Delhi Gang Rape Victim Has Died

At Mt Elisabeth Hospital in Singapore this morning. Nirbhaya, 23, was beaten, raped and thrown out of a moving bus by a gang of six men on December 16. They had first fooled the woman and her friend into believing that their bus was public transport.

This horrific crime has outraged the billion-people nation, sparked numerous protests and claimed as collateral at least one other life. Four of the perpetrators have already been arrested with the parents of one of them agreeing that his son should be sentenced. Sonia Gandhi has promised prompt justice.

Privy Council Orders New MCB/Lesage Trial

Before a differently constituted court. That's because it thinks that Lesage was denied a fair hearing. Have a look at the interesting judgement.

Kozelidir Person of The Year 2012

Attributed to the CPE student for putting up with a badly designed learning process.

2012: The Year in Review (Q4)

October: PRB report published. Big B turns 70. Felix goes supersonic. Biden-Ryan debate felt more presidential. Apple launches the iPad mini. Gotham prepares for Sandy's visit.

November: Boolell explains Romney's defeat. Zlatan christens stadium with wonder goal. 44% of poll see sweep for Remake. Jimi turns 70. How you know a politician is a socialist. Killer to strike again. Hard-earned anti-inflation credibility at risk.

December: PM claims large victory in village elections. A good reason for men to quit smoking. Municipal voters send multiple signals. Sitar genius dead at 92. State fails more than 9,000 CPE students. Obama reacts to Connecticut tragedy. Kozelidir Person of the Year 2012 attributed to the CPE student for putting up with a badly designed learning process.
     
Read the review for Q1, Q2, Q3.

2012: The Year in Review (Q3)

July: Barclays chairman quits over Libor-rigging. Scientists say bump in data is cosmic molasses. Kuma Pyongyang TV kav sanz biltin linformasyon. Ramgoolam rat enn lot randevu ek listwar. Ki groser enn telefon bizin ete? Court says Galaxy not as cool as iPad. And how many speak kreol in the air? Do we know how to manage an airline? It's not geography, stupid.

August: Politicians, not our democracy, tired. Dekortikasyon lingwistik JT promye ut. Singapore never chased growth desperately. How low taxes have degraded our environment. 18 miners die over pay dispute. CSR not a good yardstick for our altruism. State proudly hatching traffic frankenstein. Humanity experiences biggest blackout. Mauritius at 56th spot in PISA math ranking. Meet the ABS.

September: Obama gets a little help from new friend. Indian PM worth 10.73 crore. iOS 6 dumps Google Maps.

Read the review for Q1, Q2, Q4.

2012: The Year in Review (Q2)

April: Lifelong militant explains his party's last defeat. Citizens experience rare and intense moments of national unity as 24,674 sign Chagos petition in eight short days. Opposition split tickets under adult supervision. Fiscal policy should catch up with monetary policy. MMM lets small tail wag big dog, again. Face of 60 minutes dead at 93. Music icon becomes Senegal's culture minister. Four journalists turn PM interview into circus.

May: Remake's gathering deciphered. Citizens clinch title in Fergie time. Cameras help solve Stacey Henrisson's murder. Get ready to sing with Jaime. SAJ reveals why he left SSR's government. Parliament prepares to legalise abortion. Anand still undisputed world chess champ.

June: Former Chief Justice Lallah dead at 78. Hungry Rafa wins 7th French Open. BOM to cap FX spreads. What Manou and Rama agree on. Moody's downgrades 15 big banks. Nordic countries offer best start in life. The economic mess is actually bigger.

Read the review for Q1, Q3, Q4.

2012: The Year in Review

January: PM thinks we should benchmark against Trinidad & Tobago, a country which had an income level per capita similar to ours when he first became PM but which now has one twice ours. Messi grabs third consecutive Ballon d'Or. France loses AAA rating. Jaufeerally pleads for end of growth worship. Photo-giant Kodak files for bankruptcy. Journalist helps democracy work better. Sithanen's electoral reform proposal makes a travesty of our democracy. Disinterested alternative presented.

February: University students unconvinced by Sithanen's proposal. 75% of poll don't want their Ministers unelected. CWA applies harsher cuts, after downpour. Whitney Houston found dead in hotel room. A380 has cracks in wings. Chuttoo organises debate on political financing. Riots break out in Reunion over cost of living. Somalian pirates to be tried in Mauritius.

March: iPad 3 unveiled. Foreign military parades on March 12. MPC undergoes makeover. Country crying for 3 leaders. Things get ugly atop republic. Chagos petition appear doomed. SAJ drags Reduit into partisan politics.

Read the review for Q2, Q3, Q4.

Obama Reacts To Connecticut Tragedy

State Fails More Than 9,000 CPE Students

Have a look at the statistics published by the MES: 25,314 candidates (22,914 first and second sitting plus 2,400 private candidates) were set to take the exam. Of these only 16,294 passed (15,613 first and second sitting plus 681 private candidates). The rest, 9,020, failed. This translates into a failure rate of 35.63%. This is more than a third in case you're wondering. But it gets uglier. Of the 9,020 that the state failed 2,962 were failed a second time. Do we need to wonder what this does to the creativity of those kids?

