🇲🇺 Road deaths have already topped all of last year with two months to go

Road deaths have already topped all of last year with two months to go

By 30 October, 125 people had died on Mauritian roads this year, up from 102 over the same stretch in 2025, a jump of 22.5%. That came out of 122 fatal crashes in just ten months, 26 more than the same point last year, and with November and December still to run the toll has already edged past the 124 deaths recorded across the whole of 2025.

Pedestrians fared worst. People on foot went from 26 of the dead to 41, a rise of nearly 58%, while motorcyclists and older residents stayed among the most exposed. These are not freak crashes on a motorway; they are the ordinary crossings, village roads and night rides that make up most Mauritian journeys.

One person now dies on our roads roughly every two and a half days, the year still has eight weeks left to add to that count. A provisional figure that already beats a full previous year, with two months unspent, is not a number to file and forget.

Singapore flies in nine experts to plug Mauritius's leaking water grid

Nine water specialists from Singapore landed on 1 November for a two-month mission to audit and repair the Central Water Authority (CWA) network, the state body that pipes water to households. They began in the East, where a startling 73% of the water pumped never reaches a paying tap, lost to leaks and unbilled use.

A 33 million euro package, about Rs 1.7 billion, from the French Development Agency (AFD) is footing the bill, with a first report due within a month. Fixing pipes is slower work than announcing a mission, but 73% is the kind of loss you cannot subsidise your way out of.

Roche-Bois toddler dies of an intestinal tear, mother's partner arrested

A girl of one from Roche-Bois died on Sunday evening after her health collapsed suddenly, and an autopsy found the cause was a severe intestinal laceration. A SAMU emergency team reached the family home but could not revive her.

Police have arrested the mother's partner while investigators reconstruct the child's final hours. She had been unwell for several days before her condition turned critical. Officers have not yet said how the injury happened.

Public hospitals short of staff as overtime pay runs late

Staff across public hospitals say they are stretched too thin and still waiting on overtime the state has not paid, and both complaints surfaced this week. Fewer hands on a ward is not an abstract complaint; it is longer waits and thinner cover on the nights that matter most. The gap shows.

Labour and the PMSD edge back toward an alliance

Talk of an alliance between the Labour Party (PTR) and the PMSD is circulating again, reviving an electoral pairing that not long ago looked finished. Whether the two can agree on seats and a single line is the part that usually decides these things. The talks are early.

Shorts

Water tank grant sent to the watchdog – The ministry and the DBM have asked the Competition Commission to probe supplier price demands.

A new house, a fresh start for baby Ezekiel – Baby Ezekiel's family just picked up the keys to a brand new home.

Breast cancer strikes men too – Doctors remind the public that breast cancer also strikes men, not only women.

Recorders reach 775 pupils in ten schools – A deal with Yamaha puts recorders in hands of 775 pupils across ten schools.

Pesticide fears change how we cook – Worry over pesticide residues on local veg is changing how shoppers wash and cook it.

Upcoming Events

Sat 7 Nov · Mahogany Car Boot Sale
8am to 1pm at Mahogany Promenade

Sat 14 Nov · NASA Space Apps Challenge
2 days · Rajiv Gandhi Science Center

Thu 19 Nov · ThirdThursday Networking
9:30am to 11:30am at Middlesex Uni

2,489

pleasure craft permits cleared the Tourism Authority between January and 26 October, well over the 957 logged across all of 2025 and the 1,124 a year earlier. Leisure boating is booming.

Rs 3.6 billion

Ascencia is sinking that sum into two new eastern shopping malls, a bet that the region's spending power is catching up with its growing population.

$4 billion

in annual US military aid to Israel will end by the close of the year, President Trump says, arguing that Israel no longer needs the money.

Senegal's parliament sinks a budget and dents its IMF rescue

A $2.2 billion IMF rescue just got harder to reach. Senegal's lawmakers rejected the budget tied to the deal, a plan meant to steady the country's strained public finances. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme was supposed to reassure lenders; a no vote at home does the reverse and reopens the question of how Dakar closes its gap.

Uganda detains a former deputy army chief

Uganda has arrested Peter Elwelu, a former deputy army chief, accusing him of plotting to destabilise parts of the country.

Ethiopians who fled clashes line up in Kenya

Kenya is registering thousands of Ethiopians who fled clashes at home, gathering in the border town of Moyale after a feud between Oromia and Somali region leaders.

Americans vote in a midterm billed as a verdict on Trump

Americans voted on Tuesday in midterm elections that could reshape President Trump's second term, with counting now under way. His Republicans hold both chambers of Congress, and neither of the two blocs have a comfortable cushion, so a modest swing could hand Democrats the leverage to stall his agenda.

US strikes Iran's Qeshm Island on election eve

On the eve of the vote, the US struck Iran's Qeshm Island, a sharp turn just as an offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz had raised hopes of calm.

ICC chief defies Trump's penalties

The president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has hit back at US penalties on the tribunal, vowing that Washington's pressure will not obstruct its work.

South Africa crowns its first bread sommelier

Ever heard of a bread sommelier? A baker in South Africa's Cape Winelands just earned the title for mosbolletjies, a traditional brioche made with grape must, the pressed juice left over from winemaking.

The honour puts a centuries old Afrikaner recipe on the world culinary map, and shows the fancy tasting language we save for wine works just as well on a warm, sweet loaf. Who knew?

🙏 Merci, à demain! 👋

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