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(CNN) — As his popularity has dropped to 45%, the lowest in a year and a half, President Barack Obama talked with PBS’ Charlie Rose.

The president covered a world of issues, including how some critics now liken him to a particular Republican adversary. Here are his thoughts on seven of the topics he discussed on Monday evening.

Obama as the new Dick Cheney?

When asked if there is enough transparency in how government seeks secret court orders to obtain phone records, Obama abruptly brought up former Vice President Dick Cheney, who served under President George W. Bush.

“Some people say well, Obama was this raving liberal before, now he’s Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney sometimes says, ‘Yes, you know, he took it all, lock stock and barrel,’” Obama said, referring to the Bush-Cheney security agenda.

Obama bristles at suggestion he has shifted on snooping

“My concern has always been not that we shouldn’t do intelligence gathering to prevent terrorism but rather are we setting up a system of checks and balances?” Obama added.

His administration has advanced checks on security initiatives, he said. “You know, what amuses me is now folks on the right who were fine when it was a Republican president but now Obama’s coming in with a black helicopter,” Obama added.

Obama asserted that the process of securing secret rulings from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court is transparent and is examined by the U.S. Justice Department and Congress.

On surveillance

In the wake of revelations that his administration secured a secret court order to obtain Verizon phone logs, the president assured Americans that the National Security Agency isn’t listening to phone calls or targeting personal e-mails — unless the government has a specific court order to do so.

Obama’s job is to balance national security and personal freedom.

“To say there’s a trade-off doesn’t mean somehow that we’ve abandoned freedom. I don’t think anybody says we’re no longer free because we have checkpoints at airports,” Obama said.

“My job is both to protect the American people and to protect the American way of life, which includes our privacy. And so every program that we engage in, what I’ve said is, let’s examine and make sure that we’re making the right tradeoffs,” Obama added.

His top priorities

National security is Obama’s No. 1 priority, he said, but he quickly added he hasn’t forgotten you — the working person now reeling in the recession’s aftermath and struggling to find or keep a job.

That’s why he became president in the first place, he said.

“The biggest challenge we face right now, in addition to the ongoing challenge of national security, is having recovered from the worst recession since the Great Depression, having dug our way out, with the economy now growing, jobs being created, auto industry back, stock market back, housing recovering by about 10% in terms of prices,” Obama said, “how do we now go back to the issue that led me to run for president in the first place — which is the fact that the economy is not working for everybody, that we have the structural problems that could lead us to second-rate status if they continue.”

Growing economic inequality and declining wages for middle-class families is occurring in the United States — and “worldwide,” Obama added — because of globalization and technology.

“We’ve got to address that if we are going to continue to be the greatest nation on Earth,” the president said. “And that is the thing that I’m going to be focused on for the remainder of my presidency, along with the basics like making sure nobody blows us up.”

Iran’s new president

Obama noted how the newly elected president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, is a centrist, which gives Obama optimism that Iran may now want to seriously address its nuclear program, which many feel is being used to eventually build weapons. In response, Iran is now being internationally punished with “the most powerful” economic sanctions ever applied against it, Obama said.

“The Iranian people rebuffed the hardliners and the clerics in the election who were counseling no compromise on anything, anytime, anywhere,” Obama said. “Clearly you have a hunger within Iran to engage with the international community in a more positive way.

U.S. takes ‘wait and see’ stance on Iran’s new president

“Our bottom lines have been, show the international community that you’re abiding by international treaties and obligations, that you’re not developing a nuclear weapon.”

Supporting Syrian opposition

Though his administration has declared that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons in his country’s two-year civil war, and as a result he has pledged military support for the opposition, Obama avoided specifying what kind of military support that will be.

What complicates the matter is how some of the Syrian opposition is affiliated with al Qaeda.

G8 leaders agree on need but not methods to stop Syrian bloodshed

“One of the challenges that we have is that some of the most effective fighters within the opposition have been those who, frankly, are not particularly friendly toward the United States of America. And arming them willy-nilly is not a good recipe for meeting American interests over the long term,” Obama said.

He also spoke of avoiding a sectarian Islamic quagmire between Shiites and Sunnis in Syria.

The United States has learned some hard lessons from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, he said.

“We know what it’s like to rush into a war in the Middle East without having thought it through. And there are elements within the Middle East who see this entirely through the prism of a Shia/Sunni conflict and want the United States to simply take the side of the Sunnis. And that I do not think serves American interests,” Obama said.

“Now on the other side there are folks who say, ‘You know we are so scarred from Iraq, we should have learned our lesson, we should not have anything to do with it.’

“Well I reject that view as well because the fact of the matter is that we’ve got serious interests there and not only humanitarian interests. We can’t have a situation of ongoing chaos in a major country that borders a country like Jordan, which in turn borders Israel. And we have a legitimate need to be engaged and to be involved.”

Meeting with China on alleged hacking

Last week, Obama met with new Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The U.S. president broached the serious allegations of hacking against China.

“You know, when you’re having a conversation like this I don’t think you ever expect a Chinese leader to say, ‘You know what? You’re right. You caught us red-handed. We’re just stealing all your stuff and every day we try to figure out how we can get into Apple,’” Obama said.

‘New model’ for U.S.-China relations

But, he added: “We had a very blunt conversation about cybersecurity” with the Chinese president.

Ben Bernanke on way out?

Asked if he is going to reappoint Ben Bernanke to a third term as Federal Reserve chairman, Obama sidestepped a direct answer, opening the door to speculation that Bernanke’s tenure may be ending.

“He’s already stayed a lot longer than he wanted, or he was supposed to,” Obama said. “He has been an outstanding partner along with the White House in helping us recover much stronger than, for example, our European partners from what could have been an economic crisis of epic proportions.”

Bernanke led the central bank’s response to the global financial collapse that began in fall 2007, keeping interest rates at historic lows and shepherding a massive Fed intervention in the government bond market.

He became chairman in February 2006 as an appointee of President George W. Bush. Obama appointed Bernanke to a second term in 2010. Bernanke’s term expires on January 31, 2014.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/politics/obama-seven-things/index.html?eref=edition

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Cooltek Antiphon Review

Manufacturer: Cooltek
UK price (as reviewed): £59.40 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): Currently unavailable

It’s rare to see cases where low noise is a genuine priority and a guiding design principle in the lower end of the market. In most such cases, the sheer cost of the extra materials (foam, rubber, thicker steel etc.) compared to ‘normal’ cases puts them at or around the £80 price point, as is the situation with Fractal’s Define R4 and Nanoxia’s Deep Silence duo, or even over £100 when you up the dimensions and material requirements, as we recently saw with Fractal’s Define XL R2 and the NZXT H630. We were intrigued and a little excited, therefore, to receive the Cooltek Antiphon, a sub-£60 ATX chassis with silence as its key focus.

As a small German company, Cooltek has very little presence on these shores. Currently, there’s only a few UK retailers that stock its products, and the Antiphon is the first of its range that we’ve come across too (although its all-aluminium cuboid CoolCube range of mini-ITX and micro-ATX cases also looks interesting).

Click to enlarge – The Antiphon’s exterior design is the definition of minimalism
First impressions of the Antiphon are that it’s heavy for a budget chassis, which is reassuring, although it’s definitely lighter than costlier cases from Nanoxia and Fractal.
A few years ago, the super sleek, minimalist design the Antiphon boasts would have been jaw-dropping, but by now the existence of numerous similarly styled cases makes it less of a showstopper, although that’s not to say it isn’t attractive, and three other colours are available.

Impressively for a £60 case, the coating on the front door is constructed from real aluminium, rather than dressed up plastic, and this creates a lovely finish that many more expensive cases fail to match. The Antiphon is also solidly built with no issues of sturdiness, balance or loose panels. The foam lining on the feet will anchor the case to most surfaces, but don’t provide as much grip as rubber alternatives.

