🇲🇺 One in five young Mauritians is out of work and out of school

One in five young Mauritians is out of work and out of school

Some 34,000 Mauritians aged 16 to 24 are in no job, no classroom and no training programme, close to one in five of that age group, a figure the opposition PMSD leader Xavier-Luc Duval put to a Port-Louis press conference on Saturday.

He drew a straight line from those numbers to this month's unrest, which he called shocking but, given the conditions, entirely predictable. School failure, the pull of drugs, the squeeze on housing and the water shortages all fed the anger, he argued, before peaceful marches tipped into violence. He urged ministers to look past the broken windows to the conditions that produced them.

He calls 34,000 a floor. The government, he says, should build a full ministry for social integration, and brace for a figure that is probably higher. The number to watch is not 34,000. It is how many of them are still counted next year.

The 34,000 comes from the 2022 census, so today's cohort is almost certainly bigger, not smaller.

Two bills would overhaul how Mauritius handles adoption

The Cabinet has cleared two draft laws for public consultation: a Child Adoption Bill and an amendment to the Code Civil Mauricien. Together they would give full force to Hague Convention of 1993, the treaty that sets shared rules for adoptions across borders, and set up a Mauritius Child Adoption Authority to vet and track every case.

Would-be parents would need a certificate of eligibility, and a formal matching process would pair children with suitable families, with checks before and after a placement.

Arrested in the Moustass Leaks, a former journalist now bills the State Rs 8.7M

Leevy Frivet spent the start of the Moustass Leaks saga in a Moka cell. Now he wants compensation.

Arrested on 1 November 2024 over the leaked recordings that shook the last government, the former journalist and labour ministry adviser has filed a Supreme Court claim for Rs 8.715 million against the commissioner of police and the State, calling the arrest unjustified and the harm financial, moral and social.

Can a recovery plan pull Air Mauritius back to cruising speed?

Can the national carrier fix itself from the inside? Chief executive Andre Viljoen has taken a recovery plan in ten parts to unions and staff, the pitch is steadier daily operations rather than a grand relaunch.

After a court was ransacked, a lawyer wants the archives locked down

The sacking of the Bambous court on 13 October left case files and exhibits exposed, and lawyer Yuvir Bandhu says the fix cannot wait for the digitisation drive the courts keep promising. He wants cameras, alarms and fire detectors on archive rooms now, access kept to named staff, and a full inventory of sensitive cases so nothing can quietly disappear.

Shorts

Family shaken by assault on a girl of six – Police in Tranquebar are investigating the alleged sexual assault of a girl of six, whose family say they are reeling.

A phone call costs an Albion retiree Rs 1.2M – A retiree in Albion lost more than Rs 1.2 million after a WhatsApp call from a scammer.

Missing worker's family asks India to step in – Dharmendra Bisht, who worked at a Bagatelle restaurant, has disappeared; a relative want India's help.

Minister eyes 15 to 20 more water boreholes – With taps still unreliable, Minister Assirvaden says he may requisition 15 to 20 more boreholes across the island.

Bérenger wants a committee to reform the police – After the unrest, Paul Bérenger is pushing for a Select Committee to overhaul the running of the police.

Upcoming Events

Sat 31 Oct · Bagatelle Car Boot Sale
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Sat 7 Nov · Mahogany Car Boot Sale
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won on a single Loto ticket by a Rodriguan player, the second largest the game has produced since the Rs 100 million of 2023. Rodrigues had never seen anything like it.

Rs 700,000

in cash and damage after thieves broke into the La Cosa Nostra restaurant. Three are now held.

2

former FBI officials now face charges of lying to Congress about how the investigation into Hunter Biden's laptop began, dragging an old political fight back into court.

A shot that could stop HIV sits out of reach in Uganda

A twice-yearly injection called lenacapavir can all but stop people catching HIV, and Uganda is among the places that need it most. The catch is supply: doses are so scarce that those at highest risk often cannot get one.

Health workers describe turning people away for want of stock, even when the clinic is ready to give the injection.

A prevention tool only the lucky few can get protects the figures more than the population.

Three CAR hostages are home after ten months

Three people kidnapped in Central African Republic ten months ago are home; a UN flight brought them to Bangui, where President Touadéra met them.

DR Congo begins a new Ebola vaccine trial

A new vaccine trial has begun in Bunia, in eastern DR Congo, testing candidates against the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola as a fresh outbreak spreads.

Brazil votes today in a tight Lula versus Bolsonaro runoff

Nearly 159 million Brazilians can vote today in a presidential runoff too close for the polls to call. President Lula faces Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the former president Jair Bolsonaro, in a contest that splits the country along old lines.

A result this tight will test how cleanly the loser, and his supporters, accept the verdict.

Whoever wins inherits the half of Brazil that voted against him.

Mines hit two tankers at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz

Iran's Revolutionary Guard says two oil supertankers struck naval mines near the Strait of Hormuz, a day after a projectile hit another passing ship.

Serbia votes today as a vast Belgrade rally tests President Vucic

Serbia votes today after a vast student-led rally in Belgrade, the opposition's best chance yet to loosen President Vucic's long grip on power.

Fire tears through Hitler's old Eagle's Nest in the Bavarian Alps

A major fire has gutted the Eagle's Nest, the mountaintop lodge built for Adolf Hitler above Berchtesgaden and long a grim tourist curiosity. German police have arrested a suspect. The motive is still unknown.

A building that outlasted the war and eighty years of uneasy visitors did not outlast whatever happened this week.

🙏 Merci, à demain! 👋

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