Boy Scouts push back decision on allowing gay members

IRVING, Texas The Boy Scouts of America's national executive board has delayed a decision on whether to lift its longstanding ban on gay scouts and leaders.

BSA said Wednesday the organization will take action on the resolution at its national meeting in May.

The organization said last week it was considering a shift of its policy, which has led officials to remove gay leaders and scouts. That announcement pushed years of debate over the policy to an even higher level.

President Barack Obama — Scouting's honorary president — spoke in favor of letting gay scouts in. Others opposed a shift. Protesters on both sides rallied at BSA headquarters in Irving, outside Dallas.

Scout leaders across the country will now have to decide how to handle a very delicate issue.

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Hostage Taker Waged Firefight With SWAT Agents

Jimmy Lee Dykes, the man who held a 5-year-old boy hostage for nearly a week in an underground bunker in Alabama, had two homemade explosive devices on his property and engaged in a firefight with SWAT agents before they stormed the bunker and killed him, according to the FBI.

One explosive device was found inside the bunker and another was located in the PVC pipe negotiators used to communicate with Dykes, the FBI said Tuesday night. Both devices were "disrupted," according to the FBI.
The search for hazards is expected to continue through today.

Preliminary investigation reports indicate that Dykes engaged in a firefight with the SWAT agents who made entry, according to the FBI.

Officials were able to insert a high-tech camera into the 6-by-8-foot bunker to monitor Dykes' movements, and they became increasingly concerned that he might act out, a law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the case told ABC News Monday.

FBI special agents were positioned near the entrance of the bunker and negotiators were able to convince Dykes to approach the bunker door. FBI agents used two explosions to gain entry into the bunker. It also appears that Dykes reinforced the bunker against any attempted entry by law enforcement, according to the FBI.

ABC News has learned that Dykes first opened fired on the agents during the bunker raid. Moments later, the agents returned fire, killing Dykes.

The shooting review team continues to gather facts regarding the incident, the FBI said.

Ala. Hostage Standoff Over: Kidnapper Dead, Child Safe Watch Video

The boy, only identified as Ethan, was rescued from the scene by a waiting ambulance. The bunker raid came six days after Dykes boarded a school bus, fatally shot the driver and abducted the boy, who suffered no physical injuries.

Click here for a look at what's next for Ethan.

"It's all about timing that is why you practice. You practice blowing the door in split seconds, flash bang, shoot before Mr. Dykes would even have an opportunity to react," Brad Garrett, former FBI agent and ABC News consultant, said.

Meanwhile, Ethan is set to celebrate his 6th birthday today, happily reunited with his family.

Ethan's thrilled relatives told "Good Morning America" Tuesday that he seemed "normal as a child could be" after what he went through and has been happily playing with his toy dinosaur.

"He's happy to be home," Ethan's great uncle Berlin Enfinger told "GMA." "He's very excited and he looks good."

"For the first time in almost a week, I woke up this morning to the most beautiful sight...my sweet boy. I can't describe how incredible it is to hold him again," Ethan's' mother wrote in a statement released by the FBI Tuesday.

Ethan is "running around the hospital room, putting sticky notes on everyone that was in there, eating a turkey sandwich and watching SpongeBob," Dale County Schools Superintendent Donny Bynum said at a news conference Tuesday.

When asked about a birthday party for Ethan, Bynum said, "We are still in the planning stages. Our time frame is that we are waiting for Ethan, waiting on that process, but we are going to have it at a school facility, most likely the football stadium at Dale County High School."

He said many "tears of celebration" were shed Monday night when Ethan was reunited with his family.

"If I could, I would do cartwheels all the way down the road," Ethan's aunt Debra Cook told "GMA." "I was ecstatic. Everything just seemed like it was so much clearer. You know, we had all been walking around in a fog and everyone was just excited. There's no words to put how we felt and how relieved we were."

Cook said that Ethan has not yet told them anything about what happened in the bunker and they know very little about Dykes.