The front door also has a smooth action thanks to its use of magnets, and the inside of it is fully lined with foam. Behind the door are four clip out plastic grilles; three for the trio of optical drive bays and a large one for the pair of 120mm fan mounts. Each of the grilles is backed by dust filtering material too, but the clips holding them in place require a little bit more pressure to release than we’d like. Both of the fan mounts are filled with Cooltek’s CT-120 models, which draw air in from the ventilation along either side of the front panel.

Click to enlarge – The aluminium front door is line with foam and hides the optical bays, fan cover and fan controller at the bottom
Cooltek has even included an integrated fan controller with the Antiphon. While this is always good to see in cheaper cases, its position at the bottom of the case behind the front door is hardly the most accessible location, but users shouldn’t need to reach for it too often. It can power up to three fans, running them at high or low speed or switching them off altogether. The plastic slider is a little flimsy, but the actuation points for the three modes are clearly defined and easy to feel without looking.

The I/O panel is well located and smartly designed, and the power button is particularly well built. We would have preferred a second USB 3.0 port over the USB 2.0 one, but the essentials are all there. Moving away from the front of the case, the steel roof and sides are all flat and featureless, with no extra fan mounts to speak of. While this does limit both your CPU and GPU cooling capabilities, it’s understandable that Cooltek has opted not to include extra fan mounts in a budget case that prioritises low noise over high airflow, with solutions like Fractal’s ModuVent blanking plates likely to drive costs upwards.

Click to enlarge – The Antiphon features a smartly designed I/O panel and dust filtering material beneath it
A third CT-120 fan is found in the rear 120mm exhaust position, and having a trio of fans is always nice in a £60 chassis. Two small holes covered by secure rubber grommets can be used for external water-cooling too. A fourth, unfilled 120mm fan mount can also be found on the bottom of the case, and this along with the PSU intake area is protected by a thin sheet of dust filtering material that will require you to get underneath the case to remove or clean, but at least it’s there.

Specifications

• Dimensions (mm) 195 x 500 x 445 (W x D x H)
• Material Steel, aluminium, plastic
• Available colours Black (reviewed), anthracite, silver, white
• Weight 8kg
• Front panel Power, reset, 1 x USB 2, 1 x USB 3, stereo, microphone
• Drive bays 3 x external 5.25in, 4 x internal 3.5in, 5 x internal 2.5in
• Form factor(s) ATX, micro-ATX, mini-ITX
• Cooling 2 x 120mm front fan mounts (fans included), 1 x 120mm rear fan mount (fan included), 1 x 120mm bottom fan mounts (fan not included)
• CPU cooler clearance 160mm
• Maximum graphics card length 320mm
• Extras Removable dust filters, dual speed fan controller

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(Credit:
Geoffrey Morrison)

Recently we took a poll where we asked “What’s stopping you from getting a plasma?” A majority of voters rebuked my premise, picking “I love my plasma.” The other responses were fairly evenly split among the choices.

However, there was a surprisingly common reason given in the comments that baffled me, and it’s so bizarre it’s clearly worth debunking, or at least shining the light on the facts.

So how much do TVs weigh?

Though mostly made of plastic, all TVs have some metal parts, and usually some glass as well. Compared with TVs from a few years ago (or the CRT “tube” TVs of yore), all TVs are light. Or at least, lighter.

There are two main reasons why the weight of a TV is worth considering: where you’re placing/mounting it, and the initial post-purchase box-wrangling and setup. Weight shouldn’t be an issue with shipping, as it’s far too easy to find places that offer free shipping.

When it comes to TV stands, all but the flimsiest will support pretty much every TV on the market (we’ll cover the specifics in the Weight section).

If you’re planning on wall-mounting your TV, there’s a wall mount that can support it. I checked several wall-mount manufacturers, like OmniMount, Sanus and Monoprice. TV size and weight are the two deciding factors for what mount you can get. Every size/weight I checked was available in flush, tilt, and full-motion designs.

Here’s the most interesting bit: Mounts designed for a certain size TV (50 inches, say) can support nearly every TV of that size. As in, if you have a 50-inch LCD, you’re going to be buying the same mount that someone with a 50-inch plasma can get. Most (though not all) of the mounts that I checked out for this article designed for 50-inch TVs handled 125 pounds, far more than even today’s 65-inch plasmas.

So again, I’m not sure why the weight matters, when you’re getting the same mount regardless of weight.

The OmniMount NC125C, for 37- to 70-inch TVs, up to 125 pounds (i.e. every TV below 70 inches in this article).

(Credit:
OmniMount)

This is with the typical two-stud mounting. Personally, I would never hang anything expensive on a wall without finding a stud, but that’s me. I checked with Zach Eyman, senior product manager for OmniMount, maker of TV mounts:

Me: Do you have a general rule like “max this weight for single stud mounting?”

Zach Eyman: “A good rule of thumb is 80 pounds for a single stud, but a specific mount’s specifications should always be followed.”

Eighty pounds, as we’ll see later, is pretty much everything below 60 inches.

Me: “What’s Omnimount’s general take on drywall-only mounting (i.e., no studs)?”
ZE: “If designed and engineered correctly, drywall mounts allow the most flexibility of mounting locations since you are not limited by stud placement. Since safety is a top priority, OmniMount’s drywall mounts are reserved for lighter-weight panels, under 40 pounds.”

You’d be pushing that limit with any 50-inch panel, by the way.

Unpacking?
This was another common reason given for why a lighter TV is better. I don’t get this one, either. As far as unpacking and moving the TV from the store to your home, you always need more than one person.

Unless you’re getting a cheap 32-inch TV, get some assistance. Seriously. Even if the TV isn’t heavy, the pressure and torque you’ll be exerting on the frame and bezel can be enough to damage the tiny wires that let the TV do its TVing. Trust me, I’ve destroyed TVs before doing nothing but normal unpacking/setup myself. Not dropping them, mind you, just hefting them off the Styrofoam and placing them on a table stand.

I don’t quite understand the desire to purchase a lighter TV and deal with worse picture quality for the life of the television just because someone can’t ply his friends with beer for 10 minutes worth of light labor.

The weight
OK let’s look at some actual weights of different size TVs. All weights were from the manufacturer’s Web site or Amazon, and show the weight of just the panel. (Check out this article to find out what the model numbers mean). I chose these brands, as they make both plasma and LCDs (plus Sharp, as a maker of uberbig LCDs). Not every manufacturer makes the same screen sizes, and for fairness I kept the screen dimensions as close as possible. In some cases, there was a screen size available, but the weight wasn’t available.

42 inches
LG 42PN4500 (plasma) – 40.6 pounds
Panasonic TC-P42S60 (plasma) – 35.3 pounds
Samsung PN43F4500 (plasma) – 30 pounds

LG 42LN5700 (LED LCD) – 21.2 pounds
Panasonic TC-L42E60 (LED LCD) – 29.8 pounds

Plasma average: 35.3 pounds; LED LCD average: 25.5 pounds
Difference: 38 percent

The Sanus XF228, for TVs 42 to 84 inches, and up to 175 pounds (i.e., every TV mentioned on this page).

50 inches
LG 50PN6500 (plasma) – 54.5 pounds
Panasonic TC-P50ST60 (plasma) – 49.6 pounds
Samsung PN51F8500AF (plasma) – 46.1 pounds
Samsung PN51F4500AF (plasma) – 39 pounds

LG 50LA6900 (LED LCD) – 38.1 pounds
Panasonic TC-L50E60 (LED LCD) – 38.6 pounds
Samsung UN50F5500 (LED LCD) – 28.7 pounds

Plasma average: 47.3 lbs; LED LCD average: 35.1 pounds
Difference: 35 percent

60 inches
LG 60PN6500 (plasma) – 76.1 pounds
Panasonic TC-P60ST60 (plasma) – 69.5 pounds
Samsung PN60F8500 (plasma) – 64.4 pounds

LG 60LA8600 (LED LCD) – 61.1 pounds
Samsung UN60ES7550 (LED LCD) – 45.2 pounds

Plasma average: 70 lbs; LED LCD average: 53.2 lbs
Difference: 32 percent

65 inches
Panasonic TC-P65ZT60 (plasma) – 90.4 pounds
Samsung PN64F8500 (plasma) – 72.3 pounds

Panasonic TC-L65E60 (LED LCD) – 64.2 pounds (“Item Weight” via Amazon)
Samsung UN65F7050 (LED LCD) – 50.8 pounds

Plasma average: 81.4 pounds; LED LCD average: 57.5 pounds
Difference: 41 percent

Even bigger
Samsung UN75F8000 (LED LCD) – 79.1 pounds
Samsung UN85S9AF (LED LCD) – 151.5 pounds
LG 84LM9600 (LED LCD) – 150.36 pounds
Sharp LC90LE745U (LED LCD) – 141.1 pounds

It’s worth noting even the heaviest TV here, the Samsung, has multiple wall mounts available. For perspective, RCA’s 38-inch, 16×9 tube HDTV from 10 years ago was 212 pounds.

