Regular coins are being traded on the black market in Argentina as citizens fight inflation at record levels. From the AP (via the IHT): A kiosk owner bribes a bank worker with cookies to break bills. Subway workers let commuters ride free because they can’t change their cash. Bus companies resell the coins they collect at a [...]

Argentina is now supplying a large portion of ephedrine, the main ingredient in methamphetamine, to drug traffickers in Mexico. From the Los Angeles Times: Mexican traffickers have become the main suppliers of methamphetamine to the United States. But a crackdown in Mexico has squeezed supplies of ephedrine from Asia, leading the gangs to seek their raw material [...]