Some of the eight suspected Somali pirates when they appeared before the Mombasa, Kenya, Chief Magistrate Catherine Mwangi, Wednesday, November19, 2008 to be charged for piracy. The pirates were not immediately charged as their charged had not been prepared. The suspects were returned to the cells awaiting to be charged. In an impoverished country where nearly every public institution has crumbled, pirates have transformed local economies in pirate dens like Haradhere and Eyl in northern Somalia, pumping money into areas where there had been little more than fishmongers and women selling mangoes by the seashore for the past 20 years. (AP Photo)

This week pirates hijacked three ships sailing under the flags of Thailand, Greece and Hong Kong. The pirates are currently holding about 20 vessels.

A picture released by the NATO shows the Italian Destroyer ITS Durand de la Penne escorting the merchant vessel As Salaam, chartered by the World Food programme to deliver humanitarian assistance to Somalia on November 3, 2008. The destroyer is the flagship of the NATO Task Group that is conducting NATO's Operation Allied Provider. Shipping groups worldwide have reported a new surge in hijackings off Somalia and the International Maritime Bureau said pirates based in the lawless African nation were now "out of control". (Getty/AFP)