● 40th anniversary of independence ? The whole country is celebrating its 40th anniversary on Wednesday. The celebrations will be held at Champ-de-Mars in the presence of several high calibre personalities. The South-African president, Thabo Mbeki, will be the chief guest on this special occasion. The Chief minister of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, should arrive in Mauritius today. The French minister of Agriculture will also be among the guests.

● Manupan?s take-over ? One week left to find a company to take over Manupan. The international invitation to tender will expire on 18th March. The employees are hanging on to this hope because the receiver manager of the company, Raj Gangoosirdar, gave them their dismissal letter last Thursday. He was supposed to wait for the ministry?s stand on the issue but the latter cancelled a meeting at the last minute and the receiver manager said he had had no other choice than to dismiss the 297 employees.