August 24, Tuesday, 2021 (1:30 p.m.) Newsline

1. The opening ceremony of the Tokyo Paralympic Games takes place on Tuesday night. Tokyo will be the first city in the world to host a Summer Paralympics for the second time, following the 1964 event. 2. For the first time, Ukraine has held a conference to drum up support from the international community for the return of Crimea, which Russia annexed seven years ago. Representatives of more than 40 countries and international organizations took part in the conference, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hosted in the capital Kyiv on Monday. Top leaders were present from countries having close ties with Ukraine, such as Poland and the three Baltic states.
3. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has faced repeated questions about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, even as she visited another part of the world. Harris headed to Singapore at the start of a short tour of Southeast Asia.