this is bbc news. i'm lucy grey. our top stories: britain has ended 20 years of military involvement in afghanistan, with the departure of the last evacuation flight carrying diplomats and officials. the united states has told people to leave the area around kabul airport immediately, due to a specific threat of another attack. forecasters warn a storm approaching louisiana could be more powerful than hurricane katrina which devastated new orleans 16 years ago. and a couple in bolivia make sure they feel "on top of the world" as they tie the knot.

the last british plane carrying troops and diplomats has now left kabul airport. it brings to an end nearly 20 years of operations in afghanistan. in the past two weeks more than 15— thousand people were evacuated from the country. an estimated 11—hundred eligible afghans and 150 uk nationals were unable to leave. here's our diplomatic correspondent, caroline hawley. heading home. 1,000 british troops were sent into kabul to get people out. us troops provided security for an unprecedented international rescue mission. the last british plane carrying civilians flew out of kabul this morning. this evening, news that the last soldiers and british diplomats have now left.

in all, there were over 100 raf flights. the end of a 20—year campaign that was not supposed to finish like this. we've done an extraordinaryjob to evacuate as many as we have, but i'm afraid it's absolutely that heartbreaking that we can't bring everybody out, and that point has been made very strongly, certainly by the defence secretary and others over the last ten days or so. personally, i've probably had over 100 messages from different afghans who i know in my long association with the country, and many of those, friends of mine, won't make it out. and for me, not a day passes without me having a bit of a tear in my eye about all of that. day after day, british personnel have been processing afghans desperate to escape. altogether, more than 15,000 people have been brought out by the raf, british nationals and afghans who'd worked with the uk, along with theirfamilies. but hundreds have not been able to reach the airport, afghans whose lives are now at grave risk.

it's time to close this phase of the operation now, but we haven't forgotten the people who still need to leave. we'll continue to do everything we can to help them. nor have we forgotten the brave, decent people of afghanistan. they deserve to live in peace and security. the government has suggested that afghans who are eligible to come to the uk make their way to third countries to be processed, but it could be impossibly dangerous trying to get through taliban checkpoints. and other than calling for safe passage, there's nothing the uk can do to help from afar. at raf brize norton this morning, british soldiers arriving back on uk soil. over the past 20 years, more than 100,000 british troops served in afghanistan. a57 british lives were lost. the mission began by ousting the taliban from power. it ends with a rush, to a timetable dictated by the militants. britain's military personnel have done theirjob, but this is a bitter homecoming. caroline hawley, bbc news. the us embassy in kabul has issued a fresh warning to all us citizens to leave the airport area immediately. its latest security alert mentions a �*specific

and credible threat�*. gunfire 0utside kabul airport, warning shots ring out. since thursday's awful suicide bombing by the local branch of the islamic state group, the crowds here have grown smaller, but some still remain. tens of thousands have been evacuated, these afghans escorted by the taliban. others, however, are being left behind. like this pizza shop ownerfrom essex. he travelled to kabul to help try and take his

afghan national wife and young children home. they said, stay away from the airport and stay in a safe place. and from today, i kept calling and sending e—mails and nobody answered. the is attack on the airport has left many fearing there could be further bloodshed. the united states announced it killed two key is operatives in a drone strike in the east of the country. back in kabul, the streets are quieter than usual. many are struggling to cope financially, with banks closed for nearly two weeks now. this is one of a handful of cash machines still working. we're not begging bank staff to give us money,

this is our own money. we have family, we have children. if we don't have money, how should we prepare for my family? translation: when | see - what has become of the country, i feel it's impossible to live here. everything's becoming more expensive. i feel like i'm suffocating. the taliban swept into kabul unexpectedly easily. but governing the city and the rest of the country is likely to be a far bigger challenge. the group says it will take time for life to stabilise. one of the few businesses not complaining — this taliban member selling flags. others are still anxiously waiting to see what life under their rule will look like. secunder kermani, bbc news, kabul. residents of the us state of louisiana are bracing for the arrival of hurricane ida. the state's governor warned it could be one of the strongest storms to hit the area in 150 years. he also said time was quickly running out for residents to evacuate. celestina 0lu—loday reports. above the clouds in louisiana this is what hurricane ida feels like.

