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Thailand is seeking help from China and South Korea to support its efforts to crack down on the smuggling of pseudoephedrine-based cold pills. The move came after the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) obtained information that a Thai company had struck a deal to buy 10 billion pseudoephedrine-based cold tablets from a Chinese firm. Previously, the DSI obtained information that the firm also signed a deal to buy 850 million tablets, or 40 tonnes of the medicine, from South Korea. The DSI found that 87 million cold tablets were transported into Thailand from South Korea by plane on nine occasions since 2010. They had false air cargo manifests to avoid attracting attention from the authorities. The DSI suspected the medicines were smuggled in from South Korea. The DSI is investigating two companies suspected of being involved in the smuggling of the pills from overseas. The companies are UTAC Thai Co Ltd, a supplier of integrated circuits, and TVR Group Co Ltd, a car dealer and vehicle hire firm. Some information relating to the drug purchases was uncovered at the companies during recent searches of their premises but the firms denied any involvement. Mr Tarit said yesterday DSI officials also discovered a contract to buy 10 billion pseudoephedrine-based cold tablets from China during the search at UTAC Thai Co Ltd. Under the contract, the first batch of 2 million tablets was to have been shipped to Thailand on July 31, 2009. He said the DSI also found a photo showing a man collecting the pills from Suvarnabhumi airport cargo warehouse. The cold tablets from China and South Korea have the same brand name of COLCOLCO, he said. Mr Tarit said DSI officials also searched the company's factory but there was nothing amiss. However, it was found that the company had three South Korean executives and one Thai executive, Mr Tarit said. He said the Korean Food and Drug Administration recently sent information regarding the nine shipments of

As the rapid aging of Asia's population creates challenges for governments and societies, new opportunities are emerging for businesses serving the needs of the elderly and their caretakers. While population aging is a global phenomenon, the Asian-Pacific region is expected to see a particularly drastic demographic change over the next few decades. The number of elderly persons in the region-already home to more than half of the world's population aged 60 and over-is expected to triple to more than 1.2 billion by 2050, when one in four people in the region will be over 60 years old, according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Across Asia, large corporations and entrepreneurs in various industries are racing to come up with new products and services for the elderly, while health-care- related businesses are seeing soaring demand. Among various fields of health care for the elderly, nursing homes represent one of the fastest-growing sectors. In Japan, companies that previously had little to do with the issue of aging have jumped on the bandwagon. In 2005, Watami Co., which operates Japanese- style izakaya pubs serving food and drinks, entered a new business of running nursing homes. In the most recent fiscal year, the nursing business was more profitable than its izakaya business. Demand for Watami's new business is robust because Japan's population is the world's grayest, according to a 2009 United Nation report, with nearly 30% aged 60 or older. Other parts of Asia, such as China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore, are also anticipating a surge in the percentage of elderly citizens. In China, people over the age of 60 now account for 13.3% of the country's population of 1.34 billion, up from 10.3% in 2000, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, and the aging trend is expected to accelerate. In January, China's state-run Xinhua news agency wrote about challeng

Everyone here keeps telling me how great this blog is supposed to be but I don't see any of the fairy dust. The writer needs much room for improvement to compel to read an article of his again.