frantic warnings from china after a u.s. surveillance plane flies too close to disputed island. plus, isis takes full control of an ancient syrian city putting century's old treasures at risk. >> late night legend. david letterman signs off for the last time. we'll bring you highlight from his final show. hello welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm rosemary church. >> i'm errol barnett. thank you for joining us. this is "cnn newsroom."

u.s. military plane conducting surveillance over the south china sea gets a blunt warning. leave right now. >> the plane flying over a group of man made island where the u.s. fears china is building a military installation. cnn crew got the exclusive while on board. [ indiscernible ] >> reporter: a standoff in the skies between china and the u.s. as beijing makes a massive unprecedented land grab. 600 miles from its coast. >> when is the last time you went up. cnn got exclusive access to classified u.s. surveillance flights over the island. first time journalists have been allowed on an operational mission by the state of the art p

paa plane. >> the three island the focus of china's building in the south china sea over recent years. in two years, china expanded island by 2,000 acres. the equivalent of 1500 football fields and counting. >> your's a military man. you look at this. is there any doubt this is a future military installation. >> it appears to be a -- build-up of infrastructure. >> china's foreign minister calls the commitment unshakeable. china defends the island closely. patrolling with coast guard and warships. ordering the pa out of the airspace. eight times on this one mission alone. >> united states military aircraft. i am operating with regard required under igsal law. >> the chinese military shows its frustration.

you are approaching our military alert zone. >> the standoff is military to military. civilian aircraft can be caught in the middle. you heard over the intercom, chinese navy. the chinese navy. what was interesting. there are civilian aircraft. delta flight on the freeing when see. heard that challenge. it piped in to say what is going on. the chinese navy reassuring them. as the the flight crew tells me that can bea nerve-racking experience for civilian aircraft in the area. five southeast asian nations claim parts of the area as their own. china says the territory is part of the history. claiming ownership back 2,000 years. recognize that as, as anything to do with -- in accordance with international law. many see economic and military motives as well. the island are rich in oil and gas deposits. and they extend china's naval

and air presence, challenging u.s. naval supremacien ty ein t region. >> cnn's david mckenzie following this story from south korea. i spoke with him earlier. >> rosemary they claim 90% of the south china sea, gee graphically look at the map of the mainland isn't close to some of the disputed island. you have countries. territories, jim mentioned that have claims over certain parts of the south china sea. china says it has an historical precedent for this. looks become to maps for the 40s and earlier saying it in fact claim all of this. they have an unshakeable territorial right over the south china sea. one of the things talked about, status quo. the u.s. and u.s. policy makers saying china is trying to change the status quo by anchoring itself and expanding these island with military assets.

i put that question to, to a leading chinese researcher. >> there has been no disruption at all of the safety of the security of maritime shipping lanes. aviation has not been affected. in any means. if there is any potential escalation of tension, it's not caused by china. i think -- a strong china, a dedicated china. united china will actually become a very stablizing force in this part of the world. >> the line from china is that we're the big power on the block. you should be part of our benevolent power structure. certainly some including the countries surrounding china in the region might disagree. rosemary. >> david, quickly, how potentially dangerous is all of this? >> well when you pour military assets into a disputed region look this. it could be very dangerous. there will be some incident.

accidental or on purpose that can create a christmrisis. issues at play between the u.s. and china. their relationship. last count. 550 billion in two way trade between the two country. that still is the major relationship i think between china and the u.s. but as china flexes its muscles, militarily, the u.s. is clearly, showing a sign to allies that it is willing to step into the breach. and put its muscle out there in the south china sea. how it all end depend really on how the two powers react to each other in this game of chess. rosemary. >> david mckenzie. talking to me a short time ago. >> yes scored a victory on the battlefield. this one in syria. the terror group has taken control of the ancient ruins of palmyra. >> this comes less than a week after isis seized the iraqi city of ramadi. that has some questioning the u.s. strategy against isis.

pentagon correspondent barbara starr reports. >> reporter: ramadi residents continue fleeing the city as isis consolidates its position. across the border in syria, the ancient city of palmyra with artisfacts dating back thousand of years in the hand of isis. experts fear scenes of look this in iraq when isis destroyed museum antiquities. >> caught in the cross fire for some time. the pentagon insists its anti-isis strategy is not changing. it will train iraqi troops, there will be no u.s. force in comb battle on the ground. >> what this looks like, in fact on the ground is containment. that's not what president obama says his policy is. that's not what he is selling to the american people. >> after several day saying the loss of ramadi was just a set back. 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 the traditional power base in sunni dominated regions. a u.s. intelligence official tells cnn itch 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. or they will dig in and we are never going to get them out. >> reporter: with air strikes continuing, iraqi forces are recrouping. for a counter attack to try to take back ramadi. but is the defeat of isis really any closer. >> you have isis on the defensive in, in tikrit, northern iraq.

