Stars and Stripes Daily Headlines

	Defectors tell of challenges before and after fleeing North Korea In a crowd full of one-time enemies, the former North Korean soldier quickly gained sympathy when describing his mandatory 10-year military service. Many of the American soldiers groaned or cried “no way,” then leaned forward, eager to hear the rest of Ken Eom’s story.   Obama says he would have beaten Trump President Barack Obama said in an interview released Mondaythat he would have beaten Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump "if I had run again," delivering an implicit criticism of Hillary Clinton's campaign, which he said acted too cautiously out of a mistaken belief that victory was all but certain.   After Clinton’s defeat, what’s the path for future women presidential candidates? The first woman president was supposed to make history by accumulating such deep experience that few could deny her ability to serve as commander in chief. Hillary Clinton did that, and lost.   Abe's Pearl Harbor visit will be a defining moment Shinzo Abe’s visit to the USS Arizona Memorial on Tuesday — the first by a sitting Japanese prime minister — will be a moral and strategic defining moment for a country still atoning for war 75 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, experts say.   They served an abusive regime. The UN made them peacekeepers anyway. The three officers had received blue badges and slipped blue covers over their helmets. They were now U.N. peacekeepers, sent from Burundi to help protect victims of a brutal war in the Central African Republic. But each of them had a past the United Nations was unaware of.   Assad gains Aleppo, but others likely to shape Syria's fate Under different circumstances, Syrian President Bashar Assad's capture of Aleppo would project an aura of invincibility. He has survived nearly six years of revolt. Instead, it has underscored his dependence on outside powers.   Blizzards, ice storms wreak havoc across northern plains Travel conditions remained hazardous as a winter storm swept across much of the northern Plains on Monday, with blowing and drifting snow forcing the closure of an airport and creating near-zero visibility on some roads.   Volunteers working to preserve war histories as the number of WWII vets diminishes The youngest World War II veterans are in their 90s now, and many of them are well past the ability to articulate their experiences. That makes these moments all the more important for Suzanne Nichols as she sets up her video camera.   Russians focusing on causes other than terrorism in Black Sea plane crash The Kremlin on Monday played down the possibility that a terror attack might have downed a Syria-bound Russian plane, killing all 92 people on board, as the nation observed a day of mourning for the victims, including most members of a world famous military choir.   Trump's pick for ambassador to Israel sparks hot debate  If President-elect Donald Trump wanted to show he planned to obliterate President Barack Obama's approach to Israel, he might have found his man to deliver that message in David Friedman, his pick for U.S. ambassador.   China's 1st aircraft carrier sails into contested South China Sea China's first aircraft carrier and five other warships passed by Taiwan and sailed into the contested South China Sea on Monday, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said.