In Brief – January 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 26.2km every day before going to work, completing 15,300km during the year. He has raised £1 million for Macmillan Cancer Support and West Cumbria Hospice in North England.
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.
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.
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.
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 per cent of its territorial waters.
