thing in our half of the world today is something that has a really hippie name but that has a really, really happy outcome. the solstice. just in time. best new thing in the world. that does it for us tonight. ju. best new thing in the world. ""first look" is up next. still no deal. as the capitol clears out for the holidays, house republicans face mounting pressure to act on the payroll tax cut. wave of violence. coordinated bombings across bagdad leave scores dead. and wild ride. a high-speed chase through central force come to a crushing end. good morning, i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc.

we begin this morning with under pressure. with millions of americans facing less in their paycheck and the white house not bundling on a payroll tax cut extension, house speaker john boehner is quickly becoming isolated over his stalling of a compromised senate bill in order to get the cuts extended for a year rather than the two months currently being proposed by the senate. yesterday the "wall street journal" likened boehner's strategy to a, quote, circular firing squad, while one republican senator labeled boehner's stance, quote, irresponsible and wrong. nbc's brian mooar is in washington for us with the latest. good morning. >> good morning, lynn. neither side seems willing to bend and the clock is ticking down. >> let's see if my credit card still works. >> reporter: while his family is in highway', president obama is staying here in the nation's capitol to battle republicans over the payroll tax cuts. he's taking to twitter asking americans what they would do with an extra $40 in their

paycheck, holding an' haven't later today with some of the 160 million americans who will pay if republicans don't pass a bill before january 1st. >> the house needs to act. they're not behaving in the interest of the country. >> reporter: the senate pass adibi partisan tax bill before leaving on vacation. >> the ayes are 89, the nays are 10. >> reporter: house republicans want a one-year extension, not just two months and pressuring the senate to get back to the bargaining table. >> so work with us to work with us to resolve our differences so we can do what everybody wants to do. >> reporter: the house is refusing the go home, also ignoring democratic demands to vote on the senate bill. >> the house stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m., on -- >> mr. speaker, mr. speaker. >> reporter: in washington, political theater with a cliff-hanger. without some compromise, taxes go up in just nine days. >> brian mooar in washington, thanks so much. to the presidential race. with only 13 days remaining

before the iowa caucuses, it should come as no surprise in the up and down battle for the republican presidential nomination that according to one new poll there is a new front-runner in that state. nbc's michelle franzen has more. >> reporter: republican presidential candidates continue to make the rounds before the holidays, taking jabs at their opponents and taking some heat on the campaign trail. in des moines, iowa, protesters interrupted newt gingrich during a speech at the statehouse. meanwhile the rift between gingrich and mitt romney is getting bigger as the iowa caucuses and new hampshire primary gets closer. >> newt has more baggage that the airlines. >> reporter: a political action group launch what gingrich talked an attack ad in iowa. >> drop the negativity, run positive ads and let's have debate over who can solve america's problems, not hire the

most clever ad agency. >> i know the speaker says we shouldn't have negative ads, but if you can't handle the heat in the kitchen -- >> reporter: in the latest poll it is ron paul who leads the pack with 28%, followed beginning rich with 25% and romney at 18%. >> if he takes iowa, it's just tremendous news for mitt romney because, if ron paul is second in iowa, it means he sucks a lot of the oxygen out of the room for all of the others. >> reporter: a wildcard that could set the tone for the republican presidential race. michelle franzen, nbc news, new york. else in what is being called a massacre, activists say syrian troops killed more than 100 people in one northeastern village tuesday in what appears to be a desperate attempt to crush key pockets of resistance before today's arrival of arab league observers. in one of the deadliest episodes of the nine-month uprising

against president bashar al as sat's government, a witness claims the use of rockets, tanks and gunfire in an hour-long assault left no survivors. the white house said it was deeply disturbed and the syrian national council is calling for a un security council meeting. eight u.s. soldiers are facing charges after an army private b private's body was found. his death was ruled a suicide. investigation further found that chen had been the target of ethnic slurs and physical attacks at the hands of fellow soldiers. eight had been charged with involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide for allegedly driving chen to take his own life. a high-speed chase through the streets of orlando ended in a hair-raising crash. look at that. police pursued burglary suspects for 40 minutes until they

smashed into three vehicles at a busy intersection. mir ak yously, no one died. but six people including the two suspects suffered serious injuries. a raging inferno in detroit forced two people to jump for their lives. a man and woman jumped from the second floor to escape death. both were hospitalized with serious injuries. one long island group set out to create the brightest festival of lights ever. approximately 700 people gathered on the second night of hanukkah to break the record for the most menorahs lit at one time. organizers believe they vested the mark of 358 set in 2009. finally, the clock is ticking. decorations for the biggest of all new year's eve parties are beginning to arrive. a giant number two was delivered to times square. the new number will light up the new york city sky when the ball drops on 2012.

