Mexico’s central bank, Banco de México (Banxico), has continued cutting interest rates as policymakers try to support a weakening economy while navigating inflation risks linked to escalating Middle East tensions involving the U.S., Israel, and Iran.

Banxico lowered its benchmark interest rate to 6.5% earlier this month, citing slowing economic activity and softer inflation pressures inside Mexico. However, officials also warned that geopolitical instability and energy-price shocks remain major risks to the outlook.

The broader concern is that prolonged conflict in the Middle East could drive oil prices sharply higher, fueling global inflation and disrupting growth. Analysts say countries like Mexico face a difficult balancing act: stimulate domestic growth with lower borrowing costs while avoiding renewed inflation caused by higher fuel and import prices.

Financial markets worldwide have reacted nervously to the regional conflict. Central banks in several countries have either paused planned rate cuts or warned that energy-driven inflation could force tighter policy again.

Mexico’s economy has shown signs of weakness in recent months, and Banxico indicated that reduced consumer demand and slower growth helped justify the rate cuts despite ongoing global uncertainty.

Minutes from the Bank of Mexico’s May meeting showed a 3-2 decision, with policymakers warning the conflict is pushing up inflation risks.

All five members flagged the war as a source of upward pressure on prices, though most said the direct impact on Mexico remains limited.

Officials pointed to government fuel price controls as a key buffer against rising energy costs linked to the conflict.

A French appeals court has found Air France and Airbus guilty of corporate manslaughter over the 2009 crash of Air France Flight 447 crash, which killed all 228 people on board.

The Airbus A330 aircraft was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris when it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean during a storm on June 1, 2009. Investigators later concluded that iced-over Pitot tube sensors caused faulty speed readings, contributing to pilot confusion and a fatal aerodynamic stall.

The Paris Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday that both companies were “solely and entirely responsible for the crash of flight AF447”, and ordered a payment of 225,000 euros ($261,720) for each passenger, the maximum fine possible for corporate manslaughter.

Prosecutors argued that Airbus underestimated known risks linked to the airspeed sensors, while Air France failed to provide adequate pilot training for handling such emergencies. Victims’ relatives described the verdict as an important acknowledgment of responsibility, even though the fines are relatively small for companies of that size.

Although the penalties are largely symbolic, they capped an eight-week trial that victims’ families saw as a last chance to find justice two years after a lower court acquitted Airbus and Air France.

Both companies have repeatedly denied all charges.

Following the ruling, Airbus said it would appeal to France’s highest court, saying the latest finding contradicted submissions from prosecutors and the 2023 acquittal.

Prosecutors previously warned that an appeal was likely and denounced the companies’ behaviour throughout the decade-plus legal process.

“Nothing has come of it – not a single word of sincere comfort,” said prosecutor Rodolphe Juy-Birmann as the trial was under way last November. “One word sums up this whole circus: indecency.”

The crash led to a complex recovery operation in a remote part of the Atlantic Ocean, more than 700 miles (1127km) from the coast of South America.

During the initial searches, the French government had been responsible for investigating the crash and Brazilian forces took charge of retrieving the bodies.

In the first 26 days of searches, 51 bodies were recovered, many still buckled into their seats.

One family member who spoke to BBC News Brasil in 2019 said he had only been able to bury his son’s remains over two years after the incident.

His son, 40-year-old engineer Nelson Marinho Filho, nearly missed the flight out of Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão International Airport and was the last person to board, according to Air France staff.

The passengers came from 33 different countries, including 61 French nationals, 58 Brazilians, 26 Germans, two Americans, five Britons and three Irish nationals.

One of the Britons was 11-year-old Alexander Bjoroy from Bristol, who had been returning to the UK via France after spending half-term in Brazil.

Three Irish women – Eithne Walls from County Down, Jane Deasy from County Dublin, and Aisling Butler from Co Tipperary – were also among those killed.

All three were doctors and were returning home from a holiday in Brazil.

