17 must-read stories for the weekend

Is faith good for the economy? Evidence is mounting that religion can be positive for business.

Why food safety is essential for good health. Advances in food production are producing the calories but dietary diversity and micronutrient malnutrition have suffered.

8 ways businesses can tackle unemployment. A major collection of case studies suggests the private sector could do more to reduce skills gaps, boost entrepreneurship, and match job-seekers to opportunities.

Why food safety matters. Because more than 2 million people die each year from contaminated food and water.

Directing Saudi films as a woman. Saudi Arabia’s first female director describes the challenges of working in a nation that bans men and women mixing on set.

How can we stop the spread of ocean dead zones? Low-oxygen areas already account for 10% of the oceans, are damaging fish stocks and, critically, contribute to climate change.

Why women on boards make smart business sense. In the ‘Ideas Economy’ organisations need creativity, which is blind to gender.

The CEO who took on Indiana’s anti-LGBT law, and won. “Benioff has long practiced the ‘stakeholder theory,’ a philosophy advocated by World Economic Forum founder and chairman Klaus Schwab.” (Huffington Post)

19% of Brazil’s national budget goes into education, but the country only ranked 105th out of 122 countries in Forum research on the quality of its education system. (The Atlantic)

MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga’s 6 lessons of leadership. (Quartz)

What the California drought means for Canadians. Cites Forum research from The Global Risks Report. (Globe and Mail)

Beyond economics: the real threats to global stability and security. Would a panel of female experts agree with the Forum analysis of the top 5 biggest threats to the world? (Guardian)

Why is the middle class stressed? “People who thought they were upwardly mobile are finding themselves with no higher real incomes. And people who thought they were sociologically stable are finding themselves poorer.”

Chinese firm building ‘New York of Africa’. Property group Shanghai Zendai is building a US$7 billion mini-city on the outskirts of Johannesburg.

Electricity is becoming a luxury good in Germany. The knock-on effects of Merkel‘s failing subsidies at a time when the clean energy revolution is ahead of schedule.

10 simple words every girl should learn. Men interrupt and talk over women too much. How women should respond.

Stanford University makes tuition free for families earning less than $125,000 a year. Stanford has deep pockets (to the tune of $21 billion) but claims 77% of its students graduate with no debt.

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

Image: People decorate their houses with lanterns and lights as they celebrate the Hindu festival of Diwali, the annual festival of lights, in Mumbai November 3, 2013. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui