captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. elizabeth edwards has died at the age of 61. she had more than her share of suffering in her lifetime. she buried a child. she bravely fought breast cancer. and she had to live through her husband's spectacularly public infidelity. all along as recently as last night, she tried to emphasize the positive, emphasize others who admired her as a lifeforce, and as a formidable figure in american politics and in life these past several years. in the end she was surrounded by her family at her home in north carolina. >> i'm elizabeth edwards -- >> she became a role model for thousands of women. >> it's actually good to feel like you can be an inspiration to people. i want to be part of the sisterhood. >> a sisterhood united by her very public battle with cancer. when years earlier the couple had already buried their son, wade, who died in a car accident. >> today the surprise announcement that elizabeth edwards, wife of the vice-presidential democratic nominee, john edwards has been diagnosed with breast cancer. >> elizabeth ed wafrds was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer the day of the 2004 election. the day the kerry-edwards team conceded. she had discovered a lump in her breast while on the campaign trail but kept it a secret for fear it would affect the race. >> i can see it in my mind exactly where i stood. the hotel room and i see the union hall where i went afterwards. >> when breast cancer came along, were you thinking -- you know been you're not going to hurt me. i've been through the greatest challenge anyone can face? >> i had did think that. it kept it in perspective but on the other hand, it can kill you. so you need to sort of give it its due and say, i'm going to fight with everything that i know how to because this is serious. and i'm less afraid of death since wade died for myself. but i have downchildren. and i'm just as afraid of it as i was before for them. >> wade edwards was 16 when he died. he was a constant presence in her life. >> the first thin that comes to mind is if i have a pib sure of him in my head. i have a pib sure of his frebles. this was a righteous boy. >> elizabeth edwards was born 61 years ago, the daughter of a deb rated navy pilot who spent part of her childhood in japan. she met her husband, john edwards, while a law student at university of north carolina. >> i married him because he was the sinal-most optimistish person that i have ever known. >> they had four children, kate, wade and then later, emma claire and jab. her husband stayed by her side as her emergence as a public figure in her own right as author and advocate for universal had been. >> this issue doesn't know political boundaries it knows moral boundaries. >> but the cancer came ban, this time did your her husband's bid for president. the to be tors were not as hopeful about this recurrence but elizabeth edwards decided to live with cancer and not give in. >> we'll always loob for the silver line. it's who we are as people. >> and then this. the public humiliation and private agony of learning her husband of 30 plus years, had not only had an affair, but that he had fathered a child outside of their marriage during the campaign. still, elizabeth edwards stood by john edwards until recently. she says -- for they are children. >> finally, i realized that we'd come so far down this road that i wasn't go to ever find a place where, i hate to talk about myself in the third person, but where elizabeth existed anymore. i was going to be entirely re,ive and i'med to be present in the remainder of my life. >> in her political life, as a powerful spouse, she was a formidable presence in her husband's campaign. and when she got tough, she was often criticized for it. as late as yesterday, elizabeth edwards always maintained that she was grateful. a lasting legacy that, despite all of the adversity, private and public pain, she left this life happy and grateful for what she could do. and for the precious time she was able to have with her friends and most important, her children. we are told john edwards was with elizabeth and their children when she passed away late today. and we have more coverage of the life of elizabeth edwards. it is on our website this evening. that is nightly dot msnbc.com. we turn to the rest of the news of the day. this one from washington. president obama called a news conference on short notice this afternoon and he went before cameras in the brief room to defend heimself in a deal he mae to support a tax cut for the richest americans that dates back to the bush presidency. it hadn't been sitting well with some of his supporters on the left. he made it clear today in washington you've often got to give to get. and he said that's the way he intends to govern. the president was energized when forced to reveal the deal he'd done. >> this is a big diverse country. not everyone agrees with us. i know that shocks people. "the new york times" editorial page does not permeate across all of america. neither does the "wall street journal" editorial page. most americans are just trying to figure out how to go about their lives and how can we make sure that our elebted officials are looking out for us? if this was just a matter of my politics, or being able to persuade the american people to my side, then i would just stick to my guns. because the about the of the matter is the american people already agree with me. on the republican side, this is their holy grail. these tax cuts for the wealthy. this is -- seems to be their central economic doctrine. i've said before, i felt that the middle-class tax cuts were being held hostage to the high-end tax cuts. i think it's tempting not to negotiate with hostage takers. unless the hostage gets harmed. then people will question the wisdom of that strategy. in this case, the hostage was the american people and i was not willing to see them get harmed. i am happy to be tested over the next several months about our ability to negotiate with the republicans. so this notion that somehow, you know, we are willing to compromise too much reminds me of the debate we had during health care. this is the public option debate all over again. even though we got health insurance for 30 million people, and the potential for lower premiums for 100 million people, that somehow that was a sign of weakness and compromise. this country was founded on compromise. i couldn't go through the front door of this country's found k and if we were really thinking about ideal positions, we wouldn't have a union. so my job is to make sure that we have a north star out there. what is helping the american people live out their lives. and so, then my question is, does it make sense for me to attack a little bit this way or tack a little bit that way because i'm keeping my eye on the long term and the long fight. not my day-to-day news cycle, but where am i going over the long term? >> that was what the president was like today in the white house briefing room there in the west wing. perhaps you saw there about 10 feet in front of him our chief white house correspondent, chuck todd, who was among the questioners in the room. chuck on behalf of all those watching trying to understand this tenor, tone, substance, what's going on here? >> reporter: as you know over the past couple of days a lot of democrats have said -- hey, the president is lacking some fight. why won't he take the fight at the republicans? he sort of received the message and he took the fight but he took at democrats who have been grouchy about this. the bottom line is this. he doesn't yet have the support among the lame duck congress, the outgoing democratic majority in particular, in the house, doesn't have the support for