United Kingdom

While the term 'stress test' has been applied almost mockingly to European and US banks in an effort to create confidence for investors (because if the government sees risks 'contained' then why worry), this morning's Bank of England stress test results highlighted "capital inadequacies" for three major UK banks. While Barclays and Standard Chartered fell short, it is taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland that is slumping on a need to cut costs, raise capital, and sell assets.

The House of Common has passed a Bill that effectively bans porn in the United Kingdom, requiring users to register before viewing anything deemed ‘adult’.  The Orwellian new rules will prohibit most sex acts from being depicted in videos and pictures online, and any other type of sex will require strict age verification before they are shown to the user. The Digital Economy Bill has been criticized as making the internet in the UK more restricted than China.

Britain’s intelligence agencies and police have been given unprecedented levels of power regarding the surveillance of its citizens after the Investigatory Powers Act, dubbed the ‘snooper’s charter’ officially become law. The Bill was given royal assent on Tuesday, meaning that the government’s sweeping surveillance rules will now pass into law in 2017. The new surveillance law requires web and phone companies to store everyone’s web browsing histories for 12 months and give the police, security services and official agencies unprecedented access to the data.

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• Iran, Iraq at loggerheads with Saudis ahead of OPEC meeting (Reuters)
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• Euro-Area Confidence Rises as ECB Reviews Asset-Purchase Program (BBG)

Submitted by John Rubino via DollarCollapse.com,

No rest for the wicked. With the shockwaves from Brexit and President Trump still reverberating around the world, the established order is bracing for more bad news. Next up is a December 4 Italian constitutional referendum that might end the reign of centrist prime minister Matteo Renzi and replace him with a bunch of anti-euro iconoclasts from the Brexit/Trump part of the spectrum. Here’s an excerpt from a much longer, deep-context Guardian UK article: