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https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asia-pacific/40023864

S Korea to extend after-school care for elementary school students to 8 p.m.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2023

The government plans to dramatically extend the after-school care and education program for elementary school students in an effort to help relieve the burden of child care for working parents, officials have said.

Under the extension plan announced by the education ministry on Monday, after-school childcare programs provided by elementary schools will be extended to the early morning hours from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m, and to 8 p.m., officials said.

Currently, only about 30 % of elementary school classrooms provide child care after 5 p.m., making it hard for working parents to balance child care and career.

Now, many working parents, especially mothers, drop out of jobs upon their children’s entry into elementary schools where classes for freshmen end at around noon, earlier than kindergartens or nursery schools.

The education ministry plans to launch the extended program at about 200 elementary schools in four regions this month before applying it to all elementary schools across the nation by 2025, according to the officials.

As part of the plan, the ministry will also operate a special education program for elementary school freshmen to provide a variety of after-school activities, including sports, cookery and folk games.

For this year, the government will deploy 120 full-time workers to be in charge of arranging after-school classes and pump in a total of 4.2 trillion won ($3.38 million) by 2026 for the upgraded after-school program.

The Korea Herald

Asia News Network

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Drinkers look forward to enjoying Dubai’s 30% tax cut on alcohol

TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2023

Manager Richard Cowling expressed a sense of relief as customers flocked to his rooftop bar to enjoy Dubai’s winter sunset over the Gulf and a 30% tax break on alcohol sales that the government announced last week.

The impact of the tax cut on prices will take time to filter through as stocks were purchased prior to Dec. 31, the date the government announced the decision, but the mood at the Madinat Jumeirah, a complex whose architecture was inspired by medieval Gulf towns, is already changing.

“It is not something that we are going to see immediately impacting the industry, but it will happen quickly,” said Cowling, Director of Operations at Gates Hospitality.

“(It’s) fantastic news for us, especially going into the new year within the hospitality industry, we have seen massive increases in the cost to produce, cost of food ingredients, cost of cooking oils, and energy costs over the last 12 months,” he added.

Dubai has suspended a tax of 30% on alcohol and dropped a license that individuals previously needed to buy alcohol in the commercial and tourism hub, a move which is expected to further boost the appeal of the emirate to tourists and expatriates drawn by its more liberal lifestyle compared to other Gulf cities.

The emirate is already one of the most visited cities in the world and the government is working on a plan to attract 25 million tourists a year by 2025. The government has merged the economy and tourism departments in a sign of the economic importance of the sector.

Dubai welcomed 7.1 million visitors in the first half of 2022, an increase of 183% compared to 2021 as the industry recovered swiftly from the Covid-19 crisis. The city’s hotel occupancy rate reached 74% for the same period, the government has said.

But tax breaks and free alcohol licenses will be most welcomed by Dubai’s 3.5 million residents, the majority of whom are expatriates.

“For the tourists, I really don’t know, they are coming already to spend… for the residents… you need to have the license or something else, it is complicated, so it is much easier, I think it is much nicer,” said Anastacia Bondar, a resident from Portugal.

“I think it is great news… I am looking forward to seeing the price drop also in stores as well as in restaurants,” said Filippo Palamara, an Italian resident of Dubai.

Reuters

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European satellite launch fails to reach orbit

TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2023

The first attempt to launch a satellite from western Europe appeared to have failed early on Tuesday when Virgin Orbit reported an “anomaly” that had prevented its rocket from reaching orbit.

The mission had left from the coastal town of Newquay in southwest England, with Virgin’s LauncherOne rocket carried under the wing of a modified Boeing 747 and later released over the Atlantic Ocean.

A modified Boeing 747 with a rocket under its wing was taken off from Newquay on Monday evening, watched by crowds across the runway, before soaring out over the Atlantic where after an hour it must release a rocket at about 35,000 feet.

The “horizontal” launch will catapult the resort in southwest England, population 20,000 and famous for its reliable waves rolling off the Atlantic, into the limelight as western Europe’s go-to destination for small satellites.

Virgin Orbit, part-owned by billionaire Richard Branson, said nine satellites would be deployed into lower Earth orbit (LEO) from its LauncherOne rocket in its first mission outside its United States base.

“It appears that the launch has suffered an anomaly which will prevent us from making orbit for this mission,” said Virgin Orbit’s director of systems engineering and verification during a live stream of the event.

The apparent failure deals a further blow to European space ambitions after an Italian-built Vega-C rocket mission failed after lift-off from French Guiana in late December.

The rockets have since been grounded.

The carrier aircraft, called “Cosmic Girl“, returned to Newquay spaceport shortly after the rocket suffered the anomaly.

Before the Newquay launch, Tim Peake, Britain’s first official astronaut, said the event “marks a new era” for the UK and Europe, where small satellites can now be manufactured.

“That makes it a very useful orbit for things like earth observation, climate data, weather and also intelligence gathering, communications navigation as well,” said Peake who joined the European Space Agency in 2009 to become the first astronaut representing the British government.

Peake spent half a year on the International Space Station in 2016.

The new spaceport gives Europe options for launching smaller satellites at a critical time after the Ukraine war cut access to its use of Russian Soyuz vehicles. The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Ariane 6 rocket, designed to carry large satellites, has also had delays.

The Ukraine war has highlighted the importance of tactical military purposes of smaller satellites, like those being launched from Newquay, which can get into low orbit at much shorter notice than bigger ones.

Virgin Orbit Chief Executive Dan Hart said the satellites – which are the size of breakfast cereal boxes – would fulfil tasks such as maritime research and detecting illegal fishing and piracy, as well as national security.

“We can all personally connect with one or more of the satellites that are flying on this mission,” he told a press conference on Sunday.

Asked what the biggest difference between launching in Cornwall and California was, he joked: “Pasties versus hamburgers, it’s a significant shift.”

He added that partnerships with the likes of the UK Space Agency, Spaceport Cornwall, the British aviation regulator and the country’s air force, had made the launch possible.

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Brazil’s Bolsonaro hospitalized in the US with abdominal pain

TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2023

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was reportedly admitted to the Florida hospital with intestinal pains related to a stabbing he suffered during the 2018 election campaign on Monday.

Bolsonaro was admitted to the Adventhealth Celebration Hospital. His doctor reported the former president has an intestinal blockage that was not serious and would likely not need surgery.

The former president had been reportedly staying at a residence in Kissimmee.

On Sunday (January 8), 1,000 of his supporters were rounded up in Brasilia after storming government buildings in the capital over the weekend, drawing international condemnation.

The mobs rampaged through Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential offices, smashing windows, furniture and artwork. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva promised to bring those responsible for the violence to justice.

Bolsonaro, who flew to Florida two days before his term ended on Jan. 1, faces an uncertain future in the United States as pressure mounts on President Joe Biden to remove the far-right politician from his self-imposed exile in suburban Orlando.

The White House said on Monday it had yet to receive any requests from the Brazilian government regarding Bolsonaro’s status, but the former Brazilian president’s presence on US soil has put Biden in a corner, with few good options.

Democratic Representatives Joaquin Castro and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez both expressed support on Twitter for Bolsonaro’s expulsion to Brazil.

The US State Department said on Monday that it was incumbent on an individual who entered the United States on a so-called “A” visa reserved for diplomats and heads of state to depart the country within 30 days or apply for a change of immigration status if they are no longer engaged in official business.

Bolsonaro flew to Florida two days before his term ended on Jan. 1, before his supporters stormed the country’s capital on Sunday, and is believed to have entered on such a visa.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said at a press briefing that he could not comment on an individual’s visa status, but spoke in general about visa rules.

According to Price, if an individual has no basis on which to be in the US, “an individual is subject to removal by the Department of Homeland Security.”

After watching supporters of former US leader Donald Trump invade the US Capitol two years ago, Democratic President Joe Biden is now facing mounting pressure to remove Bolsonaro from his self-imposed exile in suburban Orlando.

Reuters