In his comments on not ratifying the Istanbul Convention, Slovakia's Prime Minister Rober Fico said that protecting women's rights is more important than ever.

"Any violence against women is unacceptable and has no place in our society", Fico said to Sme daily. He added that the protection of women's rights is "particularly important in a time when migrants make up an increasing proportion of the European population" and bring with them "the perception of a woman as a submissive human being".

The Istanbul Convention is focused on "preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence" and is a Council of Europe initiative. To be valid within a country, it needs to be ratified by the national government.

Fico announced on Thursday, that Slovakia will not ratify the Istanbul Convention "because he considers it at odds with the country's constitutional definition of marriage as a heterosexual union". Fico therefor prefers to introduce national laws that protect women from domestic violence.

An anonymous first responder spoke to a WSVN-TV reporter about what he saw when he arrived to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14 - the day that 17 innocent people were murdered by a lone gunman.

The EMT, who was too scared to give his name, shared a jaw-dropping account that provides context to reports that have already established the botched response to the active shooter situation.

What did he say?

According to the first responder, everything about the response was completely botched.

"Everything I was trained on mass casualty events says they did the wrong thing," he explained. "You don't wait for the scene to be cleared. You go in immediately armed. Retrieve the victims. You can't leave the victims laying there."

"We were asking to go in. Asking the scene commander to go in. Why are we all standing around? Why are we not having patients to treat? Why are we not going into the building and retrieving these kids? The response every time was law enforcement did not clear the scene and would not allow medical personnel to go in," he added.

I held my breath as the protesters stood up and began their walk-out. "Please, let it be peaceful," I said to myself. In the weeks leading up to the event, we had received threats of violence. One person on social media said he would bring explosives. The university administration found the threats credible enough to send a team of armed campus police to patrol the lecture hall. As the protesters neared the exit, a woman suddenly lunged for the audio equipment, pulled leads out indiscriminately, and knocked some of the equipment to the floor. The microphones stopped working. Another protester shoved a student volunteer into the door.

What caused this extreme reaction?

Ex-Google engineer James Damore had been invited to speak as part of a panel discussion on diversity, held at Portland State University on February 17. As I had previously written in the Wall Street Journal, we were anticipating controversy. After the incident, however, the disruption and violent misconduct were downplayed. Willamette Week, a left-wing alternative newspaper, was dismissive: "[The Freethinkers] expected controversy. They warned of violence. None arrived." Perhaps not the kind of violence that had been threatened, but there was intentional "criminal mischief," hundreds of dollars in property damage, and unnecessary disruption lasting just over four minutes (not the 30 seconds the Willamette Week incorrectly reported).

Adversity has helped the Russian Federation create a more stable internal economy, and the country is becoming a better investment prospect
On February 23, 2018, Standard and Poors raised its estimation of Russia's sovereign credit rating from BB+ to BBB-. This is good news for the Russian Federation as it continues to realign its economy in response to the various sanctions that the West, mainly the United States, keep imposing on the nation.

Under President Vladimir V Putin's leadership, the country has gradually improved since the peak of the sanctions crisis near the end of 2015. The rating change means that Russia is no longer considered as "junk" investment territory. The Financial Times reports that S&P attributed the upgrade to the country's "prudent policy response" taken in response to the sanctions. The analysts further said this:

The ratings are supported by Russia's commitment to conservative macroeconomic management, its strong net external asset position, low government debt, and relatively high monetary flexibility, including the flexible exchange rate regime. The ratings are constrained by our assessment of Russia's economy, which remains dependent on revenues from oil and gas exports, as well as by wider institutional and regulatory weaknesses. Further constraints include geopolitical tension, and resulting international sanctions, creating a drag on Russia's long-term economic growth prospects."

As arrests of illegal immigrants increase due to actions taken by President Donald Trump to enforce laws greatly ignored by Barack Obama, civil rights activists in Florida are issuing travel warnings and tips on how to avoid law enforcement.

