Top Asian News 4:05 a.m. GMT

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — In a historic pilgrimage, the leaders of Japan and the United States took to the hallowed waters of Pearl Harbor on Tuesday to prove that even the bitterest enemies can become allies. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not apologize, but conceded Japan "must never repeat the horrors of war again." Seventy-five years after Japan's surprise attack sent America marching into World War II, Abe and President Barack Obama peered down at the rusting wreckage of the USS Arizona, clearly visible in the tranquil, teal water. More than 1,000 U.S. war dead remain entombed in the submerged ship, and in a show of respect, Obama and Abe dropped purple petals into the water and stood in silence.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States says China has the right to sail in international waters after a Chinese aircraft carrier cruised past Taiwan and into the contested South China Sea. Taiwan's Defense Ministry reported Monday that the aircraft carrier and five warships sailed 90 nautical miles south of Taiwan, a self-governing island claimed by China. Beijing says it is a routine training exercise. China has previously accused U.S. warships of making provocative passes through the South China Sea. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Tuesday the U.S. recognizes lawful uses of the sea, and the same rights apply to the U.S., China and other nations.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean investigators on Wednesday detained the country's former health minister as they expand their inquiry into a corruption scandal involving impeached President Park Geun-hye. The special prosecution team now has 48 hours to decide whether to request a formal arrest warrant for Moon Hyung-pyo. Moon faces allegations that he pressured the National Pension Service to support a controversial merger deal between two Samsung affiliates last year, even though the fund's stake in one of the companies lost an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars in value. Investigators also summoned Kim Sang-ryul, Park's former senior secretary for education and culture, to look into allegations the presidential office kept a "blacklist" of cultural figures deemed as unfriendly to Park's administration and denied them state support.

BEIJING (AP) — China said it is willing to have constructive dialogue with the Vatican but stressed the importance of patriotism to Beijing and adapting Catholicism to Chinese society. A top religious affairs official made the remarks Tuesday at a meeting of representatives of China's official Catholic church taking place this week in Beijing, state media reported. Wang Zuo'an, the director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, said the Chinese government hoped that the Vatican can adopt a flexible and pragmatic attitude, and take concrete actions to create favorable conditions for improving relations, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — With somewhere around 4,000 artists and staff, the Mansudae Art Studio, a huge complex of nondescript concrete buildings on a sprawling, walled-off campus with armed guards in the heart of Pyongyang, churns out everything from watercolor tigers to mosaics so large they seem to depict a race from another, taller planet. But its statues — the really big, bronze, monumental ones on foreign shores — are what appear to have caught the attention of the U.N. Security Council. In one of the odder items on the list of things North Korea can't export under United Nations' sanctions, statues were explicitly listed for the first time last month when the Security Council approved a raft of punishments in response to Pyongyang's latest nuclear test, which it conducted in September.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan government expressed concern over a high-level meeting on the country held in Moscow on Tuesday between Russia, China and Pakistan that did not include any Afghan representatives. Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad Shekib Mostaghni said his government was not invited and hasn't been briefed on the agenda. He said this approach, regardless of the good intentions of the participants, would not help the situation in Afghanistan, where the government has been at war with the Taliban for more than 15 years. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a joint press release that the three countries discussed the "deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan" and the "increased activities of extremist groups," including local affiliates of the Islamic State group.

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — At least two people were killed and 38 others injured when 14 coaches of a train derailed in northern India early Wednesday, two of them falling into a dry canal bed, police said. Superintendent of Police Prabhakar Chaudhary said the accident happened near Kanpur, a city in Uttar Pradesh state. The area is nearly 400 kilometres (250 miles) southeast of New Delhi. The cause was not immediately known. Police officer Zaki Ahmed two of the eight critically injured passengers died later in a hospital. All of the other injured have been hospitalized. Ahmed Javed, the state's top police officer, said all of the passengers have been evacuated from the derailed coaches.

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — At least 31 people have died from drinking tainted liquor over the Christmas holiday in Pakistan, police and doctors said Tuesday, raising an earlier toll. Local police officer Atif Imran Qureshi said dozens of people were transported to hospitals in the eastern Punjab province after they consumed contaminated alcohol. A total of 19 people died Tuesday, and 12 the day before, he said. Umair Ahmed, a physician at Allied hospital in the city of Faisalabad, said a dozen more people were still being treated. Alcohol is mostly prohibited in Muslim-majority Pakistan, but non-Muslims can purchase it from licensed shops.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A court in Cambodia on Tuesday sentenced the country's exiled opposition leader to five years in prison after finding him guilty of conspiring to incite chaos by posting misleading documents on his Facebook page. The conviction by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court is the latest legal problem for Sam Rainsy, head of the Cambodia National Rescue Party. The several cases against him are generally considered part of Prime Minister Hun Sen's strategy to weaken his opponents ahead of local elections next year. Sam Rainsy was found guilty in absentia of conspiracy to incite chaos and using and falsifying public documents.

KUWAIT CITY (AP) — A Kuwaiti criminal court on Monday sentenced a Filipina to 10 years in prison for pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group. The court ruling, which can be appealed, also calls for her deportation from the country after she serves her prison sentence. The woman was arrested in August and accused of joining the terror group through its affiliate in Libya via email while working as a maid. The Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs said it was verifying the conviction and that its embassy in Kuwait "is prepared to extend legal and consular assistance to make sure that she gets due process and her rights are not violated." The extremist group has targeted tiny, oil-rich Kuwait in the past.