>> go we say madagascar. an ancient city claims another big victory, this time in syria. and the old stars, david letterman and his extraordinary career. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. great to have you with us. i'm john vouse and this is "cnn newsroom." a u.s. military plane condifficulting surveillance over the south china sea

received a blunt warning, leave right now. the plane was flying over a group of manmade eye legions where the u.s. fears china is building a military installation. cnn's jim schudo was on board and he filed this exclusive report. >> please go away quickly. >> reporter: it's a standoff in the skies between china and the u.s. as beijing makes a massive and unprecedented land grab 600 miles from its coast. so when is the last time you went up? cnn got exclusive access to classified u.s. surveillance flights over the islands. first time journalists have been allowed on an operational mission by the state of the art paa poseidon. >> we just arrived on station now above the three islands that are the targets of today's mission. it's these three islands that have been the focus of china's building in the south china sea over recent years. >> reporter: in just two years, china has expand these islands

by 2,000 acre webs the equivalent of 1500 football fields and counting. you're a military man. you look at this. is there any doubt that that is a future military installation? >> it appears to be a build up of military infrastructure. >> reporter: for china, this new territory is nonnegotiable. china's foreign minister calls his country's commitment unshakeable and china patrols the area closely with navy war ships and ordering the p.a. out of the air space eight times on this one mission alone. >> please go away. >> i'm a united states military aircraft. i am operate, due regard as required under international law. >> chinese military sometimes shows it frustration. >> we're a military aircraft. with the chinese navy. you are approaching our military alert zone. leave immediately. >> the standoff is military to military. but civilian aircraft can be caught in the middle.

>> reporter: you heard over the intercome chinese navy, this is the chinese navy. what was interesting is that there are also civilian aircraft. there was a delta flight on that same frequently that when it heard that challenge, it piped into the frequency to say what's going on. the chinese navy reassuring them been but as the flight crew tells me, that can be a nerve-racking experience for civilian aircraft in the area. five southeast asian nations claim parts of this area as their own. china says this territory is part of their history, claiming ownership back 2000 years. >> recognize that as anything to do with in accordance with any international law. >> but many see economic and military motives, as well. the islands are rich in oil and gas deposits and they extend china's naval and air presence, challenging u.s. naval supremacy in the region. jim schudo, cnn, above the south china sea. >> we spoke with former cia

deputy director mike morel. he says the back and forth between the two countries could become a serious issue in the future. >> it is a real risk, right, when you have this kind of confrontation for something bad happening. remember in 2001 a chinese fighter bumped a u.s. spy plane creating a multi day crisis, right? so tactically, you have to worry about something bad happening. strategically, this is part of a significant dynamic between china and the united states. china is a rising power. we're a status quo power. we're the big dog on the block in asia. they want more influence. are we going to move a little bit? are they going to push? how is that dance going to work out inspect this is going to be a significant issue for the next president of the united states. >> still no formal response at this point from either beijing or washington to this incident. i'm joined now by john krevat. he's in bangkok. john, these manmade islands are

on international water, so technically what china is doing right now, is that illegal? >> technically, it contra convenients a number of laws. but, importantly, what you have to remember is that china regards that land -- sorry, that region as its own. and in regards to that as its own region and it can do what it wants. and so what the u.s. is doing is sur veiling it, going over and looking over it. but the u.s. regards it as its own region which within reason, it can do what it wants. >> so you talk about the historical claim that china has said repeatedly for a very long time that it has long historical rights to this particular stretch of water. what are those historical claims? >> well, for many decades, china

has outlined the south china sea is part of its territory. and that it regards all the fishing resources, the new york resources and the sea lion's communications as part of its region, as part of the chinese mainland. china has not had the facility to act on these claims. it's only now that china has the economic power and the growing military power that china is able to act on these long held ideas that it is its own territory. >> if i could interrupt there, we know now it's beefing up its military, it has the ability to build these islands and send planes out and ships and that kind of stuff. how legitimate, though, i guess is the question, are those historical claims? >> well, they're disputed. china has no doubt that it's

