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Carmageddon Fizzles; Photos of the Beatles to Be Auctioned; U.S., Obama Approval in Arab World Falls; ; Debt Ceiling Deadline; Women's World Cup Finals; CNN Hero Provides Seeds for Fresh Vegetables

Aired July 16, 2011 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch was heckled as he emerged from a London hotel yesterday. Just minutes later he apologized to the family of a murdered teenage girl. Reporters from a Murdoch newspaper have been accused of hacking the girl's phone. Parliamentary committee will ask Murdoch about the phone-hacking scandal next week. The FBI is now investigating Murdoch's interests in the U.S.

Authorities expect an indictment next week against the man accused of kidnapping, killing, and mutilating an eight-year-old Brooklyn boy. The victim is shown on the surveillance tape. Police say he was walking home from camp and got lost and asked the suspect for directions. Levi Aaron was arrested on Wednesday. He has been placed on suicide watch and ordered to have psychiatric tests.

And, take a look at this freight train derailment outside Minneapolis St. Paul. More than a dozen cars jumped the tracks early this morning.

A railroad spokeswoman says heavy rain washed out the bridge and that likely caused the derailment. The train's conductor and engineer suffered minor injuries. Commuter train service had to be operating along the same line had to be suspended.

And remember the miners who spent 69 days trapped in a Chilean mine? Well, they're suing the company. Thirty-one of the 33 miners are asking for more than $500,000 each. They say it isn't about the money but safety.

The mine shaft they were in collapsed last year. The miners say they want to make sure something like this never happens again. and sears has a lot of

And Sears' has a lot of disappointed shoppers today. Online customers jumped on a deal on the retailer's website for Apple iPad 2s. They were advertised for just $69. Bear in mind, they normally sell for more than $700.

Sears said the ad was a third-party mistake and it is not honoring the incorrect price.

And on to Los Angeles now, where people love their cars, traffic jams are part of the daily life. But this weekend, the closure of the - a big chunk of the 405 Freeway is causing added worry. It is shut down for a construction project, and residents are so worried that they're actually calling this Carmageddon, but, so far, we're not seeing it. No gridlock.

Let's bring in CNN's Kareen Wynter, who is right above the 405 there. And we know 10 miles of the 405 is closed, so no traffic there. What about everywhere else?

KAREN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Everywhere else from our viewpoint all looks good. Now, Fred, a short time ago, we actually ventured out. We wanted to check out some of the surface streets, some of the alternate routes officials were encouraging the public to take.

I can tell you, the Sepulveda area, it's really, really quiet right now. In fact, we saw a lot more people on bikes, a lot more pedestrians, people walking their - their dogs than we did people in their cars. And one of our photographers - our producers, rather, Michael Kerry, took a picture. He's on the other side of town, near the Pacific Coast Highway, usually an extremely congested area this time of year, really, any time, and that was another alternate route that officials were encouraging people to take if they were headed to LAX, and it was so, so clear there.

I think we caught a couple of cars, if that, on the roadways. And so people, they heard the warnings all week and it's definitely resonating with them because so far no traffic jams to report.

And, behind me, this was a busy scene. All morning long we brought you a lot of pictures of all the cement blocks there falling. This is that major $1 billion dollar construction project. They're widening the freeway here to allow for more car pool lanes.

There were chunks of cements falling, and I asked one of the site managers here, hey, are your guys on breaks? And they said no. There are no breaks any time soon. There are no catering trucks here. This isn't a movie set. They're still working.

What they're doing, Fred, is they're entering another phase of their demolition. And so they're assessing which equipment they're going to be using, what they're going to be bringing in.

So, so far, so good. Everything is on track. They're hoping if this continues, things may change between now and this evening, tomorrow, but they're on pace throughout this project. On Monday morning, 5:00 local time, so people beginning their busy commutes can hit this stretch again.

But a lot of people in the neighborhood, I'm looking all around me, a lot of people coming out with cameras. These hillsides were packed with people, and so they're mesmerized by this. It's something they don't see often.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness.

WYNTER: It's a rarity here in Southern California. some people are taking advantage of it, Fred. WHITFIELD: Well, I'm glad that everybody's happy about the progress so far.

So, this campaign got a lot of help. A lot of help from celebrities too, who were tweeting. Yes, they're encouraging people to stay off the roads.

WYNTER: They did. They did. And celebrities have an important voice in this town. We all know that.

