Recently the owner of a 2000 Mercedes Benz C240 pulled into a local repair center in Thailand complaining of a non-working gas gauge. The mechanic asked, "Have you filled the tank with ethanol-based gasoline? That can damage the sensors." Lesson: don't use ethanol.

In recent months, hedge funds, pension funds and other group investment vehicles, which strive for maximum return in minimum time, have turned the commodity market upside down. Recent price rises of all commodities including food grains are a testament to their manipulation.

A Japanese expert on international finance warned Thursday that China's social imbalances may undermine its continued robust economic growth. Former Vice Minister Makoto Utsumi said China had neglected egalitarian socialist principles in its rush to expand its economy.

South Korea's current account recorded a deficit in March for a fourth consecutive month due to soaring fuel import costs and higher commodity prices, sounding the alarm about Asia's fourth-biggest economy already struggling with slowing domestic demand.

Hail the Myanmar junta for finally balancing its relationship with India. Previously it had played favorites with China by giving it oil and gas contracts in the Bay of Bengal. But with the recently finalized Kaladan-Sittwe river transportation project, Myanmar has balanced the odds in India's favor.

Despite the apparent political and economic bonhomie between the two countries, it seems that Indo-China tensions refuse to die. India has just announced a new policy making it mandatory for Chinese power equipment companies to set up shop in India in order to sell their wares here.

East Asia's economies have been integrating. This once seemed unlikely, but recently free trade agreements have been making a breakthrough, heightening the possibility of such a community including Southeast Asian nations, China, Japan and South Korea.

Last week, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo announced that she was amenable to grant Filipino workers a much-needed increase in their daily take-home pay to offset the ill effects of rising costs of rice and other basic needs. But Arroyo made a turnaround this week.

The business tycoon that owns South Korea's biggest conglomerate made a stunning announcement on Tuesday that he would step down as head of the Samsung Group after being charged with tax evasion and breach of duty. Lee Kun-hee, the country's most powerful businessman, has controlled the company since 1987.

Three billion people in Asia are the rice guzzlers of the world and they are facing a supply shortage. The long-term prognosis is not good. Until the world refocuses on increasing its food grain output and controlling the population, supply shortages, followed by food riots, are going to be the norm.