A Chinese fishing vessel off the coast of Somalia has come under the control of alleged pirates, a European Union anti-piracy force operating in the area said Thursday.

The ship, with up to 18 crew members, had been taken over by the suspected pirates, some of whom were armed with AK-47s and machine guns, the European Union Naval Force Operation Atalanta said in a statement.

It classified the incident as a robbery at sea and said none of the crew had been injured.

The force had responded to an alert from police in Somalia’s semi-autonomous northeastern Puntland region that a Chinese ship off the coast had allegedly been hijacked, its statement said.

China has yet to comment on the situation, which occurred in a key region for its overseas naval activities guarding the country’s expanded footprint and economic interests in Africa and the Middle East.

The People’s Liberation Army Navy has since 2008 conducted anti-piracy operations around the Gulf of Aden along Somalia’s northern coast as one of a number of major powers seeking to secure shipping routes in the face of rampant piracy.

And since 2017 China has operated its only overseas military base in Djibouti, also on the Horn of Africa.

The latest incident comes amid a recent uptick in piracy in the area, which is close to key international shipping lanes through the Suez Canal and Red Sea.

The slow resurgence follows attacks by Houthi rebels on commercial shipping in the Red Sea in retaliation for Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza. The attacks, which began late last year and decreased in the spring, upended global trade – and diluted the attention of international naval forces in the region, observers say.

The EU’s Operation Atalanta recorded 19 attacks by suspected pirates so far this year – the highest number since 2012, according to data from the force, which operates in waters around the Horn of Africa and the Western Indian Ocean.

That’s still a far cry from the peak of 2011 when there were 212 attacks, the data shows.

The earlier decline is widely attributed to coordinated and UN-backed international efforts, including from NATO, the EU and UN Security Council permanent members, which gained steam from 2008.

The Chinese navy’s now-longstanding anti-piracy task force began conducting escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia in December 2008 after a spate of attacks on Chinese vessels.

At the time, the start of that taskforce marked a step forward in China’s efforts to use its growing international clout and economic strength to address shared international issues.

China’s navy has since run more than 40 escort missions of international and Chinese vessels in the region, but did not join a US-led multinational coalition to protect ships transiting the Red Sea against the Houthi attacks.

A week of fierce demonstrations in Georgia has seen special forces violently handling protesters who are challenging the government’s controversial decision to delay its bid to join the European Union.

The former Soviet republic has known protests before, but many say these are larger and more vicious. Many Georgians feel they are on the cusp of returning to the one-party rule from which they escaped a generation ago and say they will protest for as long as it takes, despite the ruthless response.

Tensions were simmering in the country since a disputed election in October. The ruling Georgian Dream party – already 12 years in office – claimed victory, but observers say the vote was neither free nor fair. The European Parliament has called for a re-run.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced on November 28 his government would suspend accession talks with the EU, which some 80% of Georgians support joining. His Georgian Dream party had even made joining the bloc a constitutional commitment.

Within hours, thousands descended on the parliament in the capital, Tbilisi, to demand the government honor its promises.

He watched as Salome Zourabichvili – the country’s pro-Western president, in a standoff with her own government – confronted a wall of police, knocking on their riot shields and asking: “Who do you serve, Georgia or Russia?”

Later, the police were bolstered by dozens of masked men. Although they have been present at protests before, their numbers were far greater this week, demonstrators said. Unlike ordinary police officers, these men do not wear uniforms showing their department and rank. “They don’t have any identifiable signs,” Keshelashvili said.

Some of them confronted Keshelashvili as he stood by the parliament with other journalists. Suddenly, he said, they pulled him away from the group and began to beat him.

“I was shouting, ‘I’m a journalist,’” Keshelashvili said, adding that he tried to explain he was just doing his job.

Next, he was thrown into what he described as a “beating corridor”: Around a dozen men punched him, then kicked him when he fell to the floor. He said he lost consciousness.

When he awoke, both of his cameras had been stolen. “We are not a very big media outlet. We don’t have much money to buy these things,” he said.

After being taken into custody, Keshelashvili said he would have spent a night in a cell, if a doctor had not seen him and said he needed urgent surgery. His nose had been broken in several places.

Down the street, more violence was unfolding. Guram Rogava, a presenter with Formula TV, was broadcasting live outside the parliament, reporting on the police response as it ramped up around him. After finishing his shot, Rogava began to move towards a sidewalk. When his back was turned, a masked man was seen running behind him and striking the back of his head.

Rogava was seen with blood streaming down his face as his colleagues tried to help him. He later learned he had fractured a cervical vertebra in his neck. His doctor said if the bone moves much more, “I could lose control of my hands and legs.”

‘Deliberate’ tactic

Aka Zarkua, a journalist at RealPolitika, said the fact that reporters were largely left alone on Sunday night suggested “when they were beating journalists, it was a clear edict from the police riot chief. It was politically motivated.”

Some have said journalists may have been targeted to prevent evidence of police brutality being documented. Mariam Nikuradze, a reporter at OC Media, said the special forces get “angry” when they see their actions being filmed.