as this tropical storm continues to travel over warm waters in the gulf of mexico, wind speeds have intensified. forecasters predict that, by the time it reaches land, this will be a category four hurricane. that is the second most severe on landfall, so strong strong at the outset that it is going to be extremely powerful. president biden says plans are in place. we have pre—positioned food, water and generators and other supplies in the area. mobile communication support teams are also en route.

mandatory evacuation plans are in place for some parts of new orleans. i hear there's only about a dozen people will try to ride it out. by the rest of the city has been issued with a voluntary evacuation order. hurricane ida is expected to hit the coast of louisiana on sunday, 16 years after hurricane katrina devastated the area. leaving more than 1800 people dead. with stronger defences now in place, there is hope levees in new orleans will be able to withstand the impact of the hurricane. the experts warn that if storm surges hit as a time that coincides with high tide sea water could flood the new 0rlea ns levee system and enter the city once again. well, earlier we spoke to craig colten from louisiana state university whojoined us from baton rouge

— which is squarely in the path of the storm. i asked him how damaging he expected hurricane ida to be. this could be a much bigger storm in terms of the breadth of the state that it impacts it will have hit a much wider swath of the coast than, say, katrina because much of its energy was expended on mississippi but we'll see much of the power of the storm and very low lying coastal areas, areas that are no more than one or two metres above sea level and you will have this massive wall of water pushing on across these weapons were not many people live but it is an area where many people rely on natural resources for their livelihoods. in terms of the impact we were hearing obviously 16 years tomorrow, isn't it? since katrina. and since then, many millions of dollars were spent on trying to reassure and build up the

levies and maintain them better. what is your belief in terms of how much has been done? has enough been done to shore up those levies? many, many improvements have been made better a lot of the concerns reside and how they are going to deal with people in evacuation. yes there have been mandatory evacuations for people who live outside the levies but there are some levies on what we call the west bank of the mississippi river and we are expecting some overtopping of those levies because they are just barely above the expected storm surge so we could have flooding in the west bank of new orleans and many of those people are not evacuating. yes, many people are evacuating and there's been a massive surge of people coming out. the motorways have been absolutely jammed with people leaving the city but many of the contingency plans for mandatory evacuation have not been put into place.

nursing homes are not being evacuated and people who don't have cars are not being provided with the city —assisted evacuation programme. what about in terms of after the storm has passed? what are other facilities like? because covid had an influence on the hospitals in the area in terms of people who will need help? will there be enough capacity for people who need help? that is a huge concern and already our hospitals are bursting at the seams with people who are dealing with covid. and if we relocate people out of those hospitals and many of those areas and click coastal parishes other than where new orleans is, they have been relocated so that will create an even bigger burden on hospitals outside then you get the situation where many will flee the city and stay in shelters stay with friends or

relatives, hotels. they are possibly going to spread covid as well so this is not a good situation for controlling covid at all. we are hearing stark figures in that piece of more than 1800 people who died in hurricane katrina. i mean, i know it is hard to put a figure on these things, but when you talk about it being potentially worse than katrina demon in terms of its impact on potential lives lost? you're talking about larger areas that are not quite so populated being hit. we cannot compare. it is impossible to compare katrina. i would be surprised if there are 800 fatalities because much of the strong's impact would be relatively low populated areas. when i say it is a bigger storm has a wider width. it is a bigger storm circumference. not necessarily higher wind speeds. when spins were not

that dramatic in new 0rleans with katrina. this is likely to have higher wind speeds and what i'm fearing to is notjust the wind but the rainfall in the in then parishes. we have a slow—moving storm dumping a fit of rain in areas where we have had rain for the last week so we'll have and then flooding in addition to wind damage, power outages, potential covid spread. you are watching bbc news. the headlines: downing street says the uk's evacuation from afghanistan has ended , bringing to a close 20 years of british military operations in the country. the us operation is due to end by tuesday — but president biden warns another terror attack at kabul airport is "highly likely". let's get more now on our top story , the united states have warned of a specific threat near kabul airport and urged its citizens to leave the area.

it comes days after a deadly attack on crowds fleeing taliban rule in afghanistan. i've been speaking to retired brigadier general mark kimmitt — he told me that the taliban should be held responsible for thursday's attack. the fault lies squarely at the feet of the taliban who have taken on responsibility for the outer cordon of the perimeter. it is them allowing the suicide bombers to get through and it is them who need to take the blame, which is why i think got to be very, very careful in considering the taliban a responsible ally that we can work with the inside of afghanistan. how will the us authorities be talking to the taliban at the moment about the situation at the airport? well, i suspect we have been trying to exchange intelligence that they have.

let's be clear. and is expected that that the taliban are trying to demonstrate themselves as a more moderate organisation that can work with the international community, let's not fool ourselves. they probably had some collusion in letting the isis k bomber through. if not collusion they certainly had responsibility for not doing theirjob. so we need to be very, very careful about who were talking to among this group. going forward, though, the taliban are claiming they will be aiming to contain isis k as some call it. you smile at that. you have no faith at all that they mean that? i have heard a bunch of ifs on how we're going to deal with them. they are more moderate. if they are more secular in their approach to women and education. answer is, well, if frogs had wings they could fly. we have got the situation where president biden is saying that he intends to hunt down and find these people responsible

for this attack but we've also got a situation where american troops are leaving which means that intelligence is going to be far harder, isn't it? going forward, how do you see things developing in afghanistan? in terms of the counterterrorism operation it. looking at a joint operation by developing intelligence and it will look more like our operations in south yemen. we will have to content on signal intelligence, overhead platforms, but we really never going to have the same kind of intelligence as you would have this weird bits on the ground. what about trying to get out the people who have not been able to make its to a flight. look at the usb doing in terms of trying to get people over land borders

or, do you expect to see anything in covid operations? it is a national shame that we are pulling out on the 31st and buckling under the demand of the taliban. at the tao man truly wanted to be responsible they would give time as we needed to get the people out who have served alongside of us. but now, basically going to have these people flee to the borders. most of the border points are controlled by the taliban and i can only imagine what will happen at those border points and those people are trying to flee across the borders. let's get some of the day's other news. italian coastguard vessels have rescued 539 migrants from a fishing boat drifting off the island of lampedusa. the rescue on saturday delivered one of the largest numbers of migrants to the italian island in a single day. women and children were among those on board. tens of thousands of people have marched in several us cities demanding the protection of voting rights. the demonstrators are seeking

changes to newly introduced state laws which they say will make it harder for minorities to vote. the palestinian authorities say a twelve—year—old boy shot by israeli soldiers last week on the gaza border has died of his injuries. hundreds of people attended the funeral of oman hassan abu al—nile. he was hit by live fire during clashes between protesters and the israeli army last saturday. there have been clashes between police and protesters at demonstrations against anti— coronavirus measures in europe. police in berlin said they'd detained or cautioned 80 demonstrators. a spokeswoman said bottles were thrown and four officers were injured. in france, police officers fired teargas in paris, nantes and toulouse. australia has largely shut its borders and imposed covid lockdowns in the three largest cities, melbourne, sydney and brisbane. but the spread of the virus continues, and vaccination take up remains low.

victoria — which is home to more than a quarter of the country's population —has reported the highest number of new daily cases in nearly a year. tony scott — professor of health economics at the university of melbourne, has been telling me why so many australians are reluctant to be vaccinated. vaccine hesitancy in australia is about 20% say about half of those are onshore and about half definitely don't want to be vaccinated. that is kind of falling. it peaked in april at about 30 or 40% when we found out about the astrazeneca blood clots and that has remained. we have got a lot of astrazeneca but not a lot of pfizer here australia so supplies are an issue but hesitancy remains. in new south wales where we have 1000 cases a day now there is some evidence in the last couple of weeks vaccine hesitancy and started increase again suggesting that messages are not really getting through.