What are we waiting for automatic promotion? Godot? Is it too costly? Can't be when you look at how we've been wasting our tax billions for the past few years.

But there may be a drawback in bringing a few grams of common sense to this national problem: a stampede to kiss a minister's feet may become a thing of the past when the latter shows up with a box of macaroni.

Sitar Genius Dies At 92

Municipal Voters Send Multiple Signals

The first one is that they're not exactly happy with the trickle-down policies of Navin Ramgoolam since 2005. So they took at least 3 towns away from his control. And he's being given an umpteenth chance to sober up.

The next one is to Remake 2000. We are not happy with Ramgoolam but we don't think you are much better. More importantly it is a confirmation that Berenger has been at the helm of the MMM for too long: he was not able to capitalise on five years of Paglanomics in 2010. And yesterday he did not win the five towns.

The third one is to Steve Obeegadoo. You or your party don't own our votes. We vote as we want. And we'll do exactly the same thing in 2015. Just watch us.

And one to the MMSD. We liked the way you campaigned. We want you to decide who will run Curepipe. We might want you to decide who will run Mauritius in 2015.

What is Lance On?

A Good Reason For Men To Quit Smoking

PM Claims Large Victory in Village Elections

Ramgoolam is saying he won in more than 100 of the 130 villages contested. I don't think I heard Remake 2000 respond to this statement. And I don't even know how to sort these election results. Or those of the last two. Ok it's true I know people who could help me with this. Kind of don't really have time to do it now. But if anyone wants to have fun with them and provide some interesting insights please be my guest.

What these results confirm though is that the MSM is pretty weak in villages. And as they count for next to nothing in the towns Berenger must already be toying with the idea of announcing that his alliance with the MSM is clinically dead. That could come quickly after results are announced on Monday if as expected they don't win all municipalities. And if they don't win by a large margin.

Expect to start the week with a beaming Ramgoolam at a press point.

La Crise Financiere A Bon Dos

Hard-earned Anti-inflation Credibility At Risk

According to Governor Bheenick as inflation is expected to rise to around 6% by next year. And that's before the ridiculous 3.5% annual depreciation assumed in the recently presented budget. The soundbite also contains interesting insights into how the BOM tried to neutralise the increase in volatility in the forex markets caused by the irresponsible intervention of the National Resilience Fund -- which previously appeared as the Business Growth Fund.

Talk about a resilience fund, eh? It attacks our currency which makes 99% of us poorer. The pompous name is to try to fool us into believing that the extreme trickle-economics implemented since 2005 has worked. It has not.

We know that just by looking at the tax rates and growth rates over the last seven years.

Killer To Strike Again

This is a post that I was supposed to write for more than a year now. Since then many terrible accidents have happened. Including the one above ten days ago where three died. Far too many people are dying on our roads and the policy response has literally been nonexistent. We are instead wasting precious collective energy on bean-counting while putting irrelevant surveys like Doing Business on a costly pedestal.

So until things change and better vibrations bless our country you better watch out.

How You Know A Politician is A Socialist

Pick the best answer.

a) he says so
b) he makes it a must of attending meetings of Socialist International
c) by looking at the tax structure

Jimi Turns 70

44% of Poll See Sweep For Remake 2000

That's a big change from two years ago when nobody thought this was a possibility. At that time the A2A had won the general elections a few months earlier and SAJ was sitting pretty at Le Reduit. The latest poll also shows a big reduction in the odds of the Government winning all towns: from 23% to only 1%. 36% also think A2A will win between 1 and 2 towns down from 52%. True the samples are pretty small but we can measure its informational content in 17 days.

But first 130 villages will vote -- 22,726 more voters live in our villages than in our towns -- and this could have a bearing on the municipal elections. You can count on Ramgoolam for this.

Souhaitons Que Le Stimulus Package N'entraine Aucun Abus

Watch At Your Own Peril

Zlatan Christens Stadium With Wonder Goal

That was during the friendly against England. He also scored the other three goals. Gerrard who earned his 100th cap on the same night declared that bicycle kick the best he ever seen.

Here too we could groom our own little Zlatans if they spent a lot more time on the football pitch in primary school.

Boolell Explains Romney's Defeat

And part of the explanation is that trickle-down economics doesn't work. Interesting. Would the Minister kindly then tell us (i) what has been tried in Mauritius since 2005 and (ii) whether it has worked? Sounds like a PQ, eh? But it's not. So I can ask this last part: (iii) is that consistent with the DNA of the Labour Party?

America Elects World's Most Powerful Man Today

And the race is quite tight. Although Sandy helped Barack Obama get Mayor Bloomberg's endorsement. Colin Powell will also be voting for the Democrat candidate just like he did four years ago. The economy seemed to be doing better after eight years of irresponsible policies by W. which killed 9 million jobs.

The New Yorker has issued its voting recommendations. Americans are grappling with broadly the same issues that we are confronting here in Dodoland.

Go Barack! Go!

What's The Deal With The New ID Cards?

Lalit wants the contract with Singapore cancelled. Which is what the MMM has asked. Hmm, I missed these episodes. So this new thingy is going to cost a billion rupees but there are some privacy vs. efficiency issues. Here's what I found.

P.S. The poll on municipal elections doesn't seem to be keeping the votes for long. Dunno why. Sorry about that.

Satan To Get A Beating

Kisann-la Pu Gagn Eleksyon Minisipal?

Li pu enn test mi-manda pu guvernman ek enn indikasyon lafors remake 2000. Guvernman so politik ekonomik depi 2005 finn enn katastrof. Sirtu politik fiskal finn gangrenn nu pei. Problem se ki lopozisyon pli interese rant dan guvernman ki pran puvwar ek sanz politik ekonomik pagla.

Ramgoolam usi finn enn PM bien bien feb. Komie manda li bizin pu rezud problem pei? Enkor 12? XLD dapre lord pe senti li bien bien for. Li merit enn nuvo pri parski kan un deza tann enn minis de finans atak deviz so prop pei? Pa enn move lide u relir serman ki minis fer.

Anu gete ki lelektora pu dir... En atandan u kav vote dan nu dernye sondaz lor http://kozelidir.blogspot.com.

Gotham Prepares For Sandy's Visit

Its subway -- the world's 7th busiest -- has been closed since last night and might not reopen before Wednesday. Major US Financial and Options Markets as well as over 1 million kids are also taking the day off. Today's full moon will certainly not help. Neither will the midlaltitude trough which will make Sandy scarier as it lands.

And all of this is happening one week before the Presidential Election.

Dapre lord Batman pe manz farata ek kari pul tanto.

iPad Mini Launched in 30 Minutes

Because apparently people are not taking their iPad with them that often. So the folks at Cupertino have designed one that they hope will be carried everywhere. And to fight off Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle.

It will be a first for CEO Tim Cook: launch a product that's not a new version of an existing one. After Steve's exit.

Biden-Ryan Debate Felt More Presidential

Than the one Romney won against Obama. Biden was definitely more confident and slammed his opponent with the 47% controversy. It was also a very relevant debate for us here in Mauritius because we are grappling with almost identical issues (save the military ones): low and unsustainable tax rates that create a debt mountain and hinder growth, competitiveness (btw, no one advocated any idiotic "competitive depreciation"), health care and even abortion.

The moderator, Martha Raddatz, did a terrific job: she was not complacent and asked many good questions that allowed her to stay in control of the hostilities. And fair.

Here's a chance for you to catch-up if you missed it.

Big B Turns 70

On October 11.

2013 PRB Report Published

I suppose the part that will be read first is the Master Salary Conversion Table. Salaries increase from Rs325 to Rs17,580. Looks like a very interesting report. Here's a first installment. And if you're still alive please help yourself.

What do you think? And how does it compare with previous reports.

Apple, A Year After Steve

They are on top of the world. The iPhone makes more money than Microsoft. They have the biggest market cap. And have successfully launched updates of their iconic products. It's true that the maps application doesn't look too great but their products still provide the best user experience. By a comfortable margin.

It will be interesting to see when they launch their next killer product. With a very strong competitor around.

In the meantime enjoy the beautiful tribute to Steve.

Obama Meets Challenger in Debate

The first of three. They will be discussing domestic policy and veteran Jim Lehrer will moderate the hostilities. Starts at 9PM EST which means 5AM in Dodoland. So set your alarm.

Barack is going into this debate with a 4% lead over Mitt and on track to be the first $1 billion Presidential candidate this month. Or about 10% more than the GOP's total. Costly campaign, eh? Both sides will then buy huge amounts of advertisement time and space to try to make a difference on Tuesday November 6.

iOS 6 Dumps Google Maps

And YouTube too. It's part of the war that's been slowly intensifying between Apple and Google. So that the latest operating system launched by the Cupertino-based tech giant has been bundled with a map application developed by Apple itself.

I have to say that I find the standard view pretty crappy. Steve would probably have said that it sucks and I doubt he would have allowed it to go through as it is. Granted that the 3D option looks pretty nice. As the following pic of Gotham City confirms.

What's the next step? Apple going into search?

Do You Know What A Priority is?

We have 161 days left to indicate to the Human Rights Committee what we intend to do to comply with their views. If it's easier for you that means we can send our response by February 27, 2013. That's a lot of time. The CPE exams begins on October 16. In 27 days. And if we don't do anything bold we will still fail about 1/3 of these kids.

We've been going nowhere for the past many years. So I would suggest we make a slight and temporary retreat on the BLS. At least until we fix the CPE exam disaster.

Indian PM Worth 10.73 Crore

A crore is 10 million so we're talking 107.30 million Indian rupees here. Or Rs61.16 million. And he's not exactly the best paid PM in the world either.

At $38 million Bill Clinton is worth about 20 times more than Manmohan Singh.

How much is our PM worth again? And are we getting a big enough bang for the bucks we're paying him every month? What about Berenger?

Obama Gets A Little Help From New Friend

Meet Usain, Guitar-Player

Kozelidir is 4

Just found out that August 23rd is remembrance day for the slave trade. What a coincidence because on the same date four years ago the first post of Kozelidir made its way to the blogosphere. We crossed another milestone today: we reached our 1,000th post a few hours ago. 3,232 comments have also been published. Some are longer than most of the posts here. We put a premium on brevity. And a big one on insight value. A few comments have been rejected mostly because they were off-topic.