Tom Hanks tweeted, "Thank God I wouldn't be in L.A. for the 405 closing. I'm not mad. LOL."

Khloe Kardashian - yes, the Kardashians had a say about this. Khloe said, "Miami bound. Seems like a very good weekend to not be in L.A."

Ashton Kutcher, though, always such a character. He said, "LAPD asked me to tweet 405 Freeway between 10 and 101 closed July 16th and 17th. In exchange, I would like a pass on that stop light ticket. It was yellow." So, there you go, throwing in a little bit of humor.

But, you know, people probably checked out these tweets and said, hey, if Khloe's getting out of town, I better stay inside.

WHITFIELD: That's hilarious. All right. Thanks so much, Kareen Wynter. Appreciate that, there at the 405.

All right, so let's find out if the other arteries or roads around the shutting down of the 405 have people stuck in any traffic. Is this Carmageddon actually happening or not? Not to say I'm disappointed that it's not happening. But Sandra Endo, it looks like it's smooth sailing even behind you, as well.

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, Fred. Actually, we're checking out how people are getting around because of this major closure. And, you know, L.A. people are so car-dependent, it's tough to find people walking around and doing other things to get around.

But we found Ian here, who is on his bike. What is your grand plan for today? You took out your bike because, why?

IAN COLEMAN, RODE HIS BIKE TO WORK: Well, I just wanted to see if I could get to work on Monday in case the freeway was closed. So I made a dry run today.

ENDO: A dry run. We're talking 18 miles, from San Fernando Valley all the way to UCLA, right? How bad was that ride?

COLEMAN: Oh, it wasn't bad at all. Actually, I enjoyed it. Yes. I was looking forward to it, seeing what - what it might be on the street and stuff. But relatively calm, probably less than I expected.

ENDO: You mean traffic? You're not seeing a lot of cars out there?

COLEMAN: Yes. Yes. A lot less than probably normal.

ENDO: So the scare tactic worked?

COLEMAN: I'd imagine. Yes. I was scared. That's why I came to check it out.

ENDO: Yes, definitely, Ian. Well, good job in taking precaution, trying to map out his way to work on Monday, because that's when the freeway will reopen.

But, for the meantime, Fredericka, I can tell you local officials have been telling people for three months now to make alternative plans, or using extra buses and trains this weekend, urging people to take mass transit. And you're talking about the artery here. Well, this is Ventura Boulevard, a major thoroughfare here in San Fernando Valley, and you can see, smooth sailing.

So if it was Carmageddon, if it was a Carpocalypse, this would all be backed up. But, so far, so good, Fredericka.

WHITFIELD: All right. That is very good, and we're happy to be able to report some happy news there.

Sandra Endo, thanks so much, in Ventura Boulevard.

So, now to real gridlock, metaphorically speaking, this time in Washington where the debate over raising the debt ceiling is at a complete standstill. There are no face-to-face talks planned this weekend, and judging from what President Obama and Republican Senator Orrin Hatch had to say today, that stalemate is far from over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm willing to compromise. I'm willing to do what it takes to solve this problem, even if it's not politically popular, and I expect leaders in Congress to show that same willingness to compromise.

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: Washington has consistently demonstrated that it cannot control its urge to spend. That is why the only long- term solution is a balanced budget amendment to the constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So August 2nd, just about 17 days away. That's the day when the Treasury warns the U.S. will have to decide which bills it will pay, which bills it wouldn't pay.

CNN's Lisa Desjardins shows us what will happen if the deadline passes without an agreement.

LISA DESJARDINS, CNNRADIO CAPITOL HILL CORRESPONDENT: Fred, it's just over two weeks until the U.S. hits its debt ceiling, and, as they keep pointing fingers, lawmakers really need to think about this. If Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling, the consequences could be sweeping and profound.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) OBAMA: The United States does not default -

DESJARDINS (voice-over): News conferences on the debt, meetings on the debt, more rhetoric, more meetings - ignore it all for a minute. Let's simplify. If Congress doesn't raise the debt limit by August 2nd, what happens?

JAY POWELL, FORMER TREASURY AIDE: Starting on August 3, the federal government will be far short of the amount of cash that it needs to pay all of its bills.

DESJARDINS: That's Jay Powell. He oversaw the debt under the first President Bush. He says if the U.S. hits the debt ceiling with no more borrowing, the U.S. will bring in maybe $172 billion in revenue in August. But it's committed to spend, oh, about $306 billion. So there'd be enough money to pay just 56 percent of government's bills.

