captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to "today" on a monday morning, i'm matt lauer. >> and i'm erin burnett filling in for meredith who i hope is a lot warmer than this. it's cold, but we started a holiday week so we wanted to come out in front of the absolutely gorgeous rockefeller tree. >> this is what the control guys have from time to time. meanwhile we almost turned the lights out on that rockefeller tree in protest over what happened yesterday. can you feel it in the air? that is depression here in new york. the giants leading by 21 points with seven minutes to go allowed four touchdown in the last seven minutes. the eagles scored on the last play of the game to win. they were playing for first place. >> you've been unable to get over this all morning. this is the first thing, did you see the giants game yesterday? oh, it was terrible. >> it was the worst thing i have seen in years and years. they're calling it the crumble here in new york. we'll tell you a little bit more about that later on. meanwhile it's the weather that's causing misery in a lot of parts of the country. you've got incredible rains out west causing flooding and mudslides. you also have some parts of the country expecting a couple of feet of snow. >> the pictures are incredible, and if you think it's bad here, it's even worse in europe. take a look at buckingham palace. sort of an idyllic picture there. pretty, but it's a real mess at airports and road, across the entire continent of europe, not just in london. >> we'll start with the mike seidel. good morning to you. >> reporter: here this morning up in minneapolis, at the university of minnesota campus, this is where they'll play that game tonight. the bears battling it out with the minnesota vikings. just one of many places around the world being crushed by weather. weather hit california hard, days of downpours in the hollywood hills caused flash flooding and fear of mudslides. it may be the wettest weather system the region has seen in more than a decade. and it's not over yet. heavier rain is on the way. >> they say it's going to go on for days and days. >> reporter: the weather has been kinder to california ski resorts. they're expecting as much as 12 feet of snow. and the midwest is bracing for more snow, even as the somehowdown between the chicago bears and the minnesota vikings takes place tonight. the game will now be played at the university of minnesota after last week's blizzard damaged the metrodome. across europe, freezing temperatures and snow caused travel chaos. london was blanketed by snow over the weekend forcing heathrow airport to shut down. roads across europe have been paralyzed by blizzards. many motorists were trapped in their vehicles for hours and cars were abandoned in germany and italy. northern ireland has seen its heaviest snowfall in 25 years. and in paris, there were crushed lady gaga fans after her concert was canceled because her equipment couldn't make it through snow-covered roads. behind me is the stadium where they'll play tonight's game. they trucked, they blew, they shoveled 3,400 tons of snow out of the stadium ahead of the game tonight. and by the way, several more inches of snow on the way today before kickoff. erin, it will warm up. it's 13 now. kick-off temperature, a balmy 25 degrees. erin, back to you. >> i guess it's all relative. thanks, mike seidel. what's really next across the country with the weather situation? stephanie abrams is in for al. >> unfortunately we're going to see more of the same, record rain los angeles, san gabriel and it's not stopping. therefore we do have advisories posted here. and some of the higher elevations, we've already seen over a foot of rain. so here's how it's looking right now on the radar picture. we do have rain and snow into the higher elevations. several more feet will be falling here into the sierras. and here's a look as we head throughout the day today. over 18 inches into the sierras and into southern california, another three to five inches of rain. matt, we have already seen what we get for the entire month in los angeles. so i am very concerned about flooding with more rain on the way. snool >> all right. thank you very much, stephanie. now to washington where president obama has put the start of his christmas vacation on hold to keep an eye on a flurry flury of activity on capitol hill. savannah guthrie has details on that. >> reporter: the president still has one big item left on his wish lift, getting that arms reduction treaty with russia ratified this week. if he can pull that off, people say he's gotten a lot more out of this lame-duck congress than most expected. >> a one-two punch for the white house. >> the ayes are 65, the nays 31. >> the ayes are 277, the nay s are 148, the motion is adopted. >> reporter: two back to back wins for president obama. getting billions of dollars in new stimulus out of the bipartisan deal extending the bush-era tax rates, and later this week he'll be signing the bill repealing the ban on gays serving openly in the military. >> this is a growth process and an evolution. >> reporter: a little more than a month after democrats took what the president called a shellacking, the white house is hoping to end the year with some partisan victories on the board. >> people look better when they're getting things done, when they're accomplishing things. >> reporter: but it's republicans poised to gain in january. this new political reality may mean disappointing fellow democrats. >> candidly speaking, there are some elements of this legislation that i don't like. there's some elements that members of my party don't like. that's the nature of compromise. >> reporter: the president has one more major battle before him this week, getting the new s.t.a.r.t. arms control treaty with russia ratified by year's end. 67 votes are needed, meaning a handful of republicans must go along. they're trying to jam in the treaty before