What the family does know is that they are overjoyed to have their "little buddy" back.

"He's a special child, 90 miles per hour all the time," Cook said. "[He's] a very, very loving child. When he walks in the room, he just lights it up."

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Richard III still the criminal king

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

Richard III on stage and screen

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Dan Jones: Richard III's remains found; some see chance to redeem his bad reputation


• Jones says the bones reveal and confirm his appearance, how he died and his injuries


• Nothing changes his rep as a usurper of the Crown who likely had nephews killed, Jones says


• Jones: Richard good or bad? Truth likely somewhere in between

Editor's note: Dan Jones is a historian and newspaper columnist based in London. His new book, "The Plantagenets" (Viking) is published in the US this Spring. Follow him on Twitter.

(CNN) -- Richard III is the king we British just can't seem to make our minds up about.

The monarch who reigned from 1483 to 1485 became, a century later, the blackest villain of Shakespeare's history plays. The three most commonly known facts of his life are that he stole the Crown, murdered his nephews and died wailing for a horse at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. His death ushered in the Tudor dynasty, so Richard often suffers the dual ignominy of being named the last "medieval" king of England -- in which medieval is not held to be a good thing.

Like any black legend, much of it is slander.

Richard did indeed usurp the Crown and lose at Bosworth. He probably had his nephews killed too -- it is unknowable but overwhelmingly likely. Yet as his many supporters have been busy telling us since it was announced Monday that Richard's lost skeleton was found in a car park in Leicester, he wasn't all bad. In fact, he was for most of his life loyal and conscientious.

Dan Jones

To fill you in, a news conference held at the University of Leicester Monday confirmed what archaeologists working there have suspected for months: that a skeleton removed from under a parking lot in the city center last fall was indeed the long-lost remains of Richard III.

His official burial place -- under the floor of a church belonging to the monastic order of the Greyfriars -- had been lost during the dissolution of the monasteries that was carried out in the 1530s under Henry VIII. A legend grew up that the bones had been thrown in a river. Today, we know they were not.

What do the bones tell us?

Well, they show that Richard -- identified by mitochondrial DNA tests against a Canadian descendant of his sister, Anne of York -- was about 5-foot-8, suffered curvature of the spine and had delicate limbs. He had been buried roughly and unceremoniously in a shallow grave too small for him, beneath the choir of the church.

He had died from a slicing blow to the back of the head sustained during battle and had suffered many other "humiliation injuries" after his death, including having a knife or dagger plunged into his hind parts. His hands may have been tied at his burial. A TV show aired Monday night in the UK was expected to show a facial reconstruction from the skull.

Opinion: What will the finding of Richard III mean?

In other words, we have quite a lot of either new or confirmed biographical information about Richard.

He was not a hunchback, but he was spindly and warped. He died unhorsed. He was buried where it was said he was buried. He very likely was, as one source had said, carried roughly across a horse's back from the battlefield where he died to Leicester, stripped naked and abused all the way.

All this is known today thanks to a superb piece of historical teamwork.

The interdisciplinary team at Leicester that worked toward Monday's revelations deserves huge plaudits. From the desk-based research that pinpointed the spot to dig, to the digging itself, to the bone analysis, the DNA work and the genealogy that identified Richard's descendants, all of it is worthy of the highest praise. Hat-tips, too, to the Richard III Society, as well as Leicester's City Council, which pulled together to make the project happen and also to publicize the society and city so effectively.

However, should anyone today tell you that Richard's skeleton somehow vindicates his historical reputation, you may tell them they are talking horsefeathers.

Back from the grave, King Richard III gets rehab

Richard III got a rep for a reason. He usurped the Crown from a 12-year old boy, who later died.

This was his great crime, and there is no point denying it. It is true that before this crime, Richard was a conspicuously loyal lieutenant to the boy's father, his own brother, King Edward IV. It is also true that once he was king, Richard made a great effort to promote justice to the poor and needy, stabilize royal finances and contain public disorder.

