Egypt, Qatar and Turkey issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s continued violations in Gaza, saying Israel must comply with its obligations under international law and honor its ceasefire commitments. The three said the actions constitute breaches of the ceasefire that undermine implementation of the second-phase truce and threaten de-escalation, and called for protection of civilians, medical facilities and humanitarian personnel and for unimpeded delivery of aid and medical supplies into

Atsushi Takeuchi, a former Bank of Japan board member who took part in Tokyo's intervention over a decade ago, said the US and Japan would "definitely" carry out joint intervention if the yen shows renewed weakness. He called the prior US-Japan action highly effective and said it created market consensus that the yen will not continue to weaken unilaterally; he sees USD/JPY trading in a 155-162 range near term and said he would not bet on USD/JPY if he ran a hedge fund. Takeuchi added that if the yen holds above 160 for about a week markets would treat that as a short-term bottom and begin to push the currency stronger.

Sinopec’s Chongqing Chuanwei Chemical successfully started up a 50,000 t/yr specialty polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) unit on first-run and produced qualified product; the first shipment has been dispatched to Europe. The addition brings Chuanwei’s total PVA capacity to 210,000 t/yr, making it the largest single-factory high-end PVA production base and the fourth-largest PVA capacity holder worldwide.