Where do we go from here? There are a lot of conversations here that need to be brought to the surface. So expect an even simpler experience when you visit. And more posts and comments. That hopefully will sharpen the way you look at things.

Thank you for stopping by.

Meet The ABS

In this drawn-to-scale chart, B is the fraction of Mauritius under sugar cane. A is the rest of our island. The corresponding squares in the lower half of the diagram are the contributions of these sectors to our economy: sugar is expected to account for only 1.4% of GDP in 2012.

And S which is barely greater than what we have under sugar cane is Singapore. I've put a question mark there to represent its off the charts economy -- roughly twice the size of our passport.

Clearly there is way too much land under sugar cane. We could start by following Lalit's advice of bizin plant manze lor later tablisman. This will make us more resilient because it will ease pressure off our trade relationship with the rest of the world and improve food security at the same time. And having more of A and less of B will significantly boost the rate at which decent jobs are created in Mauritius. Without the galloping inflation bean-counters are so fond of delivering.

We should also restore progressiveness in our tax laws so that the claim that our PM is a socialist starts to ring true. And to put our fiscal house back on a sustainable path. Finally if we replace sugar cane with trees on a sufficient scale this could help us secure some extraordinary bragging rights: having the world's best air quality. Which will provide Mauritius with a killer tagline: Go Ahead, Take a Deep Breath!

Mauritius At 56th Place in PISA Math Ranking

I believe it's the first time we are participating in this serious survey. And the government is to be praised to finally giving Mauritius an opportunity to see how well our education system stacks up against those of other countries around the world. We're at number 56 in Math. Right up there with Thailand and a lot better than Qatar and Ghana. But not even in the top half of the table. 56 is also quite close to the 54th place we got in the last Global Competitiveness Report.

And here's a clip to understand why we should be talking more often about PISA.

Everton Giant Delivers Bad Season Start to Manu

Marouane Fellaini scored a beautiful header in an exciting match last night. He's 1m94 tall -- one cm shorter than Usain Bolt -- and dominated most of his aerial contests at Goodison Park which sent Manu four spots from the bottom of the league table. Not the best possible scenario for Van Persie in the new jersey. But that's two places better than Liverpool which lost against West Brom on Saturday.

City managed to bag a dramatic home win against newly promoted Southampton -- in a bit like the nail-biting fashion it won the last season. They will play the Reds on Sunday at Anfield.

What a good start!

The Most Watched Event

The Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics holds the verifiable audience record of 984 million people. That's different from the estimated audiences of billions of people tuning in that are sometimes thrown our way. Which is almost twice the 530 million who watched man help humanity make a giant step. For sure back in 1969 there were a lot less people on Spaceship Earth. The 2006 FIFA World Cup Final attracted over 700 million people. Or 300 million less than the audience of the 2011 Cricket World Cup semi-final between nuclear archrivals India and Pakistan.

And what about the most watched events of the last Olympics? Usain Bolt's 100m win tops the list if you exclude opening and ending ceremonies. His 200m victory is at no 8. The wins of two women -- Jessica Ennis and Sally Pearson -- are also in there.

Looking up in the sky doesn't count?

Apple Most Valuable Company Ever

At $622 billion the Cupertino-based giant is $3 billion bigger than the previous record. Set by Microsoft at the end of 1999. If we factor in inflation Apple has still another quarter of a trillion dollars to climb. As the LA Times reminds us the company founded by the two Steves was worth less than $10 billion eight years ago.

Nice rate of return. And I hope you've become smarter by reading the iBio.

Humanity Experiences Biggest Blackout

Am sure you heard about failing grids leaving as many as 650 million Indians -- that's almost 10% of humanity -- without electricity on the last day of July. Which have prompted businessmen to ask government to put this type of infrastructure show-stopper on the front burner. This won't hurt establishing a manufacturing base it could use to pull millions out of poverty writes the New York Times. But not getting enough rain this year didn't help to produce a more comfortable level of energy.

Indian electricity is not the only one at the mercy of nature. Power plants in America too are being affected by less water than usual.

Finally, here is a nice list of the worst blackouts. The previous record was 100 million people in Indonesia in 2005.

Our Future is Still in Our Hands

Anybody with two and a half grams of intelligence knows that we are in the current mess because of the reforms that were implemented by Rama Sithanen and Ali Mansoor. Navin Ramgoolam has to take a lot of the blame for allowing the toxic policies to inflict a lot of damage on the livelihood of Mauritians. He should have better surrounded himself to include enough dissent in the decision-making process -- an important ingredient for increasing the odds of leaving a legacy that will not be sneezed at. Although that would have been easy to do given the number of smart people around it will not change the past. But we can still invent a better future.

We could for example start with the lowest hanging fruit: the CPE. Just add enough chairs in post-primary classes so that we fail 3,500 less kids this year. Repeat the same process next year and we would have stopped the senseless practice of making thousands of children pay for a badly designed learning process. Who knows? Maybe this will help produce another Steve Jobs ready to dent the universe. One more time.

State Proudly Hatching Traffic Frankenstein

By building a lot of roads worth several billions of our tax rupees. With the hope of reducing road congestion. This is unlikely to happen because traffic follows enlargement of road network literally in lockstep.