So yes, technically plasmas are heavier than a similarly sized LCD. On average, based on this sampling, they’re about 36.5 percent heavier. But to say that’s the whole story is as specious as me saying “The heaviest TVs on the market today are LCDs!” which, in the narrowest sense, is just as true.

One commenter said he liked being able to haul his TV over to his friend’s house for gaming. A pretty specific, but definitely valid, consideration.

Bottom line
There are plenty of reasons not to get plasma, but weight seems to me the most absurd. Making a decision about a purchase based on such a trivial aspect is completely bypassing the vastly more important aspects, like picture quality, features, price, energy efficiency, and so on.

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Got a question for Geoff? First, check out all the other articles he’s written on topics like HDMI cables, LED LCD vs. plasma, Active vs Passive 3D, and more. Still have a question? Send him an e-mail! He won’t tell you what TV to buy, but he might use your letter in a future article. You can also send him a message on Twitter: @TechWriterGeoff.

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Moscow (CNN) — Russia’s president is fighting back: No, he did not steal a Super Bowl ring. And no, he’s not rocking the diamond-encrusted prize on his finger, either.

President Vladimir Putin‘s spokesman denied that the leader kept a Super Bowl ring that New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft wanted back.

Both sides agree that the ring, with its 124 diamonds, changed hands during Kraft’s visit to St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2005.

The New York Post reported on remarks made by Kraft, 72, at a New York awards gala Thursday.

“I took out the ring and showed it to (Putin). And he put it on and he goes, ‘I can kill someone with this ring,’” Kraft said, according to the New York Post. “I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”

NFL team owner accuses Putin of theft

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is a popular but polarizing figure who has dominated Russian politics for more than a decade. Click through to see some highlights of his career.

Putin serves as the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the City Council in St. Petersburg from 1991 to 1994. Before becoming involved in politics, he served in the KGB, a Soviet-era spy agency, as an intelligence officer.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin, right, shakes hands with Putin during a farewell ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow on December 31, 1999. Putin rose quickly through the political ranks, becoming the second democratically elected president of the Russian Federation in 2000.

President-elect Putin watches the tactical exercises of Russia’s Northern Fleet in the Barentsevo Sea on April 6, 2000. He has been at the helm during a decade of Russian economic growth fueled by natural resources of gas and oil.

A Russian cadet snaps a picture with Putin in Moscow’s Red Square on May 9, 2007, during an annual celebration of the end of World War II. Putin has pushed to modernize Russia’s military.

Putin attends an inauguration ceremony for president-elect Dmitry Medvedev at Moscow’s Kremlin on May 7, 2008. Putin was constitutionally obliged to stand down as president but stayed close to power, becoming prime minister.

Putin vacations outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia in 2009. Over the years he has earned a reputation as a “strongman,” declaring a crackdown on Chechen militants a priority in his first presidential term.

President Barack Obama meets Prime Minister Putin at his home in Novo Ogaryovo, near Moscow, on July 7, 2009. Putin said Russia was pinning its hopes on Obama to revive ties with the United States.

A worker takes down a giant elections poster bearing a portrait of Putin on October 13, 2009, in Moscow. Putin’s party tightened its grip on Russian politics with a sweeping victory in local elections, officials said, as the opposition alleged widespread fraud.

Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin ski together in Krasnaya Polyana, near the Black Sea resort of Sochi in southern Russia, on January 3, 2010.

Putin takes part in a judo training session at a sports complex in St. Petersburg, on December 22, 2010. The Russian leader holds a black belt in judo.

Putin receives a medical consultation during his visit to the Smolensk Regional Hospital on August 25, 2011. Putin said he hurt his shoulder during morning judo practice.

Putin speaks to supporters at a Moscow rally on February 23, 2012. He won the presidential election in March, with just under 65% of the vote. Former President Medvedev became his prime minister.

A topless protester shouts at Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, during their visit to the Hanover Industrial Fair in central Germany on April 8, 2013. Human rights groups say civil liberties and democratic freedoms have suffered during Putin’s rule.

Putin addresses the media during his visit to Hanover on April 8, 2013.

Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, ended their nearly 30-year marriage, the state-run news agency reported on June 6.

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Photos: Putin in power

In the quotes used by the Post, Kraft did not specifically say that Putin stole the ring; the paper characterized his remarks that way in the headline and story. Kraft did say, however, that he had wanted the ring back. “I had an emotional tie to the ring. It has my name on it.”

The Patriots’ owner said he then received a call from the White House at the time telling him it would be in the best interest of U.S.-Russian relations to claim it was a gift to Putin, the Post reported. Kraft said Thursday he played along.

A few days after the 2005 incident, amid confusion as to whether the ring was a present or was kept by mistake, Kraft issued a statement saying it was a gift.

That’s the way Putin sees it, the president’s spokesman said Sunday.

“What Mr. Kraft is saying now is weird,” Dmitry Peskov said. “I was standing 20 centimeters away from him and Mr. Putin and saw and heard how Mr. Kraft gave this ring as a gift.”

The 4.94-carat ring is in the Kremlin’s library, where all official state gifts are kept, he said. It is worth more than $25,000, according to multiple reports from 2005.

A Kraft spokesman said Sunday the story is a humorous anecdote that Kraft “retells for laughs.”

“He loves that the ring is at the Kremlin and, as he stated back in 2005, he continues to have great respect for Russia and the leadership of President Putin,” said Stacey James, a spokesman for The Kraft Group.

“An added benefit from the attention this story gathered eight years ago was the creation of some Patriots fan clubs in Russia,” he said.

There is some solace for Kraft, as he also received rings for the Patriots’ Super Bowl victories in the 2001 and 2003 seasons.

Super Bowl rings can fetch much more when they are auctioned, depending on who wore them. The 1991 Super Bowl ring of Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor sold last year at auction for more than $230,000. There were rumors Charlie Sheen bought the ring, but the actor denied it.

At least one ring has been used to raise money for charity. In 2008, former Patriots defensive player Je’Rod Cherry raffled off one of his three rings to raise $150,000 for several children’s charities.

Putin announces marriage split

CNN’s Alla Eshchenko reported from Moscow, and Faith Karimi reported and wrote from Atlanta.

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Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/t26-UBdbcIw/russias-putin-i-did-not-steal-super-bowl-ring

Moscow (CNN) — Russia’s president is fighting back: No, he did not steal a Super Bowl ring. And no, he’s not rocking the diamond-encrusted prize on his finger, either.

President Vladimir Putin‘s spokesman denied that the leader kept a Super Bowl ring that New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft wanted back.

Both sides agree that the ring, with its 124 diamonds, changed hands during Kraft’s visit to St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2005.

The New York Post reported on remarks made by Kraft, 72, at a New York awards gala Thursday.

“I took out the ring and showed it to (Putin). And he put it on and he goes, ‘I can kill someone with this ring,’” Kraft said, according to the New York Post. “I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is a popular but polarizing figure who has dominated Russian politics for more than a decade. Click through to see some highlights of his career.

Putin serves as the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the City Council in St. Petersburg from 1991 to 1994. Before becoming involved in politics, he served in the KGB, a Soviet-era spy agency, as an intelligence officer.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin, right, shakes hands with Putin during a farewell ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow on December 31, 1999. Putin rose quickly through the political ranks, becoming the second democratically elected president of the Russian Federation in 2000.

