President Donald Trump said Saturday that he has ``complete power‘’ to issue pardons, an assertion that comes amid investigations into Russian interference in last year‘s presidential election. It was one of many topics that appeared to occupy the president’s mind as the day broke.　On a day when most people are ready to forget about the issues that nagged them during the week, Trump revved up. In an early morning flurry of 10 tweets, he commented about pardons, former presidential rival Hillary

South Korea‘s Park Sung-hyun won her first major golf title Sunday, firing her second consecutive five-under par 67 to capture the US Women’s Open as US President Donald Trump watched.　Park, the event’s seventh South Korean winner in 10 years, finished 72 holes at Trump National on 11-under 277 to defeat 17-year-old South Korean amateur Choi Hye-jin by two strokes.　“I am excited and happy,” Park said through a translator. “It feels unreal to a certain extent.”　Deadlocked for the lead with Choi,

Why, yes, that was Ivanka Trump briefly filling her father’s seat at the Group of 20 summit, an international gathering that turned out to be quite the family affair for the Trumps.　The president’s daughter attracted particular attention after a member of the Russian delegation tweeted a photograph of her sitting in her father’s chair during an official summit event on Saturday. 　A White House official said the president had stepped out of the room and that Ivanka Trump, a senior adviser, moved

Qatar on Saturday denounced a sweeping list of demands from Saudi Arabia and its allies in an escalating Gulf diplomatic crisis as unreasonable and an impingement on the emirate’s sovereignty.　Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt want Qatar to meet the 13-point ultimatum in return for an end to a nearly 3-week-old diplomatic and trade “blockade” of the emirate.　Qatar has been given 10 days to meet the demands, which apparently includes a call to close down broadcaster Al-Jaz

Britain ordered soldiers to key sites Wednesday and raised the terror alert to maximum after the Manchester concert suicide bombing by a local man of Libyan origin who may have been radicalized in Syria.Security services believe the suspected bomber, Salman Abedi, was likely to have had help from others in staging the massacre that killed 22 people including one girl aged just 8.　Interior Minister Amber Rudd said the 22-year-old had been on the radar of the intelligence community before the atta

　BEIJING  -- China touted on Sunday its new Silk Road as “a project of the century” at a summit highlighting its growing leadership on globalization, but a North Korean missile test intruded on the meeting.　President Xi Jinping greeted leaders from 29 nations for the two-day summit in Beijing after US and South Korean military officials confirmed that Pyongyang had launched a ballistic missile.　Delegations from North Korea and the United States attended the forum, though not their leaders. Few W

KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia (The Star) -- Photos of shark hunting and finning in Sabah, known as a dive paradise for its idyllic islands, that surfaced on socail media have led to renewed calls for an industry ban.　Yet another picture has emerged of shark hunting and finning in Sabah, known as a dive paradise for its idyllic islands.　 A fisherman lays out shark fins and tails at the Semporna jetty in Sabah. The StarThe Danau Girang Field Centre has put up a picture of rows of shark fins being laid o

VIENTIANE, Laos (Vientiane Times) -- An office worker taps into her passion for handmade mementos to create appealing souvenirs that also provide employment opportunities to those who may otherwise be marginalized through disability.　Kheuavanh Phanthaboun’s business not only provides extra financial security for herself and her household, but also assists people with disabilities and other artisans to access the market and fashion more sustainable livelihoods from their craft.　 Kheuavanh Phantha

Hong Kong's new leader Carrie Lam pledged Sunday to mend political rifts after winning a vote dismissed as a sham by democracy activists who fear the loss of the city’s cherished freedoms.　Hong Kong has been semi-autonomous since it was handed back to China by colonial ruler Britain in 1997.　But 20 years on, there are serious concerns Beijing is disregarding the handover agreement designed to protect Hong Kong‘s way of life. 　 epa05871204 Hong Kong Chief Executive Election candidates John Tsang

I am a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, one of America’s major research institutions. My field of study is rhetoric, a discipline dating back to ancient Greece that studies persuasion. In particular I am interested in the impact of one’s language on audiences, regardless of the intent of the discourse.　Let me be upfront: I did not vote for Donald Trump and do not support many of things he said during the campaign. Nevertheless, I accept the legitimacy of his election and hold in h

