Japan

Earlier this year in a lab at Duke University, in Durham, N.C., a clever, raisin-gobbling ­monkey named Idoya made a robot move in Japan—just by thinking. And she wasn’t alone. She joined ranks with, among others, a ­paraplegic man who recently used his brain to move a cursor around a computer screen.

From subsistence farmers eating rice in Ecuador to gourmets feasting on escargot in France, consumers worldwide face rising food prices in what analysts call a perfect storm of conditions. Freak weather is a factor. But so are dramatic changes in the global economy, including higher oil prices, lower food reserves and growing consumer demand in China and India. The world's poorest nations still harbor the greatest hunger risk. Clashes over bread in Egypt killed at least two people last week, and similar food riots broke out in Burkina Faso and Cameroon this month. But food protests now crop up even in Italy. And while the price of spaghetti has doubled in Haiti, the cost of miso is packing a hit in Japan.

A local kindergartner smiles as a communication robot (L), developed by Japan's robot maker "Tmsuk," calls his name at Aeon shopping mall in Fukuoka, western Japan.

I know, I know. You've been worried. Sure, Blackwater is up to its mercenary neck in Iraq. They're protecting missile interceptors in Japan, and rescuing blondes in Kenya. And let's not forget about their fine work in New Orleans. But how, you're asking, is Blackwater going to get involved what many think is the great struggle of the 21st Century -- the upcoming war against China?

US envoy Christopher Hill said talks on disarming North Korea which opened Thursday could produce a road map for declaring and disabling its nuclear programmes as early as this weekend.