and it still remains an issue particularly among young people. to personally see a lot of messaging from the authorities as you are going around your daily life and online and on telly and that sort of thing? yes, there is a bit but nothing particularly hard—hitting or anything like that. the issues trying to get into those communities. australia is a very multicultural place. we have diverse communities and it is trying to get to those places which is most important. is there a difference in age groups in terms of the hesitancy? yes. but mostly over 65 is a kind of vine. it is really the 18—44 is a bit 34% now not falling amongst that group very quickly. you know, that is a concern. obviously there are some issues in new south wales with some freedoms. if you are doubly vaccinated, slightly less restrictions and that is going to help but interesting to see how that influences peoples vaccination rates. what about the fear of getting the virus itself. initially australia did so well

to keep numbers down and i think people felt a bit immune to it or it wasn't coming to them. have you seen a change in peoples attitudes towards the vaccine as the number of cases has risen? look, it has. hesitancy has fallen but now it of, new south wales has that in that so we're kind of get into the bottom of the curve i think. and that's still an issue. it is hard to kind of get in there into those communities. a couple in bolivia have gone to extraordinary lengths — or in fact heights — to make sure their wedding was an unforgettable, high—altitude, experience. sylvia lennan—spence has the story. this mountain is famous for its eternal snows. the highest mountain in western bolivia and now a wedding venue. 0ne bolivian couple

got engaged at the top of a 6000 metre peak near the capital, and it was clear they would have to go one better for the actual wedding and the snowcapped peak of the mountain standing on the side of six and a half thousand metres above sea level did not disappoint. after hiking for three days carrying the gown and decorations, the bride and groom and their guests were greeted a temperature of —10 celsius as they reached the summit. with the sun shining on then the pair tied the knot. they are sports people and nature lovers as well as mountain lovers. it is for that reason they decided to take their marriage vows on the summit of this mountain. we are very close to heaven and close to god and he blesses you from the top of the mountain.

after a quick change back into their climbing clothes, the newlywed celebrated, no doubt feeling like they were on top of the world. skateboarding made its debut at the tokyo olympics and was one of the star attractions. so has its inclusion in the games helped to make women on boards a more familiar sight and inspired a new generation to give it a go? 0ur reporter megan lawton has been to an east london park to find out. until last week, mike had not been on a skateboard before but she is now one of 60 women who come from regular lessons in victoria park. iii come from regular lessons in victoria park.— victoria park. if you like your 100% in victoria park. if you like your 10096 in control. _ victoria park. if you like your 10096 in control. you - victoria park. if you like your 10096 in control. you are - victoria park. if you like your| 10096 in control. you are able 100% in control. you are able to move and because it is so male dominated a woman on a skateboard, you just feel like, you feel strong. the skateboard, you 'ust feel like, you feel strong.—