theirs, but other parts of the south china sea, other countries particularly the philippines and vietnam dispute those claims. china has an economic influence over the region in terms of energy exploration, assisting with infrastructure and economies within the region. the region as a whole is not really -- has not really unified against china's -- certainly its reclamation of land in the south china sea, as we're seeing now. but i think what we're seeing slowly, actually, is the asian region as a whole starting to get a little bit more backbone with this -- with regards to this issue and is now starting to kind of be aware that china is moving closer and closer all the time. and this is really being driven, i think, but by the philippines

and vietnam and the philippines especially has been very hard on the u.s. to try to engage the u.s. to become more involved in the information china's reclamation in the south china sea. >> john, with that in mind, those other countries, malaysia, the philippines, they all control real islands in the south china sea. couldn't the argument china make is all the good islands were taken, they just got there late? >> well, yes, i'm sure that's what the philippines and vietnam and others would claim. but as i said already, the chinese totally regards the south china sea within its dash line, which has been in place now since the 1940s. but that region is part of its own territory. so it regards other nations claims, it doesn't hold them in regard and it regards only -- claims. >> very quickly, do you see this as leading into some kind of

shooting war? >> it could do. it could do. there is a risk and the more that china intensifies its reclamation of land and the more the u.s. certainly undergoes surveillance of what's going on, the risk intensifies, although a misunderstanding and the miscalculation and that really is the danger in this scenario. >> that's always the danger. john, thanks so much for being with us. we'll let you get that telephone call, the one that was coming in earlier. we appreciate you being with us. thanks, john. isis has scored another victory on the battlefield. this one in syria. the terror group is taking control of the ancient ruins of palmora. it comes less than a week after isis seized the city of ramadi and that has some questioning the u.s. strategy against isis. barbara starr reports. >> reporter: ramadi residents continue fleeing the city as isis consolidates its position. across the border in syria, the

ancient city of palmayra with artifacts dating back thousands of years now largely in the hands of isis. experts fear a repeat of scenes like this in iraq when isis destroyed museum antiquities. >> we're concerned about this, obviously. it has been caught in a crossfire for some time. >> the pentagon insists its anti-isis strategy is not changing. it will train iraqi troops. there will be no u.s. forces in combat on the ground. >> what this looks like, in fact, on the ground is containment. but that's not what president obama says his policy is. that's not what he's selling to the american people. >> after several days of says the loss of ramadi was just a setback, u.s. officials increasingly are acknowledging behind the scenes how serious the situation is and are watching for signs of what may happen next. if iranian-backed shia militias move in, could there be a new

sectarian bloodbath? will isis expand into shia areas beyond its traditional power base in sunni dominated regions? a u.s. intelligence officials tells cnn if isis were to expand beyond sunni areas in iraq, it would signal a more serious threat to baghdad. >> we need to take these people down and take these people down quickly. they will dig in and we're never going to get them out. >> reporter: with air strikes continuing, iraqi forces are regrouping. for a counterattack to try to take back ramadi. but is the defeat of isis really any closer? >> you have isis on the defensive in tikrit and northern iraq. but on the other hand, they're on the offensive in el anbar province and in syria. so the campaign is now in the balance. >> just a few days ago, secretary of state john kerry

predicted ramadi would be back in iraqi hands within days.. well, maybe not so fast. today a senior state department official called the situation in ramadi a serious setback and said nobody is kidding themselves about it. barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >> so all of this has a lot of questions being asked right now if the u.s. should be reviewing its strategy in the entirety for defeating isis. i asked cnn military analyst general mark hurdly about that just a short time ago. >> i actually think we're continuing a wholesale review on a daily basis. there's always the potential for adapting the force size and what the force is doing. but i think truthfully the strategy is going on as expected. continued air support, continued support of the iraqi government as they try and get their act together after several years of mr. maliki and trying to bring

