Philippines–Japan Diplomacy: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. honored outgoing Japanese Ambassador Endo Kazuya with the Order of Sikatuna (Grand Cross with Distinction), citing support for cooperation in infrastructure, transportation, maritime domain awareness, and disaster assistance. South Asia Trade Bottleneck: Bangladesh’s Banglabandha Land Port, despite a 1997 mandate to boost trade with Nepal, Bhutan, China and India, still struggles due to high transport costs, leaving trade largely reliant on stone imports. Maritime Energy Security: Strait of Hormuz shipping stayed light as mine risks and tanker-attack concerns persist, while Iran and Qatar discussed mine-clearing and a temporary safe corridor framework. Cyber & Supply-Chain Risk: A Chinese router maker was found to have planted backdoors in white-label routers sold globally, raising new concerns for logistics and connectivity networks. ASEAN Tech Governance: A regional CIO debate is intensifying across Southeast Asia over whether to standardise systems or localise them for different regulations and infrastructure. Nepal–China Flood Fallout: Nepal and China warned of fresh flooding risk as barrier lakes near the border threaten to burst, with rescue teams still searching for hundreds missing. Shipping & Trade Policy: EU imports of small parcels from China fell sharply after a new levy designed to curb the surge in low-value shipments.