European Midday Briefing: Shares Rally on Renewed U.S. Confidence

China said on Friday it had driven away a Philippine aircraft and multiple vessels near disputed atolls in South China Sea, in the latest in a series of confrontations in the strategic waterway in recent years.

The Chinese military said it issued strong warnings and "expelled" a Philippine aircraft that "invaded" airspace above the Scarborough Shoal, without giving a date for the incident.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, overlapping the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Unresolved disputes have festered for years over ownership of various islands and features.

In a separate statement, the Chinese Coast Guard said multiple Philippine vessels entered waters near Sabina Shoal to "cause trouble and provoke incidents".

The CCG said it took control measures against the vessels, including verbal warnings and forced expulsion.

The Embassy of the Philippines in Beijing, and the country's foreign ministry and maritime council did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China's sweeping claims in the region were not supported by international law, a decision that Beijing rejects.

Scarborough Shoal is one of Asia's most contested maritime features and a flashpoint for diplomatic flare-ups over sovereignty and fishing rights.

China in September approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed atoll, drawing a strong reaction from Manila.

Sabina Shoal, which China refers to as Xianbin Reef and the Philippines as the Escoda Shoal, lies 150 km (93 miles) west of the Philippine province of Palawan, well within the country's exclusive economic zone.

Source: Reuters

Four U.S. lawmakers on Thursday said there has been no accountability for an October 2023 attack by the Israeli military that struck a group of journalists in Lebanon, killing a Reuters correspondent and wounding others.

U.S. Senator Peter Welch from Vermont, the home state of one of the journalists wounded in the attack, accused Israel of not conducting a serious investigation into the incident, saying he had seen no proof of that.

He did not specify what details he had requested from the Israeli government, or what, if anything, he had been given.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm what specific efforts Israel has made to investigate the attack, which it has pledged publicly to review.

On October 13, 2023, an Israeli tank fired two shells in quick succession from Israel as journalists were filming cross-border shelling. The attack killed Reuters visuals journalist Issam Abdallah and severely wounded Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer Christina Assi.

The Israeli military (IDF) has said it does not target journalists but has not offered an explanation for why that Israeli tank unit fired at the group of journalists.

In a news conference organized by two advocacy groups, Welch, a Democrat, said he had been given no written proof of an Israeli investigation into the attack, nor any evidence that Israeli officials have spoken with victims, witnesses, shooters or any of the independent investigators.

In June 2025, Senator Welch's office was told by the Embassy that the IDF had conducted an investigation into the incident and the conclusion was that none of the soldiers acted outside of the IDF's rules of engagement.

Standing next to AFP journalist Dylan Collins, an American citizen who was also wounded in the attack, Welch said the Israeli authorities have "stonewalled" him on his pleas for an investigation and gave him conflicting answers. Welch did not give further details about the interactions.

"The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident," Welch said. "The IDF claimed they conducted an investigation but there's absolutely no evidence that there was any investigation," he added.

Welch said the Israeli government told his office the investigation was closed but separately told the AFP that the investigation was active and the findings have not been concluded.

"So which is it? Both can't be true," Welch said.

Asked by Reuters about Welch's comments and whether its investigation is concluded, an IDF spokesperson said: "The event is still being examined." The spokesperson did not provide further details.

AFP Regional Director for North America Marc Lavine said they had been seeking full accountability for what happened for more than two years.

"AFP calls on the Israeli authorities to reveal the results of any investigation and to hold those responsible to account," Lavine said.

Since 2023, Reuters has asked the Israeli military to carry out a swift, thorough and transparent probe into the strike that killed Abdallah. It has still received no explanation from the IDF on the reasons for that strike, according to the news agency.

Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen said at the news conference that more needs to be done.

"We have not seen accountability or justice in this case," Van Hollen said. "It is part of a broader pattern of impunity, of attacks on Americans and on journalists by the government of Israel," he said.

U.S. Representative Becca Balint and independent U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, both of whom are also from Vermont, said their efforts to seek justice for the journalists would continue.

In August this year, Israeli forces struck Nasser hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip, killing at least 20 people including journalists who worked for Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera and other outlets.

An Israeli military official told Reuters at the time that the two journalists for Reuters and the Associated Press who were killed in the Israeli attack were not "a target of the strike".

Source: Reuters

Source: Theguardian

Ukraine's special forces said on Friday they had conducted an operation alongside what they described as a local resistance movement to hit two Russian ships transporting weapons and military equipment in the Caspian sea.

They did not specify when the strike took place. A Ukrainian official said on Thursday that Kyiv's drones had hit a Russian oil rig in the Caspian Sea for the first time, disabling the extraction of oil and gas from about 20 wells.

The special forces' statement on Telegram did not say how they had hit the vessels or what the extent of any damage was. They said the ships were hit off the coast of the republic of Kalmykia, a region of Russia.

They named the vessels as the Composer Rakhmaninoff and the Askar-Sarydzha, which they said were sanctioned by the U.S. for carrying military cargoes between Iran and Russia.

The statement said that the "Black Spark" resistance movement had provided detailed information on the movement and cargo of the ships.

Source: Reuters

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), decreased by 1.8 million barrels from the week ending November 28 to the week ending December 5, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted in its latest weekly petroleum status report.

That report was published on December 10 and included data for the week ending December 5. The report showed that crude oil stocks, not including the SPR, stood at 425.7 million barrels on December 5, 427.5 million barrels on November 28, and 422.0 million barrels on December 6, 2024.