But this does not mitigate that he stole the Crown, justifying it after the fact with the claim that his nephews were illegitimate. Likewise, it remains indisputably true that his usurpation threw English politics, painstakingly restored to some order in the 12 years before his crime, into a turmoil from which it did not fully recover for another two decades.

So the discovery of Richard's bones is exciting. But it does not tell us anything to justify changing the current historical view of Richard: that the Tudor historians and propagandists, culminating with Shakespeare, may have exaggerated his physical deformities and the horrors of Richard's character, but he remains a criminal king whose actions wrought havoc on his realm.

Unfortunately, we don't all want to hear that. Richard remains the only king with a society devoted to rehabilitating his name, and it is a trait of some "Ricardians" to refuse to acknowledge any criticism of their hero whatever. So despite today's discovery, we Brits are likely to remain split on Richard down the old lines: murdering, crook-backed, dissembling Shakespearean monster versus misunderstood, loyal, enlightened, slandered hero. Which is the truth?

Somewhere in between. That's a classic historian's answer, isn't it? But it's also the truth.

Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.

Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dan Jones.

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China women look for financial security in marriage

SHANGHAI: Financial security in marriage ranks high among women in China.

That's according to the latest Chinese marriage report which shows that nearly 80 per cent of Chinese women look for partners who earn twice what they do.

And more than half of them want full access to their future husbands' salary.

Xizhiyuan match-making company has been in business for 13 years.

They have noticed that how much a man earns has become more important to women in recent years.

Now more than half of their female customers ask for dates with men who make at least 50 per cent more than them.

Jiang Weilan, Manager of Xizhiyuan Match-Making, said, "Young people, particularly women, tend to compete with each other. In the past, they were happy with dates who earn slightly more than they do, but now it's no longer the case. For example, she is paid 10,000 yuan a month, she require her date to earn 15,000 or 20,000 a month. 50 per cent to 60 per cent more in salary is a very common requirement now. At least that's what we found from our clients. Even if they ask for doubled salaries, it's still quite normal."

According to the 2012 Annual Chinese Marriage Report, 77 per cent of urban Chinese women want a husband whose income is at least double theirs.

Sociologists say this is a reflection of the income disparity that still exists in China.

Lu Xiaowen, Vice Director of Institute of Sociology at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said, "We still face the unfairness that women are paid less than men in a lot of cases. Practically, women will naturally look for men who have higher income. This is a fact of our society. Besides, our income has increased significantly over the past few years, and the expectation of a further increase is high. Therefore, women now have a high standard when it comes to their future husbands' income."

The report also shows women now favour men with a stable income more than those who own an apartment.

The report found 89 per cent of women chose stable income as a must for marriage, whereas 68 per cent think a property decides who is qualified to be a husband.

Experts believe this shows a growing healthy trend, dubbed "naked marriage".

Lu Xiaowen added, "Naked marriage means when young people get married, they don't require an apartment or big saving. Instead, they work hard together to build their own home. A key factor in this equation is they both need a stable career and income so that they can mutually work towards their goal together."

Another interesting fact in the report - more than half of Chinese women want to control their husband's salaries after marriage.

Although men are not in favour of this idea, experts believe letting the wife act as family CFO could bring stability and harmony to a home.

Most women do, in fact, run the household and may be more equipped to deal with family expenditures.

- CNA/de

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Source: Authorities feared kidnapper's mental state

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Jimmy Lee Dykes' mental state was declining, a law enforcement source says


• NEW: The FBI's hostage rescue team freed the boy, the source says


• NEW: An FBI shooting review board is on its way to the scene, a spokesman says


• NEW: The boy remains hospitalized, his school principal says

Midland City, Alabama (CNN) -- The rescue of a kindergartner from the underground bunker where he had been held for almost a week was precipitated by concerns the kidnapper's mental state was in sudden decline, a law enforcement source close to the investigation said Tuesday.

Authorities have said little publicly about the Monday rescue that killed 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes and freed his 5-year-old captive just two days before the boy's birthday.

