<B>Rogers associates with Mastercard </B>

Rogerscard holders will soon be able to use their cards, not only in the 700 accepted sale points in Mauritius, but also all over the world following the association with Mastercard, This will be a non-banking service that Rogers will offer through its subsidiary service CIM Finance. This association will also allow people to make cash withdrawals, which was not possible before.

<B>Creditcard scandal uncovered</B>

The CID put a surveillance operation in place last Thursday in Grand Bay and cornered a network, made up of a police officer, an accountant and their close acquaintances who had been falsifying credit cards for the past six months. The State Bank of Mauritius handed the case over to the CID after discovering the fraudulent transactions. They had embezzled Rs 1 million out of foreign victims. Helped by the IT unit of the police, investigators managed to get hold of the duplication and production equipment of the false credit cards.

<B>Three dead in road accident</B>

Three youngsters died instantly in a car crash during the early hours of Sunday as they were coming back from a nightclub. The three other occupants of the car were hurt, one of them with serious head injuries. A CNT bus was going towards Curepipe at 5am when it hit the car, which was coming from the opposite direction. The bus driver is facing charges of involuntary homicide.

<B>Consumption boosts growth</B>

A survey by the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) shows that household consumption has increased by 6.7%, despite the 50% increase in VAT in 2004. Consumption has never been better and this increase has contributed to economic growth. The outgoing president of the MCCI, Marday Venkatasamy, says that the press concentrated too much on negative signals such as inflation rate, unemployment and national debt, therefore ignoring the fact that enterprise and household revenue had actually increased.

<B>Archeological discovery </B>

An archeological team is presently trying to identify a wreck at Pointe-aux-Feuilles, Mahebourg discovered on 10th October last. They think it might be Le Coureur, a 19th century two-masted French schooner involved in slave traffic, which sank on 3rd March 1821. The archeological campaign will last about two months and may throw light on this period of Mauritian history.