but, on the other hand, they're on the offensive in alanbar, and palmyra, and syria. so the campaign is now in the balance. >> reporter: just a few days ago, secretary of state john kerry predicted ra mam mmadi wo back in iraqi hand within days. a senior state official said it is a serious set back and nobody is kidding themselves about it. barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >> well are learning new details about al qaeda leader osama bin laden. four years after his death. >> the u.s. has now released more than 100 documents seized from his home in pakistan in the raid that killed him in 2011. tom foreman has details.

>> reporter: newly revealed in the now declassified bin laden papers, al qaeda sent agents to attack targets in united kingdom, europe and russia with 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 am erica again. never let up. the main reason they continue to kill us is because we do not have the knowledge and resource 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 are 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, bloodlines of the illuminati and rise and fall of the great powers. and there is this. an application form for would-be jihadis. asking about their education, families, hobbies and, do any of your family or friend work with the government? would they be willing to help us? do you wish to execute a suicide operation? who should we contact in case you become a martyr? he wrote a message saying the reason the value of dollar is falling and suicide among

american soldiers is rising because this was a war that america simply could not win. and yet he was killed by the vry troops that he said he would defeat. tom foreman, cnn, washington. >> still to come for you here on "cnn newsroom." several big banks hit with severe penalties. totaling in the billions all for trying to rig foreign currency markets. >> plus a ray of hope for migrants after they were stranded at sea. details on the countries that have stepped up to help them. that's still to come.

california's governor declared state of emergency in response to tuesday's oil spill near santa barbara. officials say a worst case scenario up to 2,500 barrels may have been released. the oil slick covers 9 miles, 14 kilometers of the coastline. see how thick it is. clean-up crews are skimming the watt ti water. the pipeline has been shut down and the cause of the spill is under investigation. >> six of the world's biggest

banks have been fined billions of dollars for what the u.s. attorney general calls a breathtaking conspiracy. citicorp, j.p. morgan, barclay's, and royal bang of scotland pleading guilty of conspireing to manipulate the exchange rate of the u.s. dollar and euro. >> bank of america has to pay a fine for exchange rate rigging. swiss bank, ubs faces a rigging interest rates charge. loretta lynch called the banks' behavior a brazen display of collusion. >> almost every day for more than five years, traders in this cartel used a private electronic chat room to manipulate the stock market exchange rate between euros and dollars using coded language to conceal collusion. they acted as partners rather than competitors in an effort to push the exchange rate in directions favorable to their

banks but detrimental to man -- many others. >> so far most of the banks involved have paid $10 billion total to authorities in the u.s. and europe for their part in the foreign exchange scandal. >> turning to indonesia, the state news agency says the maritime authorities sank 41 fishing boats operating illegally in its waters. this video captured one of those boats going down on wednesday. >> now the move was part of the president's controversial campaign to protect indonesia's maritime resources and its domestic fishing industry. for many years, reports say foreign fishing ships operated almost freely in indonesian waters hurting the nation's economy. >> malaysia's prime minister issued search-and-rescue for boats carrying migrants. in a facebook post he wants to

prevent loss of life. >> this fol llows a statement fm malaysia and indonesia they have offered to temporarily settle migrants. in recent weeks hundreds of migrants have been arriving in the waters of both countries. migrants believed to be rohingya, fleeing persecution in min l myanmar. we are joined from bangkok, thailand. how many stranded migrants have been fortunate enough to land some where and how many more are still at sea? >> earl, it's difficult to try to add up. there have been various dottings and sightings of migrants landings. hundreds here. hundred there. we believe possibly up to 1,000 over the last week or so or maybe, few weeks. we believe there are 7,000 still stranded at sea on, on, hundreds

