What happened in Davos today?
By: World Economic Forum
Tags: Growth, Gender, Malala, Davos, Bitcoin

As Day 3 edges to a close, we reflect on the day’s events here in Davos.

Educating girls

Nobel Peace prize winner and equality campaigner Malala Yousafzai spoke about her work as an advocate for female equality and education. “It’s not one person’s job to send all girls to school, it would be impossible,” she says. All sectors have to be involved.

Malala continued: “The education of young boys on the subject of women’s rights is crucial. When we talk about feminism and women’s rights, we are talking to men. We have to teach young boys how to be men.”

Justin Trudeau reinforced the message in a later session alongside Malala.

Argentina’s G20 Leadership

Argentina will bring a voice from the south to its leadership of the G20, announced President Mauricio Macri. It will focus on three areas, he said: the future of work, infrastructure for development, and a sustainable future in terms of food.

“We need to be part of the world,” he said. “Isolation will only entrench poverty.”

Macri agreed that there’s lots of work being done to strengthen the South American trade bloc, Mercosur, and an agreement with the EU would be a good opportunity for both parties.

Optimism for global trade

Staying with trade, UK Prime Minister Teresa May told Davos attendees that the United Kingdom was doubling down on the principles that make global trade work for everyone.

As the UK leaves the European Union, it will still be an advocate of global trade, making new bilateral deals with countries across the world, said the PM.

Trump is on his own on climate change

Jay Inslee, US Governor of Washington, says President Donald Trump is isolating himself. The governor said that since Trump announced he would pull the US out of the Paris Agreement, not a single nation, state or city has followed him.

“There’s only one man in this parade,” said Inslee. He says three Republican states have joined their alliance for climate action, which now represents 40% of the US.

Fighting premature deaths

On the fight to improve the world’s health, Bill Gates said that he’s feeling confident about the future.

“It’s not easy to get the aid funding we need, but overall, since 2000 when GAVI was announced, then Global Fund showed up a few years later, aid levels focused on health went up dramatically in that period. In 1960, 20% of all children died before the age of five; today, if you omit the war zones, there is nowhere with a 20% mortality rate.”

Bitcoin is ‘just an experiment’

The Nobel prize-winning economist Robert Shiller described Bitcoin as an “interesting experiment” rather than the future of our financial system.

“I tend to think of Bitcoin as an interesting experiment, it’s not a permanent feature of our lives. We’re over-emphasizing Bitcoin, we should broaden it out to blockchain, which will have other applications.”

Are you looking for the secret(s) to happiness? We have them

Author Dan Buettner says that to achieve happiness you need to ensure you have a ‘balanced portfolio’ in terms of your daily emotions, purpose and life satisfaction.

He urges people to focus on a few priorities — pick a job they are passionate about, socialize seven to eight hours a day, be happily in love, own a dog and … live in the right place.

Countdown to Trump

US President Donald Trump gave an insight into the message he’s bringing to the Annual Meeting in a TWEET.

He has now arrived here in snowy Davos and has met with several world leaders, including Teresa May from the UK. He is scheduled to deliver a special address tomorrow.

Image: REUTERS/Carlos Barria

His address is at 14:00 (13:00 GMT) on Friday. You’ll be able to follow it here on the liveblog, in the live player above, on Facebook, on Twitter, and on YouTube.