22 must-read stories for the weekend

An attack against culture. When terrorists target places of cultural significance, they seek to destroy our common values and history.

Travel is becoming more resilient to terrorism. The time taken for destinations to bounce back has fallen from years to months.

Global trade: not growing slowly. Falling fast.

Counting the economic cost of climate change. New research suggests we’ve got our calculations all wrong.

Fintech threatens to disrupt banking. But newcomers will be slowed by regulation while incumbents adapt to their new ideas.

Islam does not oppress women. But a warped interpretation of the religion does. How can Muslim women fight back?

Denmark is a leader in gender equality. So why will it take another 500 years for Danish women to earn the same as men?

Ending female genital mutilation in a generation. “The key to ending it is so simple, it’s extraordinary.”

The 10 most gender equal countries in the world. Did yours make the cut? You can also read this year’s Global Gender Gap Report in full.

Understanding ISIS. It’s not recruitment by social media. Researchers say what’s driving young people to terrorism is a crisis of identity and peer pressure.

Facts about people fleeing violence. “The biggest challenges in accommodating refugees are social and political, rather than economic.” And one of the best ways to alleviate poverty? Immigration.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution proceeds apace. Chinese scientists are using gene-editing technology to re-engineer livestock. Meanwhile, an artificial intelligence programme just passed the entrance exam to Japan’s most prestigious university.

Back to the future for infection. Governments, big pharma, agri-business, food and health agencies must mobilize. The post-antibiotic era has begun.

The frontiers of knowledge. The new understanding of our universe, and how it is changing computing.

What has the world made of the Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report? In the Financial Times, the headline was the slowing pace of progress; Bloomberg highlighted the 10-year lag between men’s and women’s pay. Quartz focused on why so many women don’t work, while the UK’s Guardian considered the 188 years it will take to close the gap, focusing on three countries with very different records: Denmark, Botswana and Ecuador.

The robot revolution is coming. Can humans fight back? That’s one of the things we’ll be exploring next year in Davos. (Telegraph)

Is trade a human right? Jack Ma thinks so, as he told participants at a Forum meeting. (Bloomberg)

As more working mothers join Japan’s workforce, more women are experiencing “maternity harassment”. Cites Forum research. (Guardian)

Defusing the liquidity timebomb in Europe’s bond markets. Huw van Steenis, of the Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Banking, argues for stress testing and transparency. (Financial Times)

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Author: Adrian Monck is Managing Director and head of Public Engagement at the World Economic Forum.

Image: Storm clouds and dust can be seen in the sky above a woman as she walks at dusk along Mollymook Beach, south of Sydney March 5, 2014. REUTERS/David Gray