some consensus back into the iraqi parliament. and at the same time, you have some significant problems with the iraqi security forces. they have been fighting, think about this, john. they have been fighting for ten continuous years in some of these areas. the forces in anbar province have done some magnificent work over the last year as we talk about ramadi falling and everyone thinks the iraqi army is giving up out there. that's mott the case. they've been having some difficult battles over the last several months. they are getting reinforcements now, both from the iraqi security forces from some police forces and what's called the pmf, the militia force. so i think we're going to see some changes in the next few days. and the united states state department says coalition forces launched fresh air strikes on wednesday trying to keep the terror group from pushing further to the east towards baghdad. police have identified a

suspect at a quadruple murder. a 34-year-old man is wanted on charges. a source says a family and their housekeeper all suffered blunt force trauma before the house was set on fire. whoever did it got away with $40,000. he was the ceo of a building materials manufacturer. a short break here on cnn. when we come back, we'll have the latest on our first pipeline which has spilled hundreds of barrels of oil on to the state anticipates beaches. and several big banks have been hit with severe penalties totalling in the billions for trying to rig foreign currency markets. details when we come back.

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the bulk collection program expires june 1st. paul gave up the floor after about 10 1/2 hours. but a few other speakers had joined in on the effort. six of the world's biggest banks have been fined billions of dollars, what the u.s. attorney general calls a breath-taki breath-taking. they're all pleading guilty to criminal charges of conspireing to manipulate the exchange rate of the u.s. dollar and the euro. bank of america has to pay a fine and the swiss bank, ubs, faces a fine for rigging interest rates. the biggest penalty falls on barclay's, has to pay $2.4 billion to regulators in both the u.s. and britain including the hashest fine ever issued by the authority. u.s. attorney general loretta lynch called their behavior a brazen occlusion.

>> the penalty these banks will pay is fitting considering the behavior and conduct. it should deter competitors in the future from chasing profits without regard to fairness to the law or public welfare. >> so far, most of the banks involved have paid about $10 billion total to authorities in the u.s. and europe for their part on the foreign exchange scandal. just a fraction of their overall profits. >> california's governor has declared a state of emergency in response to tuesday's oil spill near santa barbara. officials say a worst case scenario of up to 2,500 barrels may have been released. the oil slick covers about nine miles or 14 kilometers of coastline. cleanup crews combing beaches and skimming water to collect the oil. they're trying to protect wildlife. the oil pipeline has been shut down. here is a closer look at the painstaking cleanup.

>> here is what the grueling work of cleaning up an oil spill looks like. you can see right here the oil, the tar mixed in with the seaweed. so they literally rake together seaweed and tar and they put it in plastic bags. and what else gets put into plastic bags is anything else that the oil has covered. if you look right there, those are palm tree fronds that got soak in the oil fallen off the trees and on to the shore. but this isn't just limited to where we're standing right now. if we go ahead and take almost a 180, you look off in the distance, there's another cluster of workers with the rakes and the plastic bags and the rest trying to clean up this misery, this black misery on the beach. look at the seaweed right here. it's just all mixed in. and every time even another little small wave comes in, it

seems that more of the tar balls and more of the oil comes washing ashore. and so they go ahead and they pick up another pile of seaweed int int int int inter-spersed with tar and they're going to have to clean this beach up handful by handful. we are learning new details now about al qaeda leader osama bin laden four years after his death. the u.s. has released more than 100 documents seized from his pakistan compound that killed him in 2011. details now from tom forman. >> newly revealed in the now declassified bin laden papers, al qaeda sent agents to attack targets in the united kingdom, europe and even russia with an emphasis on hitting americans whenever possible. so why did the attacks fail? according to the master terrorist, it was bad luck and

god wasn't on our side. the papers show that in all the years since 9/11, bin laden's desire to strike america again never let up. one says these pig eating invaders and their loyal dogs are too scared of death to fight us face-to-face. the main reason they continue to kill us is because we do not have the knowledge and the resources to counter their technology. bin laden clearly feared the power of american drones. warning his commanders to change locations only under cloudy skies to avoid detection and he cautioned, we should be careful not to send big secrets by e-mail because the enemy can easily monitor it. computer science is not our science. he distinctly saw any plan to establish an islamic state as premature and risky, writing his followers should be prepared for a long struggle for things like food and water shortages. i am sure that you're aware that

climate change is causing drought in some areas and floods in others. his online library also revealed in the documents contain nearly 40 books in english, including obama's wars by bob woodward, blood lines of the iluminoti and the rise and fall of the great powers. and there is this, an application form for would-be jihaddys, asking about their application, hop hobbies and do any of your family and friends work for the government? would they be willing to help us? do you wish to execute a suicide operation? and who should we contact in case you become a martyr? tom foreman, cnn, washington. china's richest man is having a very bad week. he lost $15 billion wednesday when shares of his solar panel firm plunged 47%, all in the span of an hour. as a result, the company lost

more than $18 billion in market value. here is a surprise. li did not show up for the annual shareholders meeting that started just as the shares were start to go drop. for more on li's troubles, including an ongoing market manipulation investigation head over to cnn.com. when we come back, a glimmer of hope for migrants off the coast of southeast asia. two countries say they will not turn away boats filled with refugees, but that comes with conditions. a live report just ahead. and a poignant visit for prince charles stirring memories of a personal loss 36 years ago. i'm louis, and i quit smoking with chantix. quitting smoking is a challenge and it's a lot easier to go into a fight when you've got somebody that's got your back. having chantix as a partner made it more successful. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix helped reduce my urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. some people had seizures while taking chantix. if you have any of these,

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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "cnn newsroom." a u.s. military plane conducting surveillance over the south china sea was told to leave. the group was flying over a group of manmade islands. the u.s. crew replied they were flying in international air space. isis has seized the syrian city of padmuhr. activists say syrian government forces fled their positions as the terror group moved in. it is home to temples and statues that many fire isis will destroy. police have identified the suspect in a quadruple murder in washington. they believe more than one suspect in involved. a family and their housekeeper were killed and the house set on fire. a source says the killer or killers got away with $40,000. relief may be coming to

thousands of migrants believed to be stranded on boats in the ademan sea. temporary shelter has been offered to the migrants as long as they resettle elsewhere within a year. the united states may also help migrants. >> if the unhcr and ion indicate the need for additional funds to assist governments to establish things like protection screening procedures and establishments, we'll consider those requests. in items of resettling, i think the malaysians and indonesias have requested help in resettling. we're prepared to take a leading role to settle the refugees. >> let's turn now to cnn's sima mosin. she's been following the story. sima, is there any offer of help to get these migrants to land? is there concern that they may not be able to make it? >> a huge concern, john.

they've been out there for months. it's believed there's up to 7,000 stranded at sea. it's hard to tell how many have landed where. now, we saw spontaneously yesterday fishermen in and around at jay province indonesia going out to try and rescue these boat people to bring them into land. so those were the first efforts. not by officials, but by local people. as one group said, they were leading with their hearts. and in the last hour or so, the prime minister of malaysia has said he's ordered the royal malaysian navy and maritime enforcement agency to also go out and start searching for those boats at sea. we really don't know how many there are. we believe there are thousands of people out there. they're going to go and search them out. so a real reversal now, john, of an approach. previously, they were chasing them away. now they're going out there to bring them back in. john. >> once they do bring them back

in, once they get to indonesia or malaysia, where will they get settled and what sort of assistance will they receive? >> that's a really good question because, frankly, they don't have a plan. yesterday, when over 400 of these refugees and bangladeshi migrants were brought in off of two boats, they didn't know where to put them. they were kept on boats for a while, we're told by the international organization of migration in helping support the indonesian government to bring these people in and deal with them. they were left on boats for hours and hours while various districts argued and debated on what to do with them. they are now intense, we believe, while a plan is formulated and they will be kept in malaysia and indonesia for up to a year. thailand, of course, also the third country involved in all of this said they will help as far as humanitarian aid is concerned, but they will not