this tax cut compromise. so he needed to go out here and sell it hard and in many ways, frankly, guilt the left into supporting him for this deal. it's unclear whether this is going to do it. you hear a lot of grumbling among the opinion left about this. but, brian, i'll tell you this. this is also a preview of what you're going to see of the president going forward dealing with a republican house. he's what some back to the campaign, a radical pragmatist. not necessarily a centrist, but a pragmatist. that's what you saw today and it sounds like you'll see more of this from the president when negotiating with a split majority come january 5st, brian. >> chuck todd who was among the questions there today in the briefing room. going overseas, a new day and a new development in wikileaks investigation. tonight a big one. often-mysterious founder of wikileaks has given up his life on the run and surrendered to british authorities and tonight, he is behind bars. not because of these leaks, but because of allegations of sexual misconduct. our own peter alexander is outside wandsworth prison in london for us tonight. peter, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. this is the biggest prison in all of britain and tonight, inside julian assange is being kept straight from the other inmates. for months the focus here has been on a wave of leaked documents. but today all eyes centered on a legal fight that the prosecutors say is not related to wikileaks. a crush of cameras chased julian assange as the police took him into a london courthouse. this is the first image of assange in public in more than a month. inside the courtroom, witnesses say he appeared subdued, isolated in a glassed-in defendant's box without handcuffs. >> i thought of this. he was caught in a snare. perhaps he was reckoning the price that he may now have to pay for all that wikileaks has done. >> reporter: during a nearly hour-long fearing aadvantage said he would fight extradition to sweden for allegations of sexual misconduct. prosecutors say he refused to give british police a dna sample or fingerprints and in court, asked his address, he gave a po box in australia, before the judge called him a flight risk and denied bail. >> this is going to go viral. many people will come forward to stand as sureities for mr. aadvantage. >> reporter: swedish authorities want to question assange about claims by two women who met him in stockholm for a wikileaks' seminar in august, claiming that sex with assange was ultimately not consensual and unprotected. allegations assange denies. >> the european arrest warrant works and that doesn't dependent on who the person is, but what sort of crime a person is discussed foef been done. >> reporter: wikileaks is not backing down declaring on twitter that their editor and chief's arrest won't affect our operations and we'll release more cables tonight as normal. but the group refrained from releasing a huge cache of documents that assange said would be exposed if he was arrested or harmed. while he said little in court assange differed his own defense through an op ed piece headline "don't shoot the messenger for revealing uncomfortable truths." the highly charged circumstances around his arrest on full display when an armored police van with aadvantage inside left the courthouse for prison. assange is due back in court for another hearing next tuesday. his lawyer says he will fight vigorously to have bail set for his release and tonight, legal experts tell nbc news the extradition process could take several months. >> unbelievable scene there in london. all of it. peter alexander on the story. thanks. when we continue here in just a moment, what we learned today about education in america and why some are comparing it to a scare our nation received from the soviets decades ago. and later, making some beautiful music and making a difference in ways that are too many to measure. t so frustratin. the middle of this special moment and i need to run off to the bathroom. i'm fed up with always having to put my bladder's needs ahead of my daughter. so today i'm finally talking to my doctor about 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[laughing] yeeah. that's why there's castrol gtx... with our most powerful deposit fighting ingredient ever. castrol gtx exceeds the toughest new industry standard. don't let deposits hold your car back. get castrol gtx. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. now to the news today on our schools. part of our continuing coverage of "education nation." every three years, 15 year olds all over the planet take a standardized test that has become a respected benchmark measure of student achievement. well, students in shanghai in china took the test for the first time and the results they got are raising new questions about the schools in this country. our report tonight from our education correspondent rahema ellis. >> we'll start now with -- >> reporter: for american studentses the writing is on the wall and it's not good. the latest results from pisa, the international test of 15 year olds in 65 countries, shows among the 34 top-developed nations american kids are average. the u.s. scored 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in math. slightly higher than the last time the test were given. but the really stunning news comes from china, and the province of shanghai, where students scored better than anyone else in the world after taking the test for the first time. overall, of the top six performers, asia dominates. >> two generations ago you knew if a nation was rich it was well educated but today that doesn't work. >> reporter: how is asia getting better results? longer school days, better educated teachers and a culture that values education. the obama administration has put billions of dollars to ward education reform but these test results, officials say, are yet another wake-up call. >> other countries are investing more. they are investing smarter and putting more resources behind the children in the community that need the most help and they are outeducating us today. that's the brutal truth. >> reporter: education analysts stress the scores are not just a measure of learning by roet. instead, the pisa tests imagination, creativity and thinking outside the box and experts say it could take less than a decade for shanghai's success to be replicated across china. >> the rest of the world had better be aware that china in the future is not just going to be producing cheap plastic toys. they are going to be outcompeting us in everything that requires brain power. >> and one analyst says china's results on these tests could be likened to the russians launching sputnik in 1957. that was a wake-up call to the united states and a call to action. >> i'm tempted to ask how many wake-up calls we need but we'll leave that for your next visit. scary story but a good story tonight, thank you. when we come back, we get it. it's supposed to snow in december. but tonight, some folks are already saying -- okay, this is ridiculous! i'm off to the post office... ok. uh, a little help... oh! you know shipping is a lot easier with priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. plus, you can print and pay for postage online. and i can pick them up for free with package pickup. perfect! cause i'm gonna need a lot of those. wow! i knew i should have brought my sleigh. priority mail flat rate shipping starts at $4.90 only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. we're getting new medicare benefits from the new healthcare law. yeah, and most people will get free cancer screenings and 50 percent off of brand name prescription drugs if you're in the donut hole. 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