November 18, 2021

*) UN envoy warns Afghan Taliban unable to thwart Daesh on its own A UN envoy has warned that the Taliban has proven unable to prevent the growth of the Daesh Afghanistan affiliate. Deborah Lyons told the UN Security Council that the terrorist group has grown from being in only "a few provinces and Kabul" to now being present "in nearly all" of the country”. She said the group has dramatically increased attacks. These include 13 attacks in the second half of August, 38 in September and 48 the following month. *) Sudan forces shoot dead anti-coup protesters Sudan's security forces have shot dead at least 15 anti-coup protesters and wounded dozens more in the bloodiest day since the military's October 25 takeover. The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said most of Wednesday's casualties had suffered gunshot wounds to the head, neck or torso. At least 38 people have died in unrest in Sudan since the military seized power. *) Merkel, Lukashenko agree on talks with EU on border crisis Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have agreed that Minsk and Brussels should discuss the crisis on the EU border. The EU holds Belarus responsible for flying in and then transporting refugees to Poland's frontier, an accusation Lukashenko denies. Thousands of refugees and migrants have been stuck at the border since November 8, and want to reach Germany or other western European countries. *) Canada's British Columbia declares state of emergency Canada's province of British Columbia has declared a state of emergency after devastating floodwaters and mudslides. Officials said downpours in British Columbia this week trapped motorists in mudslides that left at least one person dead and four missing. Thousands of people have been evacuated as unprecedented rainfall over two days caused rivers to overflow banks and flood entire communities. *) Missing Chinese tennis star issues a statement but concerns deepen for her safety Chinese media has issued what they said was a #metoo retra