And then -

ANDY ROTH, CLUB FOR GROWTH: The decision on who gets paid is left up to Secretary of the Treasury Geithner. He can decide what gets paid and what gets not.

DESJARDINS: Nearly everyone expects Wall Street investors would get paid first and the U.S. would not default, but then it's tough. Government could pay social security, Medicare and unemployment benefits, but there'd be no money to pay the troops. Or government could pay the troops but then couldn't afford unemployment benefits. And, in both cases, there'd be no money for security or any other federal workers.

Now, back to Wall Street, what would happen to the markets? Interest rates likely would rise. How much? That is in dispute.

POWELL: It seems very likely that there would be significant disruptions in the market.

ROTH: I think that the stock or the equity markets and the - the bond markets are going to be fine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DESJARDINS: Now, this question of what happens if the U.S. hits the debt ceiling can be very political. Some conservatives, like the one you just heard, say it wouldn't be that bad, but others, including Speaker Boehner, say it could spook the markets and possibly spark, in his words, a real catastrophe - Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Lisa.

All right, New York's Yankee Stadium had another amazing home run last night - Paul McCartney. The former Beatle rocked the stadium in the first of two shows for his "On The Run" tour. McCartney sang a medley of his hits from throughout his career, including this one, "The Night Before." His second show is tonight before heading to Michigan, and coming up in our next half hour, I'm actually going to talk with a photographer who captured some of the most iconic images of McCartney's days with the Beatles. These pictures are now being auctioned off next week.

And actor and singer Justin Timberlake says he never gets asked out, so he was flattered when a female marine asked him to the Marine Corps Ball, and he was kind of, I don't know, put on the spot while at a news conference promoting his latest film. But listen to his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, ACTOR/SINGER: I accept. Yay. But not because she shouted out one of my songs, which I do love when they do that, because I'm shameless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And the singer also joked that the big burly guys who have the marine's back didn't sway him either. So Timberlake says he would be honored to attend, allowing his schedule.

The ball is November 12th, and his "Friends With Benefits" co-star Mila Kunis, well, she's already said that she will go with a male marine.

All right, World Cup Finals time. The U.S. Women's Team shoots for a World Cup championship. We'll go live to Germany.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, Japan is shutting down a nuclear reactor. It's not one of the reactors damaged in this year's earthquake and tsunami. This reactor is reportedly having problems with an emergency cooling system.

Then take a look here, a shaky shot, but that is a 1,000-foot tall radio and television transmission tower in the Netherlands coming down. It was on fire and then collapsing into that had smoky pile there. Firefighters still don't know what caused the fire. One theory is lightning.

The collapse knocked television and radio off the air for much of the country yesterday.

And U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton found herself competing for a little attention yesterday with these stray cats. They just wandered up on stage during a town hall-style appearance in Istanbul, Turkey.

All right, women's soccer now on the global stage. It is World Cup Finals time, and Team USA stands on the edge of an elusive championship with one very tough team in the way.

Straight to Frankfurt right now, Germany, Zain Verjee is there. All right, Zain, this is big because, you know, the U.S. is very hungry for a win, but Japan, they've been through it, so they're hungry too.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they absolutely are. The U.S. hasn't won this cup since last century, Fred, since 1999, and they really have a good opportunity to do it now.

They have a magical team. They're talented, they have very skilled players, they're determined, they have this never say die attitude. They really hustle out there on the pitch.

I watched some of the players practice today and got to talk to them too. They feel pretty confident. They feel good, they feel it's their time. Listen to how they put it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOPE SOLO, GOALKEEPER, U.S. WOMEN'S SOCCER TEAM: America likes championships. They like winners. They like comebacks. And I think we are the epitome of the American spirit.

This team, we're full of fighters. We're - we play with passion. And, you know, we feel all the support back home. We feel the support around the world. And we feel powerful with that support and I think we can take it in to the final.

ABBY WAMBACH, U.S. WOMEN'S SOCCER TEAM: Now, obviously we're on the eve of one of the biggest games of our lives, but it's the game of soccer. We've done it thousands of times before.

I know that the Japanese team is excited, and they're going to come to play. We have to play good soccer, we have to play gutsy soccer. We have to go for it.

It's no time to hold back. This is the time - this is the time to take risks. This is the time to go forward. And hopefully we can get the win.