But the law enforcement source said Dykes' mental state deteriorated in the 24 hours before the Monday afternoon rescue, and experts from FBI units, including a crisis negotiation team, tactical intelligence officers and a behavioral sciences unit, determined he was in a downward psychological spiral.

The FBI's hostage rescue team forced its way into the bunker and rescued the boy, the source said.

While authorities have not said whether Dykes killed himself or if the team that stormed the bunker shot him, the FBI is sending a "shooting review board" from Washington to look into the incident, FBI spokesman Jason Pack said Tuesday from Alabama.

Evidence teams are also at the site, waiting for bomb technicians to finish their work, which was set to resume Tuesday morning, Pack said.

Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said Tuesday he could not release much information about the case.

"It's still actually an ongoing investigation, and we still have a lot of work to do here," he said.

The boy, identified by authorities only as Ethan, remained hospitalized Tuesday, according to Midland City Elementary School Principal Phillip Parker. There is no time frame for his release, Parker said.

Monday night, the boy's uncle said he expected Ethan to remain in the hospital at least overnight.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Steve Richardson said Monday that Ethan was in a private area with heavy security.

"He is doing fine," said Richardson, who had visited the boy. "He's laughing, joking, playing, eating."

What's next for Ethan?

Relief that Ethan was safe was palpable, but many questions remain about what comes next for him.

How does a 5-year-old heal from this ordeal? How does a youngster go on after witnessing his bus driver shot to death, then being dragged to an underground bunker by a gun-toting stranger? How will he deal with what he experienced the six days he languished in that hole and what he saw during the explosive rescue Monday that killed his captor?

"It's very hard to tell how he's going to do," said Louis Krouse, a psychiatrist at Chicago's Rush Medical Center. "On the one hand, he might get right back to his routine and do absolutely fine. But on the other hand, the anxieties, the trauma, what we call an acute stress disorder, even post-traumatic stress symptoms, can occur."

Support crucial for kids after trauma

The ordeal

Dykes boarded a Dale County school bus a week ago, demanding that the driver hand over two children, police said.

The driver, Charles Albert Poland Jr., refused, blocking access to the bus's narrow aisle as at least 21 children escaped out of the back emergency door, authorities said.

The gunman killed Poland, then grabbed Ethan before barricading himself and the boy inside a nearby bunker he had built on his southeast Alabama land. In the ensuing days, officials said little about what was going on in the bunker or in their strategy, or what -- if anything -- Dykes wanted.

While authorities have not said how they communicated with Dykes, they have said they were frequently in touch with him.

At one point Monday, Olson told reporters that Dykes had "a story that's important to him, although it's very complex."

Negotiations rapidly deteriorated, Olson said later. Dykes had also been observed holding a gun, according to authorities.

At 3:12 p.m. (4:12 ET), the FBI team went in.

One neighbor said he was outside when he was startled by the sound of an explosion.

"I heard a big boom and then ... I believe I heard rifle shots," said Bryon Martin, who owns a home near the bunker where Ethan had been held since last Tuesday.

It was a loud noise that "made me jump off the ground," he said.

Authorities wouldn't say whether the blast was set off as a diversionary tactic or whether Dykes had planted explosives around the bunker.

When the rescue was over, Dykes was dead and Ethan was unharmed.

Olson declined to say whether the boy saw his abductor die.

"He's a very special child. He's been through a lot, he's endured a lot," he said.

When terrible things happen: Helping children heal

The recovery

Someone who knows all too well what Ethan may go through is Katie Beers, who as a 10-year-old was held underground in a concrete bunker for two weeks by a New York man.

"I am ecstatic that Ethan has been retrieved safe and sound," said Beers, who recently released a book about her abduction. "As for my ordeal, I just keep thinking about the effects of it: being deprived sunlight, nutritious food and human contact. And how much I wanted to have a nutritious meal, see my family."

Beers says she still feels the effects of her kidnapping.

