Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:

       Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is promising to deliver a wide-ranging package of measures to address housing affordability, including a policy that echoes the Conservatives’ recent campaign pledge to ban foreign purchases of residential homes.

       The proposals to ban foreigners from buying residential properties in Canada would represent an escalation of efforts to address concerns that international speculation is partly contributing to the rise in home prices.

       The general issue of housing affordability – both the recent spike in home prices and the dearth of affordable rental units in Canadian cities – is widely viewed as top of mind for Canadians, and all the parties are targeting their platforms accordingly.

       Rob Carrick: Only a big price drop will restore housing affordability. No federal party will acknowledge this

       More:

       John Ibbitson: The political landscape has changed as O’Toole’s big risk appears to be paying off

       Gary Mason: Jagmeet Singh is on a roll. This is bad news for Justin Trudeau

       Canadian federal election 2021: Latest updates and essential reading ahead of Sept. 20 vote

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       Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau makes a campaign stop in Hamilton, Ont., on Tuesday, Aug 24, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

       Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

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       G7 leaders can’t sway Biden to delay Afghanistan withdrawal

       Sharply divided leaders of the Group of Seven countries clashed today over U.S. President Joe Biden’s insistence on withdrawing from Afghanistan by Aug. 31 and not extending the U.S. operation at the Kabul airport to ensure that tens of thousands of Americans, Europeans, other third-country nationals and all at-risk Afghans can be evacuated in the face of the Taliban takeover of the country.

       The virtual meeting of the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States served not only as a bookend to the West’s 20-year involvement in Afghanistan that began as a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks but also a resigned acknowledgment from European powers that the U.S. calls the shots.

       More:

       Canada prepared to stay in Kabul after Aug. 31

       Taliban block access to Kabul airport for Afghans

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       Globe in Turkey: Afghans fleeing find new dangers, some hope of rescue

       Opinion: Foreign policy failures produced the chaos we’re seeing in Afghanistan

       Ontario to pilot at-home COVID-19 testing for students and staff at certain high schools

       Vaccinated and asymptomatic students and staff in certain Ontario high schools who are exposed to COVID-19 through an outbreak or cohort will be given an at-home test as part of a pilot project set to begin next month.

       A memo from the deputy minister of education sent to local directors of education says that participation in the program is voluntary, and students will not be required to disclose their vaccination status in order to receive a testing kit.

       More:

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       Quebec mandates mask wearing in schools across nine regions, including Montreal

       Toronto police makes COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for all members

       Israel’s COVID-19 vaccine boosters show signs of taming Delta

       ALSO ON OUR RADAR

       Catholic Church charity for residential school survivors spent $6.46-million on expenses: A Catholic Church organization formed to compensate residential school survivors spent more than a quarter of its funds on expenses, and returned nearly $600,000 to church organizations after a 2015 court settlement, financial records obtained by The Globe and Mail reveal.

       Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts dies: Charlie Watts, widely regarded as one of the coolest men in rock during his nearly 60 years as a drummer with the Rolling Stones, died peacefully at the age of 80, his spokesperson said today.

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       Opening ceremony kicks off Paralympic Games: The Paralympics began today in the same empty National Stadium as the opening and closing ceremonies of the recently completed Tokyo Olympics, and as organizers are under pressure from soaring new COVID-19 infections in the capital.

       MARKET WATCH

       Recovering oil prices helped lift Canada’s main stock market just shy of an all-time high.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 0.34 per cent to 20,547.76.

       On Wall Street, all three major U.S. stock indexes advanced higher, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hitting all-time closing highs. Risk appetite was kept alive ahead of the much-anticipated Jackson Hole Symposium. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.09 per cent to 35,366.26, the S&P 500 gained 0.15 per cent to 4,486.23 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.52 per cent to 15,019.80.

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       TALKING POINTS

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       We’re getting our kids ready for school. But are our schools ready for our kids?

       “... the big question as schools reopen remains: Will we understand that each of us – including our children – experienced the pandemic differently, and respond accordingly?” - Sloane J. Freeman and Ripudaman Singh Minhas

       LIVING BETTER

       Globe Craft Club: Learn how to knit a scarf with Tarra McCannell before the cold arrives

       Knitting combines two things I really love about crafting and making. One is how the effect of a creative act can be far more profound than it appears on the surface. And the second thing is how the skills and knowledge of crafting can connect us deeply to other people, and even to our own ancestors and history.

       On Tuesday, Aug. 31 at 7 p.m. ET, Tarra McCannell will teach us how to knit a basic striped scarf. If you are already a knitter, be sure to join us anyhow, as we talk knitting, say goodbye to The Globe and Mail Craft Club and get projects going for the weeks and months to come.

       TODAY’S LONG READ

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       Canadian Afghan entrepreneur Sara Wahedi’s app is keeping Afghans up-to-date on security amid intensifying conflict.

       Matt Reichel/The Globe and Mail

       Afghan-Canadian entrepreneur’s new mobile app helps keep civilians updated on nearby security issues

       When Sara Wahedi thinks back to May 9, 2018, it began as a calm, sunny day. But as the Afghan-Canadian social entrepreneur, now 26, was walking home from the president’s office in Kabul, where she worked, people started running past her in panic. Some were screaming that there was a suicide bomber. Wahedi only had a moment to react and started running as well. Seconds later, she heard an explosion behind her.

       The terrifying experience rattled Ms. Wahedi, but it also motivated her to start thinking about ways to keep Afghan civilians perpetually updated on security issues such as explosions, fires and gunshots – threats that could affect their safe access to a particular neighbourhood. From there, she started developing her Kabul-based civic technology startup, Ehtesab.

       Evening Update is written by Omair Quadri. If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.