provide shelter coming under huge criticism for all that. >> and the fourth country in all this is where they come in the first place, which is myanmar. and it seems right now the authorities aren't doing a whole loss to address the problem which is the caution of violence and discrimination these refugees are facing there. >> yeah, exactly. a lot of the countries involved, particularly thailand is saying, look, we have to look at the country of origin. it needs to be addressed. and, of course, everyone agrees with that, including the international community. the prosecution that the minority ethnic group face in myanmar is of great concern. it's been going on for decades. it needs to be addressed. this once again puts the spotlight on that. now, myanmar, for its part, doesn't recognize the community. it refuses to give them citizenship. it refuses to enter into any kind of talks where the term

rohinga will be mentioned, including potentially this meeting that thailand announced for human trafficking and the migrant situation on the 29th of may. myanmar says it is still deciding and this is just in the last hour or so. it is still deciding whether or not to participate. also in the last hour, the myanmar government has said that it does want to acknowledge the problem of people fleeing myanmar. it wants to crack down on it. but it was a carefully worded statement. it says if these are citizens of myanmar, it must be repatriated. >> playing with words. okay, sima, thank you. live for us in bangkok. take a short break. when we come back, facing controversy for killing an endangered black rhino, but a village in namibia is celebrating him for the hunt and we'll tell you why, just ahead. i take these out... ...to put in dr. scholl's active series insoles. they help reduce wear and tear on my legs,

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one man is facing backlash for killing a black ryan know. he paid $350,000 for a permit to kill it. conservationists say his actions have done more harm than good. despite the controversy, a small village in namibia celebrated him after delivering the animal for its meat. the rhino mae donated, but he gets to keep the animal's head and hide. cnn's erin burnett asked the hunter about what he mans to do with it. >> what do you plan on doing with this rhino head which i know database you know, are you going to be putting it in your trophy room? what are you going to do with it? >> i think my real plan, once i get it back here, is to figure out a way -- it will be my personal property, but figure

out a way that i can use it to raise awareness the best i can with it. and if that's putting it on loan to different museums or different places, that's what i'd love to do. and i don't believe any single act throughout, you know, modern history has brought more attention to an endangered species than this one. so if you're against it, if you're for it, at least you're aware of the plight of the rhino and at least you're aware now of the real dangers to it being poaching and habitat infringement. i believe it's ridiculous for us to say that we're complicit in the fact that these animals are in trouble, but we shouldn't be complicit in helping them through wildlife biology and scientific research. >> seems to have left out one of the dangers to the rhinos is, in fact, hunters, as well. but he also says it's important to give locals an incentive to care about conservation.

in colombia, the search is on for survivors from a landslide. meantime, this rescuers rescued this dog from a fast moving stream. you can see the officer jumping in and taking the officer ashore. another officer gave the lucky dog mouth to mouth. amid all this bad news, a rare bit of good news, i suppose. and the dog is expected to make a full recovery. okay. flooding rain has caused landslides and a whole host of trouble from china. >> well, in fact, john, about an hour ago, we showed food footage of landslide necessary china. now we have cct footage of the building collapsing during that moment in time. first, take a look. this is obviously drone footage

coming out of southwestern china. this is all thanks to the rainey season that is occurring here at the end of spring and into early summertime. but look at the video next. you should start to see the cct footage of that moment when the land slide undertook the bottom portion of that building. unbelievable stuff to just see it be sis integrated like this, a force of nature. unfortunately, there was a fatality and several injuries. this is all thanks to the east asia rainey season that takes place at the end of spring and into the early summer months. it lasts about two months in total and it produces a significant amount of rain, especially across the provinces. here is a look at the rainfall totals. hong kong, for instance, 141 millimeters of rainfall in just 12 hours. believe it or not, they're still under their annual average rainfall, which is about 550 millimeters per year. but they will get that going