the end of the year. >> so once again we're all of a sudden once again trying to rush things right here before christmas eve. i think that was not the best way to get the support of people like me. >> reporter: but democrats say republicans have had months to examine the treaty and they believe they have the support to get it passed. >> we hope the votes are there, including votes of many republicans. >> reporter: if the president can wrap up one more bipartisan victory, he may have some analysts talking about a turn around. >> getting things done, that's incredibly important for this president to do. >> reporter: the president was supposed to have started his two-week vacation to hawaii over the weekend. he is staying back, matt, as you mentioned, to deal with congress, but mrs. obama and the girls have already left. back to you. >> savannah guthrie at the white house this morning. savannah, thank you very much. it's now eight minutes after the hour. police in israel are searching for the killers of an american tourist brutally stabbed to death near jerusalem. nbc's martin fletcher has the latest this morning. hi, martin. >> reporter: good morning, erin. a close friend described the murdered woman as a wonderful, caring, and goodly person. she went for a christmas vacation hike in the jerusalem woods this weekend with a friend. it was a lovely, warm afternoon until according to the survivor two men speaking arabic asked for a drink of water. and then attacked. they tied the women's hand behind their backs. stabbed one to death. she was an american tourist, christine logan, 46 years old. police found her body hidden under a bush. her friend also bound and established multiple times, survived only by pretending to be dead. she told rescuers -- i thought something was wrong, she said, i warned my friend, the men may attack. they did with what looked like a bread knife. survivor kay susan wilson said the mentor the star of david around her neck and stabbed her where it hung on her chest. i played dead, but i heard my friend die. christine logan was an evangel can christian. she was on vacation. police sealed off the area and launched a massive manhunt for her killers. their suspicion, it was a political attack aimed at jews, but it didn't rule out a criminal motivation. they're working on a motive and criminal investigation is continuing. >> reporter: israeli troops surrounded a nearby arab hospital and checked the emergency room in case one of the killers was hurt. doctors showed them the patients' list. >> they asked by their id. >> reporter: but no arrests so far and police won't say a word about their progress. no organization has claimed responsibility for the murder, which suggests to security sources the attack was unplanned. they say two men may have seen an opportunity and taking it. bad stuff for the christmas holidays in israel. erin? >> that's certainly a horrible story. martin fletcher, thank you. it's 7:10, once again here's matt. to italy now where amanda knox has won a key victory in the appeal of her murder conviction. an independent review of the key evidence used at her trial. we'll talk to aman da knox's mother in just a moment, but first keith miller has the latest. >> reporter: showing the strain of prison life as she entered the courtroom, amanda knox was soon in tears as she heard the appeals judge declare a full review of the forensic evidence used to convict her. knox's mother in the courtroom to offer comfort broke down in tears in relief. knox, a 23-year-old student from seattle, along with her former boyfriend, rafael sew sollecito, were found guilty of murder and violent sexual assault of knox's roommate, meredith ketcher, an exchange student from england. the case against them rested largely on dna evidence, the prosecution entered this knife as the murder weapon, saying it had dna from knox and the victim on the handle and the blade. not so, argued the defense. now it will be up to an independent panel of experts to draw their own conclusions. the knox family believed the findings will show their daughter is innocent. >> that was the best that we could hope for, and they eev always been confident that if somebody independent and objective really looks at that, that they will come to the conclusion that those tests aren't what the prosecution said they were. >> reporter: the judge also ruled in favor of the defense request to call new witnesses. the strain of this appeal could be seen during the first hearing when knox silently told her former boyfriend, i'm doing okay, and then -- the dna review could take months. in the meantime, this is now a whole new trial, where the defense has an opportunity to expose the holes it says are at the heart of the prosecution's case. for "today," keith miller, nbc news. >> amanda knox's mother was in court on saturday when the ruling on dna evidence was made. etta, good morning to you. >> good morning, matt. >> put this into perspective for me, you were in the courtroom, the judge basically saying he was going to let some new fresh eyes take a look at new dna evidence. how big of a development is this in your opinion? >> well, we've been told it's huge. this was a huge ruling, and the fact that they're allowing independent people to look at it is a big deal for us. >> now, i -- >> we asked for it in the first trial and were denied. >> if this new group takes a look at this dna evidence and decides that it is inaccurate or not as valuable as first thought, does that necessarily mean the conviction is overturned, or does it simply mean a new trial will take place minus that dna evidence? >> well, you know, that's the big question. it could go so many different ways. i think what they're planning on doing is hearing these witnesses, hearing some other witnesses, and then deciding what to do next. do they need to hear more, or can they make a decision based on that. >> and is the biggest challenge for you and amanda to manage