Peru's government said it would crack down harder on unlicensed gold miners, who have devastated vast areas of the Amazon jungle and polluted rivers with mercury used to extract the precious metal.

Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal said in an interview late Tuesday that the government has the goal of bringing the small-scale miners into the formal mining industry or driving them out of business altogether.

Peru's government has began legalizing tens of thousands of informal gold miners this week, in an effort to restrict an activity that has cost the country millions of dollars in lost fees and severely damaged the environment.

However, about 40,000 of roughly 110,000 illegal miners ignored the Saturday deadline to legalize their status, evading government efforts to bring them into the formal economy.

Peru plans to award a 30-year concession to build and operate a 1,100MW hydroelectric plant in the first quarter of 2015.

The proposed power plant, whose location has not been determined yet, will cost about US$2.5-2.7bn to build, said Manuel Suarez, an advisor to Proinversi�n, the state agency in charge of promoting private investment.

CH2M HILL, a consulting, design, construction, and operations firm, has been recognized with two Global Water Awards for its exceptional infrastructure work involving Peru's Taboada Wastewater Treatment Plant, named the Wastewater Project of the Year. The Taboada plant, located in Callao, Peru, is the largest water treatment facility in South America, with a maximum capacity of 1.8 million m3/d, and is part of the government's effort to improve water services in Lima, the world's second largest desert city after Cairo.

Lima's Mayor Susana Villaran is to launch her re-election campaign on Thursday, according to daily Peru.21

Villaran, a center-left politician, is the first woman to be elected mayor of Lima, which is considered the second-most important elected post in the Andean country.

Villaran took office in 2011 after a surprise victory in the municipal election that saw her surge ahead of former presidential candidate Lourdes Flores in the final weeks of the campaign.

Launching this June, a floating architectural gem, the M/V Cattleya will celebrate its maiden voyage with Rainforest Cruises, a boutique travel company specializing in traditional and authentic Amazon River cruises and riverboat tours.
Named after a genus of orchid on account of its beauty, the eight-passenger boutique vessel is due to offer intimate and luxurious cruises to the remote and little visited Pacaya-Samiria Reserve in the Loreto region of the Peruvian Amazon.

The King and Queen of Norway, Harald V and his wife Sonja, are visiting Peru. They arrived with a retinue of six on Monday afternoon and are currently enjoying Cusco.

The royal couple are in Peru for business rather than pleasure, and are staying at the upmarket Hotel Plaza Nazarenas, just a block away from Cusco's Plaza de Armas, according to news portal El Comercio.

Peruvian food is here to stay, with ceviche hitting supermarkets and restaurants serving new Andean dishes. G2's food editor goes on a tasting tour to the mountainous heart of the cuisine  

Opera singers who hit mega-fame tend to become coarsened by the process, but nothing has diluted the purity of Juan Diego Fl�rez's singing since his electrifying debut, 14 years ago, as the disguised prince in "La Cenerentola" at Covent Garden. Purling out his preternaturally rapid coloratura-which became sweeter and easier the higher he went-this elegant young creature seemed tailor-made to stand on a plinth. And that, despite his gracefully unassuming manner, is where his native land has now put him. Laden with honours, he's the nearest thing Peru has to royalty.  

The value of business deals made at the latest edition of Peru Moda and Peru Gift Show are estimated at US$ 131 million, recording a 7.2 percent increase from the 2013's edition, it was reported Wednesday.

The quality of garment, footwear as well as gift and decorative items showcased at the two simultaneous events attracted the interest of 400 international buyers, of whom 55 percent made their first-ever attendance to establish contact with potential suppliers.  

Peru will be hosting the international conference for the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory (HASTAC) from 24 to 27 April at Lima's Nation Museum.

The upcoming annual gathering will run under the theme "Hemispheric Pathways: Critical Makers in International Networks".

The Lima event will be the first time ever a HASTAC conference will be hosted outside of North America.  

Social media giant Facebook may open an office in Peru, according to a regional manager who made the comments to local newspaper La Republica.

Alejandro Zuzenberg, Facebook's manager for the Southern Cone, said that the company is "studying the possibility of opening an office in Peru."