President-elect Putin watches the tactical exercises of Russia’s Northern Fleet in the Barentsevo Sea on April 6, 2000. He has been at the helm during a decade of Russian economic growth fueled by natural resources of gas and oil.

A Russian cadet snaps a picture with Putin in Moscow’s Red Square on May 9, 2007, during an annual celebration of the end of World War II. Putin has pushed to modernize Russia’s military.

Putin attends an inauguration ceremony for president-elect Dmitry Medvedev at Moscow’s Kremlin on May 7, 2008. Putin was constitutionally obliged to stand down as president but stayed close to power, becoming prime minister.

Putin vacations outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia in 2009. Over the years he has earned a reputation as a “strongman,” declaring a crackdown on Chechen militants a priority in his first presidential term.

President Barack Obama meets Prime Minister Putin at his home in Novo Ogaryovo, near Moscow, on July 7, 2009. Putin said Russia was pinning its hopes on Obama to revive ties with the United States.

A worker takes down a giant elections poster bearing a portrait of Putin on October 13, 2009, in Moscow. Putin’s party tightened its grip on Russian politics with a sweeping victory in local elections, officials said, as the opposition alleged widespread fraud.

Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin ski together in Krasnaya Polyana, near the Black Sea resort of Sochi in southern Russia, on January 3, 2010.

Putin takes part in a judo training session at a sports complex in St. Petersburg, on December 22, 2010. The Russian leader holds a black belt in judo.

Putin receives a medical consultation during his visit to the Smolensk Regional Hospital on August 25, 2011. Putin said he hurt his shoulder during morning judo practice.

Putin speaks to supporters at a Moscow rally on February 23, 2012. He won the presidential election in March, with just under 65% of the vote. Former President Medvedev became his prime minister.

A topless protester shouts at Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, during their visit to the Hanover Industrial Fair in central Germany on April 8, 2013. Human rights groups say civil liberties and democratic freedoms have suffered during Putin’s rule.

Putin addresses the media during his visit to Hanover on April 8, 2013.

Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, ended their nearly 30-year marriage, the state-run news agency reported on June 6.

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Photos: Putin in power

In the quotes used by the Post, Kraft did not specifically say that Putin stole the ring; the paper characterized his remarks that way in the headline and story. Kraft did say, however, that he had wanted the ring back. “I had an emotional tie to the ring. It has my name on it.”

The Patriots’ owner said he then received a call from the White House at the time telling him it would be in the best interest of U.S.-Russian relations to claim it was a gift to Putin, the Post reported. Kraft said Thursday he played along.

A few days after the 2005 incident, amid confusion as to whether the ring was a present or was kept by mistake, Kraft issued a statement saying it was a gift.

That’s the way Putin sees it, the president’s spokesman said Sunday.

“What Mr. Kraft is saying now is weird,” Dmitry Peskov said. “I was standing 20 centimeters away from him and Mr. Putin and saw and heard how Mr. Kraft gave this ring as a gift.”

The 4.94-carat ring is in the Kremlin’s library, where all official state gifts are kept, he said. It is worth more than $25,000, according to multiple reports from 2005.

A Kraft spokesman said Sunday the story is a humorous anecdote that Kraft “retells for laughs.”

“He loves that the ring is at the Kremlin and, as he stated back in 2005, he continues to have great respect for Russia and the leadership of President Putin,” said Stacey James, a spokesman for The Kraft Group.

“An added benefit from the attention this story gathered eight years ago was the creation of some Patriots fan clubs in Russia,” he said.

There is some solace for Kraft, as he also received rings for the Patriots’ Super Bowl victories in the 2001 and 2003 seasons.

Super Bowl rings can fetch much more when they are auctioned, depending on who wore them. The 1991 Super Bowl ring of Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor sold last year at auction for more than $230,000. There were rumors Charlie Sheen bought the ring, but the actor denied it.

At least one ring has been used to raise money for charity. In 2008, former Patriots defensive player Je’Rod Cherry raffled off one of his three rings to raise $150,000 for several children’s charities.

Putin announces marriage split

CNN’s Alla Eshchenko reported from Moscow, and Faith Karimi reported and wrote from Atlanta.

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(CNN) — David Michael Perez was “terrified of parenting” and swore it off for the first 30 years of his life.

It was too much of a sacrifice: Fatherhood is expensive, for starters, and he thought he just wasn’t cut out for it.

“I was afraid to do something that would make me so vulnerable. Of course the things that cause us to feel vulnerable (and hence scared) are the things that bring us the greatest joy and connection,” Perez, 33, wrote in an e-mail.

Then he met a girl. And now they have an 11-month-old boy.

He was excited to discuss this “amazing transformation,” but had a hard time finding equally excited fathers to commiserate with. So he created a space for sharing. He co-founded Kindling, a literary journal that is an “exploration in fatherhood.”

Kids: What makes my dad great

Most important job: Being a Dad

2012: Open Mic: Father’s Day

Even more Bill Tull’s Father’s Day tips

Perez is not the only one looking to be a more involved dad.

In the last 50 years, fathers have taken on more child care and housework, though women still do the majority, according to a Pew Research study released in March. In 1965, dads spent an average of 2½ hours per week on child care versus mothers’ 10 hours per week. By 2011, fathers were spending seven hours a week caring for kids, while mothers spent 14.

Dads aren’t who they used to be.

Perez describes his own father as “an incredibly selfless, loving father” who allowed him room to be himself and let him know he was unconditionally loved, though his dad was not the touchy-feely type.

“Like most men of his generation, he definitely worked a lot and I know he wishes that had not been the case,” he wrote. “Being from a Catholic, Mexican family, he was definitely emotionally reserved. I strive to be more emotionally engaged not only with my son but also with myself.”

So, if today’s dad is no longer the all-business provider who is less emotionally engaged than Mom, and he’s not the bumbling, disconnected dad of the past 30 years in popular culture (read: Homer Simpson), then who is he? And do we appreciate him for his sacrifices as much as we do mothers?

Let’s hear it for dear old Dad

Sonora Smart Dodd was listening to a Mother’s Day sermon at church when she came up with the idea to designate a day to celebrate fathers. Her dad, William Jackson Smart, was a Civil War veteran and a widower who raised her and her five brothers after her mother died.

She took her notion to local churches and the YMCA, and in June 1910 the first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane, Washington.

But Father’s Day didn’t catch on as quickly as Mother’s Day.

The holiday did not become official until 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson issued a proclamation for dad’s day. By the time President Nixon signed it into law in 1972, Mother’s Day had been a national holiday for 58 years.

The foot-dragging is understandable: Most mothers share a nine-month-long physical bond with their biological children; they are typically the emotional touch stone of the family as well as the workhorse of the home, as the March Pew study made clear.

Reverence for Mother as the parental nucleus is reflected in how we celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Average spending last year on Mother’s Day gifts was $168.94, versus $119.84 for dads, according to the National Retail Federation.

This year, spending for father’s day is up 2.1% from the previous year, and projected to reach $13.2 billion. For Mother’s Day, that figure is $17.1 billion, up .2%, according to research firm IBISWorld.

Paid leave lets dads build parenting foundation

Dads want it all, too

While fathers are contributing more labor at home these days, more women are becoming the chief or sole financial provider of the household in a recovering economy. In a first, mothers currently are the only or primary financial provider in 40% of homes with children under 18.

“Women have always had legitimacy in the home, and the women’s movement has given women legitimacy in the workplace,” said Professor Brad Harrington of Boston College. “Men have always had legitimacy in the workplace. But have they had a similar credibility in the home? No.”

In the midst of the debate about work-life balance, leaning in and having it all, it is not just women who are examining how their roles have evolved.

Experts say more value has been placed on mothers, sometimes to the detriment of the critical role fathers play. But men want it all, too, and are recognizing that a better balance means engaging more as a father.

