Our daily hop, skip, and a jump around the world

🇫🇷 French protesters showed out across the country yesterday (some clashing with police), after President Emmanuel Macron invoked special powers to raise the country's retirement age. The move, which bypassed the need for approval from France’s Parliament, officially raises the minimum age at which citizens can receive a full government pension from 62 to 64. Despite a series of million-plus-person protests in recent weeks against raising the retirement age, Macron, who's 10 months into his second five-year term, has consistently argued the move is necessary to keep the pension system financially viable.

🌎❄️ Forget letting it go – Queen Elsa's evil twin sister has been letting it snow. Global cocaine production is currently at its highest level on record, per the UN. The organization’s annual Global Report on Cocaine found worldwide production of the drug rose 35% between 2021 and 2022, largely due to demand rebounding from pandemic lows. Overall, cocaine production around the world has more than doubled since 2013, which UN officials attribute to South American cartels’ improved efficiency at extracting the white powder from coca leaves.

🇦🇷 Annual inflation in Argentina surpassed 100% last month for the first time since 1991, per new data published this week. Though the country is no stranger to high inflation: Argentina has seen inflation rates near or above 50% dating back to mid-2019, and its current rate of 102.5% is nearly two times higher than any other country in the world. This can be attributed to a number of factors, including the central bank printing more money and a large heat wave/drought that destroyed crops and livestock. A local report published this week found more than 75% of Argentinians currently have sleeping problems, with nearly half of them blaming the economy.

+Update: The Pentagon yesterday released footage from a downed US military drone that shows two Russian fighter jets dumping fuel on it over the Black Sea.