Uruguay

Uruguay's legislature is taking steps to approve a controversial bill detailing how the government would regulate marijuana, from its production and import to marketing and distribution. The move would be a first.

Boloco is a chain of burrito restaurants that prides itself on ethical food sourcing. In a series of YouTube videos, its CEO unwraps his company's burritos and shouts from the rooftops about their decidedly distant origins.

The tiny South American nation is going where few nations have gone before: It has proposed a law that would put the state in charge of producing and selling marijuana. Officials say that if pot were legal, they could spend more time cracking down on hard drugs.

Uruguayan lawmakers pass legislation permitting abortion in the first trimester; doctors treat Uruguayan women who seek illegal abortions to avert injury and death

For 40 days the singers parody everything in Uruguayan life, then go back to their regular jobs.

With Greece in turmoil, a look at the debt defaults a decade ago in South America could prove instructive. Had Europeans diagnosed problems and acted quickly, they might have come out of this like Uruguay, in 2002. But it looks like Greece may be following Argentina, which defaulted on $100 billion in 2001.

Over the past decade, Argentina's cattlemen have quietly shifted their cows from grass to grain. Blame soaring world prices for commodities like soybeans, as well as government policies discouraging export. Argentine chefs say the switch to grain-fed beef marks the loss of a cultural icon.