forward over the next cervical weeks. you can see an active weather pattern setting up across northern vietnam. taipei and locations out outside of taipei from the possibility of flash flooding, as well, as this active weather pattern continues. look at this, satellite derived rainfall estimates calling for about 150 millimeters in some parts of china, but there is one particular location just outside of hong kong that had over 400 millimeters of rainfall indicated by satellite estimates. you can see the rainfall pattern continuing, very active for southern china into taiwan. this is not the only location that's had heavy flooding and rainfall. we have an active weather pattern into southern chile that has produced around 100 millimeters or more in the los lagos region. take a look at the footage coming out of that particular region. this was just moments after a husband and wife evacuated their house. it got swept away by this

flooding rain and, john, that video showed, if we just watch a few more seconds, you can see their entire house being swept away. >> just gone. >> just gone. >> about ten seconds. >> that's all it takes. luckily, they were able to get out in time. there were four other houses damaged there, as well. >> thank you very much. >> thanks, john. prince charles's visit to ireland shifted from a meeting of the symbol iblg to the perchbl on wednesday. phil black has more on his have it to the site where his great uncle wad killed by the i.r.a. >> it was a killing which shocked the world and changed the course of northern ireland's future when the i.r.a. blew up a boat in 1979, it was seen as a strike against the elite ranks of the british establishment. four people were killed, including lord mt. batton, a member of the british royal family, prince charles' great

uncle. two teenagers died, nicholas and paul maxwell. today, the area is picturesque, almost sear reasrene. there's no sense of the devastation of ta day, almost four decades ago. on wednesday, prince charles visited the site of his relative's killing for the first time. he spoke to the people who tried to help those in the boat that day. he also met john maxwell, father of the irish teenager who died. all of us that inhabit these atlantic islands. >> earlier in the day, charles spoke about how much mt. baton meant to him, saying he was a grandfather figure and reaffirmed his commitment to the peace process. >> at the time, i could not imagine how we would come to terms with the anguish of such a deep loss since, for me, lord van baton represented the

grandfather i never had. so it seemed as if the foundations of all that we held dear in life had been torn apart irreparably. >> charles's trip to ireland has been about more than building bridges. it's been personal. on tuesday, he met the man who in 1979 condoned his uncle's killing, sinn fein's gerry adams. both men wanting to close the door on a conflict in which all sides suffered and thousands lost their lives. phil black, cnn, dublin. >> an atlas five rocket is send ago secret u.s. military space plane into orbit. the rocket launched from cape canaveral wednesday carrying the air force's x-37b. it's a classified mission, but it's believed to be a test of future technology.

the unmanned craft is designed to orbit the earth and land like one of nasa's space shuttles. it's reusable. it's carrying a prototype solar sail, let's hope sails can use the sunlight to propel spacecraft in the future without using any fuel which is heavy and expensive. call it a wrap. david letterman says good-bye. the late shows will never be the same again. more on that when we come back. part adventure. it's part geek and part chic. it's part relaxation and part exhilaration. it's part sports car and part suv. and the best part? the 2015 gla. it's 100% mercedes-benz.

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david letterman spent more than 30 years as one of television's best late night hosts. tonight, he called it a night bidding farewell to the late show. he walked into the ed sullivan theater to a cheering crowd. a number of famous friends dropped by to give him a proper sendoff with guest appearances on his last top ten list ever. >> i'm just glad your show is being given to another white guy. >> thanks for letting me take part in another hugely disappointing series finale. >> dave, you are the to comedy

what i am to comedy. >> thanks for finally proving men can be funny. >> dave, i'll never have the money i owe you. >> oh, no. >> good stuff. holland is with me now to talk about letterman's farewell. >> was it a fitting farewell? i tals always thought this was going to be hugely disappointing no matter what they did. it wasn't even emotional. >> this is a legend. this is 33 years in the making. i don't think there's going to be any proper farewell that's going to meets our expectations. there wasn't a lot of tears, wasn't a lot of emotion. was a lot of comedy. they decided to make it about the laughs and make it about the friendships he's had along the way. >> speaking of friendships or lack thereof. there was an invite put out to jay leno, but leno declined, which for me i thought that was kind of a shame. >> i thought it was a shame, as well. you would think these two men,

