Spain

Back In December, Spain held what turned out to be inconclusive elections as voters clearly rejected the status quo with the country's lowest turnout in three decades. While incumbent Rajoy gained themost seats he was unable to get a majority and now four months later, King Felipe appears to have thrown in the towel on trying to bring the sides together in a working coalition. A new election for Spain is now inevitable in the summer after the king said no candidate counts with enough support to form a government - after a third round of talks between party leaders,

it has been a rather quiet session, which saw Japan modestly lower dragged again by a lower USDJPY which hit fresh 17 month lows around 170.6 before staging another modest rebound and halting a six-day run of gains; China bounced after a slightly disappointing CPI print gave hope there is more space for the PBOC to ease; European equities rose, led by Italian banks which surged ahead of a meeting to discuss the rescue of various insolvent Italian banks, while mining stocks jumped buoyed by rising metal prices with signs of a pick-up in Chinese industrial demand.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy wants to scrap Spain’s long-standing tradition of taking a siesta. The measure should improve work productivity and help Spain compete with its European partners in the cooler north, according to the PM. Mariano Rajoy also wants to extend the working day by one hour. Time reports: “I will find a consensus to make sure the working day ends at 6 p.m.,” Rajoy said, the Independent reported. Currently, it’s customary to begin work at 10 a.m. and break at 2 p.m.

Submitted by Giulio Melli via The Gatestone Institute,

• Among young European Muslims, support for suicide bombings range from 22% in Germany to 29% in Spain, 35% in Britain and 42% in France, according to a Pew poll. In the UK, one in five Muslims have sympathy for the Caliphate. Today more British Muslims join ISIS than the British army. In the Netherlands, a survey shows that the 80% of Dutch Turks see "nothing wrong" in ISIS.

Submitted by Dan Steinbock via The Difference Group,

As the Eurozone is amid secular stagnation, its old fiscal, monetary and banking challenges are escalating, along with new threats, including the Brexit, demise of Schengen, anti-EU opposition and geopolitical friction. According to Dan Steinbock, Brussels can no longer avoid hard political decisions for or against an integrated Europe, with or without the euro.