Seoul / AFP The woman at the heart of a lurid political scandal engulfing South Korean President Park Geun-Hye returned to the country on Sunday to face accusations of influence-peddling and meddling in state affairs. With just over a year left to run, Park’s presidency has unravelled over shocking revelations that she discussed and sought advice on government policy from ...

  Manila / AFP Chinese coastguard ships are still patrolling the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea but are not stopping Filipinos from fishing there, a Philippine defence spokesman said on Sunday. The information — from fishermen who have just returned from the shoal — came despite earlier Philippine government statements that the Chinese had left the outcrop they ...

  Reykjavik / AFP Iceland on Sunday faced a wrangle over its next government after the anti-establishment Pirate Party and its allies gained ground but fell short of a majority in snap elections. Prime Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson told the national broadcaster RUV he would resign on Sunday after his Progressive Party suffered a plunge in support. Polls had predicted ...

  Astana / AFP Three astronauts landed safely in Kazakhstan on Sunday following a 115-day mission aboard the the International Space Station, including US astronaut Kate Rubins, the first person to sequence DNA in space. Russian mission control confirmed the touchdown of NASA’s Rubins, Roscosmos’ Anatoly Ivanishin and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency at 0358 GMT. The ...

  Bloomberg Apple isn’t the first to add GPS functionality to a smartwatch, but it’s the first to make something that feels like a running watch. And the company is doubling down on that with a Nike edition, while Nike is bringing features from its phone app directly to all models of Apple Watch. THE IMPORTANCE OF GPS The original ...

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. embraced a new strategy for selling external monitors to professional users by launching new large, high-resolution screens with LG Electronics Inc. The new displays were highlighted by Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller on stage during the company’s Mac-focused press conference at its Cupertino, California, headquarters. The monitors come in 21.5-inch and 27-inch sizes, with 4K ...

  Relaxnews The world’s largest education company is leveraging IBM’s Watson platform as it tries to take college tutoring from campus libraries to the virtual world. Pearson Plc is partnering with Armonk, New York-based International Business Machines Corp. to use the Watson artificial intelligence product as an online tutor for college courseware. The companies on Tuesday announced a pilot project ...

  Relaxnews When Steve Jobs presented the first ever iPod on October 23, 2001, he shook up the music industry and the way the world consumes music for good. With Apple’s portable multimedia player, music fans could carry their whole record collection in their pocket in digital form. The original model met with considerable success and was rolled out in ...

  KAMPALA / AP Ivan Kiryowa repeatedly checked the balance on his phone, nervous sweat on his cheeks, as he waited for money from a friend. Thirty minutes later, $150 had landed in his account and he sauntered into a hardware store, where he bought bags of cement. “Mobile money is convenient for many of us who rely on our ...

  Addis Ababa / AFP Surrounded by the rubble of her former neighbours’ homes, Getnesh Amare hangs her laundry in the shadow of the high-rise offices and hotels taking over the once insalubrious centre of Ethiopia’s capital. “They have come many times to force us to move quickly. I’m not happy, but it’s a must. I have to move,” the ...