"The major issue that I have is control issues with my kids and finances," she said. "I don't like my kids being out of my sight for more than two seconds. And I think that that might get worse as they get older."

Guiding children through grief and loss

Martin Savidge reported from Midland City; Lateef Mungin reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Victor Blackwell, Vivian Kuo, Rich Phillips, Larry Shaughnessy, Barbara Starr, Michael Pearson and Steve Almasy and HLN law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks also contributed to this report.

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Buyout firm Silver Lake purchases Dell for $24.4B

ROUND ROCK, Tex. Slumping personal computer maker Dell is bowing out of the stock market in a $24.4 billion buyout that represents the largest deal of its kind since the Great Recession dried up the financing for such risky maneuvers.

The complex agreement announced Tuesday will allow Dell's management to attempt a company turnaround away from the glare and financial pressures of Wall Street. Dell stockholders will be paid $13.65 per share to leave the company on its own. That's better than $11 level the stock was hovering at before word of the buyout talks trickled out last month, but a steep markdown from the shares' price of $26 less than five years ago.

Once the sale to a group of investors that includes investment firm Silver Lake is finalized, Dell's stock will stop trading on the Nasdaq nearly 25 years after the Round Rock, Texas, company raised $30 million in an initial public offering of stock. Microsoft Corp. is investing in the deal with a $2 billion loan.

The company will solicit competing offers for 45 days.

The IPO and Dell's rapid growth through the 1990s turned its eponymous founder Michael Dell into one of the world's richest people. His fortune is currently estimated at about $16 billion. Michael Dell, who owns nearly 16 percent stake in the company, will remain the CEO after the sale closes and will contribute his existing stake in Dell to the new company.

"I believe this transaction will open an exciting new chapter for Dell, our customers and team members," he said in a statement. "We can deliver immediate value to stockholders, while we continue the execution of our long-term strategy and focus on delivering best-in-class solutions to our customers as a private enterprise."

Dell's sale is the highest-priced leveraged buyout of a technology company, surpassing the $17.6 billion paid for Freescale Semiconductor in 2006.

The deal is the largest leveraged buyout of any type since November 2007 when Alltel Corp. sold for $25 billion to TPG Capital and a Goldman Sachs subsidiary. Within a few months, the U.S. economy had collapsed into what would be its worst recession since World War II.

Leveraged buyouts refer to deals that saddle the acquired company with the debt taken on to finance the purchase.

Dell's decision to go private is a reflection of the tough times facing the personal computer industry as more technology spending flows toward smartphones and tablet computers. PC sales fell 3.5 percent last year, according to the research group Gartner Inc., the first annual decline in more than a decade. What's more, more tablet computers are expected to be sold this year than laptops.

The shift has weakened long-time stalwarts such as Dell Inc., fellow PC maker Hewlett-Packard Co., PC chip maker Intel Corp. and PC software maker Microsoft Corp.

Like the others, Dell's revenue has been shriveling and its stock has been sinking amid worries that the company might not be able to regain its technological edge.

Both Dell and its larger rival, HP, are trying to revive their fortunes by expanding into business software and technology consulting, two niches that are more profitable than the fiercely competitive and currently shrinking PC industry.

The PC downturn has hurt Microsoft by reducing sales of its Windows operating system to makers of desktop and laptop machines. As the world's third largest PC maker, Dell is one of Microsoft's biggest customers.

By becoming a major Dell backer, Microsoft could gain more influence in the design of the devices running on a radically redesigned version of Windows that was released in late October. The closer ties with Dell, though, could poison Microsoft's relationship with HP, the largest PC maker, and other manufacturers that buy Windows and other software.

Michael Dell and his financial backers are betting it will be easier to engineer a turnaround without having to pander to the stock market's fixation on whether the company's earnings are growing from one quarter to the next.

Taking the company private is a major risk, however. It will leave Dell Inc. without publicly traded shares to entice and reward talented workers or to help buy other companies.