Crude oil in the SPR stood at 411.9 million barrels on December 5, 411.7 million barrels on November 28, and 392.5 million barrels on December 6, 2024, the report revealed. Total petroleum stocks - including crude oil, total motor gasoline, fuel ethanol, kerosene type jet fuel, distillate fuel oil, residual fuel oil, propane/propylene, and other oils - stood at 1.684 billion barrels on December 5, the report showed. Total petroleum stocks were down 2.9 million barrels week on week and up 55.8 million barrels year on year, the report pointed out.

"At 425.7 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about four percent below the five year average for this time of year," the EIA said in its latest weekly petroleum status report.

"Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 6.4 million barrels from last week and are about one percent below the five year average for this time of year. Finished gasoline and blending components inventories increased last week," it added.

"Distillate fuel inventories increased by 2.5 million barrels last week and are about seven percent below the five year average for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories decreased 1.8 million barrels from last week and are about 15 percent above the five year average for this time of year," it continued.

U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.9 million barrels per day during the week ending December 5, according to the report, which highlighted that this was 17,000 barrels per day less than the previous week's average.

"Refineries operated at 94.5 percent of their operable capacity last week," the EIA said in its report.

"Gasoline production decreased last week, averaging 9.6 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production increased by 380,000 barrels per day last week, averaging 5.4 million barrels per day," it added.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.6 million barrels per day last week, the EIA noted in the report. It pointed out that this was an increase of 609,000 barrels per day from the previous week.

"Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 6.2 million barrels per day, 7.7 percent less than the same four-week period last year," the EIA said in its report.

"Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 659,000 barrels per day, and distillate fuel imports averaged 181,000 barrels per day," it added.

Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 20.4 million barrels a day, up by 1.6 percent from the same period last year, the EIA stated in its latest weekly petroleum status report.

"Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 8.5 million barrels a day, down by 1.3 percent from the same as the last year period," it added.

"Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.7 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, up by 3.4 percent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was down 0.8 percent compared with the same four-week period last year," it went on to state.

In a market comment sent to Rigzone on Wednesday, Wael Makarem, Financial Markets Strategists Lead at Exness, highlighted that the American Petroleum Institute (API) "reported a massive draw in crude oil inventories of 4.8 million barrels, significantly larger than the forecast of a 1.7 million barrel draw".

Makarem added in that comment that "traders could react to the EIA crude inventory data later today, which could complement the API data".

Macquarie strategists, including Walt Chancellor, revealed in a report sent to Rigzone late Monday by the Macquarie team that they were forecasting that U.S. crude inventories would be down by 7.0 million barrels for the week ending December 5.

"This follows a 0.6 million barrel build in the prior week, with the crude balance again realizing tight relative to our expectations," the strategists said in that report.

Source: Rigzone

President Donald Trump is expected to direct his administration to move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that could represent one of the biggest shifts in US policy toward cannabis in decades.

Trump has discussed the idea with marijuana industry executives, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, the people said.

A White House official said no final decisions have been made on rescheduling. The Washington Post reported earlier on the plans.

Cannabis is currently labeled a Schedule I drug, putting it in the same category that includes substances like heroin and LSD, categorized as having no medical use and a high potential for abuse. Trump is weighing pushing to reclassify it to a Schedule III drug, according to the people, which would move it to a tier for substances seen as having a lower potential for dependency — on the same level as ketamine, Tylenol with codeine, as well as anabolic steroids.

Reclassification would make it easier to buy and sell cannabis, delivering a major victory for companies and investors in the sector as well as patients who use medical marijuana. Cannabis companies have been lobbying for reform in Washington and a reclassification decision could ease tax burdens and obstacles to banking services, help draw more mainstream lenders and investors and bolster opportunities for medical research.

US legislation around cannabis is a patchwork. Though it's banned federally, states differ widely in terms of legalization. More than 40 states and the District of Columbia allow marijuana use for medical purposes, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, while about half allow for recreational usage.

Efforts to pass federal legislation decriminalizing marijuana have so far yielded little progress.

While Trump may seek changes to the current status, including through an executive order, rescheduling would likely only take effect after the government finishes a rulemaking process that has been on hold since January.

Trump acknowledged deep divisions over the issue in August when he said a decision on marijuana classification could come in weeks. He said at the time that he had spoken to proponents of reclassification who stressed the medical benefits of cannabis and those on the other side who said loosening of restrictions posed a risk to children. The president told attendees at an August fundraiser in New Jersey that he was considering the change, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The campaign to reclassify marijuana gained momentum under President Joe Biden. The Justice Department in 2024 recommended shifting cannabis to Schedule III, prompting a formal review by the Drug Enforcement Administration. However, progress has been stalled with legal challenges and agency delays, leaving the issue and industry in limbo.

Opponents of reclassification have said the Biden administration's case for the change relied on flawed reasoning and downplayed health risks.

Kennedy has previously supported decriminalization at the federal level. He has spoken often about his own personal experiences with addiction and said in February that he was concerned about high-potency marijuana, but that widespread state legalization and decriminalization offered a chance to study real-world effects.

The decision comes as Trump's administration has sought to crack down on drug trafficking and taken a tougher stance on another drug, fentanyl.

Trump signed legislation in July that permanently designated all fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs, increasing penalties for those caught trafficking. The president has seized on a public health crisis sparked by the synthetic opioid to crack down on border security and undocumented migration and has levied tariffs on the three largest US trading partners in part over fentanyl trafficking.

Source: Bloomberg Europe