Southern Financial News

ceasefire between Israel and its foes Hamas and Hezbollah ran aground on Friday as Israeli airstrikes killed at least 68 people in the Gaza Strip, according to medics in the Palestinian enclave, and bombed Beirut's southern suburbs. The Israeli military said it killed senior Hamas official Izz al-Din Kassab in an airstrike in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis and described him as one of the last surviving high-ranking members of Hamas responsible for coordinating with other groups in Gaza. U.S. envoys had been working to secure ceasefires on both fronts ahead of the U.S. presidential election next Tuesday.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Southern film heroes Prabhas and Jr NTR are reaping the benefits of their movies such as Baahubali and RRR, which turned out to be massive hits in the Hindi-speaking northern belt. Their new releases such as Salaar and Devara, dubbed in Hindi, are generating box-office success even though they are unrelated to their earlier hits, trade experts said.

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, is building what he says will be the world's largest supercomputer. Its electricity needs will rival those of 100,000 homes. The supercomputer's neighbors in southwest Memphis, Tennessee, have a problem with that. The project, part of Musk's xAI artificial intelligence business, sits in an old manufacturing plant on more than 550 acres. Before beginning operations there in July, xAI rolled in flatbed trucks loaded with almost 20 mobile power plants, fueled by natural gas, to help meet its electricity demands.

The Associated Press has learned that two humpback whales were found dead and another seriously injured this year in huge nets used to collect krill for fishmeal and human dietary supplements near Antarctica

A massive Lithium deposit has been discovered underneath the Salton Sea in California. FOX Business Correspondent Max Gorden discusses the plans for extraction and concerns over the environmental impact.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Starbucks is stepping up efforts to enforce its return-to-office mandate with a warning: Comply with the policy or risk termination. The company will be instituting an “accountability process" in January to ensure corporate employees comply with requirements to work in the office three days a week, according to an internal message obtained by The Wall Street Journal.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Another urgent conflict in the Middle East is playing out on the border between Syria and Jordan: a war against captagon, an amphetamine-like drug that’s taken off across the region. The drug cuts across social class and borders.

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 72 people since Thursday night and Israeli forces launched a night-time raid on a hospital in the north of the enclave, Palestinian officials said. The Gaza health ministry said a strike on houses in the southern city of Khan Younis killed at least 38, many of them women and children. The Israeli military said its forces had killed a number of Palestinian gunmen in air and ground strikes in the southern Gaza Strip and dismantled military infrastructure.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Quick-commerce platform Zepto is planning to appoint a managed office operator for its new head office in Bengaluru, said three people familiar with the development. The startup, which is in the process of moving base from Mumbai to the southern city, is in talks with flexible workspace providers such as WeWork India, IndiQube and Awfis, the people said on the condition of anonymity.

were among the top gainers.

Union Pacific’s third-quarter profit grew 9% as West Coast imports surged and drove the railroad’s total volume up 6%

The unions representing more than 7,000 CVS workers in Southern California have reached a tentative agreement on a contract

Israel's national security council on Wednesday called on Israelis to immediately leave some tourist areas in southern Sri Lanka over the threat of a possible terrorist attack. The agency said the warning pertained to the area of Arugam Bay and beaches in the south and west of Sri Lanka, and stemmed from «current information about a terrorist threat focused on tourist areas and beaches». The security council did not specify the exact nature of the threat and called on Israelis in the rest of Sri Lanka to be cautious and refrain from holding large gatherings in public areas.

Since Israel began bombarding Beirut’s southern suburbs as part of its offensive against militants, Lebanon’s national air carrier has become a local icon simply by continuing to do its job

Swavlamban Shakti at the Babina Field Firing Ranges. More than 1,800 personnel, 210 armoured vehicles, 50 specialist vehicles, and multiple air and aviation assets participated in this exercise conducted by White Tiger Division under Sudarshan Chakra Corps over six days from October 17. The Sudarshan Chakra Corps is a strike corps of the Army and is headquartered in Bhopal. This large-scale manoeuvre and live-fire exercise focused on testing New Technology Equipment (NTEs) from the Indian defence industry, to shape future combat strategies.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Ambuja Cements' acquisition of a 46.8% stake in Orient Cement for ₹395.4 per share has sparked debate about whether the company is paying a premium in a competitive market. As consolidation gains pace across the cement sector, Ambuja is expanding capacity despite lofty valuations and soft earnings weighing on the industry’s short-term outlook.

Railroad Norfolk Southern’s streamlined operations delivered strong earnings last quarter, even excluding boosts from insurance payouts related to the disastrous derailment in East Palestine and the sale of two rail lines

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: State-run NLC India Ltd is looking to raise about ₹4,500 crore through the initial public offering (IPO) of its subsidiary NLC India Renewables Ltd (NLCIRL) in April-June 2025, according to its top executive. NLC will offload 51% shares of the renewable energy arm, Prasanna Kumar Motupalli, chairman and managing director (CMD) at the public sector lignite miner, told Mint.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A month of Israeli military successes, capped by the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, is boosting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s popularity and strengthening his political hand. Netanyahu, who turned 75 on Monday, has once again shown incredible staying power as a politician, after his popularity suffered in the wake of last year’s Oct.

Sridhar Vembu, CEO of Zoho, recently took to social media to highlight the devastating impact of alcohol addiction on families in rural India, particularly in the southern regions. Through a video post, Vembu shared the story of a sanitation worker in Tenkasi who is struggling to support her family while grappling with the consequences of her sons' alcohol addiction. Her plight, Vembu noted, is representative of the many women he encounters during his travels across rural areas. These women, often the primary breadwinners, are burdened with the stress of sustaining their families in the face of addiction and neglect. Vembu emphasized the need for a mass movement to address alcohol abuse, warning that many women are at a breaking point. «We need a mass movement against alcohol — these women are reaching a breaking point,» he said in a post.

«And with this acquisition of India Cements by UltraTech and now Orient by Ambuja Cement, it is getting to the levels where the other regions are. So, very positive for the southern cement companies and also on India Cements,» says Rakesh Arora, Go India Stocks Just talking about now this value at 10,400 crores, given that it has now the third largest position in the South, what do you make of this further consolidation within the cement sector? Rakesh Arora: You have two large players who are trying to gain market share and consolidation has been going on pretty strongly. And I think this is the right step for the industry, especially South India has been highly fragmented. In other regions, the top five players have 80% capacity share. In South India, it was closer to 50%. And with this acquisition of India Cements by UltraTech and now Orient by Ambuja Cement, it is getting to the levels where the other regions are. So, very positive for the southern cement companies and also on India Cements.