of boats. now they have been, effectively chased around the sea by the country's in the region. in particular, thailand. malaysia, indonesia. finally, finally yesterday there was a breakthrough after a meeting where indonesia and malaysia agreed to finally take them in. and these people, errol, have been at sea for many, many, months. rohingya and bangladeshi refugees. the rohingya, 40%, turning up malnourished. you can imagine conditions. errol, rosemary? >> you have the summit june 29th. this issue high on the agenda. won't the solution, long term solution rely heavily on participation by myanmar where many of these migrants are fleeing, a nation that has been reluctant to dress what is happening -- address what is

happening? >> yeah, it's a really tricky one. that is the argument, the host nation, thailand, that meeting will take place in bangkok is arguing. the prime minister said in an exclusive interview with andrew stevens we are running today, that the country of origin should be dealing with this the we have to look to them. the problem is myanmar may or may not according to a statement just a few hours ago, take part in that meeting. they originally refused to because they simply don't recognize the rohingya people, they said if the term rohingya is used during the meeting they will not attend they refuse to participate. they are now saying they may well do. that's likely because of back channel negotiations and pressures. we know that that the foreign minister from indonesia is flying to myanmar, possibly in the next 24 hours or so. to have talks there.

with, with their counterpart there. so, things are building up as far as trying to get myanmar to come to the table to talk about this crisis. now, just to make clear that this meeting in, in bangkok next week is primarily was set up by prime minister to talk about human trafficking, a major crisis that is facing thailand. and now with this crisis of the rohingya and bangladeshi migrants now a whole topic. both will be discussed next week. it is hoped that myanmar will also participate. but it is not looking likely at the moment. errol, rosemary. >> live in bangkok. past 2:20 in the afternoon there. as you mentioned, 7,000 by one estimate, migrants stranded at sea at this moment. certainly is a humanitarian issue that need a solution. thank you very much. row rose m . >> what we are seeing in the

waters off southeast asia, echos a crisis in the mediterranean. wednesday a french naval vessel rescued 297 migrants from a fishing boat off the coast. >> the passengers include 51 women and children. migrants are handed over to italian authorities. reports say they are among more than 50,000 migrants from african continent and from the middle east who entered europe by sea this year. all in search of a better life. >> we want to take a closer look now at the different migratory pathways across the region. thousand used the seven routes to try and enter europe illegally last year. according to the european council agency frontex. it says more than 170,000 people tried to cross through the central mediterranean sea into italy. 50,000 migrants tried to enter turkey, bulgaria, cyprus,

through the eastern mediterranean. 43,000 others tried to cross over into europe through the western balkans. >> this influx of migrants raised concerns in britain. reports say prime minister david cameron will unveil a plan here in the next few hours that would decrease the number of migrants entering his country and include measures to speed up deportations. the plan comes on the eve of a european summit at the prime minister will use to start renegotiating, britain's ties with the our pine union. amnesty international says qatar is failing migrant workers there and that the country has made very few labor reforms ahead of the 2022 world cup qatar will host. amnesty's report, was just released in the last few minutes. we looked night. it says qatar hasn't done enough to address nine labor exploitation issues identified last year. >> amnesty says no progress has been made on the these areas in

red. the need for an exit permit to leave the country. restriction on switching employers. the freedom to join or create a trade union. protection by the same labor laws that apply to domestic workers. >> amnesty says only limited progress has been made on the remaining five issues. lack of progress leaves serious doubts about qatar's commitment to protect the more than 1.5 million migrant workers at risk of abuse in that country. we are following breaking news -- on an alarming victory for isis. the militants now in full control of an ancient city full of century's old artifacts. an update ahead.

all right. want to get you more information on the breaking news coming to us out of syria. isis now fully in control of the ancient city of palmyar, including the military airport, and the prison. many are worried that the terror group will destroy the city's artifacts like nimrud and. >> isis has been closing in on the city for weeks. >> reporter: syrian jets pound isis positions in the town of tadmur, few hundred meters away from palmyar. the unesco heritage site with treasures dating back to the first century threatened by the extremist group. syrian government forces are trying to push the insurgent

fighters back. in cooperation with our brothers in the armed forces we are making every effort to protect palmyra. >> reporter: ancient palmyra influenced by roman, greek, persian cultures. now in the cross hairs of isis extremists. isis posted these pictures online. allegedly showing its fighters inside the town. while the syrian regime says it is sending reinforcements to the battlefield its antiquities chief is not taking any chances. moving many artifacts to safer locations. we put in place efficient procedures in the last period he said and saved hundred of exponentially beautiful statues under fire by snipers. isis has already destroyed many ancient treasures both in iraq and in syria. the group posted videos showing its fighters ransacking the museum in mosul and first breaking down and then blowing up the ancient town of nimrud. leading unesco to fear the same

