the device known as lap band and she lost half the weight over three years. >> i've been happy i've taken off this weight and kept it off. >> reporter: her mother, sharon, wanted the surgery too, who learned she wasn't eligible because she wasn't heavy enough. >> i was ready to finally get something where i would lose the weight. >> reporter: sharon and millions

of others may get a chance to have the operation. the company that makes the lap band is applying for fda permission to lower the minimum weight for the surgery. >> we're only talking about a 30-pound weight difference. >> reporter: dr. george fielding of new york university, performed michelle's procedure. >> it's not like we're going from dealing with really enormous people to dealing with skinny people. these people are still obese by any category that's used and they've got this disease process going on. >> reporter: lap bands account for half the annual 220,000 weight loss surgeries in this country. 80% of them in women. it's already a heavily advertised and expensive procedure. it's wrapped around the top of the stomach, then tightened to make the patient feel full. experts estimate fda approval could double the number of lap band procedures. some say not so fast. they point out this is serious abdominal surgery with the risk of side effects and rarely, even death.

>> you need to know that you're really going to be better off afterwards medically than you were beforehand. that's the kind of proof we think consumers deserve. >> reporter: consumers like sharon thorpe and their doctors believe the procedure reduces weight related health problems. and they hope the fda panel agrees. robert bazell, nbc news, new york. up next here tonight, why is president obama worried about something happening in cleveland tonight? as he put it, it could get ugly. it, it could get ugly. ♪ [ heather ] businesses need a reliable financial partner. one who can stay in sync with their moves. my job at ge capital is to get bobcat all the financial and business support they need. we provide financing for every bobcat dealer in north america. together, we've rolled out over 100,000 machines to small businesses all over the country so they too can grow.

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what a beautiful way to get fiber everyday. that's the beauty of benefiber. the grammy nominations are out. way too many songs and artists to mention here. but one is notable because of the problem it is causing when people need to say it out loud. the title of the song is two words and the second word is "you." it's the work of the great a&b soul singer. with four nominations, they just might have to say the name of the song on grammy night. we've put all the nominations on our website, nightly.msnbc.com. president obama himself said tonight is going to be brutal. he wasn't talking about budget talks on the hill, he's talking about lebron james' first game back in cleveland. james is going back to the arena they call the q, which he helped build after all, right up until

the night some compared to a presidential announcement when he went public with his intention to play for miami. lebron told an interviewer this week the game would be "very emotional for myself." lebron's decision to leave just about broke cleveland's heart, but it's a tough town and it's bounced back enough for the fans to hatch all kinds of plans on the internet to at various times, laugh at, heckle and cajole lebron and make sure he has a tough time in cleveland when the heat play the cavaliers. by the way, extra police are on hand in the city this evening. we'll take a break. when we come back, redefining life as we know it. but i wasn't winning any ribbons managing my diabetes. it was so complicated. there was a lot of information out there. but it was frustrating trying to get the answers i needed. then my company partnered with unitedhealthcare. they provided onsite screenings, healthy cooking tips. that's a recipe i'm keeping.

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[ male announcer ] ask your doctor if cialis for daily use is right for you. for a 30-tablet free trial offer, go to cialis.com. we want to end tonight with a stunning announcement from nasa scientists. who have spent a lifetime searching for other forms of life in the universe. for the last 24 hours, the internet has been lit up with speculation that nasa might announce that e.t. had finally phoned home in some form or fashion. that is the stuff of movies, of course. tonight, the real announcement, the real breakthrough does sound a lit like a plot out of hollywood. our report from nbc's lee cowan. >> reporter: maybe this is the way it will happen.

a big nasa press conference before the world's media, waiting with bated breath to hear that life had been found on another planet. >> thank you all for joining us today. >> reporter: that, however, was not today's big announcement. instead -- >> the terrestrial life, but not life as we know it. >> reporter: that's not extra terrestrial with an e.t. >> i would like to introduce you today the bacterium. >> reporter: this is it. not an alien but a bacteria with an alien-like biochemistry found in the salty waters of mono lake in california. it's able to survive without one of the essential elements of life as we know it, phosphorous, replacing it in its dna with its toxic cousin, arsenic. >> we've cracked open the door for life elsewhere in the universe, and that's profound. >> reporter: it turned the quest for alien life on its head, redefining how organisms may

have evolved here on earth and how they may exist somewhere else. >> you can replace phosphorous with arsenic and not kill yourself. it's quite striking. so when we look for life on other worlds, we could look in a different way. >> reporter: it's a discovery so radical, some scientists aren't quite sure whether to believe it. but there is the other side expecting more. all this hype over an earthly bacteria? whatever happened to finding water on the moon? alien hunters are a pretty tough crowd to please. super nerdy, not very awesome wrote one blogger. so this is fake now, equipped another? the point isn't that little green men weren't found, it's that little green men might be hiding where we never looked before. >> maybe we'll be able to find e.t. now. because we've got more information about what we might be looking for. >> reporter: if nothing else, today's news may have given mono lake a new slogan. another reason to visit california, one blogger wrote. we have aliens, you don't. lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles.

>> well, that settles it. that's our broadcast for this thursday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. as always, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i think i'm mother more tree i go to get kids to drink it than adults. >> this is not a nap time drink. a shocking assault at a bay area store. how a registered sex offender got his hands