Rising costs to dominate G8 talks

The impact on the global economy of price rises and other shocks such as the credit crunch have eclipsed other concerns, correspondents says.

The BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson, who is travelling to the summit with the UK prime minister, says Gordon Brown will join other leaders in calling for the doubling of food production in Africa.

Our correspondent says the G8 may call for the creation of a panel of international experts to advise on how to predict and hopefully avoid another crisis like this.

The EU has already been spelling out plans to alleviate the food crisis.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters on the sidelines of the summit the proposed 1bn euro ($1.6bn, $800m) fund to help poor farmers in developing countries would come from unused EU subsidies.