🇲🇺 Petrol leaps to Rs 70.65 as Port Louis pumps shut within minutes

Petrol leaps to Rs 70.65 as Port Louis pumps shut within minutes

Petrol went up Rs 6.40 a litre on Friday night, climbing from Rs 64.25 to Rs 70.65 once the Petroleum Pricing Committee had met. Commerce Minister Michael Sik Yuen broke the news live on RadioPlus just after 8pm, and moments later several petrol stations across Port Louis had pulled down their shutters for the night. Diesel was spared.

Drivers got no warning. Within minutes of announcement, the pumps in the capital simply closed, with no last queue and no grace period before the higher price took hold.

For a household already counting every rupee, Rs 6.40 a litre is the sort of rise that shows up at the end of the month rather than at the pump. At the new price, filling a 40-litre tank costs about Rs 256 more than it did on Thursday. Diesel holding at Rs 71.25 softens things for buses and lorries. The private motorist pays alone.

Public bodies now owe Rs 67.55 billion as loans pile up

Rs 67.55 billion. That is what Mauritius's parastatal bodies now owe, after the pile grew by Rs 5.27 billion, or 8.5%, in just the six months to the end of June. Much of the fresh borrowing is unsecured, which means no asset stands behind it if repayment ever sours further down the line.

These are the water, transport and housing agencies that keep daily life running, so their books are, in the end, the taxpayer's books. A number that size rarely makes noise until the interest bill does. The bill always comes later.

Government offers Rs 3.5 million for every electric bus operators buy

Operators willing to ditch diesel now have a sweetener: a Rs 3.5 million grant from the government for each new electric bus they put on the road. Rose Hill Transport is going first, with a Rs 2 billion plan to add twenty electric buses a year for five years on its way to a zero-emission fleet.

Cleaner air is the pitch. Whether fares stay flat while the fleet turns green is the part commuters will actually watch.

Two police sergeants freed on bail in a Rs 1 million graft case

Sergeants Rishi Gounowry and Ramkrishsingh Nandrame of the Special Supporting Unit were granted bail in Port Louis on Friday. The Financial Crimes Commission, which did not object, alleges each took Rs 1 million during a March 2024 search at Vallée-des-Prêtres. They are due back in court in 2027.

Court seizes Rs 1 million from a scam that sold sorcery

The Financial Crimes Commission has won a Supreme Court order confiscating Rs 1 million tied to a fraud that charged victims for supposed acts of sorcery. The cash, the court found, was the laundered proceeds of the scheme. Belief did the selling, the bank transfers left the trail.

Shorts

Crime unit arrests suspect 'Ronron' – Crime officers held Yagesh Oogur, alias Ronron, over theft and domestic violence.

Sunnassy takes Safe City deal to the FCC – Dev Sunnassy has filed a complaint with the Financial Crimes Commission over the Safe City contract renewal.

A week in jail for driving drunk – Teeruth Prasad Degnarain drew a week in prison and a Rs 45,000 fine for drunk driving.

Joanna Bérenger is the opposition's new whip – Joanna Bérenger takes over as opposition whip, replacing Adrien Duval at the National Assembly.

Raksha Bandhan set for 28 August – The temple federation confirms Raksha Bandhan falls on Friday 28 August and lays out its calendar.

3%

the pace Mauritius's economy is now tipped to grow during 2026, says the African Development Bank, down from 3.2% a year earlier, with gross public debt near 88.6% of GDP.

13 markets

one family's Malagasy vanilla business now stretches from Madagascar across that many corners of Europe, after e-commerce quadrupled its direct sales over just four months.

1.2 tonnes

of ivory turned up hidden inside timber logs at a Vietnamese port; police seized it at Quy Nhon, one of the year's bigger hauls.

Zambia counts again after a night that halted the tally

Zambia has resumed counting votes from its presidential election after officials abruptly suspended the tally nationwide, citing violence, ballot theft and reports of fraud at polling stations. Opposition candidate Brian Mundubile voiced grave concern and demanded full transparency.

President Hakainde Hichilema's economic record is on the ballot, with frustration over the cost of living running high. A count that stops and starts is the thing losing candidates remembers.

A pardon for Chad's jailed opposition leader

Chad's president has pardoned opposition leader and former prime minister Succès Masra, without saying why or whether dialogue might follow.

Burkina Faso's Zongo trial slips again

In Burkina Faso, a fresh appeal has again delayed the trial of those accused over the long-unsolved murder of journalist Norbert Zongo.

US court clears Trump to tax cheap parcels from abroad

A US appeals court has ruled that President Trump can scrap the de minimis rule, the exemption that let packages worth under $800 enter America duty-free. That loophole is what made ultra-cheap shipping from sites like Shein and Temu possible.

Ending it means tariffs on those small parcels and steeper prices for the shoppers who lived on them. For anyone here who orders from those apps, the bargains just got a ceiling.

France strikes down its teen social media ban

France's top court has struck down a ban on social media for under-15s, ruling it went too far against free expression.

Swiatek wins Toronto for her first title of the year

Who was going to stop Iga Swiatek? Not Elena Rybakina in Toronto, where Swiatek took the Canadian Open in straight sets for her first title of the year and 26th overall.

Ecuador's cocaine now comes with a Haaland sticker

Half a tonne of cocaine, pulled from a truck near Ecuador's border with Colombia, came decorated with stickers of Erling Haaland, the Manchester City striker.

Traffickers brand their bricks this way to flag 'quality' to buyers further down the line. Haaland scores for fun; his face, it turns out, moves product too.

🙏 Merci, à demain! 👋

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