As part of its shift toward business software and technology services, Dell already has spent $9 billion on acquisitions in the past three years.

Leveraged buyouts also require companies to earmark some of their incoming cash to reduce the debt taken on as part of the process of going private. The obligations mean Dell will have less money to invest in innovation and expansion of its business.

The buyout will mark a new era in another technology company that began humbly and matured into a juggernaut.

With just $1,000, Michael Dell started his company as PCs Limited in his dorm room as a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin. He would go on to revolutionize the personal computer industry by providing a way for companies and consumers to order custom-made machines at a reasonable price first on the phone, then on the Internet.

Initially valued at $85 million in its 1988, Dell went on a growth tear that turned the company into a stock market star. At the height of the dot-com boom in 2000, Dell reigned as the world's largest PC maker with a market value of more than $100 billion.

But Dell began to falter as other PC makers were able to lower their costs. At the same time, HP and other rivals forged retail relationships that gave them the advantage of being able to showcase their machines in stores where consumers could check them out before buying. By 2006, HP had supplanted Dell as the world's largest PC maker.

With its revenue slipping, Dell's market value had fallen to $19 billion before the mid-January leaks about the buyout negotiations.

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Boy Rescued in Ala. Standoff 'Laughing, Joking'

The 5-year-old boy held hostage in a nearly week-long standoff in Alabama is in good spirits and apparently unharmed after being reunited with his family at a hospital, according to his family and law enforcement officials.

The boy, identified only as Ethan, was rescued by the FBI Monday afternoon after they rushed the underground bunker where suspect Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, was holding him. Dykes was killed in the raid and the boy was taken away from the bunker in an ambulance.

Who Is Jimmy Lee Dykes?

Officials have not yet provided any further details on the raid, citing the ongoing investigation.

"I've been to the hospital," FBI Special Agent Steve Richardson told reporters Monday night. "I visited with Ethan. He is doing fine. He's laughing, joking, playing, eating, the things that you would expect a normal 5- to 6-year-old young man to do. He's very brave, he's very lucky, and the success story is that he's out safe and doing great."

Ethan is expected to be released from the hospital later today and head home where he will be greeted by birthday cards from his friends at school. Ethan will celebrate his 6th birthday Wednesday.

Ala. Hostage Standoff Over: Kidnapper Dead, Child Safe Watch Video

Alabama Hostage Standoff: Jimmy Lee Dykes Dead Watch Video

Officials were able to insert a high-tech camera into the 6-by-8-foot bunker to monitor Dykes' movements, and they became increasingly concerned that he might act out, a law enforcement source with direct knowledge told ABC News Monday. FBI special agents were positioned near the entrance of the bunker and used an explosive charge to gain access and neutralize Dykes.

"Within the past 24 hours, negotiations deteriorated and Mr. Dykes was observed holding a gun," the FBI's Richardson said. "At this point, the FBI agents, fearing the child was in imminent danger, entered the bunker and rescued the child."

Richardson said it "got tough to negotiate and communicate" with Dykes, but declined to give any specifics.

After the raid was complete, FBI bomb technicians checked the property for improvised explosive devices, the FBI said in a written statement Monday afternoon.

The FBI had created a mock bunker near the site and had been using it to train agents for different scenarios to get Ethan out, sources told ABC News.

Former FBI special agent and ABC News consultant Brad Garrett said rescue operators in this case had a delicate balance.

"You have to take into consideration if you're going to go in that room and go after Mr. Dykes, you have to be extremely careful because any sort of device you might use against him, could obviously harm Ethan because he's right there," he said.

Still, Monday's raid was not the ending police had sought as they spent days negotiating with the decorated Vietnam veteran through a ventilation shaft. The plastic PVC pipe was also used to send the child comfort items, including a red Hot Wheels car, coloring books, cheese crackers, potato chips and medicine.

State Sen. Harri Anne Smith said Ethan's mother asked police a few days ago not to kill Dykes.

"She put her hand on the officer's heart and said, 'Sir, don't hurt him. He's sick,'" Smith said Monday.