“If we’re going to be serious about fatherhood, we need to talk about how they are equally important to the well-being of their child,” said Kenneth Braswell, executive director of Fathers Inc., a nonprofit that encourages “responsible fatherhood” and mentoring.

“Responsible fatherhood doesn’t mean anti-motherhood. We are trying to ensure that fathers are nurturing, protective, providers who are a compliment to the child’s mother.”

Tough choices

Brad Harrington remembered a three-year assignment in London as one of the highlights of his 20-year career with computer company Hewlett Packard. But In 1993, he surprised himself when he turned down an opportunity to return to Europe for a prestigious job offer after his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

In 1999, he was married with two children and a baby on the way when another opportunity arose for a stint abroad. This time, family considerations took priority again, and he stayed in America.

That was when he realized the outsize impact of family on career choices. At that point, he transitioned out of organizational leadership and moved into academia. The change offered fewer financial rewards, but it provided the chance to do interesting work while living a more balanced life.

Now, as executive director for the Center for Work and Family at Boston College, he wants to be a catalyst for discussing how men can make progress on the home front, the way women have in the workplace.

“Young men are saying I want to be an economic provider but also provide for the emotional needs of my children,” he said.

He saw the shift in perspective in his 2011 study, The New Dad: Caring, committed and conflicted, which surveyed mainly upper-middle-class white fathers from Fortune 500 companies. In one measurement asking about the traits of good fathers, respondents placed a higher value on “nontraditional” aspects of fatherhood, including emotional support, being present and teaching rather than discipline, financial security and child care tasks.

Harrington noticed a difference in the evolution of fathers at home and mothers at work. While women were gaining strides in being capable in both work and home life, men, he says, have not done as good a job to gain a foothold in the home.

Opinion: Fathers, stop coddling your kids

Staying engaged in fatherhood

Braswell, of Fathers Inc., said the idea of marriage and commitment is not what it was in the 1930s and 1940s. Back then there were two things that held a community together: 1. If you had a baby, you had to be married. 2. Divorce was unacceptable.

Today, he said, there are no rules. Now, census estimates show about half of first marriages end in divorce for women; the number for men is closer to one-third.

Unfortunately a new parenting model has not been created to deal with this reality, Branswell said.

“How do you do something in the place of marriage that gets the same outcome? What you do is start talking about relationships.”

He’s a married, churchgoing father of four who maintains relationships with the mothers of his two kids not by his wife.

His own early experience and frustrations to peacefully co-parent led him to focus his professional work on fatherhood.

For him, it underscored the importance of teaching fathers who are not with their children’s mother how to be involved, and he says it works.

“The vast majority of dads … want to have a positive relationship with their child. Most of them are good dads and want to be better dads,” he said.

Fifty years ago, the idea of a great dad was little more than a father who was a good provider and disciplinarian. Today, dads are increasingly looked to as sole or single parents, to support the family emotionally and to help their partners succeed in the wider world.

Society isn’t just expecting more from fathers; fathers are expecting more from themselves.

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(CNN) — Shabren Kurtz-Russ wanted to join the military to start a family tradition. Her mother and father served in the Army. And now she sought to enlist in the Army National Guard.

She would follow classmates into the service. She considered active duty, too. The military offered an exciting future — plus college money.

She spoke to her mother, Sherry Kurtz, about the plan last year. That’s when a dark family secret, only hinted at earlier, was revealed: Her mother told her she was gang-raped in the Army in 1985.

Worse, the military stonewalled her mother’s effort to seek criminal charges, Kurtz alleges. Traumatized and betrayed, Kurtz had left the Army.

Her daughter was horrified.

“It was just like unbelievable, and I was disgusted,” Kurtz-Russ said. “I didn’t really know too much about what she went through. I understand why her and my dad said absolutely not (to her enlisting).”

Kurtz-Russ, now 20, won’t be joining the armed forces, she said. Ever.

Her mother, now 46 and living in Ohio, is relieved.

“There’s no way,” Kurtz said of her reaction to her daughter’s desire to enlist. She had just self-published a book about her experience. “I just told her that history has a way of repeating itself, and I wasn’t going to let history repeat itself on her.”

Their mother-daughter exchange is among the more extreme — but not necessarily uncommon — kind of conversation unfolding between parents and their children this high school graduation season.

Get used to women or ‘get out,’ Australia’s army chief says

‘A crisis and cancer’

The heartfelt talks — which have a profound impact on military recruitment — are amplified by how Congress and the Pentagon grapple with a growing crisis surrounding revelations of rape and sexual harassment in the armed forces. Equally disturbing is how so few of the crimes are even reported in the military, according to recent statistics.

Even one of America’s most prominent POWs and advocates for women in the military, Sen. John McCain, expressed deep reservations about enlistment in a recent conversation with a parent.

“Just last night a woman came to me and said her daughter wanted to join the military and could I give my unqualified support for her doing so. I could not,” McCain said earlier this month during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on military sexual assaults. “I cannot overstate my disgust and disappointment over the continued reports of sexual misconduct in our military.”

McCain agreed with testimony about how sex offenses are “a crisis and cancer that threatens the fabric of our military.”

The latest Pentagon estimates indicate a 37% increase in sexual assaults to 26,000 cases last year. Only 9.8% of those were reported, with the bigger picture being obtained through a confidential survey sent to serving troops. There were 238 convictions overall, the Pentagon said.

Those figures come as one proposed law would reform military justice by removing prosecution of sex offenses from the chain of command and giving it to experienced military prosecutors, as Britain, Canada, Israel, Germany and Australia now do, according to a spokesman for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York.

Women make up almost 15% of the about 1.4 million enlistees, officers, cadets and midshipmen in the military, according to Department of Defense figures.

In the past 10 years, the number of women in the military has fluctuated around the 200,000 mark, down from the high of 215,156 in 2004.

Pentagon leaders and their 13,800 recruiters have made tackling the issue of sexual assault a priority in their efforts to enlist 280,000 young men and women annually for active and reserve forces, said Defense Department spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen.

“The leadership of this department has no higher priority than the safety and welfare of our men and women in uniform, and that includes ensuring they are free from the threat of sexual harassment and sexual assault,” Christensen said. “Leaders at every level in this institution will be held accountable for preventing and responding to sexual assault in their ranks and under their commands.”

General suspended for alleged failures in reporting, investigating sex abuse

But advocates of rape victims are skeptical.

Military sexual trauma — the term for rape as well as sexual assault and harassment — goes unreported because victims must report the offense to their commanders, not an independent prosecutor, and victims fear losing their jobs or reputation, the advocates say.

While the Pentagon says rape prevention is a policy priority, Shelby Quast, senior policy adviser for Equality Now, an international human rights group that focuses on girls and women, questions whether that happens in practice.

“Unfortunately there’s a lot of things out there” in the world regarding abuses against women, Quast said, “and I can’t say it’s the worst, but it’s just a terrible betrayal. You signed up to say I’m willing to fight and willing to die but you didn’t agree to be raped by your fellow soldiers.

“If the U.S. military wants to stop sexual assault in the U.S. military, it will stop,” Quast added. “We know they can change culture and policy, and they have. This has to be mission critical to them.”

Quast recently had her own mother-daughter talk about enlistment. She describes herself as “a military child;” Quast’s father was an Air Force pilot declared missing in action after being shot down in 1966 over North Vietnam.

But when her daughter expressed interest in joining a college ROTC program after graduating from high school this month, Quast urged against it. Her daughter decided against joining.

Opinion: Soldiers and sex — can men evolve?

Wanting to force change from the inside

Sarah Strachan of Florida, however, was enrolled in her high school’s JROTC program, and next month she’ll enter the Army — even after enduring being groped by boys in the JROTC’s storage room, she said.

Her high school didn’t take her — or her mother’s — complaints about the groping seriously, both women said.

Strachan, 17, now wants to help reform the military from the inside: She wants to bring rapists and harassers before a court martial and put them in prison.

“I want to do intelligence in the military or military police where I can investigate these types of things and bring justice to the people who do it, because they never do” bring them to justice, Strachan said. After her military service, she might become an FBI agent investigating sex crimes, she said.

