i'm going to ask the fellow i'm working with paul lester to pan right just a little bit. may be able to see a tow truck that has been brought in apparently to address the cars that are now blocking randall circle. we have put in a request as police themselves are trying to figure out what happened here just a few moments ago. and derek and anita, if they come to us with that information, which we anticipate, we'll get back to you as soon as we can. >> thank you for that. >>> and now we go to more breaking news. and, folks, this one is a stunner. do you remember the former head of the imf charged with raping a new york hotel house keeper. tonight that case is on the verge of collapse. so said law enforcement. the man was accused of attacking the housekeeper last month. the law enforcement forces say they keep finding holes in the house keeper's story. that she has outright lies. prosecutiontors reportedly met with the lawyers and talked about whether to dismiss the charges and at the very least it is looked like he may be released from house arrest as soon as tomorrow. >>

and lester, tonight, the sunday "telegraph" newspaper is reporting that sir paul mccartney and soccer star david beckham believe they may have been phone hacking victims. add to that reports that the actor jude law thinks he was targeted in the united states. >> thank you. >>> time is running out for president obama and congressional republicans to reach a deal on the nation's debt limit. with just 17 days until the default deadline. mike viqueira joins us now from the white house with more. mike? >> reporter: good evening, lester, there was little sign of progress today and the breakthrough seems as far away as it did earlier in the week. if there is no breakthrough and it does come to a default, the government is going to have to make some tough choices about who gets paid and who does not. for visitors outside the u.s. capitol today, frustration with the gridlock that now threatens the global economy. >> it's politics. it's always going to be politics. one side is always going to pick on the other side. >> i think it's a whole lot of uncertainty into the economic market and that's

lester? >> keith miller, thank you. paul cowan is a defense attorney and former prosecutor.ing. >> good morning. >> how important was the dna in the conviction? if you throw that out, does everything else fall apart? >> the most critical piece in the case. the so-called double dna knife. knox's dna on the handled and dna of the victim on the blade. now they're saying not even enough dna to analyze. that takes the murder weapon out of the case. >> the prosecution is going to rebut in some form or fashion. what will they say? >> they're now going to have to attack dna experts appointed by the court, and they're going to have to defend the dna analysis at trial, which was very, very shaky dna analysis. there was so little dna on that knife blade that there was none really available for the defense to examine. so the defense never had a chance to do a forthright attack on it at trial. now for the first time, they've had independent experts look at it. >> and it was important evidence, but there were other things that came out of trial. there were some witness accounts that place

lester, that is for sure. dewpoints near 80. that is downright tropical. everyone was dealing with it in the minneapolis/st. paul area. we just began what will be the first heat wave here in this city. heat index values topped out around 150 degrees. that's what it actually feels like for your body to be out. dangerous conditions for anyone who's spending extended amounts of time outdoors. and we certainly were not alone. take a look across the country. anywhere from the high plains down to the gulf coast, even right now as we speak, heat index values between 100 and 120 degrees. for some this is new. for some this is an ongoing problem. but is it going to change? as we head forward into the next week, big area of high pressure centered right in the middle of america is slowly going to shift off to the east. that will bring heat back to the mid-atlantic, down to the deep south and into the carolinas as well. we'll see a little relief in the twin cities, especially toward thursday and friday. but it will be a little relief, and there'll be no relief in the southern plains. places like oklahoma, texas, some cities like