expectations, to have hope but not get carried away with that hope? absolutely. that's been the hardest part of this all along. we had a lot of hope in the beginning because there was not a lot of evidence connecting amanda to that crime scene, but it's not done yet, and she's still locked up. >> i want to go back to a speech that amanda made at the beginning of this appeals process, it apparently was very powerful. she talked about her friend meredith kercher, said she was honored to have her as a friend, she apologized to the kercher family and then she talked about being afraid of this court. can you talk to me a little bit about what she meant by that? >> yeah. well, you know, she was really clear. she was not afraid of the truth. i mean she's always hoped the truth would come out. but she was afraid because, you know, she'd already been there once. she'd sat through a trial, and they found her guilty, and she's innocent. is afraid, that that will happen again. >> she delivered that speech in fluent italian. some have said, it may be the reason this current judge decided to take a second look at this the dna evidence. do you think her words had that kind of impact? >> well, you know, i don't know. we would have to ask them. but i know that it was a really, really powerful, emotional, heartfelt statement and everybody saw that. >> you have been watching the public opinion on this case and on your daughter, both here in the united states and there in italy for several years now. are you sensing a shift in that public opinion, especially where you're standing there in perugia? >> well, absolutely. i think, you know, the shift has been coming from all over the world, really, slowly. somebody likened it to trying to turn the "titanic," but it's happening. you know, the people here, the everyday people have always been supportive here in perugia. so it's nice to see the media kind of reflect that. >> fourth year that amanda is spending christmas in jail. we know that it's been very difficult on her. how's your family feeling with it? >> well, you know, it's another christmas that i'll be here. to be honest with you, i just kind of don't think about the holidays. i'm here, i'm here with amanda. i'm going to miss my other daughter, she'll be at home with my family, but i know she's in good hands. it's hard. we've missed everything for the last 3 1/2 years. >> edda mellas, thanks for joining us this morning. my best to you for the holidays. >> thank you, matt. let's get to other stories for the morning. tamron hall is at the news desk. >> tensions ran high for south korea overnight after concluding 90 minutes of live fire military exercises. pyongyang did not retaliate as expected. the drills were staged by pyongyang island. uk officials say the men have been detained for allegedly preparing to carry out an act of terrorism. dozens are dead after thieves caused a massive oil pipeline to explode in central mexico. officials say at least 13 of the dead were children. homes, cars, and trees were incinerated and rivers of flaming oil gushed through the streets. the justice department is looking to prosecute wikileaks founder julian assange here in the u.s. vice president joe biden said this weekend on meet the press. this is the first open admission that the u.s. attempts to charge assange for leaking sensitive diplomatic cables already in progress. new york senators backing a bill to help those sickened by the 9/11 cleanup and rescue efforts say they could be on the verge of a christmas miracle. originally blocked by republicans for its $7.4 billion price tag, a scaled back version of that legislation has supporters optimistic as it heads to debate this week. and now, we head over to wall street. cnbc's melissa lee is at the new york stock exchange. melissa, good morning. what are investors watching today? >> it's cold outside, not just in the united states, but also in europe, and that's sending oil prices close to two-year high. oil is already up 11% on expectations that the global recovery will boost demand. and rising oil prices means rising gas prices. according to the latest lundberg survey, the average price for self-serve unleaded gasoline rose seven cents as of last friday to $2.98 a gallon, just in time for the holiday driving season. tamron? >> melissa, thank. and the philadelphia eagles clawed their way to victory after trailing by 12 points to the new york giants. phillies' wide receiver desean jackson returned that punt for a touchdown. he even played a little catch me if you can along the end zone before making the winning touchdown just in time. it is unbelievable. that's right. it's 7:18. back to matt, erin, and stephanie. 28 points in seven and a half minutes, which is why you should watch until the end and not turn it to "law and order:suv," which is what i did. >> if you're a member of the "new york times," you don't want to open a newspaper this morning. i mean they are brutal on the giants, as well as they should be. by the way, one little note. that little hotdogging thing there at tend, that was not cool. that could have turned out very badly for him. >> stephanie abrams in for al this morning. thank you for joining us out in the cold there. that was nice. >> you're welcome. and let's have a look at our forecast here. in the northeast, our temperatures will be into the mid-30s as we head through the day today. sunshine all the way down the i-95 corrid >> matt, over to you. >> all right, steph. thanks very much. still ahead, what happened to baby gabriel who vanished nearly a year ago? police have now released a chilling phone call made by the boy's mother. we'll have the latest and we'll talk to that woman's grandfather. but first, this is "today" on nbc. ding dong ding, dong ♪ hark how the bells, sweet silver bells, all seem to say, ♪ ♪ throw care away, christmas is here, bringing good cheer, ♪ ♪ to young and old, meek and 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