now for a look at your national weather we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins with your weather channel forecast. good morning, bill. are you ready for it? >> i'm going all out. i think it's going to be a big party. >> i can imagine at the karins' house, the two kids in the corner, your wife -- >> my goal is to stay awake that long. >> i know, bill. >> very sad. >> it's lovely. >> those young single days are gone, lynn berry. good morning, everyone. as far as the forecast goes, a lot of action, snow in colorado, heavy rain in texas, but the warm temperatures in the east. it's just another morning to shake your head. 53 degrees in boston as you wake up and grab the paper and go out to the car this morning, it's ridiculous. it's record highs this time of year. this is an incredibly mild air mass that's in the eastern u.s.

all the cold air in the west, 25 in denver with snow, minneapolis has cooled off. a little cooler in chicago, kansas city and st. louis. as far as denver goes, we've already picked up a couple inches of snow. by the time it ends later today, you'll probably have about six to eight on the ground. you're guaranteed now a white christmas. i-25, colorado springs snowing good all the way to pueblo, this is heading for new mexico. everyone in colorado is looking at a white christmas and many areas of new mexico. that's where we'll pick up three to six inches. albuquerque, maybe two to three for you. our computers are thinking a little light snow is possible in areas of new england. eventually all the rain drenching houston this morning, louisiana will get drenched this morning. this is heading for new england. not a cold of cold air available. mostly the higher elevations will have a chance for a little snow and even in central new england. this is what our computer is looking at. not a lot of snow. if you're a kid out there and hoping for a little snowflakes

on the grass, our computers are thinking maybe an inch or two, some areas in massachusetts. not a big deal. that would be tomorrow morning that that would occur. lynn, i don't know if that would survive until christmas day or not. at least it's a minor hope for a white christmas. >> no snowball fights. techs tumble. another aaa warning and something new to go along with your belly buster. your first look at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. a christmas miracle on the ice. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. a series of coordinated attacks in the iraqi capital have left at least 57 people dead and nearly 200 wounded. iraqi officials say at least a dozen bombs went off in neighborhoods around the city.

a russian soyuz rocket took off from kazakhstan with a three-man clue including a 56-year-old american chemical engineer. they're scheduled to arrive at the international space station tomorrow. two female sailors have become the first same sex couple to share the traditional dock side first kiss after the u.s.s. oak hills returned to virginia. it happened just a day shy of the one-year anniversary of president obama signing the repeal of don't ask don't tell. england's prince william and his wife katherine took part in a seasonal mince pie class last night. the royal couple also watched a talent show and sat in on an employment workshop. meanwhile prince harry announced he's headed back to afghanistan for a second deployment next year and says he, quote, can't wait to get out there. his last deployment was cut short when details of his location were made public. here is a look at how wall

street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,107 after adding four points yesterday. the s&p was up two, the nasdaq fell 25. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei dipped to 64 points while in hong kong the hang seng lost 38. on and other size flat wall street trading day, one stock dragged down techs and techs dragged down the nasdaq. after the bell on tuesday, oracle missed expectations for the first time in a decade joining a growing list of big techs who results an out looks have raised alarm bells. the stock plunged 12% and was the nasdaq's boog guest losers. other techs followed, ib mfrnlthsz down 3% was the biggest drag on the dow, sysco fell over 2%. jabil circuit fell almost 3%. one tech exception, research in motion. it jumped 10% leading the nasdaq on report amazon and other

potential bidders were sizing up the blackberry maker. fitch ratings warned again, the united states' rising debt burden was inconsistent with maintaining the country's aaa credit rating. bank of america agreed to pay $335 million to resolve allegations its country wide unit engaged in widespread discrimination against qualified african-american and hispanic borrowers on home loans. the largest settlement of its kind. watch yahoo! today, the company may be close to selling its prime internet holdings in china and japan. finally you got to think harold and kumar would approve. white castle announced it's experimenting with serving beer and wine at one indiana restaurant. a lot of folks may be moving to indiana. a champion heads to jail. a bowl game goes down to the wire and a big con cushion comeback. plus a 59-year-old woman makes the miracle shot no one was supposed to be able to make.