Will the LRT contemplated help? Not necessarily our best move. We could instead consider intermediate solutions like those implemented in Curitiba. Investing in buses of higher quality and fitting them with cameras would also enable travellers to enjoy the world's second best air quality in a more relaxed environment. Almost round-the-clock. And at the same time save the views that nature has made us famous for from a concrete invasion.

This will depend on thoughtful policy-making. Something that's been absent in Dodoland for several years. And which is too much to ask from the PMSD.

CSR Not Good Yardstick for Our Altruism

Because Mauritians have always been generous and caring when it came to giving a helping hand to the less fortunate. And that too when tax rates were at more sustainable levels. So why did this thing come into existence? Well it was one of the arrows in the toxic bean-counter's quiver: when growth rates required to sustain his fiscal irresponsibility never showed up he had to become a little bit creative to make up for the shortfall of funds. And as he and his university buddy accumulated policy blunders after policy blunders the tax rates had to keep adjusting as a perusal of budget and other documents will confirm.

Mind you am not saying that some good stuff hasn't been done through the CSR. But nowhere does it come close to the perverse scale of the Sithanen toohrooh.

Manu Poach Big Gunner As League Start

Robin Van Persie will join (Bruce?)Wayne Rooney to form the soccer equivalent duo of the famous DC Comics hero in front for the Red Devils. When they play their season-opener at Everton on Monday. Van Persie leaving Arsenal sounds a lot more terrible than when Torres left Liverpool. Watch out for the fan reaction when Robin will play the team he's been such a big part of.

You would think Arsene Wenger is devastated. He probably is but being the great team-builder that he is he has already recruited Lukas Podolski and two other players to offset this important departure. Arsenal also believes they got a good price for their striker -- the most prolific last season.

18 Miners Die Over Pay Dispute

After South African police opened fire at a striking platinum mine. The miners wanted a threefold increase in their wages to improve their poor living conditions. They were armed with machetes and charged the police when they were stopped with gunfire. The New York Times said that the miners haven't seen their situation improve 18 years after the end of apartheid.

Former Citi Boss Wants Big Banks Cut To Size

So that tax-payers money are less at risk of greedy behaviour. Essentially he wants investment banking and commercial banking to be carried out by separate institutions. Or if you are familiar with US legislation, to bring back the Glass-Steagall Act. The nice thing about this proposal is that it would reduce systemic risk because we would have fewer and smaller "too-big-to-fail banks". More on this later.

Time For Some Extraordinary Stuff

SAJ Prefers Remaining in Karo Kann

Than to see MSM join the Labour government. And denied any ongoing negotiations with the party currently in power. The only problem is that he said the same thing -- if not worse -- a few weeks before the last general elections two years ago.

Besides the Remake 2000 (sounds like a car model, eh?) has just gone through a cooling-off period precisely because the MMM believed that the MSM was trying to get back in government.

Interesting. Remake sealed in April. Cooling-off period in July. Love is in the air.

Independent India Turns 65

It's August 15 again. I was looking at my phone when the clock shifted to 00:00 announcing the new day. I immediately thought about Collins and Lapierre's extraordinary book Freedom at Midnight. I also recalled the broad pages that Amritsar-born SKJ used to write on this day first in the Mauritius Times and then in Mauritius Today decades ago. He was already predicting the rise of the elephant. I could not understand then. Because I had not seen India yet.

But when I visited this great country a lot of the things he said hit me right in the face. And everything became a lot clearer. I reckon that it will take me at least 1,000 years to understand her. Because as observed by Mark Twain: So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or by nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked.

Happy Birthday!

Thank You London!

For the great emotions you provided for a little over two weeks. Watching Bolt run nine times was more than a treat. Along with Jamaican colleagues. Phelps made some more history. Brazil did not look hungry enough to win the men's football final. And Russia made an awesome comeback in the last game of the men's volleyball.

It was also fun guessing who would win the different events. It was not the Greek-god type of athlete who threw the javelin the furthest. Nope, it was a skinny Keshorn Walcott from Trinidad and Tobago. Who seemed to have the right combination of height, speed and shoulder muscle flexibility. Same for the decathlon  with Ashton Eaton. Quite nice to see Leonel Suarez finish third there -- he won the javelin and high-jump parts.

And the US won most gold this time: 48 or 10 more than China. Which won 13 less events than in Beijing. While Britain bagged 10 more gold than four years ago. Doesn't hurt to play at home.

Good thing we have the English Premier League starting on Saturday. To help get us out of any post-Olympic blues.

How Low Taxes Have Degraded Our Environment

When a government drastically cuts taxes the economy starts running against time to grow faster otherwise tax revenues will fall. And when you're operating in a growth-at-all-costs mode you will make a lot more mistakes. Some of them are going to be quite ugly. And one of the casualties is going to be the environment.

Sounds familiar?

Hotel Boss Believes in Mauritian Talent

Meet Jean-Michel Pitot CEO of the Attitude hotel group. They are making a profit, they have an occupancy rate 10% higher than average and the right attitude. Pitot also understands that cost is not everything. Nope. It's a combination of several factors. He also believes Mauritius got talent in all layers of management.

But he is not against all-inclusive packages and doesn't believe that air access is a show-stopper. Overall, quite refreshing to read.

Shouldn't Yoga Become An Olympic Discipline?

