The group of hacker activists Anonymous made news last month when it announced an operation that targeted the Zetas, one of Mexico's most dangerous drug cartels. In the past Anonymous has gone after tech firms like Sony and authoritarian governments across North Africa.

Usually, they bring down websites by overwhelming them with requests. On occasion, they'll deface official sites and in on other occasions they will hack databases and release private information.

Wal-Mart's recent decision to cut benefits for new, part-time employees may be part of a trend, as companies grapple with higher health costs.

That's the view of John Rother, the new president of the nonpartisan National Coalition on Health Care, who chatted with All Things Considered host Robert Siegel about the country's growing pack of part-time workers and why companies are rolling back their benefits.

Update at 6:56 p.m. ET. French President Nicolas Sarkozy says that the next round of rescue loans will not be paid, until after Greeks vote on whether to accept the terms of the bailout package.

This is significant, because Greece has said it will run out of money some time this month and the referendum is so far slated for early December.

GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain continues the toughest week of his campaign, holding a press conference after a health care event in Virginia and then meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Cain may have hoped to focus on health care, but he could not escape questions about sexual harassment claims against him during his tenure at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.

NPR's Eric Westervelt is in Cannes, France, where the leaders of the G-20 industrialized nations are due to meet on Thursday. He's watching developments in the eurozone after Monday's surprise announcement of a referendum on the bailout deal in Greece. Robert Siegel talks to Eric for more.

Federal Reserved policymakers were a bit more upbeat about the economy than in their last statement, but that's not saying much. Fed officials say the unemployment rate will remain above 8 percent well into 2013. Chairman Ben Bernanke took questions after Wednesday's Fed meeting and said the best way to combat increasing inequality is to have an economy that creates jobs. Guy Raz talks with NPR's Jim Zarroli for more.

In a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke painted a mixed picture of the economy.

The bottom line, he said is that "the pace of progress is likely to be frustratingly slow."