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. the eyes of the world are on the sleepy northern town of north pool alaska. nbc's bob redell is braving the cold for us there in the north pole this morning. bob, i think you may have the most important story of the day. of course we need to know are

things going according to schedule? >> reporter: we weren't sure we would be able to get that information for you, lynn. good morning and merry christmas, because santa has been so busy, we didn't know if he would talk to us. he did find the time. he did squeeze us in and gave us an exclusive interview an invitation to his hometown. >> reporter: north pole, population 2026, 25 of whom don't even close close to min mime height requirements. >> who are you calling short. >> reporter: then there's the not so tiny reindeer and one very very large bowl of jelly that happens to belong to the town's most famous resident. santa claus was gracious enough to take time out of his extremely busy schedule to give us an extended one-on-one sit-down interview. >> santa, are you ready for christmas eve. >> yes, i am. >> thanks. >> merry christmas.

>> you, too. >> reporter: you can see why he's so busy. 150,000 wish lists have poured into the north poll post office. >> most kids want a bicycle. >> reporter: that's on top of the 2,000 to 3,000 live requests from kids who sit on his lap each and every day. >> what do you want for christmas? >> alarm clock. >> justin bieber watch. that's nice. >> what would you like, sweep heart. >> a typewriter. >> my first typewriter. i didn't know kids knew what they were. >> reporter: i'm not sure i know what that is. santa also tells us that kids this year are requesting ipads, itouches, kindle fires and some of the present yell favorites like barbie and legos. we know santa is a go. lynn f you don't mind, i want to

check in on our camera to make sure the reindeer pulling this sleigh. there's dasher, dancer, to the right is perhapser, vicks sen in the background, comet, cupid, donner, blitt zen -- >> go back. the other one. that's donner. that one is blitt zen. i'm glad i corrected that in advance. i'm sure you're wondering how cold is it out here? it's actually not bad for this part of the world. it's zero. we're just a few degrees shy of speedo weather. i know what you're thinking, boy, i wish it was three degrees. >> i'm glad you didn't take that speedo weather literally. we love you but we're glad you're bunt ld up for our viewers at home. >> thank you so much. it was good to see you. that was a fun segment. let's go to sports with boxing champ floyd may weather junior will soon have time on his hands to work on his tarnished public image in jail. here is nbc's mario solis. >> good morning. boxer floyd may weather junior

finally lost a fight. the world champion is a perfect 42-0 inside the ring but has one big loss outside of it, sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to a reduced domestic violence charge for hitting his ex-girlfriend and threatening two of their children last year. football, no better way to get into the holiday spirit than the poinsettia bowl in san diego. there are better ways. 18th ranked tcu rallied against louisiana tech. tcu wins 31-24. the flyers claude giroux returned after missing four games with a concussion. ties the game in the first period with his 17th goal of the season and added three assists. yam mere jagger scores in the second period. two teams heading in completely different directions, blackhawks and canadians. chicago has been on a tear and

montreal has just been terrible. andrew burnett and patrick sharp scored 21 seconds apart. black hawks go on to win 5-1. montreal lost six of eight. >> maybe the canadians should sign brenda hewlett. takes a whack at a puck from the far blue line, that's 114 feet away from the net. wouldn't you know it right down the middle and into a hole barely larger than the puck. that wins her a brand new truck. get this, brenda wears glasses and couldn't wear them because they didn't fit under the helmet. talk about your christmas miracles. that's your first look at sports. i'm mario solis. >> rumors of a big engagement. suddenly the kardashians are involved in something of an international incident. your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

welcome back to "first look." little entertainment news. the kardashian clan is suddenly busy ducking a different kind of bad publicity. "star" magazine reports many of their fashion products are made in chinese sweat shops under brutal work conditions. mother kris jenner told tmz says she's sure nothing terrible is going on. justin timberlake and jessica biel gotten gauged at a jackson, wyoming, ski resort. i don't think i buy it. on the verge of turning 65, steven spielberg tells nbc news he never thinks of retirement. "national enquirer" claims bill murray shredded a script

for "ghost busters 3." saying no one wants to pay money to see fat old men chasing ghosts. we beg to differ. we'll pay good money to see that. >> you don't cross the streams. there's so many references that we have. >> if we can do "hangover 3," yes can definitely do ghost buster. >> who you gonna call? >> i'm lynn berry. this is "first look." stay tuned, "way too early with willie geist" starts right now.

newt gingrich and mitt romney argue with each other as if this is now a two-man race despite the fact that ron paul is leading in the iowa poles. the question is what will a triumphant paul mean for the iowa caucuses. good news for millions of travelers, the faa changes rules for airlines by allowing pilots more rest and time off in attempt to cut down on accidents related to fatigue. the question is why did it take the f aa 50 years to address this issue. finally, with the first lady and the kids already in hawaii on christmas vacation, the president is all alone in washington, perfect time to get shopping done. where did