Southern Financial News

Israel Foreign Ministry took to microblogging site ‘X’ to inform that the German-Israeli dual citizen Shani Louk's dead body was found, confirming that the status of the hostage taken by Hamas fighters after the 7 October surprise attack on Israel. According to reports, the 23 year old Louk was attending the Re'im music festival in Re'im.

all-party meet, called by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the wake of the multiple blasts at a religious gathering in the state that claimed three lives, on Monday resolved to resist attempts to create mistrust and intolerance in society. The meet, held at the conference hall in the Secretariat complex, also unanimously resolved to urge people not to indulge in baseless accusations, speculative campaigns and rumour-mongering in the wake of the blasts, a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.

Gaza Strip on Monday, reaching built-up areas as the U.N. and medical staff warned that airstrikes are hitting closer to hospitals, where tens of thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter alongside thousands of wounded. The increasing ground operations came a day after 33 trucks carrying food, medicine and other supplies entered Gaza from Egypt, the largest convoy of humanitarian aid since the war between Israel and Hamas began.

AU Small Finance Bank lost over 8 percent in intra-day deals on Monday, after the lender announced that its board has approved the merger with Fincare Small Finance Bank. The firm will acquire Fincare Small Finance Bank in an all-stock transaction valued at ₹4,411 crore. The move is aimed at extending the bank's footprint in southern India and entering the microfinance sector, it said.

Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina are likely to jointly inaugurate two railway projects and a mega power plant on November 1. A government official said that Modi and Hasina would likely jointly virtually inaugurate the 1320 MW generation capacity Maitree Super Thermal Power project at Rampal in Bangladesh’s Khulna division, 15.064 km long Akhaura (Bangladesh)-Agartala (Tripura,India) rail link project, 86.87 km long Khulna-Mongla port rail line project. Akhaura-Agartala new railway line (5.05 km in India and 10.014 km in Bangladesh) would link Bangladesh’s railway station Akhaura through an international immigration station at Nischintapur in western Tripura. The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) is the nodal agency of the Rs 1,000 crore Agartala-Akhaura railway project, which was finalised in January 2010 when Bangladesh Prime Minister met then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during her visit to New Delhi. The Agartala-Akhaura railway project, which is a dual gauge station for both passenger and goods interchange between India and Bangladesh would enable people of the northeastern states, especially Tripura, and southern part of Assam and Mizoram, can go to Kolkata by rail saving 22 hours of travel time. The 1320 MW generation capacity Maitree Super Thermal Power project at Rampal, with two units of 560 MW each, was constructed under the concessional financing scheme of India.

By Jose Devasia, Maria Ponnezhath and Chris Thomas

NEW DELHI : The healthiest of cooking oils now comes with an even heftier price tag as climate change-induced droughts, heat waves, and wildfires scorch olive plantations in southern Europe. Extreme weather events for the second straight year in the olive-producing region have nearly halved global harvests, driving up olive oil prices to a record. Benchmark retail prices rose to a record high of $9,000 per tonne in October, showed data from the US department of agriculture.

By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber

BJP national spokesman Sudhanshu Trivedi on Sunday said central agencies will investigate the alleged virtual participation of a Hamas leader in a protest programme in Kerala against Israel's war with the militant outfit. Kerala BJP chief K Surendran alleged on Saturday that Hamas leader Khaled Mashal had participated virtually in the protest programme organised by an Islamist group in the southern state. Trivedi said that the Hamas leader addressed a rally virtually in Kerala from where Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is a Lok Sabha member.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) — The head of self-driving auto technologies firm Mobileye and one of Israel's leading businessmen, Amnon Shashua, on Sunday urged the immediate ouster of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday. “The air defense systems in place destroyed 36 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the Black Sea and the northwestern part of the Crimean peninsula,” the ministry wrote on Telegram. Local authorities in the southern Krasnodar region bordering the Black Sea said that a fire broke out at an oil refinery in the early hours of Sunday, but did not specify the cause. “The reasons for the incident are being established,” a statement from local authorities said, amid claims in local media outlets that the fire had been caused by a drone strike or debris from a downed drone. Drone strikes and shelling on the Russian border regions and Moscow-annexed Crimea are a regular occurrence.

The starting gun has fired on ARN Media’s $225 million takeover bid for rival radio and television broadcaster Southern Cross Austereo – but Street Talk understands the target is taking advice from a new source.

ARN Media has been “opportunistic” and chosen the “absolute cyclical low” in the media market to launch a surprise takeover offer if its main rival, Southern Cross Austereo, the target’s chairman says.

In the end, the tenth edition of the Rugby World Cup wasn’t decided by a high-risk selection strategy, a bold use of the bench or a freakish drop-goal with seconds to play. Instead, it was the oldest truism in rugby that won the day – keep your discipline.

