"jimmy fallon" happening right e ]♪ this morning on "early today," out of hiding. wikileaks head julian assange surrenders in london. tax cuts. the president announcing add deal with republicans to extend bush-era tax cuts. and heavy hitter. leading police on a wild chase in a stolen dump truck. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. william to our viewers across the nation include the pick time

zone. i'm lynn berry and today we begin with in custody. wikileaks founder julian assange has been arrested by police in england on a european warrant issued by sweden. that's what london's metropolitan police announced this morning. scotland yard confirm the arrest to nbc news and said he's due to appear before a magistrate later today. swedish prosecutors issued the warrant order -- arrest order for the 39-year-old australian who is wanted in sweden on suspicion of committing sexual crimes. accusation hess has consistently denied calling them part of an elaborate plot to silence wikileaks for its recent release of thousands of classified cables. well, here at home it appears that the scalemate in washington over expiring tax cuts is nearing an end. yesterday the president announced that an agreement has been reached with republicans, but as is often the case in politics, not everyone is welcoming the compromise, and it still has to pass congress. nbc's steve handelsman reports.

>> everyone will find something in this compromise that they don't like. in fact, there are things in here that i don't like. >> reporter: president obama said he had to cut a deal with republicans or middle class taxes would rise and a million jobs would be lost. so mr. obama agreed, taxes won't rise for the top bracket for two years. republicans agreed to extend unemployment benefits for 13 months and for a year to cut social security payroll taxes by a third to 4.2%, which helps lower income families most. a four-part deal. >> it's the right thing to do for jobs. it's the right thing to do for the middle class. it is the right thing to do for business, and it's the right thing to do for our economy. >> reporter: the president says he wanted a tax hike for the rich, and even though senate democrats failed to pass one saturday, liberals say the president caved too soon again. >> there's no question

republicans won again. 50/50. not 90/10. >> reporter: now the fight is between liberals, republicans and hits own party. an intelligence specialist stationed at fort bragg is behind bars on suspicion of trying to sell classified documents. a search warrant says 22-year-old brian minu martin passed dozens of top papers to an undercover fbi agent he thought worked for a foreign government in exchange for $3,500. the sail hear not been charge yet and is being held in virginia while the military reviews the evidence. investigators say they are confident no classified information fell into the wrong hands. elizabeth edwards battle with breast cancer has take an turn for the worse. a statement from her family says doctors have advised further treatment would be unproductive. she is resting at her north carolina home with her children

as well as her estranged husband, former presidential candidate john edwards. in a message on facebook, she says, "the days of our lives for all of us are numbered." now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america -- an ohio teen is in hot water after leading police on a 52-mile hour-long chase in a stolen dump truck. police dash cam shows the wild chase where the 17-year-old mowed over cars and police patrol vehicle, even speeding in reverse several times. the demolition derby ended when the truck caught a flat tire and careened into a guardrail. the driver and two alleged teen accomplices are in police custody. in florida, four people were seriously hurt when two motorcycles collided during a charity toy run. cell phone video shows the moment one motorcycle rear-ended another throwing riders and passengers off the bikes. authorities say the accident could have been much worse,

noting none of the victims were wearing helmets. a minnesota woman is dead after a semitruck rolled on top of the car she was in. police say the driver of the truck was trying to turn a corner when its trailer full of coal tipped over. the truck driver sustained minor injuries. an investigation is under way. and in california, three men each earned the title, the world's ultimate couch potato. they set the new world record watching a grueling 86 hours and 6 minutes of tv. the baggy eyes may not look so appealing, but $10,000 check sure helps make up for it. sit there and watch tv. go figure. now for a look at your national and regional weather here's nbc's meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning, bill. >> tough to do lynn. at least until our show came on. then you'd perk right up. >> exactly. there you go. we try, bill. >> good try. let's talk about the big

cold outbreak. the national weather story. windchills this morning all wait down in florida in the 30s. atlanta's at 23. everybody east of the rockies is seeing an early blast of winter. the west coast, the opposite. a big ocean storm. pretty far off the coast. it sits there and lingers and tossing moisture onshore over the next couple of day. so the big storm is just off your screen, but this is kind ever the baby storms that will rotate around this. it's actual lay milder flow of air. so it's not as cold to stay in the middle of the country and snow levels are actually up there pretty high. you see the rain out there from oh olympia to seattle to bellingham and the bisque will see the worst of it. temperatures not bad. we'll deal with a lot of rainy conditions. tha that cold air holding on

