Venezuela now leads US asylum requests as crisis deepens

The Latest: US assesses N. Korea missile was not ICBM

North Korea reportedly test fires missile, challenging US 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. Appearing with Trump at a news conference at the president's south Florida estate, Abe condemned the missile launch as "absolutely intolerable." Trump followed Abe with even fewer words, saying in part: "I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent." Abe read a brief statement in which he called on the North to comply fully with relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions. He said Trump has assured him of U.S. support and that Trump's presence showed the president's determination and commitment. ___ Trump, Abe express close bonds after NKorea's missile launch 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. Security Council resolutions, but also noted that Trump had assured him that the U.S. supported Japan. "President Trump and I myself completely share the view that we are going to promote further cooperation between the two nations. And also we are going to further reinforce our alliance," he said. Trump followed Abe with even fewer words, saying in part: "I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent." With that, they left the room, a surprise of sorts given that the usually outspoken Trump neither condemned nor denounced the launch. ___ Trump's Florida estate stirs protests, spurs ethics debate PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump's South Florida estate is no longer just the place where he goes to escape. He has described the sprawling Mar-a-Lago property as the Winter White House and has spent two weekends there so far this month. But it's also become a magnet for anti-Trump protesters and the subject of an ethics debate over his invitation to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to join him this weekend — with Trump pledging to pay for the accommodations. Demonstrators plan to assemble Sunday near the estate to protest Trump's decision on the Dakota Access oil pipeline. The North Dakota project, opposed by a Native American tribe fearful of water contamination from potential oil leaks, had stalled in Democrat Barack Obama's administration. Trump's executive order cleared the way for the developer to start building the final stretch of pipeline. During Trump's other weekend in Florida, several thousand people marched near the property to protest his temporary ban on travel to the United states by refugees as well as citizens of seven mostly Muslim countries. A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court's decision that temporarily blocks the ban's enforcement. Trump's election is also putting charitable organizations, such as the American Red Cross, in an awkward position for choosing Mar-a-Lago for events booked months in advance. The Red Cross held its annual fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, as it has done for many years, on Feb. 4, about a week after Trump enacted the travel ban. Trump and his wife, Melania, attended. ___ Anti-abortion activists, counter-protesters rally around US SEATTLE (AP) — Anti-abortion activists emboldened by the new administration of President Donald Trump staged rallies around the country Saturday calling for the federal government to cut off payments to Planned Parenthood, but in some cities counter-protests dwarfed the demonstrations. Thousands of Planned Parenthood supporters, many wearing the pointy-eared pink hats popularized by last month's women's marches, turned out for a rally in St. Paul, Minnesota, separated by barricades from an anti-abortion crowd of a couple hundred people. In Detroit, about 300 people turned up outside a Planned Parenthood office, most of them supporting the organization. In St. Louis, thousands marched, many carrying pink signs that read, "I stand with Planned Parenthood." "They do a lot of work to help women with reproductive health — not just abortions, obviously — but they help with birth control and cancer screenings and counseling and a whole variety of services, and it seems they're under attack right now, and that concerns me greatly," said Kathy Brown, 58, a supporter of the organization who attended the St. Paul rally. Andy LaBine, 44, of Ramsey, Minnesota, rallied with abortion opponents in St. Paul. LaBine, who was there with his family, said he believes Planned Parenthood is hiding "under a veil of health care." "I personally believe that abortion is a profound injustice to the human race," LaBine said. ___ GOP dilemma on health law taxes: To repeal or not to repeal? WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans love cutting taxes, especially if they were authored by a president named Barack Obama. But as they push their wobbly effort to erase his health care overhaul, they're divided over whether to repeal the levies the law imposed to finance its expanded coverage for millions of Americans. It's a trillion-dollar dilemma — actually closer to $1.1 trillion. That's the 10-year price tag the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office puts on revenue the government would lose if the law's taxes on wealthy people, the insurance and pharmaceutical industries and others were eliminated. Republicans and President Donald Trump have been edging away from their promise to quickly eliminate Obama's entire law. Still, annulling its taxes would be a partial victory and is irresistible for many GOP lawmakers and the conservative voters at the core of their support. "We should do full repeal," said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a leading House conservative. "And full repeal means not taking the taxes" from people. Yet voiding those levies erases a mammoth war chest Republicans would love to have — and may well need — as they try replacing Obama's law. It's a major rift GOP leaders face as they try crafting a health care package that can pass Congress. ___ Rockets hit Baghdad's Green Zone after protests turn violent BAGHDAD (AP) — Two