Stories of the Week | PBS NewsHour Podcast | PBS

India suffers from chronic power interruptions and failures stemming from energy policies created to court voter blocs. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports on efforts by social entrepreneurs to solve part of India's power problems by creating village-based micro grids.

After Islamic militants tied to al-Qaida took hostages at a natural gas plant in Algeria as retribution for France's strikes in Mali, the Algerian government launched an assault to free those held, including some Americans. Jeffrey Brown reports on conflicting accounts about how many got out alive and how many were killed.

What will be the fallout of Lance Armstrong's confession of doping during his prolific professional cycling career? Ray Suarez talks to two writers who have followed Armstrong's career: Daniel Coyle, co-author of "The Secret Race: The Hidden World of the Tour de France," and the Juliet Macur of the New York Times.

For many years the number one cyclist in the world, the now disgraced Lance Armstrong admitted in an interview with Oraph Winfrey that he had used performance-enhancing drugs, despite past refusals. Ray Suarez reports on where investigations and penalties may lead now that Armstrong has confessed.

Even with campaign season over, politicians continue to use the data collected online during the 2012 election. Daily Download's Lauren Ashburn and Howard Kurtz look back at the 2012 election with Harper Reed, former chief technology officer for Obama for America, who managed digital strategy for President Obama's re-election.

As commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal butted heads with President Obama over how many U.S. troops should be committed to war efforts. Publicity on that disagreement ultimately led to his resignation in 2010. Margaret Warner talks to McChrystal and his new memoir, "My Share of the Task."

To understand the realities of President Obama's new proposals on gun, Jeffrey Brown gets perspective from Josh Horwitz from the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, David Kopel of the Independence Institute, Georgetown University School of Medicine's Dr. Liza Gold and Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute.

In other news Wednesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced plans to step down from his position in March. During his four years working for the Obama administration, Salazar pushed for greater conservation and renewable energy.

At a White House news conference, President Obama unveiled a series of executive actions meant to prevent gun violence, including proposed bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Ray Suarez reports on the set of far-ranging initiatives, which also touch on mental health, health care reform and the ATF.

Gov. Jerry Brown has been able to turn in a balanced state budget for California by pushing for tax increases on the wealthy, hiking sales taxes for everybody and cutting many state services. But detractors have said Brown used fiscal tricks to achieve the balance. NewsHour correspondent Spencer Michels reports.

A new film by director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal is supposedly based on first-person accounts of the hunt for Osama bin Laden, causing questions from lawmakers about classified information and depictions of torture. Jeffrey Brown discusses the film with The New Yorker's Jane Mayer and The Atlantic's Mark Bowden.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was set to be sworn in after winning re-election, but the leader instead remained in Cuba where he had been getting treatment for cancer. Ray Suarez reports on how that country is preparing for the potential of a power struggle amid intense secrecy over the president's health.

A new set of federal guidelines on mortgage lending has been released in efforts to protect banks and potential homeowners from the risky practices that caused the 2008 housing crisis and economic collapse. Margaret Warner talks to Richard Cordray, director of the recently-established Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Sport legends Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens became eligible for entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame this year. But after the votes were tallied, neither received enough support to receive baseball's highest honor. Jeffrey Brown talks to Washington Post's Barry Sverluga about why no living players were elected this year.

Last year, cases of influenza were at extremely low levels, but the virus has returned with a vengeance. Gwen Ifill talks to Dr. Julie Morita of the Chicago Health Department and Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University about the current flu outbreaks, hitting cities like Chicago and Boston particularly hard.