you feel strong. the group is run by lindsay _ you feel strong. the group is run by lindsay who _ you feel strong. the group is run by lindsay who learn - you feel strong. the group is run by lindsay who learn to i run by lindsay who learn to skateboard ten years ago while studying in miami. i skateboard ten years ago while studying in miami.— skateboard ten years ago while studying in miami. i want other women to _ studying in miami. i want other women to be — studying in miami. i want other women to be able _ studying in miami. i want other women to be able to _ studying in miami. i want other women to be able to feel- studying in miami. i want other women to be able to feel the l women to be able to feel the confidence and the joy that i feel when i'm skating. i got a point — feel when i'm skating. i got a point where i am like i need to share — point where i am like i need to share this _ point where i am like i need to share this with people. so many women — share this with people. so many women are _ share this with people. so many women are said to me i wish i could — women are said to me i wish i could do— women are said to me i wish i could do that. and i am like, you — could do that. and i am like, you can, _ could do that. and i am like, you can, you can do that too. it was — you can, you can do that too. it was already booming before it was included in this year's 0lympics but it has accelerated it further and inspired more women. ., �* ., , it further and inspired more women. ., , , ., women. you're really focused on learnin: women. you're really focused on learning something _ women. you're really focused on learning something new- women. you're really focused on learning something new learning to cruise. — learning something new learning to cruise, when you file you just— to cruise, when you file you just pick— to cruise, when you file you just pick yourself up and crack on with— just pick yourself up and crack on with it _ just pick yourself up and crack on with it and i think that something that is transferable to live — something that is transferable to live. �* , ., to live. and there is also need to live. and there is also need to skating _ to live. and there is also need to skating and _ to live. and there is also need to skating and said _ to live. and there is also need to skating and said it - to live. and there is also need to skating and said it is - to live. and there is also need to skating and said it is way i to skating and said it is way more thanjust a to skating and said it is way more than just a hobby. it to skating and said it is way more than just a hobby. more than 'ust a hobby. it has heled more than just a hobby. it has helped me — more than just a hobby. it has helped me so _ more than just a hobby. it has helped me so much _ more than just a hobby. it has helped me so much with - more than just a hobby. it has helped me so much with my l helped me so much with my mentai— helped me so much with my mental health— helped me so much with my mental health problems - helped me so much with myj mental health problems and stuff— mental health problems and stuff like _ mental health problems and stuff like that. _ mental health problems and stuff like that. it— mental health problems and stuff like that. it is - mental health problems and stuff like that. it is really. stuff like that. it is really good _ stuff like that. it is really good to _ stuff like that. it is really good to focus _ stuff like that. it is really good to focus on - stuff like that. it is really. good to focus on something stuff like that. it is really- good to focus on something and really—

good to focus on something and really concentrate _ good to focus on something and really concentrate on _ good to focus on something and really concentrate on it - good to focus on something and really concentrate on it so - really concentrate on it so every _ really concentrate on it so every time _ really concentrate on it so every time i— really concentrate on it so every time i feel- really concentrate on it so every time i feel a - really concentrate on it so every time i feel a little i really concentrate on it sol every time i feel a little bit down — every time i feel a little bit down it— every time i feel a little bit down it is— every time i feel a little bit down it is really— every time i feel a little bit down it is really good - every time i feel a little bit down it is really good to i every time i feel a little biti down it is really good to get out, _ down it is really good to get out, meet _ down it is really good to get out, meet those _ down it is really good to get out, meet those people - down it is really good to get out, meet those people and everyone _ out, meet those people and everyone at _ out, meet those people and everyone at skate _ out, meet those people and everyone at skate parks - out, meet those people and everyone at skate parks are | everyone at skate parks are released _ everyone at skate parks are released to _ everyone at skate parks are released to prevent - everyone at skate parks are released to prevent the - everyone at skate parks are released to prevent the sol everyone at skate parks are i released to prevent the so i've met_ released to prevent the so i've met some _ released to prevent the so i've met some really _ released to prevent the so i've met some really good - released to prevent the so i've met some really good friendsl released to prevent the so i've. met some really good friends to skateboarding. _ met some really good friends to skateboarding. if— met some really good friends to skateboarding. if you _ met some really good friends to skateboarding. if you are - met some really good friends to skateboarding. if you are sat - skateboarding. if you are sat at home _ skateboarding. if you are sat at home thinking _ skateboarding. if you are sat i at home thinking skateboarding isn't for— at home thinking skateboarding isn't for me. _ at home thinking skateboarding isn't for me. i— at home thinking skateboarding isn't for me, i don't— at home thinking skateboarding isn't for me, i don't have - at home thinking skateboarding isn't for me, i don't have the i isn't for me, i don't have the right— isn't for me, i don't have the right skill— isn't for me, i don't have the right skill set, _ isn't for me, i don't have the right skill set, lindsay- isn't for me, i don't have the right skill set, lindsay wouldj right skill set, lindsay would say you _ right skill set, lindsay would say you are _ right skill set, lindsay would say you are wrong _ right skill set, lindsay would say you are wrong and - right skill set, lindsay would say you are wrong and there| right skill set, lindsay would i say you are wrong and there is a skateboarder— say you are wrong and there is a skateboarder in _ say you are wrong and there is a skateboarder in all— say you are wrong and there is a skateboarder in all us. - say you are wrong and there is a skateboarder in all us. to i a skateboarder in all us. to find — a skateboarder in all us. to find out, _ a skateboarder in all us. to find out, you _ a skateboarder in all us. to find out, you just _ a skateboarder in all us. to find out, you just have - a skateboarder in all us. to find out, you just have to l a skateboarder in all us. to i find out, you just have to get on the — find out, you just have to get on the board. _ find out, you just have to get on the board. [it— find out, you 'ust have to get on the board.— find out, you 'ust have to get on the board. it is safe to say i won't on the board. it is safe to say i won't be _ on the board. it is safe to say i won't be representing - on the board. it is safe to say i won't be representing team j on the board. it is safe to say i i won't be representing team gb in the paris 0lympics. but that's not with the skate group are about. for that it is about the of being run aboard and eventually make through doing it. eventually make through doing it. some news from the paralympics now british wheelchair star hannah cockroft has picked up the sixth gold medal of her illustrious paralympic career, by powering to t34 — 100 victory in a world—record time of 16.39 seconds. twenty—nine—year—old cockroft beat her own global best by 0.18 seconds at the national stadium in tokyo.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ lucy e grey. hello. the weather hasn't been changing in a hurry over recent days because we've got a big area of slow—moving high pressure in control at the moment. this was the scene as the sun set on saturday evening in norfolk. some clear skies around, bit of patchy cloud here and there, and as we head through the next 2a hours or so, it is remaining largely dry for much of the uk. more sunny spells on sunday, but we will have a little bit more cloud drifting in, and that's because although we've got the high pressure in charge, the winds are rotating around that high pressure. they'll start to come in from more of a northerly direction, dragging a bit more cloud across parts of scotland, north east england, into northern ireland at times, too. still a bit of brightness breaking through here,

