carolling away. they only sing for d mesic flights. they hope to expand it next year. it's a nice holiday on the broadcast tonight, death of a dictator. kim jong-il is gone. his youngest son takes over power in north korea. tonight the sudden transition in a secretive nuclear nation. what does it mean for the united states and the rest of the world? showdown. it's happening again. washington is gridlocked again. this time, a week before christmas. and this time it will affect a lot of paychecks. white out. a big snowstorm cooking up tonight that will affect a lot of holiday travel this week. fighting breast cancer. an experiment to test what works with the goal of getting critical drugs to women faster. and making a difference. chelsea clinton back with us with an update on her story about the woman who has given her all to the kids she helps. about the woman who has given her all to the kids she helps. "nightly news" begins now.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. it's more than just the death of a dictator. kim jong-il of north korea is gone. we believe his son is taking over, but it's the fact that for example we don't really know for sure how old his son is or who is running a big dangerous nuclear-armed and isolated country that has ushered in a new period of uncertainty. some background here briefly beforehand. there are 24 million people in north korea, most of them very poor. it is believed malnutrition affects one in three children. it is further believed a famine a few years back killed a million people. the north korea military is the world's fifth largest. of course we fought a war over

korea and have well over 20,000 troops there. they are now believed to be in possession of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons by the ton. it's against that backdrop that we are not just covering the death of an aging and sick dictator. we now look at what happens next as well. we begin tonight with our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. andrea, good evening. >> reporter: good evening. the sudden death of kim jong-il known to his people as dear leader creates hunl uncertainties. for now pyongyang's residents don't know who will be in charge of the nuclear weapons. on state tv, images of sobbing north koreans in declining health since a stroke in 2008 north korea said kim died suddenly of a heart attack two days after this picture was taken. emotions seemed to grip the anchor on state television who broke the news. named as his successor kim's untested youngest son kim jong-un. president obama made a midnight call to reassure south korea's president. the u.s. with more than 28,000 troops on the peninsula will

stand with the south. >> we reiterate our hope for improved relations with the people of north korea and remain deeply concerned about their well-being. >> reporter: kim jong-il's reign of terror lasted 17 years. menacing his neighbors with nuclear weapons, holding his own people hostage with prison camps and starvation. two years ago it took a former president to free two american journalists who strayed across the border from china. kim did not look the part. so short he wore elevated heels, adding inches more with bouffant hair, favoring olive drab jumpsuits and oversized sunglasses. drinking cognac and fine wine while millions of his people starved. kim traveled with a harem of women some called his joy brigade in a luxurious railroad car. he collected hollywood films and videos of the chicago bulls. when secretary of state madeline albright visited in 2007 she discussed normalizing relations with the u.s.

she gave him a basketball signed by michael jordan. kim staged a military pageant for her benefit. she said she had no illusions. >> i can assure you these glasses i have on are not rose-colored. >> reporter: kim had years to emulate the cult of personality created by his father, the nation's founder, kim il-sung. now his youngest son takes over. does he have the skill to control the military or will he be a figurehead? almost nothing is known about him. he's believed to be 28 years old, was educated briefly in switzerland. unlike his father has had little time to prepare for his new role. >> one of the big questions as we look down the road is whether this is going to be a successful leadership transition or whether the regime will simply not be able to hold it together. >> reporter: this is a regime that has confounded generations of american leaders. while u.s. intelligence repeatedly fails to anticipate north korea's nuclear progress and its missile test. >> they are going to send signals that they are tough and don't mess with us.

so i think i would expect some more. hopefully they are not going to do it in a way that provokes south korea to respond in kind. >> reporter: kim's death comes on the very day that u.s. diplomats in china were to meet with north korean counterparts on a new food aid for disargumentment agreement that is now on permanent hold. >> what do you look for anywhere from 24 hours to two weeks? >> reporter: or even longer. the real worry is loose nukes. just who's in charge of those weapons? and the fear of provocative military action by a young leader trying to prove himself or the military trying to show its muscle. and the u.s. is urging south korea, of course, to remain calm but there is no love lost for the so-called dear leader. tonight john mccain said, i can only express satisfaction, quote, that the dear leader is joining the likes of gadhafi, bin laden, hitler and stalin in a warm corner of hell. >> a lot of people are making

fun of the pictures of mourners because some of them look aware of the camera and perhaps coerced to some eyes. >> reporter: exactly. >> andrea mitchell in our washington bureau starting us off tonight. thanks. well, now we turn our attention back to this country to capitol hill. just when it looked like congress was wrapping up its work for the year an unexpected fight over extending the payroll tax cut has led to yet another showdown. nbc's kelly o'donnell covering it tonight. kelly, when last we spoke friday night, it looked good. >> reporter: it sure did then, but this is now. even with all the conflict we have seen with congress this actually stunned official washington, brian. on saturday, a whopping 89 senators voted to extend benefits and tax cuts. it would affect every working american. but tonight house republicans will not go along. >> another phony crisis courtesy of the extremist bah-humbug house republicans. >> reporter: tonight the house is back to work and in turmoil

