🇲🇺 Parliament hands the police commissioner the power to lock down the whole island

Parliament hands the police commissioner the power to lock down the whole island

The National Assembly passed the Police (Amendment) Bill without a single change on Tuesday, and it rewrites the curfew. Until now the commissioner of police could only shut down a named locality. The new text lets him order a curfew across all of Mauritius, or any part of it, the moment trouble looks set to spread.

PM Ramgoolam cast it as closing a gap the October unrest laid bare, when violence spread faster than law could follow. The gap was plain. The bill also stiffens the penalty for an offensive weapon carried during curfew under section 13D: the old Rs 25,000 ceiling gives way to a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs 100,000, with up to five years in prison still possible.

Opposition leader Chetan Baboolall backed the aim, not the build. "A law is not judged by the emergency that prompts it," he told the House, "but by what it allows the year after." He set three tests for the power: a clear aim, firm limits, someone answerable. By his count it passes the first and fails the rest.

The emergency that justified it will fade long before the power to shut down the island does.

Police say Pravind Jugnauth's signature is on the wiretap papers

Former PM Pravind Jugnauth spent over four hours at the Central Criminal Investigation Department on Tuesday, a third round of questioning under warning after two sessions in September. Investigators are probing the allegedly illegal purchase and use of interception and mass surveillance systems by the Prime Minister's Office during his term. Police say they showed him documents carrying his signature and photographs of the kit. Pravind Jugnauth called the inquiry "a clear attempt at political manipulation". His lawyer wants full sight of the evidence first. No date is set.

Nearly 28,000 families have asked the state for a water tank

The water tank aid scheme has already drawn 28,306 applications, Utilities Minister Patrick Assirvaden told Parliament on Tuesday, and from this week people can apply online or at any Central Water Authority office instead of queuing. For now the help goes to households with no tank at all, though Assirvaden said it could later widen to families that already own one. The backdrop is grim. Mare-aux-Vacoas sits at 34.2 percent and could slip to 20 percent by November without rain.

Textile exporters race to clear orders stalled by the curfew

A week of shutdowns and curfew nights has left the textile export sector chasing orders the curfew stalled, piling on overtime, and bracing for penalties from foreign buyers. The industry reckons it needs about a week to catch up, even as rest of the economy limps back to normal. Lost days are lost contracts.

Investigators fly to France over an alleged Rs 350 million bribe

Two officers from the Financial Crimes Commission (FCC), the agency that pursues money laundering and graft, flew to France to question a witness in the probe into an alleged Rs 350 million bribe solicitation. It rarely goes that far. That it is now spending on overseas travel shows how seriously it is taking this one.

Shorts

Man hunted over bus assault on schoolgirl – A girl of 17 says a man groped her on a morning bus, and police have launched a search.

Teen reports blackmail with intimate photos – A girl of 16 told police someone shared intimate images of her on Telegram and threatened her on Snapchat.

Mauritian team shines at STEM racing final – Student squad CSE Velocity took Best Newcomer at the STEM Racing World Finals in Singapore.

State again seeks jail for Dr Moheeputh – After a September conviction, prosecutors are pushing for prison in a second indecent assault case.

Two children bitten by dogs in one day – Animal welfare officers urged owners to heed the law after two children were bitten in a single day.

Upcoming Events

Sat 31 Oct · Bagatelle Car Boot Sale (Bagatelle Mall)
9am to 2pm at the Decathlon parking lot.

Sat 7 Nov · Mahogany Car Boot Sale (Mahogany Mall)
8am to 1pm at Mahogany Shopping Promenade.

300 pairs

of glasses went to residents of Grand-Gaube in a free vision drive, the sort of small community push that rarely makes the news but spares someone a costly trip to the optician.

30 days

Cristiano Ronaldo must sit out that long after storming out of Portugal's national camp, and the federation tacked on a €255 fine. Pocket change for him; a rare public rebuke for the captain.

1,849

investigations opened by the Financial Crimes Commission since November 2024, with just five convictions to show for it so far, a gap worth watching as the agency ramps up.

A beheaded exile reopens old fears for Rwanda's critics abroad

Robert Kabera, a former Rwandan soldier who became a loud critic of President Paul Kagame, was found beheaded in Uganda. He had been living in exile, one of a scattered group of opponents who left Rwanda but kept speaking out. His killing rattles that community, which has long feared that distance from Kigali buys no safety. Exile is no shield.

Ethiopia warns Eritrea against backing its enemies

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed warned Eritrea it faces severe consequences if it keeps backing rebels inside Ethiopia, hardening a feud between the one-time allies.

Mbeki denies shielding apartheid crimes

South Africa's former president Thabo Mbeki says he never told prosecutors to drop cases from the apartheid era, nor cut secret deals to shield old security officers.

Haiti's gangs hit the new foreign force in its biggest attack yet

Four Salvadoran soldiers are missing after gangs ambushed their armoured vehicle in Haiti, the first big strike on the foreign force that came to help local police take back control. It is the bloodiest test yet for a mission the United Nations backed but have struggled to staff and fund. The gangs, who already hold most of the capital, look to be making a point about who runs the streets.

Vance won't back Netanyahu, splitting with Trump

US vice president JD Vance declined to endorse Benjamin Netanyahu before Israel's October 27 vote, breaking with President Trump, who had thrown his weight behind him.

Supreme Court kills the 9/11 plea deal revival

Can a scrapped 9/11 plea deal come back? The US Supreme Court said no, refusing to revive bargains for three accused plotters, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed among them.

The plane crash that still haunts Mozambique, 40 years on

Mozambique honoured Samora Machel this week, its independence hero, 40 years after the plane carrying him crashed in what was then apartheid South Africa. He was heading home from a regional summit when it came down. Four decades on, the cause is still argued, and the suspicion of foul play over the official verdict of pilot error has outlived almost everyone who was aboard.

🙏 Merci, à demain! 👋

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