President Barack Obama hits the road this week on a three-day bus tour through North Carolina and Virginia. Both states traditionally vote Republican, but Obama won them both in 2008. Host Audie Cornish talks with Rep. David Price, a Democrat from North Carolina, and former congressman Tom Perriello, a Democrat from Virginia, about the political climate and Democratic prospects for the 2012 race.

Speculators in the agricultural commodities markets are forcing grocery prices to rise too quickly and erratically, according to some top economists marking World Food Day on Sunday.

"Excessive financial speculation is contributing to increasing volatility and record food prices, exacerbating global hunger and poverty," wrote 461 economists, from more than 40 countries, in an open letter.

From the outset of the Syrian uprising last spring, Syria's president, Bashar Assad, offered promises of reform. Activists, meanwhile, documented abuses by his security forces, including video footage of shootings against unarmed protesters.

Now, the Assad government appears to be relying exclusively on brutal repression, giving free reign to the security services to crush the revolt, according to analysts inside and outside the country.

New campaign finance reports offer the first detailed look at the haves and the have-nots among the Republican presidential candidates, with just over a year left in the race for the White House.

In the reports released Saturday, two of the top Republican contenders, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, brought in more than $30 million combined. Meanwhile, businessman Herman Cain, who surged into the top tier of candidates in recent polls, raised significantly less.

On a recent visit to McDonald's, Christie Coleman, a mother of two boys, was surprised to find that her kids' Happy Meals included fewer french fries and something new: apple slices.

Coleman says her boys are extremely picky eaters, so she was not happy with the change.

"When they do want to eat, they will eat all of their fries, and I don't think that they should get 15 or 20 less fries because McDonald's thinks that they need to eat apples as well," she says.

The traditional ice bath isn't so cool anymore. These days, professional athletes are opting for a treatment that sounds more like sci-fi torture: whole-body cryotherapy.

Here's how it works: You stand in a cylindrical chamber for about two and a half minutes. Hyper-cold air is released all around your body, bringing the temperature down to as low as 300 degrees below zero.

Transcript

REBECCA ROBERTS, host: This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Rebecca Roberts.

HERMAN CAIN: We must grow this economy with a bold solution, which is why I have proposed 999.

Governor RICK PERRY: I think Americans are so untrustworthy of what's going on in Washington is because they never see a cut in spending.

MITT ROMNEY: You want to have someone who's smart, who has experience, who knows how the financial services sector works, who knows how to protect American jobs, and I do. I've done it.

Taking a cue from the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York, protesters across the world took to the streets Saturday to demonstrate against what they say is corporate greed, the banks and government austerity cuts.

Organizers of the global protests say there will be demonstrations in 951 cities in 82 countries. On their website, the organizers say they're demanding change and to let politicians and the financial elite know it's up to the people to decide the future.