with freshman republicans leading the charge. >> it's time to grow up, be adults and get this done. >> reporter: house speaker john boehner is feeling the heat unable to get his members to accept a short-term tax cut extension. >> you know, i have been around here for a while. i have seen congress kick the can down the road. it's time to stop the nonsense. >> reporter: long-term unemployment benefits expire and payroll taxes go up for 160 million working americans, costing the average worker about $1,000 a year. democrats say a tax increase would be republicans' fault. >> 160 million americans who will lose their tax cut because of the tea party republicans who want to hold it up. >> reporter: on friday, senate republican leaders high-fived thinking they had a deal all republicans could support instead of a one-year extension,

senators agreed on a short-term fix -- just two months. today, house republicans insist congress keep working to get a full one-year extension and avoid another fight next year. >> in two months you can give away money, but in two months you're not going to stimulate the economy. >> reporter: house republicans said senators should not have left washington. >> i didn't see the high-fiving going on, but i did hear the tune -- ♪ i'll be home for christmas ♪ coming out of that mix. >> reporter: there is political fallout about speaker boehner's leadership, his ability to deliver votes. and that's even coming from some senate republicans who thought they had a deal. one senate republican, scott brown of massachusetts, said scuttling this is irresponsible. boehner aides say the speaker's position is secure. brian? >> just another day on capitol hill in washington. kelly o'donnell with our report anks. t. now we have more on politics. in the gop race for president there is a dwindling number of campaign days left before christmas, of course.

and tonight, as a result, the candidates are spread all over iowa, new hampshire, and the air waves with the focus for now on the two who are leading in the polls -- mitt romney and newt gingrich. we get more from our political director, chief white house correspondent chuck todd. >> reporter: stumping in davenport, iowa, today, newt gingrich began where he's been for the last month -- on the defensive. >> candidly, very disappointing to see some of my friends who are running put out so much negative junk. >> reporter: the alleged junk, a slew of negative tv ads, mostly from a conservative super pac supportive of mitt romney. there is evidence the attack ads are taking a toll in iowa but gingrich is tied with romney at 28% nationally. romney spent most of today in tv studios. he was asked why he struggled to break out. >> but actually being at the top of the pack, either number one or number two for an entire year, i'm the only guy who's

been able to do that. >> reporter: michele bachmann used the news of north korea to go over paul's isolationism. >> i never want to see kids wake up to turn on the tv and see a city in the united states wiped out from a nuclear weapon. ron paul would wait until after that horrific tragedy to do anything. >> reporter: perry lumped the frontrunners together. >> wall street bailout was the single greatest act of thievery in american history and newt gingrich and mitt romney were for it. >> reporter: even the former speaker's wife got into it via her twitter feed, calling attention to the controversial photo of romney and his partners brandishing cash. obama insiders targeted the record of closing businesses and laying people off. romney had a ready answer. >> the president has had one experience overseeing an enterprise -- a couple of terprises -- general motors and chrysler. what did he do? he closed factories. he laid off people.

he didn't do it personally but his people did. why did he do that? because he wanted to save the enterprise. >> reporter: it's romney's record, not the president's under scrutiny now. chuck todd, nbc news, washington. and at a time when so many people are on the move, so is a major weather system. what could be the first real blizzard of the season. our friend the weather channel meteorologist mike seidel is with us from kansas tonight. mike, nothing ever stops you, but i understand you stopped far from your planned destination tonight. >> reporter: yeah. we had to make some changes just for you, mr. williams. we're here in cimarron, kansas. there are blizzard warnings in parts of six states. heavy snow. wind gusts 40 to 50 miles per hour. you can feel it. you can hear it. that's going to cause blowing and drifting. in a december where many are asking where is the snow? we have had only 25% of the snowfall we shoveled last december. take a look. tonight and tomorrow, plenty of it in the high plains. six to ten inches with a howling winds.

we'll have drifts up to three to four feet. interstates may be impacted. tomorrow the storm heads up through the lakes. the track we have seen many time this is fall and this coming winter will bring warm air up and that means rain up to chicago. by wednesday the rain will hit the east coast. so if you have a flight wednesday between new york and atlanta you may have delays. good day thursday. maybe more rain friday. christmas eve looks dry. brian, unlike last year only about 50% of americans versus last year will have a white christmas. back to you. >> mike, thanks for stopping for us. sorry about the snow in your right ear. good luck getting to dodge city. mike seidel in the middle of kansas tonight. >> thanks. still ahead as "nightly news" continues on this monday evening, interesting story about fighting breast cancer. a new way that women are helping doctors figure out what works. the hope here is to get promising drugs to patients more quickly. then later, what's happened since chelsea clinton's making a difference report just a week ago?