It's a sport, millions practice it, it's been around for thousands of years and it's a very healthy exercise. And there are poses with varying difficulty just like in gymnastics or diving. And who says we cannot have synchronised yoga a bit like synchronised swimming.

Kathak, Bharat Natyam should go in there too. They are as elegant as artistic gymnastics.

They should definitely appear as demonstration sports in Rio. If you ask me.

Selecao Could Grab Elusive Title Tomorrow

When they meet Mexico at Wembley. Indeed the five-time World Cup winners, eight-time Copa America champions and three-time Confederation Cup snatchers returned home twice with Olympic Silver. The timing couldn't be better: Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014 and the next Olympics. Besides they are currently at their lowest FIFA ranking: 13.

The match starts at 18h00.

Using Star Power To Help Set India Right

Singapore Never Chased Growth Desperately

Interesting speech by Lee Hsien Loong about the challenges faced by the city-state as growth rates are set to maintain their decades-long declining trend.

Jamaicans Set to Sweep 200m

With three terrific sprinters. Usain Bolt breezed through the heat of his favorite event today. Yohan Blake too looked impressive. And so did fellow countryman Warren Weir. There were three athletes under 20 seconds in Beijing four years ago. We could have more tomorrow for the semis and on Thursday for the final. All this should push Jamaica up the medal rankings by several spots.

That's a nation of 2.9 million people. Just in case you're wondering.

100m Final Could Be Fastest Ever

And that for a number of reasons. First, going into the semis there are seven athletes who have sub-9.90 times this season. Second the track seems to be fast. Third athletes often lower their personal bests in such finals because everybody is running fast -- the case for half of the sprinters in the Beijing finals four years ago with only two runners taking more than 10 seconds to cover the distance. Finally there is one Usain Bolt running and he could beat his own world record of 9.58s simply because he is reaching the age of peak-performance or could benefit from a slightly faster wind or reaction time.

It's not impossible that Jamaica sweeps the dash. And it would make for a wonderful celebration too. Indeed independent Jamaica turns 50 in a few hours.

The Jump That Took Forever To Measure

Why The MMM Wants To Get into Government

To consolidate our democracy, to get a new MBC, to fight corruption, to improve law and order, to boost the economy and to strengthen national unity. At least according to its leader.

Let's tackle a few of these reasons: consolidating democracy. The MMM doesn't need to be in government to deepen our democracy. Nope. They do that all the time. They lose a general election. The day after they say that general elections are imminent. Berenger then tries all permutations and combinations for its PM candidate. He even tries to get into an alliance with the Labour Party. He is then taken for a ride. He loses another general election. And the Nintendo starts anew.

Now let's look at boosting the economy. I am not convinced that the MMM will be able to do a better job than then the LP. Because they don't have the talent nor the will to deliver on such a promise. All they have is a pretty self-aggrandised view of themselves and of their place in history.

Finally insisting on keeping the BLS hardly qualifies as improving national unity.

Nintendo Player Ends Cooling-off Period

Because he is not convinced that Ramgoolam is serious about presenting a bill to modify the constitutional set up in Parliament. So he will resume talks with the MSM this week. But as he has a big preference for an alliance with the Labour Party expect more zig-zags, about-faces, kustiks and what not.

In the meantime the chess-player improves his majority to 38-31 after poaching MP Bholah from the MSM. Labour now has all three MPs in the riding that returned the former President -- and one of the challengers to Navin Ramgoolam -- many times to parliament.

What now? A couple of defections from the MMM?

Dekortikasyon Lingwistik JT Promye Ut

Biltin-la ti enn tigit mwins ki sinkant minit. Ladan 28.5% letan intervenan ti pe koz an kreol, 48.1% zurnalis ti pe lir nuvel ek 20.7% ti bann nuvel deor sen franse. Total pa fer 100%, non? Be seki manke-la se infopub.

Seki pli interesan ladan seki preske 100% bann intervenan ti pe koz an kreol. Parmi promye minis pendan sinq minit kat segon, DPM vensis, VPM karantwa, sef komiser rodrig dizwit ek PS PMO transis segon.

Ek pa bliye ki apard kan ena enn invite etranze tu bann konferans de pres PM fer an kreol. Bann dikte hebdomader lider lopozisyon zig zag usi an kreol. Miting premye me ek mesaz lane usi pa fer an zapone. Donk inn mari ler pu fer zurnal televise (ZT) vinn biltin linformasyon pli importan.

Politicians, Not Our Democracy, Tired

We know that our political leaders don't have a good plan for Mauritius. But we also know that they can do plenty with our excellent constitution and electoral system. If they want to. Indeed, Parliament recently passed a landmark amendment to the criminal code to allow abortion in certain cases. For sure a lot of misery can be caused if one or more bean-counters somehow gets into the driver seat. Worse, our national finances can spin out of control. As they have.

It's not our democracy's fault. Things will improve if our current politicians get their priorities right or if we get a whole new slate of them. Making your voices heard won't hurt.

Three Digits is Enough

That's essentially what Omega was told when it asked whether it should build a four-digit scoreboard for gymnastics for the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Because 10.00 was simply not possible. And then Nadia began her routine on the uneven bars and everyone -- judges, spectators and competitors alike -- were awestruck by a dazzling performance that had no flaws. So that the first perfect score showed up as a confusing 1.00. She went on to win six more.