Brazilian prince Pedro Luiz de Orleans e Bragança also died in the crash at the age of 26.

Out of the 216 passengers, there were 126 men, 82 women, 7 children and one infant on board.

The 12 members of flight crew were mainly from France, with the exception of one Brazilian.

Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon have continued despite ongoing ceasefire negotiations, underscoring how fragile the situation remains across the region. Recent strikes reportedly hit areas near Tyre, Baalbek, and several villages in southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah said it responded with rockets, drones, and missile attacks targeting Israeli forces.

Israel said it had killed the Hamas military chief, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, in a targeted strike in Gaza on Friday.

Al-Haddad was described by Israel’s army as one of the senior Hamas military commanders who directed the planning and execution of the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw more than 250 taken hostage. A Hamas spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, confirmed the killing on social media.

A U.S.-brokered ceasefire extension between Israel and Lebanon was announced earlier this month, extending the truce by 45 days to allow further talks. However, both sides have accused each other of violations, and clashes have continued almost daily.

Lebanon’s health ministry says the death toll from the renewed fighting has surpassed 3,000 people, with thousands more injured and large-scale displacement continuing in southern parts of the country.

In a further sign that the region could be on the brink of a possible return to full-scale war, reports in the US and Israeli press said Donald Trump had been briefed on his military options in Iran, should he decide to break a five-week-old truce and resume strikes in the hope of forcing concessions at the negotiating table.

Lebanon’s state-run media reported that at least five villages in the south of the country had been hit by strikes, and the Israeli military confirmed on Saturday that it was targeting what it said was “Hezbollah infrastructure” in southern Lebanon.

Lebanese authorities said that an airstrike on Friday had hit a clinic run by the Hezbollah-linked Islamic Health Committee, killing six people, three of them paramedics. An Israeli military statement said it had killed Hezbollah militants preparing to fire rockets at its troops in southern Lebanon.

Al-Haddad’s family confirmed his death in Friday’s strike to the Associated Press. Six other people, including his wife and daughter, were also killed, according to reports. His two sons were killed earlier in the war.

His body was wrapped in Hamas and Palestinian flags as it was carried by mourners at Saturday’s funeral in Gaza City.

Al-Haddad joined Hamas when it was established in the 1980s, and was a member of the Qassam Brigades’ Majd section tasked to go after collaborators with Israel. He was also a member of Hamas’ Military Council, the highest group of commanders that played a key role in the attacks that sparked the war.

Israel’s army chief of staff called his killing a significant operation, and said that Israel would continue pursuing its enemies to hold them accountable.

United States federal prosecutors have indicted Cuba’s former President Raul Castro in connection with the 1996 downing of planes operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue.

The indictment, unsealed on Wednesday, marks one of the sharpest escalations in tensions between Washington and Havana in years.

The US Department of Justice alleges that Castro, Cuba’s defence minister at the time, played a leading role in the decision to have Cuban fighter jets shoot down two civilian aircraft on February 24, 1996.

It has charged Castro with one count of conspiracy to kill US nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destroying an aircraft. Five co-defendants were also named in the indictment.

Four people were killed in the 1996 attack, which triggered international condemnation and deepened the strains between the US and Cuba.

“ For nearly 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said as he announced the charges at Miami’s Freedom Tower.

“ My message today is clear: The United States and President Trump does not and will not forget its citizens.”

He described the four men who were killed — Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr, Mario de la Pena, and Pablo Morales —  as “unarmed civilians” engaged in “humanitarian missions for the rescue and protection of people fleeing oppression across the Florida Straits”.

“Nations and their leaders cannot be permitted to target Americans, kill them, and not face accountability,” Blanche added. “If you kill Americans, we will pursue you, no matter who you are, no matter what title you hold, and in this case, no matter how much time has passed.”

The US has issued sanctions on the country and imposed a blockade on oil to Cuba that has resulted in blackouts and food shortages.