rockets landed in Baghdad's highly fortified Green Zone on Saturday night following clashes at anti-government protests that left five dead, according to Iraqi security and hospital officials. The rocket attack left no casualties as the munitions landed on the parade grounds in the center of the highly fortified Baghdad compound that is home to Iraq's government and most foreign embassies. It was not immediately clear who fired the projectiles. Saturday's protests were called for by influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and clashes that erupted as crowds pushed toward the Green Zone left two policeman and three protesters dead, according to police and hospital officials. The officials said six other policemen were injured along with dozens of protesters. The violent outbreak prompted the government to call for a "full investigation." The demonstrators loyal to al-Sadr gathered in Baghdad's downtown Tahrir square demanded an overhaul of the commission overseeing local elections scheduled this year. Al-Sadr has accused the commission of being riddled with corruption and has called for its overhaul. ___ More than 200 whales swim away after New Zealand stranding 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. "People seem to have an emotional attachment to marine mammals," said Department of Conservation spokesman Herb Christophers. "They've been singing songs to them, giving them specific names, treating them as kindred spirits." Christophers said everyone is hoping the strandings are finally over, although he said it's possible some of the whales will return to the beach and strand themselves again. ___ Church shootings leave holes in the fabric of Charleston CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — The bullet holes in the fellowship hall at Emanuel AME church have been patched, but the holes in the fabric of life in Charleston remain. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton is absent from Goose Creek High School, her exhortations still ringing in the ears of girls who ran track for her. At the library, there's no one to give just the right guidance, to find the right book, as Cynthia Hurd did. The strong voice of Emanuel's pastor-legislator, Clementa Pinckney, does not resound, here or at the capitol in Columbia. Dylann Roof, killer of these worshippers and six others at one of the South's first African-American churches, is headed to death row after an agonizing and therapeutic trial. But if justice has been served, the community has not moved on; the shots that rang out on June 17, 2015, still resonate. They are amplified by the unfinished case of a white North Charleston police officer charged with murder in the death of a black driver. Efforts go on to build a museum to tell the stories of more than three centuries of African-American struggles, and to place this community's recent suffering in context. And at Emanuel, churchgoers still assemble for Bible study on most Wednesdays, vowing that love and faith will prevail. ___ AP FACT CHECK: Improv week at the White House WASHINGTON (AP) — It was a week of sound and fury from President Donald Trump, the commander in tweets. A look at how some of his statements fit with the facts: TRUMP made an unsupported assertion Monday that terrorist acts in Europe are going unreported: "All over Europe it's happening. It's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported. And in many cases the very, very dishonest press doesn't want to report it. They have their reasons, and you understand that." THE FACTS: Trump and his team cited one example of a deadly terrorist attack going unreported: the one that didn't happen in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Adviser Kellyanne Conway spoke a week earlier about a Bowling Green "massacre" that didn't take place, correcting herself when she was called out on the error. As for Trump's claim about Europe, it's probably true that you haven't heard of every attack on the continent that can be tied to terrorism. Scores if not hundreds happen every year. Many don't rise to the level of an international audience because they cause no casualties, or little or no property damage, or are carried out by unknown assailants for unclear reasons. One exhaustive list is the Global Terrorism Database, maintained by the University of Maryland. It lists 321 episodes of suspected or known terrorism in Western Europe alone in 2015. Many are anti-Muslim attacks against mosques, not the brand of terrorism Trump has expressed concern about. Many are attacks undertaken for right-wing or left-wing causes that have nothing to do with Islamic extremism or xenophobic attacks on mosques. ___ Yale drops slavery proponent Calhoun from college name NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — After years of debate, Yale University announced Saturday it will change the name of a residential college that honors a 19th century alumnus and former U.S. vice president who was an ardent supporter of slavery. Yale trustees said the Ivy League university is renaming Calhoun College after trailblazing computer scientist Grace Murray Hopper, a mathematician who earned Yale degrees in the 1930s, invented a pioneering computer programming language and became a Navy rear admiral. Yale said it was the final decision in a controversy over former Vice President John C. Calhoun's legacy that had simmered for years and boiled over with campus protests in 2015. Four people were arrested in a peaceful protest as recent as Friday after they blocked street traffic. The university's president, Peter Salovey, announced in April that the school would keep Calhoun's name. But, in August, he appointed an advisory panel to consider whether the name should be changed after all. "We have a strong presumption against renaming buildings on this campus," Salovey said Saturday. "I have been concerned all along and remain concerned that we don't do things that erase history. So renamings are going to be exceptional."

AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EST