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💬 THE BIG STORY
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Ras Natty Baby comes home today, but the fight over his medical bills isn't over |
Joseph Nicolas Emilien, known to the island as Ras Natty Baby, will be repatriated to Mauritius today, four days after the reggae pioneer died in Delhi at the age of 72. He had flown to India on 8 April to receive treatment at Park Hospital, where he was admitted and later passed away. |
What should have been an uncomplicated homecoming turned into a public dispute. Health Minister Anil Bachoo confirmed the ministry stepped in at the family's request, a move that drew scrutiny when conflicting accounts emerged about who paid the $23,000 hospital bill. The OMCA Foundation, which arranged his transfer to India, says it settled the full amount from its emergency fund. The ministry implied otherwise. |
Bachoo is calling for the arguments to wait. "The essential thing today is that the body can be repatriated to Mauritius as quickly as possible," he wrote Wednesday. Explanations, he says, will follow after the mourning period. His funeral is scheduled for Friday. |
Mauritius lost one of its most distinctive voices. The rest is paperwork. |
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🇲🇺 IN MAURITIUS
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Mauritius barred Taiwan's presidential plane and says Beijing had nothing to do with it |
Three countries said no to Taiwan's presidential plane last week, and Foreign Minister Ritesh Ramphul wants to make one thing clear: no one asked them to. Mauritius, Seychelles, and Madagascar all refused to allow the aircraft of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te to cross their airspace as he traveled to Eswatini, citing the One China Policy Mauritius has maintained since 1972. |
"No pressure was exercised by Beijing. Mauritius acts in full sovereignty, in conformity with its diplomatic principles," Ramphul said. He pushed back on suggestions the island was doing Beijing's bidding, noting the position has been consistent for over five decades. |
Three small states apply the law and their own policy and get accused. Great powers make geopolitical exceptions daily and no one blinks. |
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Rs 25.7 billion in unpaid taxes and the MRA is still counting |
Rs 25.7 billion. That is how much the Mauritius Revenue Authority is owed in unpaid taxes as of 31 March 2026, according to PM Navin Ramgoolam's answer to a parliamentary question Tuesday. The largest slice, Rs 14.9 billion, is corporate income tax. Another Rs 7.1 billion in VAT and Rs 2.8 billion in personal income tax account for most of the remainder. |
Those are substantial numbers for a small island economy. On the same day, trade unions announced they will boycott the pre-budget consultations Thursday, saying they want PM Ramgoolam at the table, not Junior Finance Minister Dhaneshwar Damry. |
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Mauritius-US trade mission: groundwork laid for life after AGOA |
Industry Minister Aadil Ameer Meea returned from Washington this week calling the mission positive, after several days of meetings with US Trade Representative officials, congressional members, and international financial institutions. The delegation's goal: secure Mauritius's access to the American market in case the African Growth and Opportunity Act, currently extended through end of 2026, lapses or is restructured. No deal was signed, but the basis for direct bilateral trade ties is being built. |
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What do fake fortune-tellers, a 77-year-old woman, and four Chinese nationals have in common? |
Police CID arrested four Chinese nationals Monday following a complaint by a woman who was conned in Port Louis. The four, one man and three women aged between 52 and 63, are accused of running a fake fortune-telling operation, telling a 77-year-old victim she would be involved in a serious road accident and then charging her for "protective rituals." A search at their accommodation in Trou-aux-Biches turned up rings, chains, and cash. |
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🗞️ SHORTS
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CEB bills up for 542,500 customers from 4 May – The Central Electricity Board raises tariffs next Monday, with domestic bills rising by up to Rs 450 and large commercial bills by up to Rs 33,000, citing Middle East conflict costs. |
UK tables concrete Chagos proposals – PM Ramgoolam told parliament the UK has put forward concrete measures on Chagos, with discussions continuing with London and Washington. |
Forex reserves: PM says pressure is easing – Bank of Mauritius sold just $40 million on the domestic market between January and April 2026, down from $224 million for all of 2025. |
Health alerts on three fronts – Authorities are tracking 1,883 chikungunya cases since January, alongside persistent leptospirosis and two mpox cases still under surveillance. |
Rs 400,000 monthly salary at EDB confirmed – PM Ramgoolam confirmed Sachin Mohabeer was appointed Deputy CEO of the Economic Development Board at Rs 400,000 a month, without the post being advertised internally or externally. |
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🔢 BY THE NUMBERS
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7.9 million – people facing severe hunger in South Sudan, nearly two-thirds of the entire population, according to figures released Tuesday. Renewed fighting between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and militias aligned with rival Riek Machar has uprooted hundreds of thousands since December, pushing one of the world's hungriest nations closer toward collapse. |
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15th out of 100 – Mauritius's ranking in the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2025, scoring 44 points. A lower score means stronger resistance to industry pressure on health policy. The ranking reflects the island's advertising ban, strict public smoking rules, and legislative protections preventing the tobacco industry from shaping government decisions. |
