Good morning, Thousands have lost their homes in Burma after the recent floods and the military junta is accused of doing little if anything to help them (http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=7815). Thousands are said to have contracted dengue fever as mosquitoes flourish in the standing water and 30 have died so far, according to a local newspaper. The continued climb of the baht against the dollar is storing up long-term trouble for exporters, especially those exporting low value-added products which are increasingly unable to compete internationally (http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=30408). Current export figures are affected by high-tech products made (or assembled) by foreign entrepreneurs who hedged their transactions. The Bank of Thailand is planning to alleviate its capital controls, since they are distorting the stock exchange figures and are also having a significant impact on investor confidence (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/07/10/business/business_30040118.php). These phenomena are disguising the increasingly parlous state of the economy. A good result against Oman tonight and Thailand could be in pole position to eliminate Australia from the 2007 Asian Cup (http://www.bangkokpost.com/Sports/10Jul2007_sport28.php) – well, we can dream for a few more days at least. Meanwhile, Qatar scored a late equalizer to earn a 1-1 draw against defending champions Japan (http://www.afcasiancup.com/en/tournament/mtindex.asp?aid=48626&cid=1374&mt=12025&sec=105&ssec=246). Sebastian Quintana scored for the Qataris, who benefit from the global approach to recruitment that Singapore also employs. Alas, Singapore did not qualify for the tournament. Tonight it will be Indonesia versus Bahrain (I suspect a draw) and Malaysia against China (I expect China to sneak it, although they have been pretty poor of late and just lost one of their main strikers for the tournament). Back tomorrow.

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