Her mother, Dianne, 46, is afraid for her daughter in the Army, but knows Sarah has a strong will. Once, her daughter even knocked one overly aggressive boy to the ground, even though she’s 5-foot-4 and 102 pounds, the mother said.

Dianne Strachan said she can only support her daughter’s decision. She believes her daughter is trying to live up to her father, divorced from the family, who was in the Army National Guard, she said. The family also has a son, 23, in the Army.

“I really didn’t want her to join because I see how they treat women, but I would never hold her back from doing something she wants to do,” said Dianne Strachan, a medical transcriptionist.

The rape crisis hasn’t deterred Kayla Wright, 20, from wanting to enlist, but it has influenced which branch of service she plans to join.

Wright won’t join the Navy because her husband, also 20, is now being medically retired from that service and has warned her that sexual assault is “more likely to happen on a ship because there’s more men to women” and “it’s not like you can get off a ship and get away from it,” she said.

“I told him I wanted to join the Navy, but he was adamant” against it, she said, referring to her husband.

The couple, married last year, plan to move from San Diego, California, to Phoenix, Arizona, where her family lives and she’ll enlist, she said. Her brother is in the Army, she added.

“The Air Force, they treat you the best,” Wright said.

Elizabeth Maglicco, 18, of Port Vue, Pennsylvania, isn’t afraid of the Navy: She’ll report to its basic training just north of Chicago next month.

McCain’s comments don’t faze her. “He didn’t want young women to join until this is all settled,” Maglicco said. “I don’t think obstacles should get in your way.

“Honestly, any job you go to could have sexual harassment. It’s not just the military,” she added.

The Navy chief petty officer who recruited her “told us not to put up with it and have zero tolerance for it,” Maglicco said. “So him talking to us made me feel a lot more comfortable, because there are guys out there doing the right thing.”

When Maglicco was 15 and began considering enlistment, her mother was worried. Her daughter is too naïve, too trusting, seeing only good in people, said Elizabeth Richel, 40, a certified nurse’s assistant.

Her daughter, who graduated from high school this month, actually signed up 11 months ago. In fact, because her daughter helped the Navy recruit two boys, she will enter the Navy with a promotion.

“She knows I’m not very happy about it. It’s more out of concern that things can happen,” Richel said. “I don’t feel good about any of the military branches. They’re hiding a lot of it, they’re covering it up.”

Chambliss’ controversial comments on sexual assault

Pride to pregnancy to persecution

The “rape culture” in the military, as Kurtz puts it, is something she’s facing head-on.

She self-published a book about being gang-raped and used personal journals she’s kept since the 1985 event: “The ‘M’ Word: My Story of Being Gang Raped in the Military.” The “M” word refers to military sexual trauma. She wrote the book as an homage to other women and men raped in the military, some of whose lives ended violently.

As a teenager, Kurtz was proud to enlist, even dreaming of becoming an officer, but seven months into her service, several soldiers raped her at age 19 on the U.S. Army base in Kaiserslautern, Germany, she said.

Her assailants drugged her, and the rape left her pregnant. She had an abortion.

For 11 months, she demanded her chain of command file charges, but she suffered reprisals, she alleged.

“Every week I went up there, they said they’re still investigating and I was getting a lot of retaliation at the time, and demoted,” she said.

When asked for a comment Thursday, the Army said it couldn’t immediately respond to Kurtz’s alleged rape because research involves seeking records from nearly 30 years ago.

But Army spokesman Lt. Col. S. Justin Platt added Friday: “Army leaders are committed to — and accountable for — eliminating sexual harassment/assault incidents by creating a climate where soldiers feel safe from this threat and a climate stigma free pertaining to reporting.”

In 2006, the government found the military’s Criminal Investigation Division records regarding Kurtz’s 1985 case, and those documents allowed her to receive 100% disabled veteran benefits for the post-traumatic stress disorder she suffers from the assault, she said.

To this day, she said, she cannot trust people. She has been through more jobs than she can count, she said. She and her daughter’s father, whom she met in the Army, parted ways when the daughter was 2 years old. She hasn’t been able to date anyone since and now attends support programs with other women who have been raped in the military, she said.

“People say we’re demeaning our country and our service. That’s not it,” Kurtz said. “We love our country and our service.”

But, she said, “possibly being raped” shouldn’t be part of the job description.

Opinion: Military rape prosecutions won’t work

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Moscow (CNN) — Russia’s president is fighting back: No, he did not steal a Super Bowl ring. And no, he’s not rocking the diamond-encrusted prize on his finger, either.

President Vladimir Putin‘s spokesman denied accusations that the leader kept a Super Bowl ring that New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft wanted back.

Both sides agree that the ring, with its 124 diamonds, changed hands during Kraft’s visit to St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2005.

“I took out the ring and showed it to (Putin). And he put it on and he goes, ‘I can kill someone with this ring,’” Kraft said, according to the New York Post. “I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”

Kraft made the comments at an awards gala Thursday night in New York.

A few days after the incident occurred, amid confusion as to whether the ring was a present or was kept by mistake, Kraft issued a statement that said it was a gift.

That’s the way Putin sees it, the president’s spokesman said Sunday.

“What Mr. Kraft is saying now is weird,” Dmitry Peskov said. “I was standing 20 centimeters away from him and Mr. Putin and saw and heard how Mr. Kraft gave this ring as a gift.”

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is a popular but polarizing figure who has dominated Russian politics for more than a decade. Click through to see some highlights of his career.

Putin serves as the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the City Council in St. Petersburg from 1991 to 1994. Before becoming involved in politics, he served in the KGB, a Soviet-era spy agency, as an intelligence officer.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin, right, shakes hands with Putin during a farewell ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow on December 31, 1999. Putin rose quickly through the political ranks, becoming the second democratically elected president of the Russian Federation in 2000.

President-elect Putin watches the tactical exercises of Russia’s Northern Fleet in the Barentsevo Sea on April 6, 2000. He has been at the helm during a decade of Russian economic growth fueled by natural resources of gas and oil.

A Russian cadet snaps a picture with Putin in Moscow’s Red Square on May 9, 2007, during an annual celebration of the end of World War II. Putin has pushed to modernize Russia’s military.

Putin attends an inauguration ceremony for president-elect Dmitry Medvedev at Moscow’s Kremlin on May 7, 2008. Putin was constitutionally obliged to stand down as president but stayed close to power, becoming prime minister.

Putin vacations outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia in 2009. Over the years he has earned a reputation as a “strongman,” declaring a crackdown on Chechen militants a priority in his first presidential term.

President Barack Obama meets Prime Minister Putin at his home in Novo Ogaryovo, near Moscow, on July 7, 2009. Putin said Russia was pinning its hopes on Obama to revive ties with the United States.

A worker takes down a giant elections poster bearing a portrait of Putin on October 13, 2009, in Moscow. Putin’s party tightened its grip on Russian politics with a sweeping victory in local elections, officials said, as the opposition alleged widespread fraud.

Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin ski together in Krasnaya Polyana, near the Black Sea resort of Sochi in southern Russia, on January 3, 2010.

Putin takes part in a judo training session at a sports complex in St. Petersburg, on December 22, 2010. The Russian leader holds a black belt in judo.

Putin receives a medical consultation during his visit to the Smolensk Regional Hospital on August 25, 2011. Putin said he hurt his shoulder during morning judo practice.

Putin speaks to supporters at a Moscow rally on February 23, 2012. He won the presidential election in March, with just under 65% of the vote. Former President Medvedev became his prime minister.

A topless protester shouts at Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, during their visit to the Hanover Industrial Fair in central Germany on April 8, 2013. Human rights groups say civil liberties and democratic freedoms have suffered during Putin’s rule.

Putin addresses the media during his visit to Hanover on April 8, 2013.

Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, ended their nearly 30-year marriage, the state-run news agency reported on June 6.

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Photos: Putin in power

The 4.94-carat ring is in the Kremlin’s library, where all official state gifts are kept, he said.