The anniversary of Pearl Harbor is commemorated on Dec. 8 in Japan -- the time locally when thousands of miles away, its ships and warplanes sank much of the US Pacific Fleet and launched war against America. 　For 75 years now, many Japanese have reflected on that moment with great remorse, appalled by the hubris and miscalculation that led to the attack. Later this month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will personally travel to Pearl Harbor to commemorate the tragedy. Sadly, though, the lea

Last year, local journalists as well as private school organizations filed four separate petitions, asking the Constitutional Court to review the antigraft law, also called the Kim Young-ran Act.　However, the court had said the law does not put direct restriction on contact between journalists and their sources, or on their legal rights to report and to inform the public. The petition filed by private school teachers was dismissed for similar reasons.　Under the law, journalists and private schoo

The tax code revision pushed this week has somewhat reflected policymakers’ efforts to maximize the effect of the government-led supplementary budget worth 11 trillion won ($9.8 billion). The taxation policy involves easing tax burdens on the corporate sector.　The easing is somewhat laudable in terms of minimizing fallout from full-fledged corporate restructuring in the ailing industrial sectors. In addition, major conglomerates are suffering a protracted export slump.　The Finance Ministry also

The Berkeley economist Barry Eichengreen recently gave a talk in Lisbon about inequality that demonstrated one of the virtues of being a scholar of economic history. Eichengreen, like me, glories in the complexities of every situation, avoiding oversimplification in the pursuit of conceptual clarity. This disposition stays the impulse to try to explain more about the world than we can possibly know with one simple model.　For his part, with respect to inequality, Eichengreen has identified six fi

Does Hillary Clinton understand that the biggest divide in American politics is no longer between the right and the left, but between the antiestablishment and the establishment?　I worry she doesn’t -- at least not yet.A Democratic operative I’ve known since the Bill Clinton administration tells me, “Now that she’s won the nomination, Hillary is moving to the middle. She’s going after moderate swing voters.”　Presumably that’s why she tapped Tim Kaine to be her vice president. Kaine is as vanilla

It is not unusual for large Korean unions to down tools at the wrong time and for the wrong cause. But the news that unions of major shipbuilders and the top automaker are moving to strike is truly disappointing. 　The unions of eight major shipbuilding firms held a joint news conference at the National Assembly on Wednesday, vowing to launch a general strike on July 20 in protest against restructuring plans. 　Some of the unions had already been taking collective action. Workers of Samsung Heavy

The scandal involving senior prosecutor Jin Kyung-joon and Nexon founder Kim Jung-ju is another reminder of how negligent the elite in this country are in abiding by the law and upholding minimum ethical standards. 　Jin was put into custody Thursday on graft charges, and it has yet to be seen what charges Kim will face. But what is certain is that the scandal – centered on the allegation that Jin earned as much as 12.6 billion won ($10.94 million) in suspicious transactions of Nexon stock courte

One positive aspect of the multiparty system created by the April general election is that political parties are under stronger pressure than before to project a pro-reform image to win support from the public.　The three major parties -- the ruling Saenuri Party, the main opposition The Minjoo Party of Korea and the minor opposition The People’s Party -- are acutely aware of the growing public demand for a new political culture. 　The public also demands higher ethical standards for lawmakers tha

German carmaker Volkswagen’s $14.7 billion deal with U.S. customers and regulators is fueling a debate over the need for Korea to introduce punitive damages and class action lawsuits to bolster consumer protection.　To settle its emission cheating scandal in the U.S., Volkswagen has offered to pay U.S. owners of its polluting vehicles -- nearly 475,000 TDI diesel cars -- as much as $10,000 per car in compensation. It has also agreed to buy back or repair the defective vehicles. 　While offering fa

The number of fishing boats and patrol boats from North Korea has recently surged around the Northern Limit Line. The situation has coincided with the South Korean Navy’s three-day maritime exercise in the West Sea this week.　Tension is naturally increasing as the two Koreas fought several bloody battles along the NLL across the West Sea over the past decade. Further, the timing is quite uneasy as both of the battles around the South’s Yeonpyeongdo Island in 1999 and 2002 occurred in June.　The N