A Florida immigration coalition composed of activist groups, such as the Council of American-Islamic Relations of Florida, the Women's March, and the Florida Immigrant Coalition, are urging anyone who's in the country illegally to "reconsider visiting Florida and especially recommended to avoid high-risk areas, including ports, airports, and Greyhound stations," as reported by the Miami New Times.

Activists have staged events across the state to get out the word to illegal immigrants who are thinking about vacationing in Florida during Spring Break. They're also posting information on which areas to avoid as cooperation has stepped up between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and 17 sheriffs across the state, a decision that has been challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

New details have emerged on the deployment of Russia's most-advanced fighter jets to Syria. The state-of-the-art Su-57s are in the region to test their electronic warfare and radar capabilities, an insider has said.

Last week, the Russian Defense Ministry reportedly moved four Su-57s, which have been built for trials, to Khmeimim Airbase in Syria. The deployment was seemingly confirmed by Israeli satellite images and footage taken from the ground, but neither the Russian military nor the producer of the advanced warplane would comment on the move.

Right-wing media attacks on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn actually boost membership of his grassroots campaigning group, new data suggests. One spokesperson said "being hated by the Daily Mail has become a seal of approval."

According to Corbyn-supporting group Momentum, scathing attacks against the Labour Party only help boost support. A spike in the number of Momentum membership applications following critical coverage are proof of this, the group claims.

Corbyn's Labour is aiming to tackle negative coverage of the opposition at the hands of the right-wing media by using social media platforms to garner support. Momentum says there have been a number of occasions when after the right-wing media blasted Corbyn, his approval ratings went up.

This is very funny in sick CNN way. Brian Stelter is very, very concerned about fake news. He discussed the Russian trolls and how they laughed at Americans for falling for it. The host of Reliable Sources [the title is a joke in of itself] then complained about large numbers of Americans who cannot assess the credibility of things they read.

Ironically, he claimed he and other news folk have the responsibility to get the truth to Americans. It was only four days after he made up a fake story about Ted Cruz.

Viewership for the PyeongChang Olympic Games is shaping up to be the lowest-ever, Deadline Hollywood reported.

How low did it go?

Yesterday marked the last Friday of the Olympics, and the combined primetime coverage for NBC and NBCSN earned a 9.2/16 in metered market results. The figure is an all-time Olympic low and is likely to be the worst-ever, Deadline Hollywood reported.

Not even an appearance by first daughter Ivanka Trump and others from the United States delegation could boost the bottom line for NBC primetime ratings, the report stated.

"And bottom is the operative word today as Olympics fatigue has definitely set-in for the final stretch of the 2018 international competition for the Comcast-owned outlet," according to Deadline Hollywood.

Even The Wall Street Journal's op-ed pages have realized that American Universities, and their tenured ivory-tower-protagonists' "free speech" arguments, have sent the Spinal Tap hypocrisy amplifier to 11..

Tunku Varadajaran, op-ed
via The Wall Street Journal

Snow carpets the ground at the University of Chicago, and footfalls everywhere are soft, giving the place a hushed serenity. Serene, too, is Robert Zimmer, the university's 70-year-old president, as he talks about a speaking invitation that could turn his campus turbulent.

© REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman/File Photo
Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon speaks during a campaign event for Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Judge Roy Moore in Fairhope, Alabama, U.S., December 5, 2017.

Steve Bannon is scheduled to talk at the school early next month - there's no confirmed date - and Mr. Zimmer is taking criticism for the imminent appearance of Donald Trump's former right-hand man, a paladin of alt-robust conservatives. Mr. Bannon is precisely the sort of figure who is anathema on American campuses, yet Mr. Zimmer is unfazed by the prospect of his visit, confident that it will pass with no great fuss.

"It's been quite interesting to watch this because, as you can imagine, there are many people who are opposed to Steve Bannon and wish that he hadn't been invited," Mr. Zimmer says. Nonetheless, "the students have been remarkable. The student government had a 'town hall' with the faculty member who invited Bannon." The students ran the event, "and they were very clear that there was to be no disruption, that they wanted to have a conversation."

But at American universities, it isn't just the students you need to worry about.