When French satirical weekly CharlieHebdo is publishing caricatures of Prophet Mohammed naked it is NOT defending the freedom of the press. It is an act of blasphemy. Blasphemy is the act of showing contempt or speaking offensively about a deity or of persons and symbols regarded as sacred by the followers of a specific religion.

Austerity measures that are implemented to reduce deficits does not revive struggling economies. How is a shrinking or stagnant economy supposed to grow when the people actually trying to survive in that economy are being punished with further economic hardship? What drives economic growth is demand but the austerity measures suppress demand and structural reform focuses too much on supply. Austerity measures are self-defeating, because if output continues to contract, deficit and debt ratios will continue to rise to unsustainable levels.

Despite headwinds from the Eurozone, Sweden's track record of sound monetary, fiscal management and high level of national savings leaves it well placed to cope with increased macroeconomic risks. The country's public finances are among the strongest in Europe, which provides scope for boosting investment to create more jobs in growing enterprises, while policies aimed at reducing exclusion and creating more paths into jobs for people who are far removed from the labour market will continue.

The disparity between the Eurozone's north and south poles has widened and growth in 2013 will be inconsistent. Some countries will show some growth in 2013, but the periphery countries will continue to show negative growth rates.

Positive GDP Growth Forecast 2013

• Estonia: 3.5%
• Luxembourg: 2.4%
• Slovakia: 2.1%
• Malta: 1.9%
• Germany, Finland: 1.4%
• Austria: 1.3%
• Slovenia: 1.1%
• Netherlands: 1.0%

Below 1%

We are now in the fifth year of the economic crisis and there is little indication of any improvement. Joblessness has reached record levels and the outlook is one of stagnation.

In July 2012, the Euro Area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 11.3% and the EU 27 it stood at 10.4%. There are 25 million men and women in the EU 27 without a job. More than 5 million are young people. 25 million is equivalent to the total population of Denmark+ Estonia+ Latvia+ Lithuania+ Ireland+ Slovenia+Slovakia+Cyprus+Luxembourg.

13 Members Below 10% Unemployment

With 3 million unemployed people, France urgently needs to set a Council on Jobs and Competitiveness to provide advice to the President and Prime Minister on strengthening the French economy; ensuring the country's competitiveness and on ways to create jobs, opportunity and prosperity for the French people.

An overwhelming majority of public and government affairs practitioners throughout the world are stronly in favor of reorganizing their current professional body so that it will have sufficient authority, power and legitimacy to legislate rules and regulations on behalf of practitioners and perform the functions to promote and protect the well-being and reputation of the profession.

1. Need to professionalize Public and Government Affairs

After 18 years of pursuit, Russia has become the 156th member of the World Trade Organization. Although many Russians claim that the accesion will hurt sectors of the domestic economy and even undermine national sovereignty and security, the entry will benefit Russia. In the short term, Russia is not likely to get immediate benefits from the accession and certain sectors of the economy may suffer pains as the country has to gradually lower its average tariff ceilings. Its budget revenues could also see a considerable drop.

The global economy could be a very difficult environment in which to find shelter. For starters, the eurozone crisis is worsening, as the euro remains too strong, front-loaded austerity deepens recession in many member countries, and a credit cruch in the periphery and high oil prices undermine prospects of recovery. The eurozone banking system is becoming balkanized, as cross-border and interbank credit lines are cut off, and capital flight could turn into a full run on periphery banks if, Greece stages a disorderly euro exit in the next few months.

The lobbying world is no longer confined to influencing legislation and regulations. Increasingly lobbying firms are offering 'Political Intelligence' services.