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diagnosis. aggressive breast cancer. >> work was going well. life was going well. i was incredibly fit. >> reporter: she enrolled in a clinical trials known as ispy-2. not just trying to find better drugs but trying to find them faster, speeding up a process that now takes 10 to 15 years. dr. esserman of the university of california san francisco heads ispy-2. >> when someone comes in the door with a bad cancer they don't have ten years to wait. they need something to work in the next six months. >> reporter: traditionally cancer patients undergo chemotherapy after surgery and radiation to try to keep the cancer from returning. the key to ispy-2 is giving chemotherapy beforehand. >> this is a dangerous tumor at this time. rink the tumor. works best to >> almost all of it is gone. >> reporter: dr. esserman says women have to leave the tumor in

place for a few months during the chemo. >> we'll use every trick we have. you're going to get it all. we're just going to change the order in which we get it. >> reporter: researchers have no trouble finding volunteers. lisa signed up last year. >> cancer sucks. since i do have to go through this, maybe they can gain some knowledge from me that will make somebody else's life a little bit better. >> reporter: ispy-2 is just starting so there are limited results. the hope is the trial will quickly identify drugs to help thousands of women to stay cancer-free. >> the tumor seems to be completely gone. >> congratulations. >> reporter: robert bazell, nbc news, san francisco. as you may know the big topic in health care among doctors and patients these days has been lipitor coming out in a generic form. it's the biggest selling drug in the world. we learned today pfizer, the company that makes it, has seen its sales cut in half in a week with the generic on the market. costs about a third of the brand

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there will be fewer of them. today saab formally declared itself bankrupt. they stopped making cars nine months ago. they have now given up hope of making a go of it. after making saabs for 64 years this is how it ends. one analyst speculated today that the chinese would come in and buy up their surviving equipment. today seattle became the latest city to ban plastic shopping bags from grocery, convenience and other stores. the vote by the council was unanimous. they said the goal is to protect marine life in peuget sound. they are going to start charging for paper bags. national geographic, famous for stunning photography, has handed out the grand prize for 2011 to a single image. and let me just say in the dragonfly community, this is pretty hot. it was shot in indonesia. it suddenly started to rain after they focused up but the photographer snapped it through the shower with stunning results. coming up, our follow up to chelsea clinton's report on one

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contributing correspondent chelsea clinton told the story of annette dove of pine bluff, arkansas. an extraordinary woman making a difference for the kids she serves. what we could not accurately anticipate was how our viewers would respond to her story. more on that in just a moment. but first we have a reminder tonight from chelsea clinton about the great work being done by ms. dove. >> reporter: in pine bluff, arkansas, miss annette dove offers meals, a safe place, tutoring and lessons in responsibility in a program she founded called topps. >> how was school today? >> fine. >> reporter: thousands of kids over the past nine years have benefitted from topps in a community where times are tough. >> we start a feeding at 3:30. >> reporter: do you think for some kids that's their last meal of the day? >> for some kids that's all they're going to have until they go back to school the next morning. our kids are punished because

parents are unable to do or provide for them and i don't think it's fair. so i feel like children ought to have someone in their lives who will fight for them or will help them. >> reporter: dedicating her life to these kids meant sacrifice. ms. dove quit a well paying job in education to start topps, and used her own money when funding came up short. >> all my stock accounts, all my savings, all of that is gone. i still look at the value of making a difference in a child's life. >> chelsea clinton is back here with us in studio tonight. so we aired the story a week ago and tell me about the viewer reaction. >> the viewer reaction has been overwhelming. ms. dove has received close to $200,000 from "nightly" viewers in the last week. when i spoke to her today i asked how she felt. she said, wow, so grateful to everyone. >> over $200,000 just by dent of people seeing our story. there is no way to overstate her

importance in pine bluff. >> no, there isn't. the salvation army actually also spurred by our story reached out to ask her to take care of 167 families that they couldn't provide for in this holiday season. thankfully working with a church and the food bank she's going to be able to get those families their christmas meals and toys for the kids. >> wow. well, it's generosity thanking her for all her years of generosity. not bad. >> not bad. >> job well done. thank you. thank you, brian. every night this week in the season of giving we will air a making a difference follow up report to show how our viewers who have seen the stories we have aired over time have stepped up to help others in need. tomorrow night here on the broadcast we'll show you what happened after we aired a story of a woman who had the simple but life-changing idea to give dresses to little girls in far away places. that's tomorrow evening. for now for us that is our broadcast on a monday night as

we start off a new week. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we'll, of course, be back on the air tonight for "rock center" at 10:00/9:00 central. of course we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com ♪ takes everything you've got ♪ wouldn't you like to get away? ♪ ♪ ♪ sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name ♪ ♪ ♪ you want to be where you can see ♪