fate could await palmyra should isis drive regime forces out. >> i don't know what will happen in palmyra. i am very worried, alarmed by what is happening. let's hope that this wonderful monument will not be destroyed. >> reporter: the battle for palmyar has been going on for about a week. now it seems isis is closer than ever to seizing this ancient city and possibly erasing this cultural treasure like it has done with others in the past. and if you have your laptop or tablet nearby. take a look at our continuing coverage online, on the isis advance in palmyar. not the first time isis destroyed archaeological sites. find more online at cnn.com/international. >> to other stories we are following for you. police have identified one suspect in a quadruple murder at a washington mansion near the vice president's residence. a 34-year-old man is wanted on

first degree murder charges. police believe more than one suspect is involved. >> a source says the couple their 10-year-old son and their housekeeper suffered blunt force trauma before the house was set on fire a week ago. a source says who ever did it got away with $40,000. the ceo of a building materials manufacturer. >> well have some new information into the investigation into sunday's biker gang shootout in waco, texas. jeff battier is the first of dozens under arrest to post the $1 million bond required to get out of jail. >> we're learning much more about the other suspects held in connect, with the violence. along with weapons seized and strange hiding places.

>> reporter: days after the brawl, workers washed blood off the sidewalk of the restaurant. bullet holes in the walls, half consumed drinks and beer cozies with bike gang names recognizable. they recovered guns, wands and batons. >> honest citizens don't hide 1,000-plus weapons inside a restaurant. law-abiding citizen isn't going to hide a firearm or knife in between bags of flour, law-abiding citizen isn't going to go into the restaurant, restroom, and try and stuff handguns in toilets. that happened inside twin peaks sunday. >> reporter: what does that suggest to you about people here? >> these were vicious criminals who knew they were in trouble and they were trying to dispose of evidence. >> reporter: around 170 arrested are in their 20s to 65 years old. from the state of texas all walks of life. their biker lifestyle visible in their mug shots. wesley mcallister, age 32, the word chaos tattooed on his neck. also arrested george earl

rogers, 52 years old. a rap sheet that include charges of aggravated assault. >> what was in that restaurant, sunday afternoon, is not a motorcycle club of doctors, lawyers, laymen, honest, law-abiding citizens. >> reporter: there was a retired cop. san antonio police detective martin lewis. 32 years and officer, a grandfather. who has pictures on facebook wearing bandito gear. >> when i heard that miss morning it made me sick to my stomach. >> also a pharmacy tech. 65-year-old lawrence yaeger, his license retired due to retirement. he has no criminal history. a few women. sandra lynch, aka, drama. member of the motorcycle club, married to michael lynch, also arrested. they are grandparents sharing a love for biking and twin peaks. drama pictured here on a facebook post with the scantily clad waitresses.

their son tells cnn they're not criminals, not gang members. they were at twin peaks for a monthly meeting. he says, everyone there is not a thug. my parents are not thugs. i think this is injustice to have so many people in jail. none of the defendants have had their day in court. the defendant's families, cnn bringing attention to how per se sieve it is. >> they began an operation after a documentary revealed the radio dj was a serial sex abuser. police say they're now investigating more than 1400 suspects, 261 of them are considered people of public prominence as well. >> this probe also includes more than 100 people from tv, film,

or radio. and dozens of politicians, peoplen the music industry and some athletes. >> some high profile sex abusers have already been convicted in february, former pop star, gary glitter was sentenced to 16 years in prison for child sex abuse offenses. he committed more than three decade ago. very disturbing stuff there. >> prince charles' visit to ireland turned deeply personal on wednesday as he spoke about his great uncle, calling him "the grandfather he never had." a day after shaking hand with sinn fein's leered gerry adams, prince charles visited the site where his uncle was killed by an ira bomb. phil black has our report. >> reporter: it was a killing that would shock the world and change the course of northern ireland's future. when the ira blew up a boat in ireland in 1979 it was seen as a strike against the elite ranks of the british establishment. four people killed including,

