Europe

Just four days after Banco UnPopular chairman Emilio Saracho told his employees "don't panic" as a result of the company's crashing stock price, on Wednesday morning the ECB confirmed that the sixth largest Spanish bank was indeed on the verge of collapse and ordered it to be sold, which is what happened when Santander acquired the bank for €1.00 after Santander's equity and riskiest debt instruments were bailed-in, i.e. wiped out, imposing losses of about €3.3 billion on the bank’s securities holders.

European and Asian stocks, as well as S&P futures were little changed ahead of "Super Thursday's" events which include the U.K. general election, Comey's testimony and the ECB policy decision. That however may change following a Bloomberg news report that the ECB is set to cut inflation forecasts through 2019 due to weaker energy prices, suggesting the "hawkish" ECB announcement some had expected tomorrow has been postponed.

Authored by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute,

Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,

France's president is lauded in the media for talking tough with his Russian counterpart, but behind the hype may be signs of a new alignment...

The three-hour face-off between Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron in Versailles offered some fascinating geopolitical shadow play.

Authored by James Durso via OilPrice.com,

It’s the 101st anniversary of the Sykes–Picot Agreement and, in light of the non-stop Syrian Civil War, it’s time to ask, “How’s that working out for you?”