Seoul / AFP A handful of South Korean lawmakers on Monday finally got to question the woman at the heart of the impeachment crisis surrounding President Park Geun-Hye, after she snubbed a televised hearing at her detention centre. Choi Soon-Sil, a long-time friend of the president, has repeatedly ignored several summons to appear before a parliamentary committee probing a corruption …

  Banda Aceh / AFP Thousands of Indonesians prayed for their loved ones at mass graves and mosques on Monday to mark a tsunami which devastated Aceh province 12 years ago today, one of the worst natural disasters in human history. Some 170,000 lives were lost in the country when a 9.1-magnitude “megathrust” quake struck Aceh, a predominantly Muslim province in …

  Sochi / AFP Russian rescuers found on Monday the first parts of the Syria-bound military plane that plunged into the Black Sea, as officials said they do not suspect terrorism as the reason for the crash that killed 92 people on board. The Tu-154 jet, whose passengers included more than 60 members of the internationally-renowned Red Army Choir, was heading …