Obama to designate monument honouring women's equality

Washington, Apr 12 (PTI) US President Barack Obama will today designate a new national monument here to honour the women's equality movement in America and across the globe, the White House has said.

The new Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument will protect the iconic house that has served as the headquarters for the National Woman's Party since 1929.

From this house, known in recent years as the Sewall-Belmont House, members of the Party led the movement for women's equality, authoring more than 600 pieces of federal, state and local legislation in support of equal rights.

"The designation will permanently protect one of the oldest standing houses near the US Capitol and help preserve an extensive archival collection that documents the history, strategies, tactics and accomplishments of the movement to secure women's suffrage and equal rights in the United States and across the globe," the White House said in a statement on the eve of the historic dedication of the monument.

The new monument is named after former Party president, activist and suffragist Alva Belmont, who was a major benefactor of the National Woman's Party and Alice Paul, who founded the Party and was the chief strategist and leader in the Party's ongoing fight for women's political, social and economic equality.

Efforts to protect the site date back to the early 1970s, and more recent proposals to include the site in the National Park System have garnered Congressional support including bipartisan legislation introduced by Senator Mikulski as well as strong support from local elected officials, community leaders, women's organisations, conservation groups and historians.

In addition to protecting more land and water than any President in history more than 265 million acres the US President Barack Obama has sought to protect places that are diverse, culturally and historically significant, and that reflect the story of all Americans, the White House said.

"By honouring the history and accomplishments of the movement for women's equality, tomorrow's designation will build on this effort towards a more inclusive National Park System and tell the story of women's fight for equality for generations to come," it said.

"Our national parks and other protected sites that represent America's diverse history and culture will continue to be an important priority for the Administration as the country celebrates the National Park Service Centennial this year," it added.

The National Park Foundation will announce that David Rubenstein is contributing USD 1 million to support the site and address immediate restoration needs.

In 1997, the National Woman's Party became an educational organisation and today, seeks to educate the public about the ongoing women's rights equality movement.
-Source PTI

Obama: Destroying IS group my 'top priority'

Washington, Apr 6 (AFP) US President Barack Obama has said that destroying the Islamic State (IS) group remains his "top priority" at a time when the jihadist group continues to lose ground in Iraq and Syria.

"We continue to take on their leadership, their financial networks, their infrastructure," Obama said yesterday at a meeting with senior military officials in the White House.

"We are going to squeeze them and we will defeat them."

"As we've seen from Turkey to Belgium, ISIL still has the ability to launch serious terrorist attacks," he added, using another term for the IS group.

Coalition forces must maintain pressure on the insurgents using diplomacy and intelligence as well as military operations, coordinating operations between various branches of government, he said.

"We can no longer tolerate the kinds of positioning that is enabled by them having headquarters in Raqqa and in Mosul," he said of cities in Syria and Iraq.

"Destroying ISIL continues to be my top priority."

Obama spoke next to Defense Secretary Ash Carter, General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and combatant commanders.

Carter yesterday proposed changes to the military that would streamline its various forces of some 1.3 million soldiers and boost their ability to respond quickly by reviewing the current "top heavy" structure set out in the 30-year-old Goldwater-Nichols Act, which critics say is outdated.

The fight against the Islamic State group has shown that the military's various commands and special forces should better coordinate their efforts, he said.

"We intend to be more efficient by integrating functions like logistics, intelligence and plans," he said.

Washington has led an international coalition staging airstrikes against the IS group in Syria and Iraq since September 2014, parallel to operations by the Syrian government and its ally Russia.

The Syrian army and its allies on Monday retook Syria's central town of al-Qaryatain, one of the IS group's last strongholds in the region.

The operation 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Palmyra helped secure the government's retaking of that ancient city last week after the Islamic State group held it for 10 months, destroying important archaeological sites and executing 280 people.
-Source PTI

Muslims should not be stigmatized, urges Obama

Washington D.C., Mar. 26 (ANI):Following the deadly attacks in Brussels, United States President Barack Obama has urged Americans not to stigmatise the Muslim community while stating that doing so is counterproductive in the fight against radical Islam.

Describing the Muslim-Americans as the 'most important partners' in the fight against ISIS, Obama asserted that attempts to stigmatise the community should be rejected.

"I am a father. And just like any other parent, the awful images from Brussels draw my thoughts to my own children's safety. That's also why you should be confident that defeating ISIS remains our top military, intelligence, and national security priority," the Express Tribune quoted Obama as saying.

"At least 14 Americans were injured, and we pray for their full recovery, along with everyone else affected by these attacks," he added.

Obama's remarks came following the controversial remarks made by two Republicans, who are vying to succeed him in the White House, in the wake of the recent bombings in Brussels.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz Cruz called for increased surveillance of Muslim neighbourhoods while Donald Trump reiterated that Muslims should be temporarily prevented from entering the US.
-Source ANI