● <B>A better electoral system in the pipeline . </B>The electoral reform is in the limelight again. The Prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, expressed his intention to change the system as quickly as possible in his message to the country on 12th March. He said he wanted to convene all political parties so that they would all work together and find a better formula "this year". He seems to want to abolish the designation of communities for candidates in general elections but he nevertheless wants to make sure that all communities are represented in Parliament so that no community feels left out. He made it clear that it was now time to take a decision in view of the various studies already done by specialists on this issue.

● <B>Employees of manupan to resume work. </B>The 297 employees of Manupan must be relieved. Eight companies have expressed interest in rescuing the textile firm that has gone bankrupt. The receiver manager, Raj Gangoosirdar, declared that he has received serious offers from Mauritian and foreign investors to take over the firm with its staff. But he said he would wait until the deadline for the invitations to tender before taking any decision. But employees may be already happy to know that they will not only have their salary at the end of the month but that they might also start work again as soon as next week.

● <B>Derek Taylor?s case dismissed. </B>The magistrates judging the Air Mauritius affair have dismissed the case against Derek Taylor for lack of evidence. Benjamin Marie-Joseph, Nicolas Ohsan-Bellepeau and Renuka Dabee have based their ruling on the statement of Gérard Tyack, the former financial director of Air Mauritius. He said that Derek Taylor was aware that there was a special fund at Air Mauritius but did not know any additional details. He also said that the fund was created before Derek Taylor was appointed CEO of Rogers. He was accused of being involved in a plot to commit a fraud in the context of the Rs 85 million embezzlement to the detriment of the local airline between 1981 and 1999.