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November 03, 2011 | | TENSE Europe is tense as President Obama arrives in Cannes for the G20 economic summit. France and Germany have demanded to know whether Greece plans to retain the euro before extending the debt-ridden nation any additional aid. "Does Greece want to remain part of the eurozone or not?" German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday. European leaders succeeded in urging Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to push up a referendum on the EU Greece bailout package from January to Dec. 4. The referendum may, however, fall apart before it takes place, as Papandereou faces a no-confidence vote in Parliament on Friday. INTERVIEW Denied his appeal against extradition to Sweden, WikiLeaks’s Julian Assange will return to his temporary digs at a British countryside manor. Mike Giglio talks to the libertarian sheltering him about the future of the whistleblowing group, how the press bullies Assange—and why the WikiLeaks founder is the best cocktail companion. BLAME GAME A third woman who worked with Herman Cain at the National Restaurant Association told the Associated Press that she too considered accusing him of sexual harassment in the '90s. The woman says Cain made suggestive remarks and gestures and once invited her back with him to his apartment. Cain also faced accusations from a former pollster, Chris Wilson, who worked for the National Restaurant Association and said things once got “very uncomfortable” when Cain harassed a waitress; and from a radio host, Steve Deace, who said Cain said “awkward” and “inappropriate” things to female staffers. Cain, meanwhile has accused the Rick Perry camp of waging a smear campaign. Perry’s team, in turn, pointed the finger at Mitt Romney. Foreign Policy According to The Wall Street Journal, the Obama administration is considering switching U.S. troops in Afghanistan to an advisory role as soon as next year, well before the scheduled withdrawal of American troops in 2014. It would mark the end of the current approach, which deploys troops to protect Afghan civilians, and could signal instead a new focus on counterterrorism operations. No decisions have been made, but the Obama administration could bring up the issue with NATO at the organization’s May meeting. One Percent You often hear people argue that the United States’ corporate tax rate of 35 percent is much higher than other nations, but don’t be fooled. Thanks to loopholes, the actual tax rate is much lower—about 18.5 percent according to a survey of the 280 largest publicly traded companies by the left-leaning Citizens for Tax Justice. About a quarter of the companies paid less than 10 percent in taxes over the past three years, while 30 companies—including Boeing, Wells Fargo, and GE—appeared to pay no taxes whatsoever. Some companies have disputed the study, saying it fails to account for deferred taxes. | | 
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