USA

(AP) --- Hurricane Henri kept on course early Sunday to crash into a long stretch of northeastern coastline, as millions on New York’s Long Island and in southern New England braced for flooding, toppled trees and extended power outages.

With the center of the storm projected to pass just off the eastern tip of Long Island by midday, hurricane warnings extended from coastal Connecticut and Rhode Island to near the old whaling port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and across the luxurious oceanfront estates of New York’s Hamptons to the summer getaway of Fire Island.

21 Aug 2021; MEMO: The US Department of State is expected to announce that evacuation flights from Kabul will be enabled to land in Europe due to an increase in the flow of evacuees into Qatar, US officials reported on Friday.

The US aims to intensify efforts to evacuate thousands of Americans and Afghans at risk under Taliban rule.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- About 1 billion children -- nearly half the world's 2.2 billion children -- live in 33 countries classified as "extremely high-risk" of the impacts of climate change, according to a report of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) launched Friday.

These children face a deadly combination of exposure to multiple climate and environmental shocks with a high vulnerability due to inadequate essential services, such as water and sanitation, health care, and education, says the report.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday once again defended his administration's handling of withdrawal from Afghanistan, denying America's allies questioning the country's credibility over the ongoing chaotic evacuation.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- President Joe Biden intends to nominate Nicholas Burns, a Harvard professor and veteran diplomat, to serve as U.S. ambassador to China, the White House said on Friday.

Burns, 65, currently is an international relations professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is temporarily halting a judge’s order that would have forced the government to reinstate a Trump administration policy forcing thousands to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the U.S.

Justice Samuel Alito issued the temporary stay late Friday night. It will remain in effect until Tuesday night so the high court can consider filings in the case.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For senior military and Pentagon leaders, this week’s news was profoundly personal.

The photos and videos pouring out of Afghanistan hit a nerve, and triggered searingly vivid flashbacks to battles fought, troops lost and tears shed during their own deployments there. And in a response shaped by their memories and experiences in the war, they urged troops to check in on their buddies, talk to each other and seek help and solace if they need it.

PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — New Englanders bracing for their first hurricane in 30 years began hauling boats out of the water and taking other precautions Friday as Tropical Storm Henri barreled toward the Northeast coast.

Henri was expected to intensify into a hurricane by Saturday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Impacts could be felt in New England states by Sunday, including on Cape Cod, which is teeming with tens of thousands of summer tourists.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has pledged firmly to bring all Americans home from Afghanistan — and all Afghans who aided the war effort, too — as officials confirmed that U.S. military helicopters flew beyond the Kabul airport to scoop up 169 Americans seeking to evacuate.

Biden’s promises came Friday as thousands more Americans and others seeking to escape the Taliban struggled to get past crushing crowds, Taliban airport checkpoints and sometimes-insurmountable U.S. bureaucracy.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 20 (APP): The U.N. refugee agency says millions of Afghans caught in deteriorating situation in Afghanistan are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance and protection and must not be forgotten by the international community.

“UNHCR remains concerned about the risk of human rights violations against civilians in this evolving context, including for women and girls”, Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the Geneva-based UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, said.