Man Catches Up With Woman After 48 Years

Which is what Michael Phelps did yesterday when he matched Larisa Latynina's record of 18 Olympic medals. And she was standing ready to present Phelps with the extra medal that broke her own tally. Unfortunately Olympic rules don't allow this.

I didn't know about this until a few days ago. I thought Phelps was the record holder since Beijing. You learn something everyday. In any case, here's Larisa in action.

Elizabeth Plays Own Role in 007 Clip

China Already Ahead in Medals Count

At the end of the first day. And they are still topping the charts as Day 2 draws to a close. They've got 6 gold and a total of 10 medals. The US is second and Italy is 3rd. In all 21 countries have won medals.

I watched Brazil beat Belarus a little while ago. For sure they've got some great talent like Neymar, Pato, Oscar and Thiago Silva in there but I was wondering if they would be able to beat La Roja in the next World Cup. Well Japan has beaten Spain a few days ago. And Senegal won 2-0 against Suarez's Uruguay. Let's see.

Also watched a great women volleyball match between Brazil and Turkey. The Turkish ladies put in a great fight and they were about to start the 4th set when I went to snooze (Brazil won 3-2).

Man, Olympics are great!!!

World To Pause For Billion-Rupee Ceremony

1.3 billion to be precise. Which starts in about four and a half hours in one of our planet's most exciting cities and will involve 15,000 people. The artistic director for this mega-event is none other than Danny Boyle. We shouldn't be surprise then that A.R. Rahman will be pitching in with something to rock the stadium.

And while you guess who will light the flame here's some music to get into the mood.

Balluck Still Trusting Viljoen

At least for the next little while because MK was in a mess before his arrival. Unlike Bizlall who has apparently lost confidence in the CEO's ability to turn the company around. That what Balluck explained to l'Express this morning along with some of the good initiatives -- including the setting up of a fact-finding committee into the hedging debacle -- the small shareholders of our national airline would like management to implement.

Pure common sense. Just listen to it.

It's Not The Geography, Stupid

A lot of energy is being wasted on one of our latest fantasies. That we are going to be the bridge between Asia and Africa. That we will be intercepting a lot of the flows and the business between the two continents. Between African Lions and Asian Tigers. That our geographic location gives us a competitive advantage just like Singapore.

It's an awesome strategy if you haven't looked at a map in a long time or don't have an internet connection. Because otherwise you would have known that there is a huge difference between being lost in the open seas and sitting pretty near the narrowest part of the Strait of Malacca. Maybe you are not to be blamed. As you still can't tell the difference between a weak Euro and a strong rupee. Or between rent-seeking and competitiveness.

Asia doesn't need our permission to go into Africa. Because it's already there. 

Pancreatic Cancer Gets First Woman in Space

Sally Ride died yesterday in La Jolla, California at age 61. The killer was pancreatic cancer -- the same that ruined Steve Jobs's life. Among cancer-killers it's the fourth most important. 

How you can get it? Easy. Eat a lot of red meat, smoke, lead an inactive life so that you become obese, drink a lot of soft drinks and boycott vegetables and fruits. And make sure to stress yourself as often as you can. If you do all of these with sufficient dedication we could be attending your funeral pretty soon.

Do We Know How To Manage An Airline?

If you look at the fortunes of Air Mauritius over the past few years you are likely to conclude that we don't. That would be a big mistake though because it has not always been like this. There have been some really smart people who have worked there for many many years and who still do. And who knew what managing an airline -- that includes hedging -- is all about.

Besides there are some incredible Mauritians -- sufficiently high enough in the food chain -- who could turn this baby around and make us all proud. So we need to start sending unambiguous signals that we are putting competence first again.

Meet Mr Near-Perfect Landing: Kohei Uchimura

He's already done something no one has done before: win three gymnastics world championships back to back. The New York Times says he's set to soon become the greatest who ever lived. Don't forget to watch him in London.

Ki Servis Piblik u Truv Korek?

Mwa mo bien kontan (mont bisiklet?) Passport Office. Sa desantralizasyon ek simplifaksyon bann form la finn kontribye pu fer enn ti-mirak: u gagn u paspor andan enn semen. La pos usi finn ameliore buku. Plizier zot kontwar servi sa ti masin elektronik pu imprim enn tem-kolkamani ki fer travay-la al buku pli vit. Enn pake sa bann biro-la usi erkonn. Donk li pa mal agreab al lapos. CEB usi ena bann kontwar ki furni mem nivo servis.

Mauritius Telecom so servis ti kav buku pli bon si nu kontinye kuma avan. Sa servis MyT la dapre lord pa enn cheetah kinn diizign sa. Nu servis ledikasyon piblik dan dife net: 30% zelev CPE pa pase sak lane.

Ale u tur aster. Ki u kontan, ki u pa like?

Mauritius Has 11 Athletes in London Olympics

One less than at the Beijing Olympics. You probably know the triathlete Fabienne St-Louis and the beach-volley champs Natacha Rigobert and Elodie Li Yuk Lo. And Aurelie Halbwachs who will participate in cycling events. Plus a few other athletes in swimming and track and field. Good luck to all of them and may they follow in Bruno Julie's footsteps.