who were the legends of late night for so long, rivals, as you said, would kind of come together in the end and he did not. and i think people were curious as to why. i think maybe we'll get some insider information on that soon. >> and the question, too, is why was this on a wednesday night? because it seemed a really strange decision by cbs to end this sort of midweek? >> i think for ratings. i think the viewership. we're going into the memorial day weekend. maybe friday would have been -- people traveling are not wanting to stay up late. there could away myriad of reasons. but we do know obviously cbs wanted those ratings and the viewers were there and we were all tuning in. >> and letterman, who is intensely private and really hates talking to the media, hates talking about himself in particular, he really hasn't given any idea of what he plans to do. he's 78 years old now, right? >> yeah. >> so what's the speculation out there? >> he did joke around about being the new face of scientology. >> that would be good. >> i would love to see him getting in touch with his emotions there.

he has a lot of investments. he's big into the indy 500. he has a excluded ranch i believe out in montana. maybe he'll take some time off with himself, spend time with his son, have days where he doesn't have to do anything other than just be david letterman. >> one of the reasons that reminded me, the reason it was on wednesday, is because the indy 500 is on this weekend and there was talk he wanted to get away. >> and he probably wanted to not have that interrupt his weekend, for sure. a good memorial day weekend coming up. >> and, of course, they touched on it in the top ten list. stephen colbert will be taking over. when you think about all the hype and the media frenzy that went into this last show, you know, it lasted for weeks and weeks and weeks, does that make it harder on stephen colbert who takes over, what, i think september 8th? >> personally, absolutely not. i have been a stephen colbert fan for so long. he's going to bring the colbert nation the same way jimmy fallon came in and made it his own show. i think maybe the pressure will be in in the beginning but i do

not feel for one second he's going to come in and live up to some hyper expectation. so i think he'll be just fine. >> and if you'll get letterman, too, he's still the mac daddy of late night shows. but did there come a point where it passed him because because if you look at fallon, these other guys, they have their viral videos and letterman doesn't do any of that. >> i think it's the changing of the guards and changing of the times. we have a new generation coming in, a different media, a younger fan base. we have the millennials and millennial mindeds coming in. him being in cahoots with lots of other huge celebrities, like justin timberlake, speaking of jimmy fallon. if you have these kinds of relationships -- i'm not saying -- david letterman obviously didn't have that, he has plenty, but it's a different type of comedy being ushered in. and i think these two gentlemen taking over for late night are going to be just fine. >> is there one moment?

can you point to one moment in that 33-year career which stands out? i know a lot of people thought about this and it's difficult to find that one moment because i guess it depends on who you are. but is there an agreement out there on what has been his greatest moment? >> his greatest moment? i'll be completely honest is when he fessed up on his own to his scandal with the staffers. we saw how honest he was. we saw how human he was. and i think it just made people love him any more that he didn't let this become the best of him, that he really owned up to his mistakes. he's a man, he's an honest man and he came forward on his own and really just showed how human and how -- just like everybody else he is. and for me, that was his greatest moment, seeing that humility. >> there was also that moment, too, after 9/11 when he was the first late night show back on the air. and it was that honesty that he had with the audience. he came out and spoke from the heart. it was honest, raw and a major moment. >> there was no schtick.

he came in, he was honest and open and raw and he wanted to still entertain, you know, the world with what he does best. and that is being david letterman. >> okay. thank you for coming in. >> thank you so much for having me. >> it's late right now. >> it is late here. >> i'm going to go home and sleep it all off. i'm good. thank you so much. i appreciate it. >> and thank you for watching "cnn newsroom." it continues next hour with rosemary church and errol barnett. this is "cnn newsroom."

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china is raising a lot of questions and tensions with its latest operation in the south china sea. cnn gets an exclusive look at the progress ahead. >> also, concerns over what will become the ancient city of palmyra now that isis has moved in. >> television legend signs off for the final time. david letterman says good-bye. welcome to our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world. we are your anchor team for two hours. i'm errol barnett. >> i'm rosemary