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$100 million – in extra funding FIFA will pay to the 48 federations at this year's World Cup in North America, raising the minimum per federation to $12.5 million. Some European federations warned the original prize money would not cover higher-than-expected costs of operating across the US, Canada, and Mexico. FIFA is projecting at least $11 billion in total tournament revenue. |
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🌍 IN OUR BACKYARD
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Mali's crisis goes national: jihadists threaten to cut off Bamako |
Mali's security collapse accelerated overnight. Jihadist group JNIM, Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin and West Africa's al-Qaeda affiliate, fighting the Malian junta and its Russian backers, announced a blockade on all roads into Bamako and warned that anyone trying to enter the capital faces, in its own words, "the risk of death." The same restrictions apply to the nearby garrison town of Kati. |
Russia's defense ministry released footage it says shows its troops fighting Tuareg rebels, though the footage cannot be independently verified. France issued urgent advisory for its nationals still in Mali to leave "as soon as possible," citing an "extremely volatile" security situation. Junta leader Assimi Goita appeared for first time in days to insist things were "under control," precisely the kind of reassurance that suggests they are not. |
Russia entered Mali to stabilise it. Kidal has fallen, the capital is under blockade, and France is evacuating its citizens. |
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China opens duty-free access to 53 African nations, starting tomorrow |
From Friday, China grants zero-tariff access to goods from 53 African countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Beijing, Mauritius among them. South Africa's Trade Minister Parks Tau called it "a fantastic opportunity" and said his country intends to move quickly. The policy is expected to cut costs for small businesses and expand export volumes across the continent. |
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Senegal rewrites the rules so Sonko can run for president |
Senegal's National Assembly voted 128 to 11 on Tuesday to amend the electoral code, clearing the way for Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko to contest the presidency in 2029. Sonko was barred from the 2024 race following a defamation conviction, so he backed his ally Bassirou Diomaye Faye instead, who won and promptly made Sonko PM. His Pastef party introduced the amendment. The opposition called it legislation tailored for one man. |
He couldn't run, so he ran his candidate. Now he's changing the rules to run himself. |
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🗺️ AROUND THE WORLD
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Trump walks away from Iran's Hormuz offer as oil hits $115 |
Iran made a specific offer this week: end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and set the nuclear question aside until the conflict is resolved. President Donald Trump's answer was no. The administration signaled its rejection, with reports Trump told advisers the offer was inadequate and the US may extend its blockade of Iranian ports rather than ease it. |
Oil responded. Brent crude passed $115 a barrel Wednesday, up from $106 last week. At American petrol stations, the average price hit $4.23 a gallon, the highest since 2022, and $1.20 above where it sat when the war began in late February. Every day the Strait stays closed, the world pays more. |
At $115, the costs are no longer being absorbed in boardrooms. They're arriving in shopping baskets. |
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Purdue Pharma dissolved: $5.5 billion sentence ends the OxyContin era |
OxyContin's maker is done. A New Jersey federal judge sentenced Purdue Pharma to $5.5 billion Tuesday, completing a plea deal that allows the company to dissolve in bankruptcy. It will be replaced by a public benefit company, thousands of lawsuits resolved and the way cleared for a $7.4 billion settlement for victims of the opioid epidemic, which Purdue helped create by paying kickbacks to doctors and misleading regulators about addiction risk. |
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Two Jewish men stabbed in London in a terrorism attack |
A 45-year-old man was arrested in Golders Green, north London, on Wednesday after stabbing two Jewish men in what police are treating as an act of terrorism. Volunteers from Shomrim, the Jewish community's volunteer security organisation, held the suspect until officers arrived and deployed a taser. Both victims are in stable condition. Police described the attack as part of a recent spike in antisemitic incidents across the capital. |
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🧠 THE DEEP END
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The pan-African activist who fought Western power is now jailed by African power |
If you have spent any time in Francophone Africa's political discourse, you know Kemi Seba. One of the most prominent voices in the anti-Western, pan-African movement, he built a following arguing that African nations must break free from Western political and financial control. |
He is currently in a South African jail. Seba was arrested earlier this month alongside his teenage son, is wanted in Benin on charges of inciting rebellion after backing a coup attempt in December. His hearing was postponed Wednesday, and no new date has been set. His lawyer calls the charges exaggerated. |
The ideology was always about sovereignty. He backed a coup to take it. Benin says that crossed a line. |
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