Before trial, conditions in custody are grim. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, a watchdog, said most individuals arrested on Monday had been “brutally beaten… both during and after their arrest.”

Once in court, cases are seemingly rushed through. Shota Murtskhvaladze, who works in education, said his case was heard overnight Sunday. He asked to postpone the trial, so he could collect video footage from shops near where he was assaulted by special forces, sustaining a minor injury to his face. His request was denied. He was only allowed to bring one witness, despite several of his friends seeing the attack. He said he was fined 3,000 lari (about $1,000) for not complying with a police order to disperse.

‘Men in black’

Shortly before he was assaulted, Rogava had interviewed Khoshtaria on live television. Khoshtaria herself was later attacked multiple times by special forces. She said they “clearly” knew who she was, telling her, “Elene, go away, stop, f**k you” as they grabbed her by the hair and led her away. In a later clash, she fell to the ground, fracturing her hand.

On Wednesday, opposition co-leader Nika Gvaramia was detained by police after he was beaten unconscious by officers in the capital Tbilisi, his party said. Gvaramia represents the Droa party, the party that Khoshtaria founded.

Although the use of special forces is troubling, Khoshtaria said it is a sign of the regime’s weakness. Unlike fully-fledged autocratic states like Belarus, she said Georgian Dream does not have enough police willing to mete out violence against civilians so they rely on a few hundred masked men instead.

With the protests now raging every night for a week, Khoshtaria said the opposition movement is in a battle of endurance with the government and its agents. “They are exhausted,” she said of the government. “They thought that there would be a small crowd of people in front of the parliament. What they got is the whole of Tbilisi coming out – and also in the regions.”

The Japanese capital is set to introduce a four-day workweek for all government employees, in its latest push to help working mothers and boost record-low fertility rates.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says the new arrangement, which begins in April, could give employees three days off every week. It separately announced another policy that will allow parents with children in grades one to three in elementary schools to trade off a bit of their salary for the option to clock out early.

“We will review work styles … with flexibility, ensuring no one has to give up their career due to life events such as childbirth or childcare,” said Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike when she unveiled the plan in a policy speech on Wednesday.

“Now is the time for Tokyo to take the initiative to protect and enhance the lives, livelihoods and economy of our people during these challenging times for the nation,” she added.

Japan’s fertility rate, which has seen a precipitous fall for many years, reached another record low in June, even as the government ramped up efforts to encourage young people to get married and start families.

Only 727,277 births were recorded last year, with the fertility rate – the number of children a woman has in her lifetime – dropping to a fresh low of 1.2, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. For a population to remain stable, it needs a fertility rate of 2.1.

The Japanese government has been pushing for a raft of “now or never” policies to reverse the population crisis, including ensuring men to take paternity leaves, while other local governments have also introduced measures to improve work conditions.

Many sociologists attribute the ever-plunging birth rates to Japan’s unforgiving work culture and rising costs of living. Grueling hours have long been a problem for corporate Japan where workers often suffer from health hazards and, in extreme cases, “karoshi,” a term meaning death by over work.

As in other countries, women are often under pressure to choose between their career or family, but Japan’s unique overtime work culture makes pregnancy and raising children especially daunting.

In fact, according to the World Bank, the gender gap in the country’s labor force participation, which stood at 55% for women and 72% for men last year, is higher than other high-income nations.

The shift to a four-day workweek has sparked growing interest in the West, where some companies are beginning to explore compressed hours as a way to attract talent seeking better work-life balance. Some studies have shown that it improves well-being and productivity among workers.

But the idea is still seen as radical for Japanese companies, which often equates time spent at work with loyalty for the company.

And Tokyo isn’t the only place in Asia to implement more family friendly policies. Earlier this year, Singapore introduced new guidelines requiring all firms to consider requests by employees for flexible-working arrangements. That could include four-day weeks or flexible hours.

An American man abducted in the Philippines is presumed dead after a witness claimed he was shot during a struggle with his captors, the Philippines News Agency reported, citing police.

Elliot Eastman, from Vermont, was abducted on October 17, near his home in Sibuco, on the island of Mindanao, where he’d been living with his wife and regularly posting videos on YouTube of his life there.

Regional police spokesman Lt. Col. Ramoncelio Sawan told media Thursday that the witness told them that Eastman was shot twice by his captors on the night of his abduction as they ferried him away from the scene.

“We are constrained to believe that he has died. All of the information that we have points to that,” Sawan said, according to the Associated Press.

Police are trying to verify the witness’ account but are yet to find Eastman’s body, which the witness said was thrown overboard.

Sawan vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice to protect foreigners living in the area.

Police have made several arrests during their search for Eastman, with three suspects killed in a gunbattle with the police last month, according to the Associated Press.

Sibuco is in the western region of Mindanao, the country’s second-largest island, which is home to several Islamist insurgent groups and has long been a hotbed of insurgency in the country of majority Catholics.

Police have said the present case is unlikely linked to Muslim rebels, according to the Associated Press.

The US State Department advises citizens to reconsider travel to Mindanao due to the risk of “crime, terrorism, civil unrest and kidnapping.”