Kraft said when he demanded his ring back, the White House intervened and asked him to claim it was a gift to Putin to avoid souring relations with Russia, according to the Post. As a patriot, Kraft says, he played along. The White House has not responded to the claim.

The New England Patriots declined to comment Saturday.

The jewelry is worth more than $25,000, according to multiple reports from 2005, but Kraft said it had sentimental value due to his name being engraved on it.

There is some solace for Kraft, as he also received rings for the Patriots’ Super Bowl victories in the 2001 and 2003 seasons.

Super Bowl rings can fetch much more when they are auctioned, depending on who wore them. The 1991 Super Bowl ring of Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor sold last year at auction for more than $230,000. There were rumors Charlie Sheen bought the ring, but the actor later denied it.

At least one ring has been used to raise money for charity. In 2008, former Patriots defensive player Je’Rod Cherry raffled off one of his three rings to raise $150,000 for several children’s charities.

Putin announces marriage split

CNN’s Alla Eshchenko reported from Moscow, and Faith Karimi reported and wrote from Atlanta.

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(CNN) — David Michael Perez was “terrified of parenting” and swore it off for the first 30 years of his life.

It was too much of a sacrifice: Fatherhood is expensive, for starters, and he thought he just wasn’t cut out for it.

“I was afraid to do something that would make me so vulnerable. Of course the things that cause us to feel vulnerable (and hence scared) are the things that bring us the greatest joy and connection,” Perez, 33, wrote in an e-mail.

Then he met a girl. And now they have an 11-month-old boy.

He was excited to discuss this “amazing transformation,” but had a hard time finding equally excited fathers to commiserate with. So he created a space for sharing. He co-founded Kindling, a literary journal that is an “exploration in fatherhood.”

Kids: What makes my dad great

Most important job: Being a Dad

2012: Open Mic: Father’s Day

Even more Bill Tull’s Father’s Day tips

Perez is not the only one looking to be a more involved dad.

In the last 50 years, fathers have taken on more child care and housework, though women still do the majority, according to a Pew Research study released in March. In 1965, dads spent an average of 2½ hours per week on child care versus mothers’ 10 hours per week. By 2011, fathers were spending seven hours a week caring for kids, while mothers spent 14.

Dads aren’t who they used to be.

Perez describes his own father as “an incredibly selfless, loving father” who allowed him room to be himself and let him know he was unconditionally loved, though his dad was not the touchy-feely type.

“Like most men of his generation, he definitely worked a lot and I know he wishes that had not been the case,” he wrote. “Being from a Catholic, Mexican family, he was definitely emotionally reserved. I strive to be more emotionally engaged not only with my son but also with myself.”

So, if today’s dad is no longer the all-business provider who is less emotionally engaged than Mom, and he’s not the bumbling, disconnected dad of the past 30 years in popular culture (read: Homer Simpson), then who is he? And do we appreciate him for his sacrifices as much as we do mothers?

Let’s hear it for dear old Dad

Sonora Smart Dodd was listening to a Mother’s Day sermon at church when she came up with the idea to designate a day to celebrate fathers. Her dad, William Jackson Smart, was a Civil War veteran and a widower who raised her and her five brothers after her mother died.

She took her notion to local churches and the YMCA, and in June 1910 the first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane, Washington.

But Father’s Day didn’t catch on as quickly as Mother’s Day.

The holiday did not become official until 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson issued a proclamation for dad’s day. By the time President Nixon signed it into law in 1972, Mother’s Day had been a national holiday for 58 years.

The foot-dragging is understandable: Most mothers share a nine-month-long physical bond with their biological children; they are typically the emotional touch stone of the family as well as the workhorse of the home, as the March Pew study made clear.

Reverence for Mother as the parental nucleus is reflected in how we celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Average spending last year on Mother’s Day gifts was $168.94, versus $119.84 for dads, according to the National Retail Federation.

This year, spending for father’s day is up 2.1% from the previous year, and projected to reach $13.2 billion. For Mother’s Day, that figure is $17.1 billion, up .2%, according to research firm IBISWorld.

Paid leave lets dads build parenting foundation

Dads want it all, too

While fathers are contributing more labor at home these days, more women are becoming the chief or sole financial provider of the household in a recovering economy. In a first, mothers currently are the only or primary financial provider in 40% of homes with children under 18.

“Women have always had legitimacy in the home, and the women’s movement has given women legitimacy in the workplace,” said Professor Brad Harrington of Boston College. “Men have always had legitimacy in the workplace. But have they had a similar credibility in the home? No.”

In the midst of the debate about work-life balance, leaning in and having it all, it is not just women who are examining how their roles have evolved.

Experts say more value has been placed on mothers, sometimes to the detriment of the critical role fathers play. But men want it all, too, and are recognizing that a better balance means engaging more as a father.

“If we’re going to be serious about fatherhood, we need to talk about how they are equally important to the well-being of their child,” said Kenneth Braswell, executive director of Fathers Inc., a nonprofit that encourages “responsible fatherhood” and mentoring.

“Responsible fatherhood doesn’t mean anti-motherhood. We are trying to ensure that fathers are nurturing, protective, providers who are a compliment to the child’s mother.”

Tough choices

Brad Harrington remembered a three-year assignment in London as one of the highlights of his 20-year career with computer company Hewlett Packard. But In 1993, he surprised himself when he turned down an opportunity to return to Europe for a prestigious job offer after his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

In 1999, he was married with two children and a baby on the way when another opportunity arose for a stint abroad. This time, family considerations took priority again, and he stayed in America.

That was when he realized the outsize impact of family on career choices. At that point, he transitioned out of organizational leadership and moved into academia. The change offered fewer financial rewards, but it provided the chance to do interesting work while living a more balanced life.

Now, as executive director for the Center for Work and Family at Boston College, he wants to be a catalyst for discussing how men can make progress on the home front, the way women have in the workplace.

“Young men are saying I want to be an economic provider but also provide for the emotional needs of my children,” he said.

He saw the shift in perspective in his 2011 study, The New Dad: Caring, committed and conflicted, which surveyed mainly upper-middle-class white fathers from Fortune 500 companies. In one measurement asking about the traits of good fathers, respondents placed a higher value on “nontraditional” aspects of fatherhood, including emotional support, being present and teaching rather than discipline, financial security and child care tasks.

Harrington noticed a difference in the evolution of fathers at home and mothers at work. While women were gaining strides in being capable in both work and home life, men, he says, have not done as good a job to gain a foothold in the home.

Opinion: Fathers, stop coddling your kids

Staying engaged in fatherhood

Braswell, of Fathers Inc., said the idea of marriage and commitment is not what it was in the 1930s and 1940s. Back then there were two things that held a community together: 1. If you had a baby, you had to be married. 2. Divorce was unacceptable.

Today, he said, there are no rules. Now, census estimates show about half of first marriages end in divorce for women; the number for men is closer to one-third.

Unfortunately a new parenting model has not been created to deal with this reality, Branswell said.

“How do you do something in the place of marriage that gets the same outcome? What you do is start talking about relationships.”

He’s a married, churchgoing father of four who maintains relationships with the mothers of his two kids not by his wife.

His own early experience and frustrations to peacefully co-parent led him to focus his professional work on fatherhood.

For him, it underscored the importance of teaching fathers who are not with their children’s mother how to be involved, and he says it works.

“The vast majority of dads … want to have a positive relationship with their child. Most of them are good dads and want to be better dads,” he said.

Fifty years ago, the idea of a great dad was little more than a father who was a good provider and disciplinarian. Today, dads are increasingly looked to as sole or single parents, to support the family emotionally and to help their partners succeed in the wider world.

Society isn’t just expecting more from fathers; fathers are expecting more from themselves.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/15/living/modern-fathers-face-new-expectations/index.html?eref=edition

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The remains of a woman between 23 and 33 (far right) were found in Allenstown, New Hampshire, in 1985. Remains of the girl second from left were found in the same barrel. The other two bodies were discovered in 2000.

The older victim, between ages 23 and 33, had dental fillings and three teeth removed. Previous testing has shown she was related to two of the girls.