lord mountbatton, a member of the royal british family, prince charm's great uncle. two teenagers died, mountbatton's grandson, and paul maxwell who had a summer job as a bettman. today, the area of malick moor is picturesque, almost serene, on wednesday prince charles visited the site of his relat e relative's killing for the first time. he spoke to the people who tried to help thosen the boat that day. he also met john maxwell, father of the irish teenager who died. >> all of us who in habit. >> earlier charles spoke about how much mountbatton meant to hip. 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 mountbatton 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. >> reporter: charles' trip to ireland has been about more than building bridges. it's personal. tuesday he met the man who in 1979 condoned his uncle's killing, sinn fein president gerry adams. the two side tentatively reached out to each other in a crowded room. knowing their meeting was an important symbolic gesture, both men wanting to close the door on a conflict in which all side suffered. and thousand lost their lives. phil black, cnn, dublin. >> chinese government officials say, three people are dead and at least 16 are still missing right now. after landslide triggered by heavy rains caused this nine

story residential building to collapse wednesday. now, rescue crews are still shifting through the mangled rubble trying to find more survivors there. >> shocking images. authorities say 98 people have been found safe and they say the cell phone signals of some of the missing have been traced back to the site of that collapse. for more we want to bring in meteorologist pedram javahari. he joins us. the imagery is shocking enough isn't it? >> it is. every may, june, we see this in the part of the world. seasonal rains are responsible. we know it is coming. fascinating story behind how this happens. ancient chinese, hundreds of years ago would talk about the setup. they would call it, a mayu bayou. tremendous rainfall. time to harvest plums. population rising. a lot of people populated in small areas.

causes devastation. we will show you how weather pattern shapes of the not just china. plum rains impact half a dozen of nations. east asia. warm moist air from the south. cool dry air out offener mongolia. where they interact. semipermanent boundary sets up and squeezes out all right moisture we see. in fact. oftentimes. calling it mold rains. they know very hard to keep things from molding in the month of may and june. comes to excessive rainfall that comes down. take a look at numbers. hong kong, you take on the largest city. see the numbers peak here. half a mooter or so of rainfall. every single month from the month of may through october before things begin tapering off. we picked up over 100 millimeters. 6 inches of rainfall has come down in 12 hours in and around hong kong. active storm track expected to stay in place. hong kong has seen dryer conditions this time of the year. look at the models. next seven days. rainfall could be in excess of 100 millimeters or 4 inches

around this region. often times, errol, rosemary when we talk about this pattern, you know the continues, when you get away from the big cities you get into remote villages where it is really, a scary situation for people. because -- perhaps they're, they didn't have access to televisions. they don't know what's going on. then all of a sudden. the rainfall takes its tolls on villages. >> serious stuff there. thank you for walking us through. >> thank you. >> still to come on cnn newsroom. david letterman says good night, good-bye to the late show. we'll show you how some famous friend paid him tribute.

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so, after more than three decade and more than 6,000 guests, david letterman has called it a night. >> wow, letterman walked out to greet the audience for the late show in the ed sullivan theater as paul schaeffer led the house

wand one last time. at the end of the show he gave this funny, but heartfelt farewell. i want to thank the folks at home. you know, people come up to me all the time they say, "dave, i have been watching you since your morning show." i always say "have you thought about a complete psychological work up." the people who watch this show, there is nothing i can do to ever repay you. thank you for everything. you have given me everything. and thank you again. [ applause ] >> brian stelter joins us from outside the ed sullivan theater. he knows what happened during letterman's good-bye tonight. brian, how did it go? did the host tear up at all? >> he did not. but some people in the crowd did. this was a very emotional taping, some lucky fans were able to be inside the theater alongside cbs v.i.p.s, and some a list stars. you know we saw alec baldwin,

tina fey, bill murray, steve martin, all of letterman's friends coming to do a star-studded top ten list. but, maybe the most emotional moment, maybe most important moment, was the closing monologue. letterman spoke at length, and then he pointed to his family in the audience as well. then he walked off the stage for the last time. you know he actually went so long, extra 20 minutes. cbs will let his last late show run longer than usual. >> i find it hilarious, that jimmy kimmel got more emotional than letterman in his departure. we also heard all the presidents were there. talk to us about some of the presidential surprises. >> yeah, a big surprise. there were a series of taped jokes from current president obama, former presidents bush, and former president clinton, all of them coming together to tell dave, our long national nightmare is over.

