● Fatal accident. Her parents are inconsolable. Their 15 year-old daughter, Isabelle Laetitia Lajouche, was killed in a road accident on Wednesday morning. According to the first information gathered by the police, the young girl was waiting at the bus stop on St-Jean Road when she fainted and fell on the road. A bus could not avoid her and one of its back wheels ran over her body. The police medical officer, Dr Maxwell Monvoisin, reports that death was due to shock following multiple wounds. The bus driver did not even realise what had happened until passengers knocked at his window. The victim?s father said his daughter did not suffer from any disease and he can?t understand how she could faint.

● Made in China back on EU markets. Local textile companies may have to face competition from China again. The quotas imposed by the European Union (EU) on Chinese products are coming to an end and EU markets may soon be flooded with products ?Made in China?. However, the director of the Mauritius Export Association (MEXA), Danielle Wong, is confident that local companies have had time to adapt to this threat and have been able to develop a new range. ?Our European customers have always trusted the quality and liability of our products. Our companies have a response time that suits them,? she said. The EU had imposed quotas for a period of three years after the dismantling of the Multi-Fibre Agreement because it felt it necessary to protect its own textile industry in January 2005. The three years are now over?

● No more room in hotels. Almost all hotels have been operating at full capacity this month. The hotel industry is more than ever prosperous in the peak season. The occupancy rate is about 81.8% according to the Association of Hotel and Restaurant Owners of Mauritius (AHRIM). But the good performance has been visible during the whole year with a global occupancy rate of 76.8%. It is true that the chikungunya made of 2006 a difficult year. However, other factors have contributed to make 2007 a better year, ?gradual opening of air access, a targeted approach, a more systematic and planned action on several markets as well as the collaboration of all stakeholders and political willingness? as pointed out by AHRIM director, Patrice Legris.