Top Asian News 4:58 a.m. GMT

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea reportedly fired a ballistic missile early Sunday in what would be its first such test of the year and an implicit challenge to President Donald Trump, who stood with the Japanese leader as Shinzo Abe called the move "absolutely intolerable." There was no immediate confirmation from the North, which had recently warned it is ready to test its first intercontinental ballistic missile. The U.S. Strategic Command said it detected and tracked what it assessed to be a medium- or intermediate-range ballistic missile. The reports came as Trump was hosting Abe and just days before the North is to mark the birthday of leader Kim Jong Un's late father, Kim Jong Il.

The U.S. Strategic Command says it detected and tracked what it assessed was a medium- or intermediate-range ballistic missile test-fired by North Korea. It says it did not pose a threat to North America. The command said the launch occurred near the northwestern city of Kusong. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned in his New Year's address that his country was ready to test its first intercontinental ballistic missile, which could threaten the U.S. mainland.

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — For most of the day President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe used golf under the Florida sun to show the world the U.S.-Japan alliance remained strong. Then events half-a-world away provided a more significant example of cooperation. After North Korea reportedly launched a ballistic missile, the two leaders appeared for hastily prepared statements in a ballroom of Trump's south Florida estate. Abe spoke first and longest, though his statement was terse. "North Korea's most recent missile launch is absolutely intolerable," Abe said through a translator. He added that the North must comply fully with relevant U.N.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Whale lovers in New Zealand finally got some good news on Sunday after more than 200 stranded whales managed to refloat themselves overnight and swim away, while volunteers managed to save another 17 whales at high tide. More than 650 pilot whales had beached themselves along Farewell Spit at the tip of the South Island in two separate mass strandings over recent days. About 350 whales have died, including 20 that were euthanized. Another 100 have been refloated by volunteers and more than 200 have swum away unassisted. Hundreds of volunteers from farmers to tourists have spent days at the beach dousing the whales with buckets of water to keep them cool and trying to refloat them.

Retired Lt. Gen. Harold G. "Hal" Moore, the American hero known for saving most of his men in the first major battle between the U.S. and North Vietnamese armies, has died. He was 94. Joseph Galloway, who with Moore co-authored the book "We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young," confirmed Saturday to The Associated Press that Moore died late Friday in his sleep at his home in Auburn, Alabama. Galloway said Moore, his friend of 51 years, died two days shy of his 95th birthday. "There's something missing on this earth now. We've lost a great warrior, a great soldier, a great human being and my best friend.

SURIGAO, Philippines (AP) — A powerful nighttime earthquake in the southern Philippines killed at least six people and injured more than 120, with officials combing through cracked buildings and nearby towns Saturday to check on the damage and other possible casualties. The magnitude 6.7 quake roused residents from their sleep late Friday in Surigao del Norte province, forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes. The quake was centered about 16 kilometers (8 miles) northwest of the provincial capital of Surigao at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), said Renato Solidum of the Philippine Institute of Seismology and Volcanology.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Tens of thousands of Indonesians gathered at the national mosque in the capital on Saturday for mass prayers urging people to vote for a Muslim governor of the city as the country prepares for regional elections next week. The crowds overflowed from Istiqlal Mosque in the heart of Jakarta into the surrounding streets. Clerics gave sermons calling on people to protect Islam and vote for Muslim candidates. Police denied hard-line groups permission to march through the city. Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono estimated the crowd at 60,000 to 70,000 people in the morning. Protests against the minority Christian governor of Jakarta drew hundreds of thousands of people to the city's streets in November and December and shook the government of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The head of Cambodia's opposition party announced his resignation from the group on Saturday in apparent response to plans by the country's long-serving prime minister for a law that could lead to the party's dissolution. Sam Rainsy announced his resignation in a letter to senior members of his Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP. "In all circumstances I continue to cherish and to uphold the CNRP's ideals in my heart," he said on his Facebook page. His action came after Prime Minister Hun Sen earlier this month vowed to amend the laws on political parties to keep convicts from holding leadership positions, among other rules.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump, fresh off patching up ties with China, reassured Japan's leader Friday that the U.S. will defend its close ally. Together, the pronouncements illustrated a shift toward a more mainstream Trump stance on U.S. policy toward Asia. Welcoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House with a hug, Trump said he wants to bring the post-World War II alliance with Japan "even closer." While such calls are ritual after these types of meetings, from Trump they're sure to calm anxieties that he has stoked by demanding that America's partners pay more for their own defense.

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — The authoritarian president of Turkmenistan is set to sail to victory in Sunday's election where eight other candidates are on the ballot, but all praise his polices. President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has been the overwhelmingly dominant figure in the former Soviet republic since late 2006, when he assumed power after death of his eccentric predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov. Berdymukhamedov has made small reforms of the single-party system imposed by Niyazov and some aspects of the latter's cult of personality, which included naming the months of the year after his family members and mandating all schoolchildren read his book of philosophical musings.