PIA SUNDHAGE, U.S. WOMEN'S SOCCER HEAD COACH: A strategy against a technical very good Japan team will be keep possession and be tied defensively. What we're going to do tonight is we show them video about - looking at when we are successful in the attack.

We show them all the goals we scored, and we show them over and over again, when we stop the clips and I'll ask them, what do you see? Because I truly believe that it's important to coach what is healthy and when we are successful.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: Over the history of the World Cup, Fred, the U.S. has played Japan 25 times and never lost. But you know what? You were right. They've got to watch out a little bit for the Japanese here.

The U.S. has stamina, they have speed, they have a lot of strength. But the Japanese, they have a lot more skill than the U.S., that they keep the ball more, they pass it around a lot better, they have better control of it. And the way that they've been performing this tournament, they - they beat out the Germans, the Swedes, who are much bigger than they are. The Japanese have heart, if they don't have the height. But the U.S. needs to watch out.

It's going to be an exciting match. We're looking forward to it here, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, everyone is. We'll be watching tomorrow too and we'll be checking in again with you tomorrow. Thanks so much, Zain, in Frankfurt.

All right, so many Americans are out of work, hoping to keep food on the table. We'll take a look at a CNN Hero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Fresh vegetables and fruit on the table are must-haves for a nutritious meal, but many families just simply can't afford them. That's where our CNN Hero comes in with seeds for all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLLY HIRSHBERG, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: I love the United States. I think it's a wonderful place to live. It's scary to me that with so much land and so much abundance that people are hungry.

In 2008, my husband lost his job. It was a very, very difficult time, and the first thing we did was plant a garden.

If you grow your own food, you never have to worry about how you're going to feed your family. We thought if we can help others garden, then we can help them pull themselves up out of poverty.

I'm Holly Hirschberg, and we fight hunger in the United States by giving away seeds and teaching people to grow their own food.

We pack enough seeds to grow food for a family of four. We want to help people provide for themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is an eggplant, and I've already harvested from it. My garden is in front of my apartment. I can grow tomatoes, bell pepper in just a flower pot.

If it wasn't for my garden, then I wouldn't be able to afford fresh produce at all.

HIRSHBERG: Here we have a tomatillo plant. These were all from seeds from the dinner garden. We have provided over 65,000 seed packs to individuals and families all over the country. We also have provided seeds for over 180 community gardens.

So who wants to grow vegetables?

We see a lot of families whose children only eat when they get a free meal at school. When they are at home, we really want them to have the best nutrition possible, and certainly you can't do better than garden veggies. I'm not a master gardener. I wouldn't even say I'm a good gardener. I am an enthusiastic gardener.

The seeds do all the work. We provide the seeds. We help you grow them. You eat the food to fight hunger.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Fantastic.

Remember, all of this year's CNN Heroes were chosen from you, the people in your neighborhood who you want to recognize. So if you want to nominate your hero, just go to CNNHeroes.com.

All right, so the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis had quite a wake- up call, and we thought you'd like to hear it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): It's not every day you hear Beyonce saying this.

BEYONCE KNOWLES, SINGER: Good morning, Atlantis. This is Beyonce. Sandy, Chris, Doug, and Rex, you inspire all of us to dare to live our dreams.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Fantastic. Great morning wake-up call for everyone onboard the International Space Station now as well.

All right, Bonnie's in the Weather Center. That's one way to get folks alert -

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Up and dancing.

WHITFIELD: -- rise and shine. Yes, and dancing.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHNEIDER: -- you want to dance around.

WHITFIELD: Her new big hit.

SCHNEIDER: On zero gravity.

WHITFIELD: Yes. That's right.

SCHNEIDER: So I'm thinking - a little more fun, I think.

WHITFIELD: Well, yes.

SCHNEIDER: Well, you know, today another hot one, Fredricka. Unfortunately, we're looking at a big heat wave that's taking over much of the country. I'd like to say it's letting up, but this is a prolonged event that will continue for days on end. And you can see hazy, hot, and humid conditions. The heat warnings are in place all the way from North Dakota down through Kansas and Oklahoma, and they are not going anywhere. Specifically for Minnesota, that's where it's been particularly dangerous. The heat warning continues for that region where the heat indexes are climbing to 110 to 120 over the next few days.