Gaza to move to the south of the besieged territory, where it said humanitarian efforts «will be expanding». «Civilians in northern Gaza and Gaza City should temporarily move south of Wadi Gaza to a safer area where they can receive water, food and medicine,» IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in a statement recorded on Saturday. «Tomorrow, the humanitarian efforts to Gaza, led by Egypt and the United States, will be expanding,» he added. Although the video was posted on X, formerly Twitter, early Sunday morning, another IDF spokesperson told AFP that the video had been recorded on Saturday, and confirmed the humanitarian efforts would be expanding on Sunday. Israel unleashed a massive bombing campaign after Hamas gunmen stormed across the Gaza border on October 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 230 hostages, according to Israeli officials. Since then, relentless Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed more than 8,000 people, half of them children, the Hamas-controlled health ministry in the territory said Saturday. Despite increasingly frantic appeals for an end to the violence, Israel says it is intensifying its ground operations, while continuing to pummel Gaza from the sky. Hamas authorities reported Sunday a «large number» of people killed overnight in strikes on two refugee camps in northern Gaza. Israel's Home Front Command earlier warned residents in the southern cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon of incoming missile and rocket attacks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night while warning that the assault would intensify ahead of a broad ground invasion into the territory. “There are moments in which a nation faces two possibilities: to do or die. We now face that test and I have no doubt how it will end: We will be the victors.

San Diego has been identified as the costliest city in the United States, with Los Angeles, Honolulu, and Miami following closely behind. Santa Barbara secured the fifth position, according to a recent survey. The list of the most expensive places to reside, as per findings in US News and World Report, features three of the top five cities located in Southern California, according to a report. In total, eight cities in California found their way into the top 10, with San Francisco, Salinas, Santa Rosa, Vallejo, and Fairfield all included. The survey's rankings are determined by assessing the «median gross rent and annual housing costs for mortgage-paying homeowners» in each metropolitan area, the Deadline report stated. Meanwhile, a key indicator of US inflation stayed steady in September, the government reported Friday, as policymakers push on in their battle against persistent price increases. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, which is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, rose 3.4 percent from a year ago — the same rate as in the preceding two months — said the Commerce Department. The data comes days before Federal Reserve policymakers gather for a two-day meeting to mull whether to raise interest rates again to combat stubborn inflation. While consumer inflation has cooled, the latest figures remain well above officials' two percent target and could prompt further action. Fed policymakers are due to announce their rate decision next Wednesday, with analysts generally expecting them to hold off further increases for now as the effects of earlier rate hikes ripple through the economy.

According to forecast models, the most substantial snowfall is likely to occur in the mountainous regions surrounding Denver. However, cities like Omaha, Nebraska, and Des Moines, Iowa, could also experience frozen precipitation during this storm.

Hurricane Otis is evident everywhere due to broken windows, streets awash in mud, and a city with many people missing. Acapulco hasn't seen a calamity of this magnitude in decades, and the storm's sudden intensity caught even the most seasoned experts off guard. Hurricane Otis' wind speeds soared by 115 mph within just 24 hours, a time frame typically considered too short for such a drastic escalation. This unexpected surge has secured Otis' place as the second fastest-intensifying hurricane in recent history, as documented by the National Hurricane Center. The center didn't hold back, labeling Otis a «nightmare scenario.»

Gaza Strip has become an indistinguishable wasteland of rubble, with residents likening the devastation to that of a natural disaster. The intense bombardments «changed the landscape», Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for the Gaza Civil Defence told AFP of the damage. «Hundreds of buildings and houses were completely destroyed and thousands of other homes were damaged,» he added. The destruction followed an announcement from the Israeli military that its forces had expanded operations in Gaza, following three weeks of intense bombardments in the wake of the October 7 attacks by Hamas in southern Israel. More than 7,700 people have since been killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, including some 3,500 children, according to the territory's health ministry. They came after Hamas militants crossed the heavily fortified border to southern Israel, killing some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials. The Islamist group has also taken some 229 people to the Gaza Strip as captives, according to the army. Just hours before Israel intensified its bombardment on Friday night, army spokesman Daniel Hagari accused Hamas fighters of waging war on Israel from Gaza's hospitals and using civilians as «human shields». In Shati refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City, widespread damage was visible. «What happened in Shati is worse than an earthquake,» camp resident Alaa Mahdi, 51, told AFP. «There was bombing from everywhere, the navy, artillery and the planes,» he continued.

Crypto exchange Gemini has initiated a lawsuit against digital asset lender Genesis in an attempt to gain control over $1.6 billion worth of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust shares.