The pirates who hijacked a Chinese-owned fishing vessel with 18 crew off the northeastern coast of Somalia last month are demanding $10 million in ransom, according to a Somali official. The hijackers also shared photos on social media of their captives surrounded by armed men on the ship’s deck. The vessel was hijacked in late November and taken to Xaafuun district in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland, where it is being held along with the captives. The ship’s security guards later joined forces with the armed men from the coastal region. A Somali government official said the vessel was issued with a fishing license by Puntland in 2020, but the license had expired…The hijacking underscores the persistent challenges of maritime security in Somalia’s waters. (AP)

Sudan’s civil war shows no signs of abating, with intense fighting reported across multiple fronts over the past 72 hours. Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) warplanes carried out airstrikes targeting paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) positions in scattered areas, while the RSF launched drone attacks and ground offensives against SAF strongholds…El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, remains a flashpoint. SAF forces reported destroying 13 RSF combat vehicles and killing dozens of fighters during artillery strikes and air raids, on Sunday. An RSF infiltration attempt on the city’s southeastern outskirts was repelled after prolonged skirmishes. (Dabanga)

Shop owners in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, are caught between a rock and a hard place over a government directive that they install CCTV cameras outside their businesses to intensify surveillance of Islamist insurgents who have a strong presence in the city. The businessmen say if they put up the cameras they risk being gunned down by the al-Shabab insurgents, and if they do not, they could be arrested by the police…The government issued a directive last year to shopkeepers to install CCTV cameras – at their own cost – to deter attacks by al-Shabab…The government has now ordered residents to install the cameras outside homes and apartment blocks, raising fears among many people that al-Shabab could bring its war into their homes. Since October, al-Shabab has killed four businessmen in 10 attacks related to the installation of CCTV cameras, according to a leading violence monitoring group, Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (Acled). (BBC)

An inferior good is an economic term that describes a good whose demand drops when people’s incomes rise. These goods fall out of favor as incomes and the economy improve as consumers begin buying more costly substitutes instead.