Selected materials from World Economic Forum, January 2014, Davos, Switzerland.

Latest additions:

"Jubilee USA Urges Business and Political Leaders at World Economic Forum to End Corporate Tax Avoidance and Support Responsible Solutions to Debt Crisis", Jubilee USA, 24 Jan 2014

"Davos Dispatch: Richard Branson and the B Team Make the Business Case for Human Rights", Bruce Upbin, Forbes, 23 Jan 2014

Video: WEF session on the "Big Brother Problem", 22 Jan 2014
What are the consequences of growing public alarm over personal privacy, data security and the lack of transparency in the gathering of data by public and private organizations?

Business, poverty, tax avoidance & income inequality

"Jubilee USA Urges Business and Political Leaders at World Economic Forum to End Corporate Tax Avoidance and Support Responsible Solutions to Debt Crisis", Jubilee USA, 24 Jan 2014
Excerpt: "Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network...[said,] '...Many of those gathering in Davos represent a who's who of global tax avoiders...Unfortunately, many corporations at the forum continue to use loopholes to avoid paying billions in taxes around the world. Companies from the tech sector, who play a big role in Davos, are among the worst offenders.'"

"Pope Urges Business Elite to Use Wealth to Serve Humanity", VOA News, 21 Jan 2014

"British charity attacks billionaires ahead of Davos forum", Valentina Pop, EUobserver.com, 21 Jan 2014
Excerpt: "According to [Oxfam's] findings, the wealth of the world's 85 richest people - €81.2 trillion - amounts to that of the poorest half of the world population, or 3.5 billion people...[Tax] avoidance by EU and US corporations in Africa is depriving its governments from resources which could be used to fight poverty."
- Oxfam's press release: "Rigged rules mean economic growth increasingly 'winner takes all' for rich elites all over world"
- Oxfam's full report: "Working for the Few Political capture and economic inequality"

"Exclusive: the B Team asks business to drive sustainable inclusive prosperity As the World Economic forum kicks off, business leaders are calling for companies to respond to the 'planetary emergency' ", B Team, on Guardian Sustainable Business (UK), 20 Jan 2014

"Davos debates income inequality but still invites tax avoiders - The rich and powerful at the World Economic Forum are not as worried as they should be about the gap between rich and poor", Larry Elliott, Guardian (UK) Economics blog, 19 Jan 2014

 
Companies, privacy & government surveillance

Video: WEF session on the "Big Brother Problem", 22 Jan 2014
What are the consequences of growing public alarm over personal privacy, data security and the lack of transparency in the gathering of data by public and private organizations?

"Davos Dispatch: Tech Titans On Life-Changing Gadgets And NSA Reform", Bruce Upbin, Forbes (USA), 22 Jan 2014
Excerpt: "Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo...said her request [to the Obama administration] would be for more transparency. 'So we can tell our users how many and what type of requests we’re getting and how they’re being used.'... BT’s Gavin Patterson said...[about regulation of] government data requests, 'We have to make sure it’s not intrusive and protects the rights of the individual...' ...[Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff] said the discussion about the NSA and data privacy over the last 6 months is 'way overdue… Only through transparency will we get back to trust... [In] our model...customers can choose what country their data is run out of. They can go into the data center, see it and monitor it. Tech vendors have to provide this kind of transparency and can’t pin it on the government.' "

"Microsoft calls for international convention on govt data access", Corinne Reichert, ZDNet, 21 Jan 2014
Excerpt: "Promoting human rights and individual privacy alongside 'timely access to data' where it is necessary for governments to prevent terrorism-related threats, [Microsoft] pointed towards the World Economic Forum's annual meeting...as a prime opportunity for an international agreement on data privacy and government surveillance to be outlined."

 
Other news

"Davos Dispatch: Richard Branson and the B Team Make the Business Case for Human Rights", Bruce Upbin, Forbes, 23 Jan 2014

"The Coca-Cola Company Announces World Economic Forum’s 'Global Shapers' Grant Challenge Winners - 6 Programs to Receive Seed Money to Expand Impact", Coca-Cola, 21 Jan 2014
Excerpt: "Global Shapers are young leaders between 20 and 30 years old who are organized into a network of more than 300 city-based hubs. The challenge...empowered Global Shapers to launch programs that address the world’s most challenging societal issues including youth employment, education, community security as well as protecting the environment... 'Powering Education,' a joint project from Hubs in Rome and Nairobi, received the $50,000 grand prize. The funding will accelerate the Global Shapers’ efforts to bring safe, clean energy to school-age children living in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa where the lack of electricity makes studying difficult after the sun sets..."

"Labor Wants Its Say at Davos", Katrin Beinhold, New York Times, 21 Jan 2014