U.S. President Confirms Death of Osama bin Laden's Son; Tropical Storm Humberto Moves away from Bahamas
HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. You're looking at prodemocracy protesters in Hong Kong on the streets again. This live image at 4:17 pm there in Hong Kong. The 15th straight weekend we've seen these protests. It's an unauthorized march in the city's financial center. Local media report that some shops have closed and police are currently at the scene. Protesters also came together outside the British consulate, urging China to basically follow the rules of its agreement. The parents of Otto Warmbier were dinner guests of President Trump at the White House. Their son was a college student when he was imprisoned in North Korea. He was held captive for 17 months. The Trump administration secured his release in 2017. Otto Warmbier returned home in a vegetative state before dying days later. Fred and Cindy Warmbier have had a very uneasy relationship with President Trump. Earlier this year they were deeply upset when he absolved North Korean leader Kim Jong-un of any responsibility for their son's death. No word yet on what they discussed. The U.S. president has announced that one of Osama bin Laden's sons has been killed. He says Hamza bin Laden died in a counterterrorism operation, though he didn't say when it happened. Reports of his death came to light weeks ago. But this was the first time they'd been confirmed. CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman has this for you.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was seen as the likely heir to Al Qaeda, an emerging leader with a distinctive name. Hamza bin Laden, son of the late Al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, has been killed in an American counter-terrorism operation somewhere in the Afghanistan-Pakistan area, according to a statement put out by the White House. American officials declined to say exactly when he was killed. Earlier this year, the U.S. State Department issued a $1 million reward for any information on the junior bin Laden, stating that he had released video and audio messages online, calling on his followers to launch attacks against the United States and its Western allies in revenge for the May 2011 killing of his father by U.S. military forces. On the same day, the U.S. Bureau of Counterterrorism called for United Nations member states to freeze his assets and enforce a travel ban. As a response, his home country of Saudi Arabia said it had already revoked his citizenship. In 2015, Al Qaeda promoted Hamza as a top leader in its jihadi movement.</s>WEDEMAN (voice-over): He has been featured in Al Qaeda propaganda videos as a child but only posted audio messages in his later years. The most recent footage of him was released by the CIA in 2017, showing glimpses of his wedding to the daughter of a senior Al Qaeda leader, which had occurred years before. Those videos were retrieved from Osama bin Laden's computer when it was seized during the Navy SEAL raid that killed him in 2011. Hamza is but one of Osama bin Laden's sons to be labeled by U.S. intelligence as a significant threat and the third to die while trying to follow in his father's footsteps -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, Beirut.</s>HOWELL: Ben, thank you. Now to the Atlantic and Tropical Storm Humberto moving away from the Bahamas after it passed by the same islands hit so hard by Hurricane Dorian. It slowed down recovery efforts as the new system brought rain and wind to the area. You see it here. Now that the storm is leaving, relief teams will resume their work, delivering aid, help and supplies to the thousands of people who need them.</s>HOWELL: It's been two weeks now since Dorian hit the Bahamas. Right before the storm reached the islands, our Patrick Oppmann made it there and covered the chaos and devastation from the beginning. Take a look at his report.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurricane Dorian unleashing her category 5 fury on the Bahamas, look at that.</s>PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We knew what we were getting into when we got on the plane. It was a category 5 hurricane. Taking it very, very seriously. I knew that it was not going to be pleasant. I knew that it was going to be pretty rough and it was. We are being lashed here in Freeport in the island of Grand Bahama by Dorian's winds all night long. It sounds like a jet engine. Just screaming winds that pick up but never really go away. Finally, we were able to get out and see other parts of the island that, up until now, have been inaccessible. You can see there's still hurricane force winds and rain coming down on us, because, oh, look, a little baby here, they're -- boy, they're covering up and protecting. Come through, come through. Come through. Good job. My cameraman, Jose Armijo and I, we just saw this amazing scene of people being pulled off jetskis and pulled off boats that had been...</s>OPPMANN: People that had been riding out the storms in their rooms and we had to get in the water. It was the only way to get those shots. To see a guy get on a jetski with a life preserver that didn't fit him and go roaring out there in the middle of a hurricane to save people's lives is one of the bravest things I've every seen. At a certain point when the weather kicked up, we're leaving and we're really getting pelted and beat up and Jose, our camera man, came to me and said we've got to go back. There's a guy who just said his wife died.</s>HOWARD ARMSTRONG, DORIAN SURVIVOR: And my poor little wife got hypothermia. And she was standing on top of the kitchen cabinets until they disintegrated. Then I kept with her and she just drowned on me.</s>OPPMANN: I'm so sorry.</s>ARMSTRONG: I know.</s>OPPMANN: I know that interview touched so many people. It touched us. He literally had the clothes on his back and I will respect and appreciate the fact that he wanted to share that with us. Because it really was one of the things that I think woke people up to what was going on here. This is complete and utter devastation like I've never seen. Jose is going to point the camera over here. Look at this, that's a wheel. This is the underside of a plane. This is what's left of the wing. You think of the force required to throw a plane from the runway into a terminal. I realized after a couple days of saying this is the worst devastation that I've seen, that every day I was going to see something worse. When you think about the people who stayed behind, what must they have gone through?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, and I think about it because I had a nephew and three of his kids died in the storm and my heart is broken. I say I can't imagine the terror that they were faced with.</s>OPPMANN: We went out to a place called McLeans Town. We got there before the government. They got decimated. It's damage that looks like a tsunami went through there, 30-foot high storm surge. When we were leaving, a boat came. They were people from this other island also got destroyed and they were showing up with help. And I think that really defines who Bahamians are. People here will, on their own, maybe with some help from outside, rebuild this country and maybe rebuild it differently. A lot of these towns will cease to exist. But people here have an incredible spirit and, for the ones who survived, I think you can see the fire in their eyes and the fact that they're not going to let this stop them.</s>HOWELL: Patrick Oppmann there. Jose Armijo was the photographer. I've covered a hurricane with Jose. And Patrick one of our best. I can tell you, when you're out there covering these storms as a reporter, you put yourself second and you put the people you meet first. And you just want to tell the stories, give the details and show people what's happening so that they can understand and care. We still know hundreds of people are still missing from the storm. You can learn more about the storm, go to cnn.com/impact. You'll find several different ways to contribute. We continue to follow this very important story. Still ahead, the historic election in Israel is just days away. And the prime minister of that nation is taking a hard line against his country's Arab citizens. But will it do him more harm than good? Stand by.