Reuters

By Ana Isabel Martinez

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mexico City's then-Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum made a point of always donning a face mask and firmly recommending others also do so as the virus devastated Mexico.

By contrast, her political patron President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador refused to wear a mask, even after he fell ill, in line with his government's guidelines that did not mandate mask use.... (continue reading...)

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain will grant 1 billion euros ($1.08 billion) worth of military equipment to Ukraine throughout 2024, according to a bilateral deal signed between President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday and seen by Reuters.

($1 = 0.9226 euros)

(Reporting by Belen Carreno and David Latona; Editing by Andrei Khalip)

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The European Central Bank will cut interest rates at a slower or faster pace depending on the strength of underlying inflation and demand, ECB chief economist Philip Lane said on Monday.

"The subsequent pace of rate cuts will be slower if there are upward surprises to underlying inflation (especially in relation to the underlying dynamics of domestic inflation and services inflation) and the level of demand (in view of the... (continue reading...)

By Dan Williams

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's ambassador to Dublin warned on Monday that a crisis in bilateral ties over Ireland's plan to recognise a Palestinian state sends the wrong message about Ireland as a tech hub and is worrying Israeli investors in the Irish IT services sector.

Speaking in Jerusalem, where she has held Foreign Ministry consultations after being recalled in protest, Ambassador Dana Erlich voiced hope of... (continue reading...)

PARIS (Reuters) - The European Central Bank has plenty of room for rate cuts and current market expectations for easing over the long-run are reasonable, ECB policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said in a newspaper interview on Monday.

After a first rate cute next month that Villeroy described as a "done deal", debate among ECB policymakers remains open about how fast and far to keep easing after that.

Villeroy, who is also the... (continue reading...)