Taylor Hodges, pastor of the Midland City Baptist Church, said, "Many people here don't keep their doors locked. Things are going to change, especially for our school system."

The outcome of the situation drew praise from the White House.

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'Stop whining about right-wing media'

Former vice president Al Gore promotes his new book, "The Future" on January 30, 2013 in New York City.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Al Gore says right-wing media help account for resistance to Democrats' policies


• President Barack Obama said media coverage could determine future of bipartisanship


• Howard Kurtz: Fox News, Rush Limbaugh have influence, but White House has bigger voice


• He says conservative media gained support because of belief established media leaned left

Editor's note: Howard Kurtz is the host of CNN's "Reliable Sources" and is Newsweek's Washington bureau chief. He is also a contributor to the website Daily Download.

(CNN) -- I never realized that the conservative media were so eye-poppingly powerful.

So mighty, in fact, that liberal politicians can't seem to stop talking about how they are running roughshod over the country.

Howard Kurtz

My response: Can we please stop the whining?

The latest to rant about the right is Al Gore. The former vice president told Charlie Rose that President Barack Obama had been cautious, and when the CBS anchor asked whether there was "a very hostile environment for progressive ideas," Gore had his culprit ready:

"Fox News and right-wing talk radio. In Tennessee there's an old saying if you see a turtle on a fence post you can be pretty sure it didn't get there by itself. And the fact that we have 24/7 propaganda masquerading as news, it does have an impact."

Watch: Why Geraldo Rivera's Senate hopes are an empty vault

OK, Gore doesn't like Fox. So he started what he hoped would be a liberal counterweight in Current TV, spent millions on such stars as Keith Olbermann, and ... the channel flopped. It was such a failure that he just sold it to Al Jazeera for an estimated personal take of $100 million.

Leave aside the obvious contradiction of a climate change crusader selling to a network largely financed by the petrodollar kingdom of Qatar. Whatever you think of Fox, Rupert Murdoch's network has been a financial success and Current TV was anything but. Isn't that the free market at work?

Watch: The media's gushing send-off for Hillary Clinton

Obama often invokes the conservative media, most recently in an interview with The New Republic. Asked about working with Republicans in his second term, the president said: "One of the biggest factors is going to be how the media shapes debates. If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News or by Rush Limbaugh for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you'll see more of them doing it."

Now it's true that Fox or Limbaugh can boost or batter any lawmaker, and that they can help drive a controversy into the broader mainstream media. But we're talking here about the president of the United States. He has an army, a navy and a bunch of nuclear weapons, not to mention an ability to command the airwaves at a moment's notice. And he's complaining about a cable channel and a radio talk-show host?

Limbaugh later offered this response: "If Fox News and I are the only thing keeping the Republicans from caving to Barack Obama on every issue, I'm not paid enough."

Watch: Does Sarah Palin have a future after Fox?

I have been through this before. It was on my "Reliable Sources" program, in the fall of 2009, that the White House declared war on Fox News. Anita Dunn, then the White House communications director, called Fox "the communications arm of the Republican Party" and said, "It is not really a news network anymore."

The resulting furor gave Fox months of fodder and was widely judged a tactical misstep that if anything elevated the network's role.

There are times when many Fox programs, including in the nonopinion hours, appear to be on a jihad against the administration. And these days, MSNBC can be counted on to defend the Democrats almost around the clock.

But let's face it: These are cable channels with relatively modest audiences, and their impact is sometimes exaggerated inside the Beltway echo chamber. After all, Obama handily won re-election despite the best efforts of Sean Hannity and Limbaugh.

Watch: New York Times censors company's vulgar name

What liberals sometimes forget is that the conservative media took root because many Americans felt the fourth estate was too left-wing. ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, The New York Times and The Washington Post all strive for fairness, in my view, but there is little question that they have a social and cultural outlook that leans to the left. Collectively, they have far more weight than Fox, talk radio and The Wall Street Journal editorial page.