The forecast for Minneapolis, for example, takes the temperatures into the mid to upper 90s, and they stay up there all the way through Wednesday. And, remember, while the temperatures are in the mid 90s, it's going to feel even worse, and in fact, on Wednesday, the heat index will climb to 117 degrees.

That's outright dangerous. So if you can plan ahead for this heat wave and try to keep yourself indoors as much as possible and of course check on your neighbors, the elderly people with illnesses, they're much more susceptible to heatstroke than others. So just please be careful and think of those in this time.

All right. We're also tracking some strong thunderstorms along the Gulf Coast into Alabama coastal sections, the panhandle of Florida, and very powerful storms sweeping through Georgia right now. And back out west, where we've been tracking some storms towards the Baton Rouge area, they are still continuing through those northern parishes of Louisiana, moving to the northeast.

And finally, as we head all the way to the west, it's been very overcast in San Francisco. You can see the clouds working their way across the Bay Area. That is impacting air travel at this time. We have ground delays, an hour and 15 minutes in San Francisco. That's the only airport delay, at least right now, so some good news there, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Very good. Thanks so much.

Well, you know, we've been talking about this Carmageddon -

SCHNEIDER: Right.

WHITFIELD: -- or the potential gridlock that will come from a 10-mile stretch of 405 being shut down in L.A., so people have become rather inventive about how to get around, either by taking the alternate routes on the road or maybe even flying over it.

Is Carmageddon even happening anyway?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Authorities expect an indictment next week against the man accused of kidnapping, killing, and mutilating an 8-year-old Brooklyn boy. The victim, Leiby Kletzky, is shown on this surveillance tape. Police say he was walking home from camp and got lost and asked the suspect for directions.

Levi Aron was arrested on Wednesday. He has been placed on suicide watch and ordered to have psychiatric tests. One hundred seventy eight educators allegedly involved in the Atlanta school's cheating scandal have been told they have two options - quit or be fired. The new interim school superintendent says they have to resign by Wednesday or face termination. The teachers are accused of fixing the standardized test scores of failing students.

A state investigation reveals the widespread cheating goes back a decade. Some educators could face criminal charges.

And then, a woman in court in Kentucky didn't like a judge's ruling, so she did this - jumped over the bench to attack the judge. Court officers restrained the woman, and the judge gave her 120 days in jail for contempt of court.

By the way, she was in court because her ex-husband filed a domestic violence complaint against her.

Casey Anthony is expected to be released from jail tomorrow, but the arrangement surrounding her release are not typical. They are being kept secret for security reasons.

Anthony was acquitted earlier this month for the murder of her two- year-old daughter, and, right now, she is completing a sentence for four misdemeanor counts of lying to police.

And now, to Washington, a Democratic source is telling CNN's Jessica Yellin that there are internal meetings going on right now inside the White House dealing with the debt ceiling crisis. Congressional leaders and their staffs have been asked by the White House to be on call this weekend. On the Senate side of Capitol Hill there, Republican Mitch McConnell and Democrat Harry Reid are working on their plan to get a compromise on the debt ceiling before the August 2nd deadline.

And it looks like LA residents took the hint and they're staying clear of the 405 this weekend. So far, no "carmageddon." Demolition of a bridge that's part of the highway construction project is under way on the 405. That's why a 10-mile stretch is closed.

Anticipating "carmageddon," Jetblue, the airline, offered flights between Long Beach and Burbank for just $4 each way. Tickets sold out within hours. And then we decided to see which was faster, taking the 20-minute flight and dealing with the parking and the security lines, boarding waits, all that stuff, or driving using routes other than the 405.

Well, let's check in with -- Lindy Hall (ph) is actually going to be on that flight. Our Paul Vercammen is actually going to be on the roadways. We're going to check in with both of them momentarily to see how their commutes are going.

OK, so LA Residents may think it's no laughing matter, but comedians -- well, they're making the most out of this whole "carmageddon" thing. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEPHEN COLBERT, "THE COLBERT REPORT": This weekend in Los Angeles, a short stretch of the 405 freeway will be closed for repair.

(BOOS)

COLBERT: Is everyone OK?

(LAUGHTER)

COLBERT: We prayed this day would never come. Now, sure, Californians have survived earthquakes, wildfire, Laker victories...

(LAUGHTER)

COLBERT: ... even alien invasions. But this is the big one, folks, increased traffic on two off-peak days!

(LAUGHTER)

COLBERT: You know what that means? Someone might have to walk someplace. Think of the children! Pray for them!

JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Best way to beat this. Remember balloon boy? That's what I'm doing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you want to avoid the 405 this weekend, I suggest cutting through Coldwater Canyon. Just pull over and crawl down the embankment.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once again, make your way through the tall grass to the old Beverly Bridge. Once across, jump in Deer Creek and swim through the underwater cave.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This will take you to the main sewer line, which brings you out to the 101 freeway. It's as simple as that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. And then, imagine being just 18 years old, taking iconic photographs of the Beatles. We'll talk to the man who did just that straight ahead.

But first, do you know what the top five most-played Beatles tunes are? Number five is "Hey Jude." Number four, "Eleanor Rigby." Number three, "Help." And the top two when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, so you're looking at the top five most played Beatles hits. You see the numbers five through three. Number two, "Come Together." And number one -- you probably guessed that -- "Let It Be." All right, so this weekend, former Beatle Paul McCartney is entertaining fans in New York. He is performing at Yankee Stadium. So McCartney added a second show last month due to popular demand, which shows that Beatlemania is still rampant.

And this coming Wednesday, dozens of rare Beatle photographs will be auctioned. Photographer Mike Mitchell joins me from New York now. Mike, good to see you. Congratulations that your treasure trove is going to be on the auction block. That has to be exciting.

MIKE MITCHELL, PHOTOGRAPHED BEATLES: Hi, Fredricka. Yes, it's amazingly exciting.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. So you were 18!

MITCHELL: That 18-year-old kid...

WHITFIELD: Yes, go ahead.

MITCHELL: That 18-year-old kid would never have envisioned it.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness! So here you were, 18-year-old. You're at this concert. You're taking these pictures for your own pleasure, right?

MITCHELL: And a pleasure it was.

WHITFIELD: Indeed. And so this was interesting, too, because we're talking about, you know, you're taking pictures of them performing, very low light. And you're an amateur photographer.

Tell me about the dynamics that went into getting these images. You were so close to be able to see all of the artists so close, their instruments here. We're taking a look at some of those images. And tell me about the decision making that had to go with taking these pictures with this kind of, you know, light and the challenges that were there.

MITCHELL: Well, first of all, a slight correction. I was already a professional...

WHITFIELD: Aha.

MITCHELL: ... even at 18. So getting there was a matter of getting a client to get press credentials for me. But yes, I had to take my cues from what the light was sculpting of the situation. And I watched the light.

WHITFIELD: Wow!

MITCHELL: And the light sort of led the -- to the picture.

WHITFIELD: So what had happened to these pictures all these years? I mean, were these strictly for your personal pleasure and just recently, someone came upon them and discovered the value and said, We need to put this on -- in Christie's and these need to be auctioned off? Tell me that story.

MITCHELL: They sat in the basement for 45 years.

WHITFIELD: Unbelievable!

MITCHELL: And about five years ago, I started wondering whether they had some sort of asset value. So I went out of the basement and just started digging through the files. And it took two to three years to resurrect the images from the dust that had accumulated. And then started looking for what to do with them.

And eventually, one of my business partners was having lunch with a friend. And that friend brought someone from Christie's, and she said, I think you should show these to Cathy Alkies (ph) at Christie's.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness.

MITCHELL: And that was that.

WHITFIELD: So...

MITCHELL: So it was a wave of a serendipitous baton.

WHITFIELD: And fantastic. How exciting this has to be. So then 45 years ago, before it went into that basement, did you not value these images? Did you think that they were not images that the general public would enjoy, and that's why you squirreled them away?

MITCHELL: I never really thought about it. You know, I did them -- I knew that I had some that I loved. And I just went on with my life. You know, I was doing magazine photography. I was on an arc of expanding professional practice. And you know, maybe 20 years ago, I thought about it a little bit. But more recently, it became clear that it was the time.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So what will be -- will this kind of be a gratifying moment as people bid on these pictures, or will it be a little sad, too, because of your personal connection? What do you suppose that moment's going to be like?

(LAUGHTER)

MITCHELL: I have gone through a whole spectrum of anticipation, and now I'm just kind of relaxed. I'm going to go to the auction, watch what's going on, hope it's great fun, which I think it should be.

WHITFIELD: I'm sure it will be.

MITCHELL: And then see what happens.