Earlier on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a message to the Cuban people timed to the country’s independence day.

“President Trump is offering a new path between the US and a new Cuba,” Rubio said.

Rubio told citizens of the island that a Cuban military run conglomerate known as GAESA is primarily responsible for the blackouts and food shortages that the country continues to endure.

GAESA owns or operates most of the lucrative parts of the Cuban economy from the ports to the petrol pumps to five-star hotels.

In response to Rubio’s message, Díaz-Canel accused the US of lying and imposing a collective punishment on the Cuban people.

Díaz-Canel also said that the indictment of Castro was being used to “justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba” and accused the US of distorting the facts around the downing of the plane.

He claimed that Cuba acted in “legitimate self-defence within its jurisdictional waters”.

Orlando Perez, a political science professor at the University of North Texas at Dallas, mentioned that the timing of the indictment appears linked to a broader US pressure campaign against Havana.

“I think it’s important to look at the sequence of recent events,” Perez said.

He pointed to a visit last week from the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, to Havana.

That meeting came as part of ongoing negotiations between the island’s communist government and the administration of US President Donald Trump, which has pushed for leadership change in Cuba.

There were also reports this month alleging Cuba had explored drone and asymmetric warfare capabilities, as Trump increases his pressure campaign against the island.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he plans to speak directly with Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, a move that would mark a major break from long-standing diplomatic protocol between Washington and Taipei.

Trump told reporters, “I’ll speak to him,” while referring to what he called “the Taiwan problem.” It is the second time within a week that he has publicly said he intends to speak with Lai, suggesting the comments were deliberate rather than accidental.

No sitting U.S. president has formally spoken directly with a Taiwanese president since 1979, when the United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing under the “One China” policy.

The announcement is likely to anger China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory and strongly opposes official contact between U.S. and Taiwanese leaders. Beijing has repeatedly warned Washington against actions it believes encourage Taiwanese independence.

Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory and has not ruled out taking it by force. Lai, who took office in 2024, is behind one of the strongest pushes in years to strengthen the island’s defence.

The US has long supported Taiwan and is bound by law to provide it with a means of self-defence, but has had to balance this with maintaining a diplomatic relationship with China.

When asked on Wednesday if he planned to speak to Lai ahead of making a decision on US arms sales, Trump said: “I’ll speak to him. I speak to everybody.. we’ll work on that, the Taiwan problem.”

He also hailed his relationship with China’s President Xi as “amazing”, on the back of a two-day summit in Beijing last week.

When asked about the potential conversation between Trump and Lai, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday that China “firmly opposes official exchanges between the United States and Taiwan”, as well as US arms sales to Taiwan.

China urges the US to “stop sending wrong signals to the separatist forces in Taiwan,” the spokesperson said.

Trump has said he has yet to decide if the sale of a $14bn (£10.4bn) arms package to Taiwan, reportedly including anti-drone equipment and air-defence missile systems, will go ahead.

According to a report by the Financial Times, Beijing is currently holding up a proposed visit by the Pentagon’s top policy official, Elbridge Colby – saying it cannot approve a visit until Trump decides how he will proceed with the arms deal.

Last week, while flying back from Beijing on Air Force One after his meeting with President Xi, Trump was similarly asked about weapons sales to Taiwan, to which he said he would “make a determination over the next fairly short period”.

“I have to speak to the person that right now is, you know who he is, that’s running Taiwan,” he said.

During Trump’s visit to Beijing, China had made it clear that Taiwan was one of the biggest issues in its relationship with the US, with Xi warning of “conflict” between the two superpowers if handled poorly.

And while Trump dismissed the potential for conflict between the US and China over the island, he said Xi felt “very strongly” about Taiwan. “I made no commitment either way,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One last week.

Since the Trump-Xi meeting, Lai has issued statements saying that the island is a “sovereign, independent democratic country” and that peace in the Taiwan Strait will not be “sacrificed or traded away”.