in spokane and a chance of some snow. wednesday's forecast coming up, lynn. >> also coming up, big ben crashes wall street's party. a play for barnes & noble and the giant $100 bill headache. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, what's in a name? for one fan of nbc's "chuck," just about everything. another nfl coach is fired. miami heating up and the patriots pull out all the stops. you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning -- the supreme court says it will decide whether the largest employment discrimination case in the nation's history can continue against walmart. more than 1 million current and former female employees are seeking billions of dollars in

damages through a class action lawsuit, because they say they were paid less than men and given fewer promotions. a group of companies against class action cases, including general electric, the current other than of this network, signed a petition urging the courts to hear the case. new york's daily news reports al qaeda terrorists are planning to create a horrific new type of suicide bomber, one who has explosives surgically implanted into their body. defense analysts are concerned about the development because the so-called franken bombers could be potentially undetectable. the fight over gay rights has moved into a california courtroom where a federal appeals court is hearing arguments from both sides on whether the state's ban on same-sex marriage violence the u.s.' constitution. analysts say the three-judge panel appears to be seeking a way to restore same-sex marriages in the state while avoiding a ruling that would

send the case to the u.s. supreme court. and if you've got $6 million to $8 million lying around, you may be able to buy what's considered to be the world's most expensive books. now up for auction in london, "birds of america" is printed in what's called double elephant size so that all birds could be portrayed life size. >> and now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines in msnbc.com. a new english report suggests long-term daily aspirin use may moderately and modestly lower the risk of dying from certain cancers. experts warn, however, due to side effects, more study is needed before recommending healthy people start daily dosing. the analysis of eight trials that included more than 25,000 patients found aspirin cut the risks of death from certain cancers by 20%. for more information, check out the health page at msnbc.com. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off

the day. the dow opens at 11,362 after losing 19 points yesterday. the s&p shed a point but the nasdaq rose 3. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 26 points, but in hong kong, the hang seng gained 190. wall street stood tall last week, facing euro fears and disappointment on unemployment. but monday, when it came to pessimism from fed chief ben bernanke, the markets buckled. in a televised interview sunday night, the head of the fed said the recovery is still struggling without government help. bernanke argued against congress making any spending cuts or boosting taxes. he also said it could take four or five more years for unemployment to reach normal levels. stocks rallied in the afternoon when president obama hinted at an agreement on tax cuts and unemployment benefits, but not enough to leave the dow or the s&p on the plus side. investors spent on less riskier assets.

gold was up almost $10 an ounce. silver, the dollar and u.s. treasuries all followed higher. barnes & noble shot up more than 10% after borders shareholders said they were prepared to make a takeover bid. the court appointed trustee said that ubs settled with the group for a half a billion dollars. the u.s. government sold off its remaining shares of citigroup exiting with the bailed out giant with a $12 billion profit for taxpayers. finally, cnbc reports production of the new high-tech $100 bill is so complex and has had so many problems, the government has shut down production an quarantined more than 1 billion questionable bills. until they're able to devise a system to sort out usable bills from defective ones more than 10% of all currency on the

planet will sit idle. even when they figure out the mechanized system, it will take about a year to sort through all the bills. the heat are suddenly sultry, the broncos buck their coach, and a half-court shot gets trumped by the mascot. plus, one of the most easily awaited regular season games in the years turns into a massacre. your early morning sports headlines are just ahead. a frigid tuesday will lead to an even colder wednesday. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports last night, what was expected to be an epic heavyweight battle between the jets and the patriots, instead, was a first round knockout. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. it was dubbed the game of the year, but somebody forgot to tell that to the jets. patriots put on a clinic in foxborough. tom brady had his way with the jets, threw four touchdown passes. now has eight in the last two games. this one to brandon chase put the jets up at the half. on the flip side, the pass intercepted mark sanchez three times when the patriots won it, 45-3.

