Economy

The operations of the non-financial public sector in Peru have recorded a gross domestic product (GDP) surplus of one percent in the last four quarters.

The Central Reserve Bank (BCR) said that the surplus came despite an economic deficit of 0.1 percent in the third quarter of 2013. 

The World Bank (WB) has commended Peru's remarkable increase in access to institutional credit over the last decade and the growing number of first-time users of financial services in the country. 

Mining & Energy

Diplomacy

Peru has been announced as host of the Fifth Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Public Security in the Americas (MISPA V) in 2015.

Environment

Civil society will have gained succour from the words of French foreign minister Laurent Fabius and Peru's Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal Otalora today. Peru is set to host the 2014 UN talks, with Paris home to the 2015 summit.

Pulgar-Vidal says his team is already working on ways to build the voices of civil society into the Lima meeting. "Before being a minister I was Executive Director of an NGO, and I have more than 20 years of experience with these groups," he said. "I hope I can bring my experience with all the Peruvian team to bring civil society to the table, and make a more confident atmosphere to reach something." The Minister added they had "no plans" to stage any fossil fuel summits on the sidelines. "What we will not do is create something that is not too sensible to the people, because if we want to create confidence, we need to be careful on how we are moving forward." 

 

Stevia One Peru is the first stevia producer in the world to receive certification from the Rainforest Alliance, an NGO that works to promote sustainable farming across the planet.

Stevia, a naturally sweet leafy plant that grows in Peru and other parts of South America. It can be used as an alternative to sugar, and is relatively new to many large markets such as Europe and the United States. However, as the popularity and availability of artificial sweeteners has risen, so has stevia's.

Defense

Peru is poised to join the C-27J operators club, once Alenia Aermacchi has finalised a roughly $135 million contract to supply its air force with two of the tactical airlifters.

The deal will be signed "as soon as the administrative procedures are completed", the Italian manufacturer says.  

Gastronomy

You won't find this type of food anywhere else in London. Other Peruvian restaurants have set up shop over the past year, most notably Ceviche. However what Lima is offering is unique. A contemporary twist on classic Peruvian ingredients and cooking techniques, served in a relaxed and informal atmosphere (which you wouldn't know was now Michelin starred). The staff talk passionately about the food and help navigate you through the unfamiliar sounding menu.

The verdict: This year's Michelin guide recognised the genius behind Lima by awarding it a prestigious star, making it the only Peruvian restaurant to hold the top culinary accolade in Europe. It's thoroughly deserved. 

 

Peruvian cuisine has attained a certain hipness over the last decade. So when we put out a call to our network for Peruvian food suggestions prior to our visit to Lima, we were surprised when the net response amounted to "ceviche and pisco sours."

For sure those are requisite tastes, but the Peruvian food scene offers so much more.Influenced from the mountains, from the jungle, from the coast, and from abroad (Europe, Japan and China), Peruvian cuisine - tart, rich, spicy, and international - stands distinct in Latin America.

When Alejandro Rojas opens a Peruvian restaurant and pisco bar in December called Jora where the Crossroads Diner used to be, his family will be setting another milestone for the country's cuisine. His mother and stepfather run Urubama in Jackson Heights, which was the city's first Peruvian restaurant when it opened in 1976.

Rojas hopes to introduce the city to a broader taste of Peruvian cooking. 

Tourism

Whether you've been to Machu Picchu or not, chances are that the most common images you've seen of it carry a familiar quality about them. Sometimes it takes looking at something iconic from a different perspective, however, to broaden your understanding and appreciation of what it might have taken to create all that's behind the icon. And so it is with Machu Picchu in Peru. 

Add to Machu Picchu a hike to the foot of a hulking 20,575 foot (6,271 meter) glacier, a walk through Andean valleys, and a skim of the Peruvian jungle. Throw in a diverse and upbeat group of travel companions to share the slog across switchbacks and up giant staircases, and the march to Machu Picchu becomes an event, a series of accomplishments and a trip well worth taking.

That was our Salkantay Trek.

 

Miscellaneous

The 'Peru Two' could be sentenced before Christmas, one of the women's parents has claimed. 
Michaella McCollum Connolly, 20, from Dungannon, and Melissa Reid, also 20 and from Lenzie in Scotland, are currently awaiting sentencing in a prison in Peru after they were caught trying to smuggle �1.5m of cocaine out of the country earlier this year.

 

More:

'She knows what she's put us through, but it's so hard leaving her': The agony of Melissa Reid's anguished mother after first visit to drug mule daughter's jail in Peru  

Tens of thousands of evangelical Christians from across Peru converged on Lima this month for a nearly weeklong national congress, their leaders claiming one of Latin America's highest growth rates.

At the congress at San Marcos stadium in Lima, preachers led thousands of believers in singing Psalms and begging forgiveness for their sins. There was shouting, weeping, rapture. Pastors invoked Scripture to denounce homosexuality because it does not lead to reproduction. They also speak against abortion.