particularly anywhere west of higher ground. further south across england and wales, you're more likely to see longer spells of sunshine on sunday. still quite a breeze across east anglia and the southeast, just taking the edge off the temperatures here. generally around 15—18 around that east coast, but further west, we're likely to see highs of about 22 degrees or so towards the cardiff region, for instance. into the evening hours, most of us end the day on a dry note. just one or two showers not far away from the southeast. there could be a bit more cloud pushing in here as well. most places dry once again as we head through into monday. not quite as cold as recent nights because of more cloud acting as a blanket, so just about staying in double figures as we head through into monday, which is a bank holiday across much of the uk. so, high pressure still with us as we head into monday. spot the difference here — we've got the winds coming in again from the north sea, so dragging in more cloud on monday, particularly for eastern areas. the cloud thick enough for the odd spot of drizzle and a bit of low cloud bringing some fog around the coast as well. best of any sunshine on monday probably for the southwest of england, towards wales as well, but almost everywhere

saying largely dry. you will notice that wind, particularly around east coasts of scotland, eastern england as well, but lighter winds further west and temperatures probably a degree or so down on sunday. we're looking at highs of about 15—21 degrees on monday. now, the rest of the week, not much change once again. into tuesday, very similar to what we'll see on monday — some sunshine in the west again, especially for parts of northern ireland, perhaps into wales as well. cloudier and cooler with that breeze coming in off the north sea towards the east. so, 16 or 17 in the east, 18 or 19 towards the west on tuesday, and then spot the difference, really, for the week ahead. high pressure keeping things largely dry, sometimes a little cool for the time of year. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the ministry of defence says the last british plane carrying armed forces personnel and diplomats has taken off from kabul airport, ending britain's 20—year military involvement in afghanistan. a57 british service personnel lost their lives during the conflict. president biden has warned that another attack on kabul airport is highly likely this weekend. as many as 170 people, including 13 us service personnel, were killed in the islamic state attack on thursday. two is members died in a retaliatory drone strike by the us. forecasters warn a storm approaching louisiana could be more powerful than hurricane katrina, which devastated new orleans 16 years ago. winds of around 130mph are expected when it reaches land later on sunday.

now on bbc news, the media show.