This girl, between ages 5 and 11, was related to the young woman found with her.

This victim, estimated to be from ages 2 to 4, has not been biologically linked to the other victims in previous testing. She had an overbite.

The youngest victim, between 1 and 3, had a slight gap between her upper two front teeth. She was related to the woman.

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(CNN) — The woman was related to at least two of the three children.

Was she their doting mother? An adoring aunt?

Or, given her relative youth, perhaps a much older sister?

“That leaves you with so many possibilities,” says New Hampshire State Police Sgt. Joe Ebert.

All four females are long dead, their bodies crammed into two 55-gallon barrels, the first barrel discovered by a hunter in 1985, the other 15 years later.

No one knows who they are.

Now, there’s a new push to solve a cold case that, so far, has stymied determined investigators.

This week, the National Center for Missing Exploited Children, after a request from state police, released new 3-D facial reconstructions of the four victims. They provide more details than previous images.

Investigators hope that someone, by looking at gaps in their teeth, thickness of lips, the length of their hair or other features, will make a connection.

“The right person is going to see it,” says Angela Williamson, director of the center’s unknown victim identification team.

Seemingly endless questions and possible scenarios swirl around investigators who have sifted through hundreds of tips or leads over the years.

Is this a domestic case, or a professional hit? How did the barrels come to be on a wooded lot near a state park in Allenstown, New Hampshire?

Were the four transients? Could they have lived on a commune? Did they live in other state or country?

Police have no missing persons report associated with the mysterious case.

Ebert, in an interview with CNN on Friday, said he has been open to theories and new evidence since he joined the case a few years ago. He’s certain of one thing.

“I believe that there is somebody who knows who these children are and knows what happened to them.”

Two horrifying discoveries

During deer season in 1985, a hunter made a grisly discovery on a parcel of private property near Bear Brook State Park, known for its bogs, lakes and trails.

A steel drum contained the remains of the woman, estimated to be between ages 23 and 33, and the eldest girl, who was between 5 and 11. Original reports indicated they died of blunt-force trauma. Investigators later determined they were related in some way.

State police, who handle nearly all homicide investigations in New Hampshire, notified the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), a computerized index that includes such reports.

It was believed then that the victims might be a mother and child.

“They came to every person’s door and asked, ‘Have you heard anything, if you knew anyone that’s missing?’ ” Allenstown resident Andrea Kelly told told CNN New Hampshire affiliate WMUR this week. ‘”No, we haven’t heard anything.’”

Within one day of the discovery of the bodies, state police were called in to investigate an apparently unrelated slaying of a man in nearby Hookset. Suddenly, that murder became the priority of the police force.

“It took a great number of resources,” Ebert says of the Hookset investigation. That murder was finally solved eight years ago.

New Hampshire, with a population of about 1. 3 million, sees an average of only 20 to 30 homicides a year, according to Ebert. About half are domestic incidents.

Policy called for troopers to look into a cold case if they were not working on a current homicide.

So, in 2000, an investigator drove to the Allenstown scene to check on the proximity of barrels on the property to a road and a mobile home park close by. The property included a trailer and the remains of a burned camp store.

In another barrel, the trooper found two more bodies — a girl between 1 and 3 and another aged 2 to 4. Tests indicated the woman whose body was found earlier was related to the younger child. So far, the girl between 2 and 4 has not been linked to the woman.

Suddenly, everything changed.

Instead of a mother and child, police broadcast that they had four victims, meaning old assumptions were gone.

“So much can change in that span” of time, Ebert says of evidence and investigative leads.

Police spoke to between 50 and 100 individuals, including the property owner and residents of the mobile home park. Now the case is getting a fresher look.

“We are reanalyzing each and every person,” says Ebert.

The department, when the NCIC broadcasts went out in 1985 and 2000, was flooded with information. “We took great pains to rule people out.”

The sergeant acknowledges that many may question why it took 15 years to find a second barrel 100 yards from the other. “How do four people go missing and nobody knows it”?

The sergeant cites resources needed for the Hookset murder, the number of people in the major crime unit and the fact that autumn leaves covered much of the property.

“They did the best with what they had at the time,” he says.

“I keep an open mind to everything”

Williamson, of the National Center for Missing Exploited Children, tells CNN that she and her team are awaiting results of more comprehensive DNA testing of the remains of the woman and young girls.

They are being aided by additional autopsy photos not available years ago.

Evidence indicates the victims were white, but investigators do not know skin tone or eye color. The bones were not in the best condition, given they were exposed to the elements and years of deterioration, says Williamson. They may have died as early as 1977 or 1978.

Joe Mullins, a forensic imaging specialist with the center, used newer technology to make the facial reconstructions. The use of clay directly applied on skulls is no longer necessary.

Investigators caution people looking at the reconstructions to focus on specific facial features.

“Don’t expect this to look like a Polaroid of the family member,” says Ebert.

Based on evidence and poor dental care, officials believe the four may not have been visible members of society.

“If they interacted with people on regular basis and suddenly disappeared you would expect somebody to say something,” says Williamson, a forensic scientist.

And they may not have been in a traditional family setting.

“I don’t think they were regularly in school and went home and had dinner with mom and dad every night,” says Williamson.

Ebert says, although it is a possibility, his hunch is the victims are not from New Hampshire. They could be from Boston, about 90 minutes away. Or Canada. Or more remote portions of the Granite State.

“I keep an open mind to everything,” Ebert says.

Police are not certain whether the victims were killed elsewhere and dumped on the property — or even when.

“It takes a very certain profile of an individual to kill a child,” says Ebert, who declined to elaborate on consultation with the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit.

“We either haven’t reached the family members we need to, or we missing their family members and for their own reasons they are not coming forward.”

One day, grave marker may bear names

Ronda Randall and her brother, maintain a blog about the Allenstown case and have provided some information they’ve gleaned to police.

“This case is so compelling,” says Randall, who grew up in southern New Hampshire and now lives in Maine. “This story has been very quiet.”

The siblings, who on their website say they do not represent a law enforcement agency, have talked with hundreds of people. Ebert says the pair have been in contact with state police.

Randall praises police for their doggedness and said she believes the case will be solved.

She believes she and her brother are in a sense a proxy family for the victims.

A grave marker at a church cemetery in Allenstown — a town of about 4,400 east of Concord — refers only to the first two victims found.

“May their souls find peace in God’s loving care,” the inscription reads.

One day, Randall says, she would like the grave marker bear names of the four victims. “I want to see it resolved.”

Social media might have made a difference

The woman and the girls were killed before there was text messaging, Facebook and other forms of social media — a fact not lost on investigators.

And, back in 1985, police did not have a clearinghouse for missing people. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had been in existence for only one year.

Social media is a valuable tool for investigators, says the center’s Williamson, who leads a five-member team.

“From the missing side it has helped in a lot of cases,” she says. “You can see who perhaps who they were talking to. With teenagers, their friends know more than their families know.”

Unlike in 1978 or 1985, people nowadays are extremely connected, be it through cell phones, e-mail or social media.

“If you don’t get a text within two hours you might wonder what is going on,” says Williamson.

Still, she cautions, there are still cases today when people “are not reported missing for various reasons.”

Ebert says someone critical to identifying the four victims may not have come forward because of a sense of criminal liability or guilt for not having provided clues sooner. The victims, he says, may have been part of a disjointed family.

He hopes the DNA testing may clearly show the relationships among the four victims, providing police and the public more opportunities to identify them. “Its an awful tragedy to lose a person to a homicide. It is terrible miscarriage of justice not to know who carried out the crime against your loved one.”

Williamson and her team are working on 650 cases involving unidentified children. The oldest case is from Arizona, in 1933.

Since November 2011, the team has helped identify seven children, one of whom was a victim of Gary Ridgway, the so-called Green River Killer, she says.

DNA helped solve the cases. Now Williamson hopes to give a family a sense of closure.

“A good day is giving a child their name back,” she says. “And we get very excited.”

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/14/us/new-hampshire-bodies-mystery/index.html?eref=edition

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