WHITFIELD: Oh, fantastic! Well, congratulations. What an incredible honor to have your things auctioned off at Christie's, and so many people are going to be reveling at these images and so grateful you took them and had the wherewithal at 18 to have this kind of vision of these great rock stars. Mike Mitchell, thanks so much. Congratulations. All the best.

MITCHELL: Thank you, Fredricka.

And of course, who is not going to want to bid on these? Just in case you want to, you can follow the auction on Wednesday by going to Christie's auction house Web site, Christie's.com, in case you can't actually get in the room.

OK, so it looks like Los Angeles residents took the hint. They're actually staying clear of the 405 this weekend. So so far, no "carmageddon."

Demolition of that bridge -- that's part of that highway construction project. It's under way right now. That's why the 10-mile stretch of 405 is closed.

So let's check in with CNN producer Paul Vercammen. Perhaps you were with us earlier. He was behind the wheel. He was going to find out just how long that commute might be to get around that closed-down 405. So he's behind the wheel. Paul, how's it going?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN PRODUCER: Well, I'm already at the Long Beach airport, so this whole notion of "carmageddon" has gone by the wayside. Basically, you might have heard my colleague, Lindy Hall, was flying across from Burbank to Long Beach. I'd say we got here in about 57 minutes -- excuse me. We stopped for water. We dealt with some equipment. I actually took the wrong on-ramp at one point. And it was absolutely leisurely.

In fact, all of us Los Angelenos would love it if traffic was this great all the time. And you can see right now, we are at the Long Beach airport.

We're on live, sir. We're going to be moving along shortly. Don't worry.

We almost have too much time on our hands. Fredricka...

WHITFIELD: You're kidding!

VERCAMMEN: (INAUDIBLE) get in trouble.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that's funny! So then if the 405 were not closed and you were making that same commute, or at least your destination, your starting point and destination were about the same, how much a difference in that commute time-wise would it have been?

VERCAMMEN: Well, that's of course a guess. And this is what's so funny about Los Angeles's freeways. They're so whimsical. I mean, I've never had it where I drove from Burbank to Long Beach and there wasn't one accident or one issue of some sort that, you know, snarled traffic. It just doesn't happen that way unless, you know, you're that family coming back from Disneyland and you...

WHITFIELD: Oh, well. Well, we had Paul...

VERCAMMEN: ... along the airport...

WHITFIELD: There he is.

VERCAMMEN: ... just not crowded at all.

WHITFIELD: OK.

VERCAMMEN: But every thoroughfare that we took -- OK, you broke up a little, Fredricka. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Paul, thanks so much. Appreciate it. And technology's an amazing thing. We were able to get that signal for a pretty good amount of time during his commute there between Burbank and Long Beach. We'll try and check in later to see how the air travel is going, as well.

All right, so Libya, Syria, and the death of Osama bin Laden. We're going to talk about the Arab world now and how all of these factors may have made an impact on the popularity of the United States and the United States president. A new poll is out. We'll have the numbers next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A new poll conducted by an Arab-American organization suggests that the U.S. support in the Islamic world that was relatively sky-high just two years ago -- well, it's quite different today.

Ralitsa Vassileva here with CNN international. The Obama administration is now getting low marks from the Arab world, whereas about a year-and-a-half ago, very high marks. What happened?

RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: What happened? The Palestinian issue. What happened? Hopes that were not met. They were raised with his Cairo speech two years ago. People were very hopeful. Now they feel let down because the Palestinian issue has not made progress, because the U.S. is still involved in Middle Eastern affairs.

And those are the two top issues that they're judging him on. So that's why his ratings have plummeted, too, which is stunning, according to the Arab-American Institute which conducted this poll.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

VASSILEVA: It's stunning that President Obama has a 10 percent overall favorability rating. The U.S. favorability rating has dropped from 33 percent in 2009 to 15 percent or less right now.

WHITFIELD: And how the U.S. supported or responded to what was taking place in Egypt, responded to what's been taking place in Libya, all are factors, as well.

VASSILEVA: Those are not as important factors as the Palestinian issue. They consider Egypt, the response to Egypt, to have been coming from the Egyptians themselves, from those who protested and shed their blood in Tahrir Square.

As to Libya, there are just two countries out of the six that they've looked at that appreciate Obama for doing that, and those are Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. For the rest, it's not such a big issue. They still are judging him on the Palestinian issue and U.S. involvement in policies in the Middle East.

WHITFIELD: Now, what's happened -- if we can make a turn and talk about how the Americans are responding to this Libyan rebel movement and the issue of taking sides. What is happening with that?

