News Digest, August 15

Beijing will be forced to send warships to the Diaoyu Islands if Japan sends its navy to intercept Hong Kong activists heading there to claim Chinese sovereignty over the disputed territory, says an editorial in the mainland's Global Times.

A briefing in Beijing on the once-a-decade party congress and change of leadership failed to answer the question on everyone's lips: When will it be held? Analysts blame the ghost of sacked Chongqing chief Bo Xilai .

World leaders are to hold a tele-conference at the end of the month to decide whether to convene an emergency meeting to discuss how to drag down grain prices, which are soaring towards their 2008 peak because of drought-driven crop failures in the US and the Black Sea bread basket.