obviously joking abe aing abouty have in common. letterman has been in the chair decade. nbc, cbs. nowadays common for the president of the united states to come on late night talk shows and go ahead show up, promote their policies, crack a few jokes with the late night host. letterman is a pretty serious comic. sometimes we saw significant interviews with presidents like obama, all of them wanted to pay tribute to the departing comic. >> us a, whwhat is special abou letterman, presidents showing up to your good-bye, a list celebrities hooc celebrities. he was a private man. julia roberts said for the kissing, flirting, many times she was on the show they never once talked outside of the show or met at all. so, he is an interesting character himself isn't he? >> that's right. >> he is probably the most private of all of the these big television stars.

you know, sometimes guests on the late show were surprised that during the commercial breaks, dave wouldn't talk to them. dave was in his own mind. getting ready for the next segment. wasn't interested in chitchat. he only gave a couple of interviews as he was preparing for his retirement from the late show. he said almost nothing abut what he is going to do next. he said he is going to spend more time with his family. looking for ward to going to the indianapolis 500 this coming weekend. hasn't given hints about whether he wants to be on television in some form. his long time, late night rival, jay leno is back on tv. host of the tonight show for many year. he stepped down. he still has the a car show on cnbc. i do wonder if letterman is going to fade into retirement, not be visible or choose to be public in some way. i can tell you his producers are hoping that he will do something, something in public in the future. but you know, knowing letterman. a very private guy. maybe he will choose to walk away and stay away. >> yeah, brian i was reading.

it is very interesting. he was looking at viral videos saying they're really partly what killed him off. he was saying, jimmy fallon, jimmy kimmel. they got the hang of it. he never got the hang of it. never really understood that whole new way. and so, he thought he should bow out. talk to us about that. because he is still relevant. >> that's interesting you say that. letterman is in some ways a vestige of an earlier era. think about the generational change that is happening here with jimmy kimmel, with jimmy fallon, conan o'brien and others. these guys know huh to create viral video sensations great to watch on the web the next day. that's not letterman's "late show." the late show is about spending an hour with somebody you like, spending an hour with somebody you know. not about necessarily crazy gags, that are going to go viral the next day. i think that is something that is special and something permanent about letterman's late show. certainly there are moments that he, he had on his show, many

moments that kid go viral. he had moments on the show in the 90s that would have gone viral if we had internet back then. we didn't hatch ve it back then. when it comes down to it. letterman was an old school broadcaster, someone you wanted to spend time with. stephen colbert his successor will learn from that. >> held to his core comedic values all the way to the end. brian steltzer joining us from new york tonight. thank you a lot. >> thank you, brian. >> now we are following breaking news on an alarming victory for isis. the militants now in full control of an ancient city full of century's old artifacts, a live update on the breaking story after this short break.

let's get more on our breaks news. isis in control of the ancient city of palmyar. arwa damon joins us live in baghdad. arwa, explain how did this happen and with isis in control of the ancient city of palmyar, there are concerns the militants may destroy century's old artifacts and these are valid concerns, aren't they?

>> they are very valid. especially if why look at isis' track record when it took over ancient sites here in iraq. making no qualms when it came to destroying them and eradicating these historical artifacts, of man kind, civilization. palmyar very significant historically speaking, a key city along the train route that linked roman empires to per shah, india, and china. now the syrian government had been saying the had been trying to battle isis fighters in one of the main areas around palmyar, announcing the day before it had begun moving, trying to secure some of the, the statues and the other artifacts that it was in fact able to move. now it seems isis has it taken over, palmyar, and it is effectively up to isis at this stage whether or not it decide to allow palmyar to stand as is or whether it will move forward

with its destruction. the syrian government is saying that it did manage as i was stating, just, a little bit earlier that it managed to secure some of these statues. but of course, palmyar is this massive sprawling spectacular city. and now it is at the mercy of isis. >> yeah. of course, artifacts like this are the signature of a civilization that would be devastating if these are destroyed. arwa damon reporting there live from baghdad. many thanks to you. >> you have been watching "cnn newsroom," that's it for us for the week. i'm errol barnett. >> i'm rosemary church. do stay other though. early start is next for our viewers in the united states. >> for everyone else another edition of "cnn newsroom." have a great day. >> have a great day. [ man ] look how beautiful it is. ♪ honey, we need to talk.

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. the war against isis intensifies. terrorist gaining new ground in syria and new isis victories across the middle east leaving the president's war on terror questioned. team coverage of the big story ahead. and rand paul speaking for nearly 11 hours. he controlled the senate floor for 11 hours. what he had to say. and the end of an era. david letterman hosting his last "late night" show. his hilarious and heartwarming good-bye ahead. wee