🇲🇺 Four road deaths in a day as the state moves to toughen the law

Four road deaths in a day as the state moves to toughen the law

Four people died on Mauritian roads in the space of 24 hours, pushing this year's toll to 93 lives lost. Late Monday on the Royal Road at Deep River, Rivière-Sèche, a car struck a pedestrian of 65 who died at the scene. The driver, 29, was already banned from the wheel, and his car carried neither insurance nor a tax disc. He is now in custody.

Transport Minister Osman Mahomed says the licence points system has not calmed the roads, so the law is about to get harder. Changes to the Road Traffic Act will land at the parliamentary session, led by a digital driving licence. Anyone caught driving on drink or drugs will lose their licence outright, and see the car seized.

Mahomed's team sat down with the Attorney General's Office on Tuesday to draft the text. Ninety-three deaths in under eight months is the figure it has to move, not the launch date.

Only a fifth of declared investment has broken ground

Just 21.4% of Mauritius's active investment projects have broken ground. The Economic Development Board is tracking 523 live projects worth Rs 649.7 billion, yet only Rs 138.8 billion of that has actually reached the ground so far. That is the gap between what promoters pledge and what actually turns into cranes and payslips.

Declared investment looks healthy on paper, turning a pledge into a finished project is where the pipeline keeps stalling. Four rupees in every five are still waiting to be spent.

Engen's signs come down as a Mauritian owner takes the pumps

Engen Mauritius is disappearing. Beta Oil Terminal Limited, part of the Bhunjun group, bought Engen in 2025 and will unveil a local brand on 21 August at Beau Plan. It is the first Mauritian-owned firm to run a national chain of stations.

Thirty-seven stations will carry the new name, going head to head with Total Energies, Vivo Energy and Indian Oil. The same group won Rs 4.5 billion in damages from the state over the illegally scrapped Betamax contract, so it is hardly short of ambition.

An officer flies in from Dubai with cannabis in his bags

A serving police officer walked off flight EK 703 from Dubai carrying cannabis and 6,659 rolling papers in his luggage, police say. Constable Shailendrasingh Runjeet, 47, from a police special support unit was checked by drug and customs officers alongside a relative. The 32.53 grams is small. A serving officer allegedly moving it is the story.

Rs 30 million bets on fishers to grow the blue economy

Fishing gets a Rs 30 million boost from a new project run by the UN Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility. Agriculture Minister Arvin Boolell launched AfriSEEDS, which ties Mauritius to Seychelles, the Comoros, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé around a steadier blue economy. Boolell wants fishers to gain from the sea, not lose.

Shorts

Student of 17 attacked in Curepipe – A student of 17 was attacked and robbed in Curepipe on his way home.

Police probe alleged abuse in La Cure – Two children aged 5 and 6 have accused their mother of violence, and police opened a case.

Ravatomanga stays behind bars – The Financial Crimes Commission says it holds solid evidence as his fresh bail bid fails in a Rs 7.3 billion case.

Silence on cochlear implants angers group – An advocacy body says the health ministry has gone quiet on its cochlear implant programme.

Emirates loosens its ticket rules – The airline rolled out five changes meant to give travellers more flexibility.

Rs 20 million

Omnicane has swung back to profit for the first half, reversing a Rs 366 million loss a year earlier on revenue of Rs 3.28 billion.

Rs 19.9 million

A former Mauritius Commercial Bank manager is suing over his dismissal after 35 years, calling the sacking for gross misconduct unfair.

14 charged

Prosecutors say a cocaine ring ran through two Penn State fraternities, most of the accused being students themselves.

Kenya's opposition fills the ground its rivals tried to clear

How do you stop a rally that just keeps growing? Kenya's opposition Linda Mwananchi movement drew big crowds in Homa Bay on Sunday, even after what organisers describe as a coordinated push to break up their gatherings.

The turnout hands the movement momentum as it presses its case for change. Local leaders framed disruption attempts as proof the message is landing.

Somalia fights for a city it says slipped away

Somali national forces clashed with troops loyal to an ousted regional leader over a key city, accusing him of siding with Islamist fighters.

A Senegal girls' school rewrites the plan

At Senegal's Mariama Ba School of Excellence, girls are pushed to picture a future beyond what tradition long mapped for them.

Hormuz stays shut as the clock on talks runs out

The Strait of Hormuz will stay shut until Washington meets Tehran's terms, Iran's parliament speaker says, more than five months into the standoff. A ship passing through was hit and damaged by what officials called an unknown projectile.

Sixty days set aside for talks have now run out, and President Trump has hardened his line rather than reopen a truce. A fifth of the world's oil normally moves through that channel, so the price of everything shipped keeps the pressure on households far away.

Moscow warns London over British drones

Russia warned the UK of consequences after Ukraine used British drones to strike inside Russia, including Moscow, where seven people died.

Rodri swaps City for Barcelona

Barcelona have signed Rodri from Manchester City until 2030, it is one of the summer's biggest moves and brings the World Cup winner home to Spain.

In Kinshasa, a sharp suit is a whole philosophy

Dressing sharply is a philosophy here. The sixth DR Congo Fashion Week gathered designers and the famed 'sapeurs', devotees of an elegance movement called La Sape that turns a good suit into a statement.

It pulled in talent from across the river in Congo-Brazzaville too. For a scene born of colonial dandyism and later worn as quiet defiance, the runway is just the latest stage.

🙏 Merci, à demain! 👋

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