India’s venture capital (VC) ecosystem demonstrated a strong recovery in 2024, with total funding reaching $13.7 billion, reflecting a 43 per cent increase compared to 2023, according to a report by global consultancy Bain & Company released on Tuesday.

Deal activity surged, with 1,270 transactions recorded, marking a 45 per cent rise in deal volumes. This resurgence reinforces India's position as the second-largest market for venture capital and growth funding in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in the context of 2024 funding in the region remaining largely in line with 2023, the report states.

Deal volumes increased across deal sizes and stages, while average deal size remained stable.

Small and medium-ticket deals (& $50 million), which made up around 95 per cent of the deals, increased by ~1.4x, whereas $50 million+ deals nearly doubled, rebounding to pre-pandemic levels as high-quality assets attracted deployments.

Hyundai Motor plans to build its first hydrogen fuel cell systems plant in South Korea for the start of operations in 2028, the company's labour union claimed on Tuesday.

Hyundai Motor currently operates a hydrogen fuel cell systems plant in China. If built, the domestic facility will be the carmaker's second such plant globally.

The company will begin the plant's construction within the year at its mainstay car manufacturing plant in Ulsan, about 305 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to the union website, reports news agency.

"To push ahead with the plan, there should be consultations between the company and the union," a company spokesperson said, without elaborating.

If confirmed, Hydrogen fuel cell systems produced at the new plant may be used in the Nexo hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (EV), hydrogen-powered Elec City bus and hydrogen trucks.

Notorious gangster Aman Sahu, accused of over 150 crimes across multiple states, including Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, was killed in a police encounter on Tuesday morning in Chainpur, Palamu district, officials said.

Sahu had been lodged in Raipur jail for the past few months. Jharkhand Police took him on remand for questioning in connection with recent criminal incidents.

While being transported from Raipur to Ranchi on Monday night, his gang allegedly ambushed the police convoy near Andhari Dhoda in the Chainpur police station area, using a bomb. During the attack, the police vehicle lost control.

According to the police, Sahu took advantage of the chaos, snatched a weapon from a police jawan, and attempted to escape while opening fire. In retaliation, the police shot him dead. A police jawan was also injured in the exchange of fire.

Michael Bracewell will captain New Zealand for the first time on home soil in the upcoming five-game T20I series against Pakistan, starting at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on March 16.

Bracewell was a star performer in their runner-up finish at the recent ICC Champions Trophy and is one of seven players from the squad set to join the T20 camp in Christchurch on Friday.

The 34-year-old all-rounder, who has racked up 66 international appearances since debuting for the country in all three formats in 2022, captained the white-ball tour of Pakistan in April last year and said he relished the challenge of leading the side.

“It’s a great honour and a real privilege to captain your country,” he said in a release. “I really enjoyed leading the side in Pakistan last year and we’ve got many players from that squad included for this series as well, which is nice.

The prevalence of chronic conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, asthma, prediabetes, and depression or anxiety, has risen to unprecedented levels -- 30 per cent -- over the past twenty years in the US, according to a study.

The study showed that nearly one-in-three young people or about 25 million young people ages 5 to 25 are estimated to now be living with these conditions that began in childhood. It is significantly affecting and limiting their lives.

“The prevalence of childhood conditions is currently higher than previous estimates suggest,” said lead author Lauren Wisk, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California-Los Angeles, US.

“Youth who are subject to socioeconomic vulnerability such as having less education, lower income, are on public insurance, or unemployed are all more likely to live with a chronic condition than youth with socioeconomic advantages,” Wisk added.

The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) forecast heavy rainfall across multiple districts of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday.

According to the RMC, Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, and Thoothukudi are expected to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall today.

Additionally, districts such as Virudhunagar, Sivaganga, Mayiladuthurai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Pudukkottai, and Ramanathapuram are also likely to experience significant rainfall.

In response to the forecast, district officials have urged residents to remain cautious.

A warning has also been issued for fishermen in Kanyakumari, advising them to avoid venturing into the sea.

Industry and labour ministers on Tuesday called for an exemption of researchers in the semiconductor industry from South Korea's 52-hour workweek system that prevents them from working extended hours even when needed.

The government has been calling for a revision to the system to allow such workers to put in additional hours when necessary, reports news agency.

Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun and Labour Minister Kim Moon-soo made the call during a meeting with officials from the semiconductor industry, including those from leading chipmakers Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc.

"The ongoing chip war is a technology war, and a tech war is ultimately a race against time," Ahn said, referring to the fierce global competition in the chip industry.

"The United States, Japan and Taiwan are fostering their semiconductor ecosystems with their national fortunes at stake, while China has almost caught up with our memory chip technology, which is one of our major growth engines," he added.

Oscar winning-filmmaker James Cameron revealed that his wife had “bawled for four hours” when she first watched “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”

In a conversation with Empire, Cameron said when he first showed his wife an early cut of the sci-fi epic, she was completely overcome with emotion and could not stop herself from crying, reports

“My wife watched the whole thing from end to end. She had kept herself away from it and I wasn’t showing her bits and pieces as we went along. This was Dec. 22,” Cameron said.

“She bawled for four hours. She kept trying to get her… back together so she could tell me specific reactions, and then she’d just tear up and start crying again. Finally, I’m like, ‘Honey, I’ve got to go to bed. Sorry, we’ll talk about it some other time’,” reports.

Three people lost their lives when a fire broke out in a slum in Delhi's Anand Vihar during the early hours of Tuesday, police said.

The incident occurred around 2 am at a slum on a DDA plot near Manglam Road in Anand Vihar, where four labourers employed by the IGL company resided, according to a police statement.

The fire engulfed the entire tent, reducing it to ashes. Forensic teams are currently examining the scene to determine the exact cause of the blaze.

Among the four occupants, only one labourer, Nitin Singh, managed to escape. He initially believed his companions had fled as well. Tragically, the other three -- Jaggi, Shyam Singh, and Kanta Prasad -- were unable to get out in time and lost their lives.

Indian equity scene looks attractive — a stock pickers' market — as the country is likely gaining share in global output in the coming decades driven by strong foundational factors including robust population growth, a functioning democracy, macro stability influenced policy, better infrastructure, a rising entrepreneurial class and improving social outcomes, a Morgan Stanley report said on Tuesday.

The implication is that India will be the world’s most sought-after consumer market, it will undergo a major energy transition, credit to GDP will rise and manufacturing could gain share in GDP.

“High frequency indicators were mixed in recent weeks but are distinctly better than a couple of months ago. We expect growth to recover after a H2 2024 slowdown on fiscal and monetary policy support, with recovery in service exports. We expect GDP at 6.3 per cent in FY25 and 6.5 per cent in FY26,” the report mentioned.

Macro-stability should remain in the comfort range, providing flexibility to policymakers.