🇲🇺 Rs 1.9 billion in losses pushes the state out of 15 casinos

Rs 1.9 billion in losses pushes the state out of 15 casinos

Rs 1.9 billion. That is what Mauritius's public casinos have bled over the past decade, and the figure has now pushed the state toward the exit at all 15 of them. The losses did not arrive in one dramatic night. They piled up quietly, year after year, while tables kept turning and the red ink deepened on a balance sheet few people ever read.

The retreat lands alongside a bitter governance fight at the operator of the Senator Club, where private shareholders are at each other's throats over who really controls the business. It is an awkward split-screen: one arm of the state loses money running casinos, while another now wants nothing more to do with them. Gambling was supposed to be the house's game, not the taxpayer's.

Disengagement is the easy word. The hard part is the price on the way out: who buys 15 ageing gaming halls, at what valuation, and what becomes of the staff who keep the lights on and the chips moving. A decade of losses is a warning; the exit terms are the real test.

So much for the house always winning.

Water authority taps 230 private boreholes as the main reservoir hits 35%

The Central Water Authority (CWA), the state utility that pipes water to most homes, has started requisitioning private boreholes to prop up a network under severe strain. Around 230 sit in its directory, and it is working through the list one site at a time.

Behind the move is a hard number: the main reservoir has dropped to 35% of capacity. The CWA is also leaning on private carriers to keep tankers rolling into the driest neighbourhoods. A borrowed borehole buys time, it does not refill a reservoir. Only rain does.

Frozen beef and fish drive September's grocery bill higher

Rs 13.30. That is how much a kilo of frozen beef climbed in September, with frozen fish close behind at Rs 9.70, the two biggest jumps in the monthly food basket.

Elsewhere the shelf held steadier. Twelve staples, among them subsidised bread, rice and flour, potatoes and onions, did not move at all, and powdered milk and black lentils actually slipped a few cents. Meat and seafood is doing the damage; the cupboard basics, for once, are not.

Flacq drivers face months of detours from 15 October

Brace for a long detour at Flacq. Months of it. From 15 October to 15 March 2027, traffic on the A7 and B56 will be rerouted while Gamma Construction carries out roadworks tied to the Mall de Flacq. Seventeen months is a lot of orange cones for one shopping centre.

Teenagers put mental health on camera in a new campaign

Young people are doing the talking this time. ANFEN, a network that runs non-formal education for adolescents, has launched #ToPaTousel, three videos made by and for teenagers to crack open a subject they are usually told to keep quiet: mental health. The Creole title translates as, you are not alone.

Shorts

Indian medical team joins Elodie Thomas's care – Surgeons removed the bullet and a team of 13 from India flew in to assist the operation.

Court refuses Ravatomanga bail again – The businessman stays in custody over alleged money laundering, with the crime agency urged to wrap up its case.

Stone cracks a Metro Express tram window – A projectile hit a tram near Barkly around 5 pm, cracking a window but hurting no one.

Water tank grant moves online – Households can now apply for the tank and pump grant on a new portal, with registrations already open.

Stock exchange names a new CEO – The Stock Exchange of Mauritius picked Tim Hogben to succeed Sunil Benimadhu as chief executive.

24 years

Rodrigues has now governed its own affairs that long, and Chief Commissioner Robert Hungley came home to island celebrations for the autonomy anniversary.

10

African countries, at least, stand to be hit by new Israeli rules on foreign pilots and cabin crew, according to reports, a headache for airlines that route staff through the region.

45

homes vanished in flash floods across north central Nepal, which also tore out four bridges and left five people missing as rescuers searched the valleys.

Ethiopian troops push into Adwa as the Tigray front reopens

Federal troops have entered Adwa, a strategic town near the Eritrean border, after Tigrayan rebels pulled back, residents say. It is the kind of advance that revives memories of the war that tore through the region only a few years ago.

Flights to Mekelle, the Tigray capital, have resumed after government forces retook it. A reopened airport is not the same thing as a settled peace.

Mozambique sets a deadline to give up guns

President Daniel Chapo says police will seize illegal firearms by force once a December amnesty ends.

Algeria holds 61 over an alleged sabotage plot

Authorities say they arrested 61 Moroccan nationals this month, citing an international criminal network but offering few details.

Federal agents search Ilhan Omar's home in a fraud probe

Federal agents searched the Washington home of US Representative Ilhan Omar as part of a criminal investigation into allegations that she falsified her immigration paperwork years ago.

No charges have been filed, and Omar has long dismissed the claims as a political smear. A search warrant means a judge already saw enough to sign off; what it proves is another matter.

Cyberattack spoils French supermarket fridges

Hackers hit refrigeration systems at French supermarkets, triggering fires and millions in spoiled food; Paris prosecutors have opened a case.

North Korea fires missiles into the sea

Pyongyang launched several ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, which Seoul read as a show of force after a recent hypersonic test.

The beach nuisance that could feed the soil

What do you do with the seaweed that piles up on the sand, smelling of low tide and scaring off the tourists? Throw it away, usually.

A project called From Seashore to Soil has other ideas, teaching hospitality students to turn those stranded algae into compost for the garden and the farm. One hotel's eyesore, it turns out, is next season's topsoil.

🙏 Merci, à demain! 👋

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