Newsclick presents its lecture series. The inaugural programme was on "20 Years after Fall of USSR". The panelists were Eminent Political Scientist Aijaz Ahmad, Eminent Economist Prabhat patnaik and CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat. This is Part-III of the three part series.

Newsclick presents a feature on the fuel price hike. Newsclick examines justifications provided by government spokespersons, details their critiques and ascertains the level of distress faced by the "aam aadmi".

Prominent Italian Journalist and Leftist political activist Marco Berlinguer is interviewed on Skype on the Indignats movement in Spain.

Yesterday, the UPA government raised the price of LPG cylinders by Rs 50, the price of diesel by Rs 3 and price of kerosene by Rs 2. This is the umpteenth time since the government of the 'aam admi' has increased the prices of essential commodities for the common people. This huge increase in the prices of essential commodities comes in the backdrop of a situation where the inflation rate of the country is very high.

Prominent economist K.S. Jomo talks about newly emerged paradigms of economic development after recent financial meltdown and importance of regional cooperation among developing countries.

Do patents  help or hinder innovation? Instinctively, they would seem a blessing, especially for backroom tinkerers. Patenting an idea gives its inventor a 20-year monopoly to exploit

Since the near meltdown of Wall Street in late 2008, Congress has pledged to tighten regulations on the finance industry. That exercise is now half over, with the House approving a reform package Dec. 11.

When word spread earlier this year that American International Group had paid more than $165 million in retention bonuses at the division that had precipitated the company's downfall, outrage erupted, with employees getting death threats and President Obama urging that every legal avenue be pursued to block the payments.

The recession's jobless toll is draining unemployment-compensation funds so fast that according to federal projections, 40 state programs will go broke within two years and need $90 billion in loans to keep issuing the benefit checks.

It's about to become official: The recession is over - but not the pain.

The government will release figures this week expected to show that the economy has awakened from its deepest slump since the 1930s and is in the early stages of a recovery. But the following week, the government will issue another set of figures expected to show unemployment continuing to rise toward and possibly above a clearly recessionary 10 percent.