🇲🇺 The curfew is over, but PM Ramgoolam says the real work starts now

The curfew is over, but PM Ramgoolam says the real work starts now

The nationwide curfew is lifted. PM Ramgoolam told the country on Monday that the weekend had passed without major incident, and that the police and the Special Mobile Force, the island's paramilitary unit, would stay on the streets even as Mauritians get their nights back.

PM Ramgoolam did not dwell on the calm. He called the sight of young Mauritians torching their own towns a tragedy for the country, and said giving the young a future is the government's greatest responsibility. Urgent consultations with charities and specialists who work on the ground begin this week, he said, to understand how the island reached this point.

Labour MP Ehsan Juman, called in by PM Ramgoolam after his radio remarks, said he used the meeting to raise youth despair, the cost of living and drugs. His message to his own camp was blunt: ministers, advisers and appointees must deliver, 'otherwise it will be too late.' The curfew was the easy part. What the talks actually change is the real test.

Gobin and Deal challenge the financial crimes court's power to try them

Two former pillars of the state want the Financial Crimes Division, the Supreme Court bench that handles graft cases, thrown off their trials. Former Attorney General Maneesh Gobin, charged in the Eco Deer Park case, argues the division has no competence to try him. Former Assistant Commissioner of Police Lilram Deal, in the separate Reward Money case, asks for three charges to be quashed on the same ground.

The prosecution opposes both. A judge hears the arguments on 20 November, and until he rules the trial of former Economic Development Board chief Ken Poonoosamy stays on hold.

If the judges agree the court cannot try them, the state's biggest graft cases restart from zero.

Saudi Arabia agrees to send water experts to a parched Mauritius

Help with the water crisis is coming from the Gulf. Saudi Arabia has agreed to send a technical team to assess Mauritius's strained supply and recommend fixes, a commitment Foreign Minister Ritesh Ramful brought home from an official visit to Riyadh from 11 to 13 October.

Riyadh moved quickly, the team is expected to land and start work soon. For households rationing buckets through a dry spell, the measure that matters is not the visit but what the experts change at the tap.

Central CID questions Robin Hurreeram over riot WhatsApp messages

The riot inquiry has reached a political family. On Monday the Central CID, the police criminal investigation unit, questioned Robin Hurreeram, brother of former minister Bobby Hurreeram, over WhatsApp messages linked to the unrest. He denied spreading them, and officers, satisfied with his account, let him go. His afternoon ends; the online hunt does not.

French man, 21, held at the airport with 37 cocaine pellets

Police arrested a French national, 21, at SSR airport with 37 pellets of cocaine and seven of hashish, according to officers. Officers at airport intercepted the haul as he came through. Couriers packing or swallowing pellets are the stubborn edge of the island's drug trade, and the airport is where most are caught.

Shorts

One dead in Poudre-d'Or crash – A motorcycle and a van collided at Poudre-d'Or Village, leaving one man dead and another hurt.

Child burned on an Air Mauritius flight – A hot drink scalded a child of eight on a Paris to Mauritius flight; medics met the plane on landing.

Jeetun to pitch the island in London – Minister Jyoti Jeetun will defend the island's financial centre at a Financial Times summit in London.

A push for an artists' status law – Joelle Coret says a Status of the Artist Act is now a priority, promising firmer ground for creatives.

Mother says son threatened to burn her – A Baie-du-Tombeau woman of 71 says her son threatened to burn her and the house amid a drug habit.

Upcoming Events

Sat 31 Oct · Bagatelle Car Boot Sale (Bagatelle Mall)  Featured
9am to 2pm at the Decathlon parking lot. Look out for some great bargains!

Wed 4 Nov – Thu 5 Nov · The Jungle Book Musical (Trianon)
Stage musical at Trianon Convention Centre, 6pm both nights. Tickets from Rs 700.

Sat 7 Nov · Mahogany Car Boot Sale (Mahogany Mall)  Featured
8am to 1pm at Mahogany Shopping Promenade. Buy, sell, reuse, & support local!

100 pints

Blood drives are back after the unrest forced a pause last week, and that is the weekly haul the health service normally needs to keep hospital reserves topped up.

15

Mauritian firms made the Best Workplaces 2026 list, a ranking built on what staff say about trust, fairness and everyday pride at work.

10

Israeli police rounded up that many over West Bank settler attacks that hit European diplomats, a Washington Post photographer and Palestinian olive pickers.

Kenyan preacher found guilty of 191 starvation deaths

Guilty. A Mombasa court convicted self-styled preacher Paul Mackenzie over the deaths of 191 followers, most of them children, who starved on his instruction in a forest in eastern Kenya.

He still faces separate charges of manslaughter and terrorism that he denies. The verdict lands three years after investigators dug up the mass graves, a long wait for families who buried children and wanted a name attached to the loss.

Niger's capital runs dry at the pumps

Pumps have run dry across Niamey, leaving drivers queuing for hours with no clear word on when supply returns to normal.

Senegal's AFCON title fight goes to arbitration

Sport's top court will rule by late November on Senegal's appeal against losing the Africa Cup of Nations title to Morocco.

Houthi missiles kill at least 53 at a Yemeni army camp

Houthi missiles killed at least 53 people and wounded more than 200 when they struck a government training camp in Yemen's Shabwa province, one of the deadliest strikes of the war.

The Houthis, the Iran-backed movement that holds much of Yemen, keep widening their targets as the conflict drags into another decade. For a war the world mostly scrolls past, this week's toll was hard to look away from.

China grows faster than markets expected

China's economy grew 4.5% last quarter, beating forecasts as exports and factories outran weak property market and cautious shoppers at home.

Lula and Bolsonaro trade blows before the runoff

Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro clashed over graft and the economy in a heated debate, days before Brazil's tight runoff on 25 October.

How do you spot a fake before you share it?

Got a dramatic voice note you just have to forward? That is exactly the moment to stop. After a week in which WhatsApp rumours helped push crowds onto the streets, the basics bear repeating: check who is really behind a post, look for a second source, and be wary of anything built to enrage you in five seconds. A screenshot is not a source. Share it and you become the messenger.

🙏 Merci, à demain! 👋

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