Before you go getting any bad ideas, know that Benninger and Sobell haven't released the app for public use, and warned both transit systems in late 2011 (though neither region has fixed the exploit, the duo claim).

ENGADGET: Security researchers identify transit system exploit in San Fran and New Jersey, create app to prove it

For example, tax-gathering should be done at regional level, with the proceeds shared in fixed proportions, and the region, not Madrid, deciding how much goes to the town halls below it.

ECONOMIST: A survey of Spain

If the days of the cheap dollar and nearly-fixed exchange rates are over, the region also needs to find more dependable ways of managing its currencies.

ECONOMIST: South-East Asian currencies

Over the course of this year, however, the region became increasingly ungovernable, and by fall the British had retreated to fixed bases.

NEWYORKER: Shifting Targets

With only one mill buying from each region, millers say farmers may be persuaded to sell below the state-fixed price.

FORBES: Companies, People, Ideas

India is in "a sweet spot right now, " given where the yields are in the rest of the region and the flexibility the central bank has to cut, said Thomas Kemmsies, head of fixed income at Nomura Asset Management Deutschland KAG in Frankfurt.

WSJ: In India, a Dash to Lock In Yields

Across the MENA region many banks either don't allow online card payments, or insist on prepaid cards with low fixed limits, rather than credit or debit cards.

WSJ: The Winding Tech Road of Lebanon and Its Region