broncos fimped their head coach, josh mcdaniels. the broncos are 3-9. sad news from the nfl. former cowboys quarterback and broadcaster don meredith passed away yesterday. best known for being part of the original broadcast group for monday night football, he was a three-time pro bowler with the dallas cowboys. his banter with howard cosell quickly made dandy don a fan favorite. he was 72. basketball, miami is start to go heat up. they beat the bucs with their fifth straight win. miami was up 11 at the break. a pass from wade in the second half behind the back to chris bosh and bosh did the rest. heat won it, 88-78. from the magic's chris duhon. the ball is going out, duhon reached around the defender, flipped it to his teammate while diving head-first into the crowd, and that is an assist the hard way. duhon was fine. but the magic worked. and a show against the thunder. a circus shot in the third a

season high 29 for him. final seconds of the quarter, derek rode from mid court and banked it in. chicago was up, 16. but the shot of the night was from benny the bull with his back to the basket, he heaved it up from half-court, off the backboard and in. benny the bull, a winner as were the bulls, 99-90. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. is a pay cut in shock jock howard stern's future? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, germany's paul the octopus may have passed away, but we may have our own oracle here in the u.s. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this tuesday morning. rain is moving into the pacific west. up around seattle especially some of the best weather in the country occurs in southern california and arizona today and tomorrow. actually some of the warmest temperatures, too, but unfortunately, more moisture streaming onshore from san francisco to sacramento northward on your wednesday. so a little unsettled on the west coast. if you're watching on k 5 news in seattle, enter a winter wonderland. bonfires, ice sculptures and luminous outdoor lights at winterfest. that's your pick event of the day. >> thanks, bill. here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment --

angelina jolie has finally answered the question as to whether she does or doesn't. in an interview with england's daily mail, on the subject of plastic surgery, jolie tells the tabloid "i haven't had anything done and i don't think i will." we don't think she needs to. kira nightly tells "vogue" she considered retiring at age 22 because she wasn't enjoying acting and didn't appreciate her success. apparently time off in europe with friends convinced her to come back. a sirius/xm radio official hinted howard stern will have to cut his $1 million a year salary to stay at the network when his deal expires later this month. he also hinted stern may have an offer from apple to do a show on i-tunes. finally, an oregon man inspired by the nick name of the character on the nbc show "chuck" has legally changed his name to capital awesome. the unemployed cabinet installer

found it funny that the show's devin wouldcome got the name from his father, because a poor nickname builds good character. only acceptable if you're a cartoon character. >> yeah, but a cabinetmaker and awesome, your business cards are pretty cool. >> true. good point, bill. this comes to us from miami, florida, where depending on who you ask, the outcome of one college bowl game is already in the bag. miami sea square yum's flipper dubbed the clairvoyant dolphin predicts that stanford will take virginia tech in miami's upcoming orange bowl. he used a less than conventional method to make the call, booting the stanford cardinal ball out of the water. trainers say he's a real deal that i'm sure the hokeys of virginia tech hope is wrong. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your

nbc station.

we begin at a festival where vegetarians need not apply. a town in italy showed off what they claim is the world's biggest sausage. a crane was needed to lift the hunk of pork which tipped the scales at over 2,000 pounds. much to the crowd's delight, this wasn't just for show, the link was sliced up for snacks. and if you need something to wash that down, this next drink would be hard to swallow. a new line of high-end whiskey debuted in china. for $2,000 a bottle, the drink offers a special blend of different whiskys that has aged for at least 40 years.

to top a it off, the decadent drink comes with a crystal stopper and is decorated with 24 karat gold. some musicians in japan are giving the air guitar some competition. they're rocking out with the shovel guitar. over 100 people featured their homemade music skims at a competition last weekend. if you thought plucking away at a yard tool turned instrument wasn't challenging enough, contestants had to play the instrument with either a bottle opener or a spoon and dress up like a ninja turtle. >> and you can use the shovels for that sausage. so nasty, lynn. >> yeah. good morning, we have a big vat of eggs for you in the back, as well. >> looks like a pig vat, too. horrendous. >> good morning, everyone. time to look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc -- it is the 69th anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor. in 1941, japanese war planes launched a surprise assault on the u.s. naval base in hawaii. 2,400 americans died drawing the

u.s. into world war ii. for only the 12th time in u.s. history, the senate will conduct an impeachment trial that could remove a federal judge. the district judge based in new orleans is accused of lying during his nomination hearing and accepting cash and other favors with people with business before the court. in washington, house speaker nancy pelosi will help light the u.s. capitol christmas tree. all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with nbc "nightly news." and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. the very latest on the early arctic blast that's gripping much of the nation. and actress angelina jolie opens up about her new thriller, "the tourist," her director debut and her kids. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i'd like one of those desserts and some coffee. sure. decaf or regular? regular. cake or pie? pie. apple or cherry? cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream?