
International tourism demand continued to be robust between January and April 2015 with tourist arrivals increasing 4% worldwide according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. Almost all regions enjoyed strong growth with the Americas leading growth and by sub-region, Oceania and South America boasted the strongest increase (both +8%), followed by the Caribbean and Central and Eastern Europe (both +7%)

Premier Oil, with strong involvement in the development of the Falkland Islands' oil and gas industry is among the winners in the first round of Mexico’s oil and gas privatization. The two licences secured by the London listed oil firm’s consortium were the only assets successfully auctioned by the Mexican authorities.

Premier Oil has increased its 2015 exploration budget by $20 million to account for higher investments in its drilling campaign in the Falkland Islands, the company said this week in a trading update. The company also revealed it is considering further drilling at the Isobel Deep recent discovery instead of going on to Jayne East in North Falkland.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that a new BRICS bank would become fully operational and finance energy projects next year as emerging markets attempt to challenge the Western-dominated financial system. BRICS nations -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- which represent 40% of the world's population, agreed in 2013 to establish their own development bank, with estimated capital of $100 billion.

Brazil’s JBS, the world’s largest meat packer, has agreed to pay about $1.5 billion for Moy Park, the British unit of rival Mafrig Global Foods. JBS, which has undertaken a massive overseas expansion since 2007, will pay $1.19 billion in cash and will assume Moy Park’s debt totaling £200 million as part of the deal, Marfrig said in a statement.

The Falkland Islands government has no doubts about its right to licence legitimate offshore oil and gas exploration activities in accordance with Falklands' legislation and will continue to support the hydrocarbons industry as it moves from successful exploration towards oil production.

State-controlled oil giant Petrobras, which is mired in a corruption scandal that has rocked Brazil, said Monday it was cutting investment by 37% during the 2015-2019 period. Investment during the period will now total $130.3 billion, down from the $220.6 billion originally planned, Petrobras said in a filing with the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange.

The Argentine court order that assets of several international oil companies drilling for oil in the Falkland Islands be seized has caused mild turbulence in their share prices. Tierra del Fuego judge Lilian Herraez ordered the authorities to seize bank accounts, boats and other assets worth an estimated US$156mln.

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff met Sunday with investors in New York on the first day of a long-delayed US visit aimed at overcoming strains caused by the NSA spying scandal. Revelations two years ago that the US National Security Agency electronically eavesdropped on Rousseff's email and other communications prompted her to angrily call off an official visit to Washington that had been set for October 2013.

Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras urged a U.S. judge on Thursday to throw out an investors' class action lawsuit claiming a multibillion-dollar bribery scandal overvalued it for years. Speaking at a hearing in federal court in New York, Petrobras lawyer Roger Cooper said the company itself was a victim of the fraud, which he said was orchestrated by a handful of individuals.