VASSILEVA: Well, a very interesting shift in policy. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Istanbul, where a contact group on Libya is meeting, about 20 or more countries right now. They're meeting there. And she made the announcement there, saying that the United States recognizes now the rebels' transitional council, which is based in Benghazi, as the legitimate authority and government of Libya until another transitional government or entity takes place.

Now, this is very significant for the rebels themselves because they're running out of cash. So there are frozen assets, more than $30 billion of Libyan frozen assets in the United States which could be unfrozen and could be given, part of that could be given to the rebels.

WHITFIELD: And then Hillary Clinton -- she's in Turkey right now. She's been asked a number of things, whether it be about Libya or even about Syria, and her comments most recently about Syria and that president and his leadership being?

VASSILEVA: Very interesting. Tensions have grown very much between Washington and Damascus during the past week or so. The U.S. ambassador there visited Hamal (ph), which is the biggest flashpoints in the uprising against the Assad regime. That angered Syria very much, saying this is an interference in their affairs.

Following that, if you remember, last week, the U.S. embassy was attacked by angry protesters. The U.S. protested against that, said that Syrian authorities were slow to respond. And that really has damaged relations a lot. And a very significant policy by Secretary Clinton this week. She said for the first time that President Assad is not indispensable, that he has lost legitimacy. However, she's not calling on him to step down.

Let's listen to what she said. She addressed Syria in Istanbul today. Let's listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: What's happening in Syria is very uncertain and troubling because many of us had hoped that President Assad would make the reforms that were necessary without seeing what we're now seeing in the streets of Syria, which are government tanks and soldiers shooting peaceful demonstrators. And I've said, I know that the Turkish government has also said, that the brutality has to stop. There must be a legitimate, sincere effort with the opposition to try to make changes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VASSILEVA: And now the Syrian government keeps saying that those are armed gangs who are attacking the protesters, attacking soldiers and policemen. And one of the reasons why the American ambassador went to Hamal was to check for himself if there are armed gangs, and he didn't see that.

And so this is where things stand. The Syrian government has made some cautious moves allowing some opposition, a conference of opposition activists to take place. However, the opposition is very much divided.

WHITFIELD: Right.

VASSILEVA: Those on the streets, the protesters...

WHITFIELD: OK.

VASSILEVA: ... they're not participating in that.

WHITFIELD: OK. Ralitsa Vassileva, thanks so much, from CNN International. I appreciate that.

All right, we know you can feel vibrations, right? But have you ever seen them captured in slow motion? Stick around to find out what that looks like.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, so, so much of movement is unseen by the human eye. Case in point, vibrations. You kind of have a sense of what a vibration is, but then what happens when you slow it down, slow motion, and get a closer look? That's kind of our viral video subject, Bonnie.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It really is. And I always wondered about this because you see a vibration, but when it's slowed down, it looks completely different. Fluke Corporation's and Propadata Films teamed up to explore the world of vibrations. They used high-speed videography and film materials and activities (ph) at 1,000 frames per second.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness!

SCHNEIDER: That's slow motion water.

WHITFIELD: OK, so yes, when you see it like that, that is super, super-cool. So it's so cool that it's gone viral!

(CROSSTALK)

SCHNEIDER: Check it out! You can see it. Like, you know, if you watched it...

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh!

SCHNEIDER: ... (INAUDIBLE) you could really see the movement within the metal there...

WHITFIELD: Oh, yes!

SCHNEIDER: ... close up. It's amazing how much hits this got, 600,000.

WHITFIELD: Six hundred thousand!

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: People just want to see this over and over and over again.

SCHNEIDER: Shouldn't they have the song "Good Vibrations"?

WHITFIELD: Yes!

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHNEIDER: ... got that funky...

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: You would have to have the Beach Boys if, you know, it's all right to use that.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: That sounds good. And it looks good, too. Wow. It actually has an artistic kind of look to it, once you slow the thing down.

SCHNEIDER: It's very creative.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: All right, cool stuff. All right, Bonnie, that's a little viral for now. Later, we're going to talk a lot a heat, that heat wave.

SCHNEIDER: That heat wave that's not going anywhere this week.

WHITFIELD: Right.

SCHNEIDER: Got a lot to talk about coming up.

WHITFIELD: All right. See you then.

SCHNEIDER: All right. See you then.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)