
The Falkland Islands Government and local company Synergy Information Systems Ltd have agreed a contract for the provision of IT services to Government. The contract, signed last week following formal approval by Executive Council, involves the management of the Government’s IT network infrastructure and user support and results in the transfer of more than 80% of Government IT work to the local private sector.

Gibraltar has changed its tax laws to tweak the Income Tax Act 2010 to meet EU requirements. The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo certified the bill as urgent to speed up its process through Parliament.

Brazilian Government has decided that any future bidding rounds involving pre-salt blocks will only be launched according to the local industry capability to supply the demand in equipment and services needed by the sector. Local industry has been struggling to keep up with the demand placed by O&G players already involved in pre-salt E&P in Brazil, which are all Petrobras partners, such as BG and others.

Human life isn’t all bad, but it sometimes feels that way. Good news is no news: the headlines mostly tell of strife and bail-outs, failure and folly.

The Economist has dedicated an article to the recently inaugurated Paraguayan president Horacio Cartes, and his attempts to improve the living conditions of the majority of a population which is poor in a country rich in agriculture and energy.

Fifteen “innovation vouchers” were awarded to Chilean (Small and medium enterprises), SMEs who will now begin working with project teams from the Universidad Católica, Universidad de Desarrollo and Universidad de Santiago to improve their company’s products and services.

The United States economy grew at a surprisingly robust 4.1% annual pace in the third quarter according to the Commerce Department, which was the strongest advance in nearly two years and only the third time the economy had expanded that quickly from one quarter to the next since 2006.

Rockhopper Exploration has issued details of its next planned exploration wells offshore the Falkland Islands. The details were published on the Offshore site 23 December. Rockhopper was the first of several companies operating in Falklands waters to confirm the existence of oil and gas.

MercoPress wishes a Happy Holiday season to all its readers.

Argentina successfully launched a research rocket as part of its space program, the Defense Ministry said on Friday. The launch took place on Wednesday from Chamical, in La Rioja province, 880 km northwest of the capital.