In Brief – February 2023
Man runs a marathon for 365 days
Gary McKee, a North England resident, ran a marathon every day of 2022 to raise money for cancer treatment. He ran 26.2 km every day before going to work, completing 15,300 km during the year. He has raised £1 million for Macmillan Cancer Support and West Cumbria Hospice in North England.
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Chennai safest for women in India
A study conducted by talent strategy consulting firm Avtar, which analysed cities on five metrics — ease of living, safety, women’s representation rate, and women’s empowerment initiatives, has ranked Chennai as the top city in India for women’s safety with a score of 78.41 in the million-plus population category cities. The other cities in the list include Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai, in that order.
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Solar-powered car
Dutch company Lightyear has officially commenced assembly of a 4 – 5 passenger electric vehicle that charges wherever there is daylight, whether parked or on the move. Named Lightyear 0, this long-range solar car, with a starting price of ₤250,000, charges on the go and gains up to 70km of range per day from the sun.
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Creating opportunities for disadvantaged youth
Rare Recruitment, a London-based manpower company, is creating opportunities for disadvantaged young Britons at some of UK’s most prestigious companies. The firm uses a radical algorithm called Contextual Recruitment System, to identify talent from disadvantaged backgrounds and has so far ‘contextualised’ 1.7 million applications since it began in 2015.
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Blue bonds to protect the ocean
The Nature Conservancy’s Blue Bonds for Ocean Conservation strategy will unlock $50 million as part of a debt-for-nature refinancing programme, for the island nation of Barbados which is reeling in debt and tackling low tax revenue. The Nature Conservancy announced it will work with partners to buy a piece of Barbados’ national debt and refinance it to facilitate the nation’s goal of protecting 30 percent of its territorial waters.