Right-wing pundits make a convenient foil, but at times Obama seems to magnify their importance. After all, he's got the biggest bully pulpit of all.

Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.

Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Howard Kurtz.

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WP's Lee Li Lian holds first Meet-the-People session

SINGAPORE: Ms Lee Li Lian of the Workers' Party headed straight to her Meet-the-People session after Monday's Parliament sitting.

The session was held at Blk 135 Rivervale Street.

About 30 residents were in the queue to speak to Ms Lee about housing and parking issues.

The Workers' Party's (WP) Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang also turned up.

Ms Lee was sworn in as the Member of Parliament for Punggol East on Monday.

Ms Lee beat the People's Action Party's Dr Koh Poh Koon, the Reform Party's Kenneth Jeyaretnam and the Singapore Democratic Alliance's Desmond Lim in a four-cornered by-election on January 26.

Ms Lee won the seat with 54.5 per cent of the votes cast.

She is the seventh elected WP member in the House.

- CNA/xq

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English king's body found under parking lot

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: DNA evidence says remains found under parking lot are those of Richard III


• Archaeologists found the body of a man buried beneath a car park in Leicester last year


• DNA tests confirm "beyond reasonable doubt" the identity of the bones


• Supporters of Richard III hope the discovery will mean history has to be rewritten

(CNN) -- DNA tests have confirmed that human remains found buried beneath an English car park are those of the country's King Richard III.

British scientists announced Monday they are convinced "beyond reasonable doubt" that a skeleton found during an archaeological dig in Leicester, central England, last August is that of the former king, who was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.

Mitochondrial DNA extracted from the bones was matched to Michael Ibsen, a Canadian cabinetmaker and direct descendant of Richard III's sister, Anne of York.

Experts say other evidence -- including battle wounds and signs of scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, found during the search and the more than four months of tests since support the DNA findings.

The skeleton was discovered buried among the remains of what was once the city's Greyfriars friary, but is now a council car park.

Richard III's remains will be reburied in Leicester Cathedral, close to the site of his original grave, in a memorial service expected to be held early next year, once analysis of the bones is completed.

Read more: Richard III: The king and the car park?

Archaeologists say the man they found appears to have met a violent death: There is evidence of two severe blows to the skull, and it appears Richard's corpse may also have been mistreated.

Richard Buckley, the lead archaeologist on the project, said the unusual position of the skeleton's arms and hands suggested the king may have been buried with his hands tied.

Investigators from the University of Leicester had been examining the remains for months. Others got their first glimpse of the battle-scarred skull that may have once worn the English crown early Monday when the university released a photograph ahead of its announcement.

"The skull was in good condition, although fragile, and was able to give us detailed information," said Jo Appleby, a lecturer in human bioarchaeology at the university who led the exhumation of the remains last year.

Turi King, who carried out the DNA analysis, said it was a "real relief" when the results came through.

"I went really quiet. I was seeing all these matches coming back, thinking, 'That's a match, and that's a match, and that's a match.' At that point I did a little dance around the lab."

Michael Ibsen, whose DNA matched with that of the king's remains, said he reacted with "stunned silence" when told the closely-guarded results on Sunday.

"I never thought I'd be a match, and certainly not that it would be so close, but the results look like a carbon copy."

Supporters of the infamous king, including members of the Richard III Society, hoped the discovery would force academics to rewrite history, which they say has been tainted by exaggerations and false claims.

Screenwriter Philippa Langley, who championed the search for several years, told CNN she wanted "the establishment to look again at his story," saying she wanted to uncover the truth about "the real Richard, before the Tudor writers got to him."

"The trouble is we judge Richard by a pseudo-Victorian values system, but we judge others in the context of their time," she said.

"He was a medieval man. If you put him back into the 15th century, he's exactly as the others are -- princes, dukes, nobles, they're all doing exactly the same things, and he's better than some."

Read more about the search for Richard III: Mystery of the king and the car parking lot.

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