South Africa has 133 athletes (3 less than in Beijing), Madagascar 7, Kenya 50 (they sent 2 less 4 years ago but had an amazing medals rank: 13). India is sending 83 people (compared to 57 in China) while China is sending 382 (vs 639 when it was the host country). That's barely bigger than the Japanese delegation (303). Russia has 443 athletes (they are always a big team). USA has probably the largest one (indeed 536).

And finally Great Britain will be represented by 556 athletes. The fun begins in a little less than seven days. If you're taking the opening ceremony as yardstick.

And How Many Speak Kreol in the Air?

We know 84% of Mauritians use kreol at home. Many Mauritians speak kreol on MK too. The funny thing is that they are often spoken back in an alien language by the flying staff. Which is the right thing to do because speaking kreol -- unlike hedging -- is not one of MK's core competencies. We leave that to infinitely inferior airlines like Emirates where Mauritian passengers are routinely shown a higher level of empathy by being answered back in their home language.

All is not lost though. We just need to find out where exactly is that country where our kreol can be learned.

Spoiled Brat Wants New Toy

And that's to become President -- à la frenchie -- of Mauritius. After getting mad with us back in 2005 when we didn't give him forty-five seats. Instead of counting his blessings and setting Mauritius right. That's a ridiculous request because we know very well that we have an excellent constitution that has served us well. It's the thing that got us here, right?

Singapore wannabes should also remember that the strongman there is the Prime Minister. In any case what's the deal about changing the constitutional setup? Is that a chromosome-altering event?

The One Movie Bhansali Wished He Had Made

Hopeless Case Getting Worse

"If we get into government it's only to set the country right." Followed by "electoral reform is the topmost priority". And "I have a preference for the Labour Party". All of this while he is in alliance with the MSM and after helping SAJ to resign as President. He was also supposed to second the motion making Kailash Purryag our next President tomorrow. Now he will not.

In case you forgot, the MMM is THE party with all the right competencies. Good luck dear Militants!

Pat Delefan Rajesh Khanna

Kumsa mem ti pe dimann tayer kud nu bann kanson dan les zane swasandis. Sinema ti enn gran lwazir sa lepok la e tu seki nu ti pe truve lor lekran nu ti pe seye fer parey apre. E kuma kiken ti pe abiye inpe bien nu ti pe dir "get Rajesh Khanna". Inpe kuma tu dimunn tiapel Travolta apre. Uswa Nadia Comaneci. Rajesh Khanna inn mor zordi dan Mumbai. Seki buku dimunn konsider kom promye superstar dan Bollywood tiena swasantnev an. Antuka li pe kit buku zoli zuvenir pu nu (P.S. mamzel la ena 22-23 an ladan).

Ki Groser Enn Telefon Bizin Ete?

Lontan si u ti pe servi enn Sagem ler u truve ki enn Nokia kav fer eventielman u aste enn Nokia. Anfet probableman u renuvle enn Nokia ek enn lot Nokia parski zot pa tiena kompetiter serye. Lerla enn moman done u aste enn Blackberry Killer. Moris nu telman dan fatak ki dimunn finn aste Killer avan Blackberry parski Blackberry finn ariv bien apre.

Me pri lansman Blackberry inpe tro ser donk u atan. Amwin u envi showoff ek aste li pu repet tu dimumm komie un paye sa. Pa importan mem si u pa tro konn servi li. Apre Blackberry so pri bese vinn parey kuma enn Nokia u aste enn Curve. Wow! U pe gut u promye smartphone. Kapav gayn email dan u telefon, kapav surf lor internet. So lekran 19 sentimet kare (plis ki de fwa lekran 7.84 sentimet kare u Nokia ). Kapav mem bloge. Bye bye Nokia.

Letan sa Apple tir so iPhone. Tarrrrrrr! iPhone 4S ena enn voice asssitant ki apel Siri. Li simplifie enn ta zafer. So lekran 39.76 sentimet kare: de fwa pli gro ki pu Blackberry. Ek en plis li servi OS Apple. Buku pli simp, robis ek intwitif. Bye bye Blackberry. Samsung-li tir so Galaxy ki pe mars mari bien: finn ed Samsung vinn pli gran manifaktirye smartphone dan lemond. So lekran pli gran ek li mars ek Android. Kuma iPhone 5 pu ete?

Griye inpe pistas.

Evangelist of Effectiveness Dead at 79

Steven Covey died yesterday of complications related to a recent bicycle accident. His 7 habits of Highly Effective People is ranked #7 in Amazon.com books and is first in a few self-help sub-categories. This translates into more than 25 million copies according to the New York Times.

He also visited Mauritius: the promo video will make you feel good about our employment numbers.

Ramgoolam Rat Enn Lot Randevu Ek Listwar

Ler linn nomm Kailash Purryag kom prosin prezidan repiblik. Bon se vre ki se promye fwa li pe nomm enn travays. Rapel ki so de lot nominasyon finn swa remont lor kes savon ubien return dan laren politik pu tir so manze. Me Ramgoolam ti kav donn enn lot dimansyon prezidans sa fwa la. Si li ti nomm enn parmi sa bann morisyen la:

1. Eric Milazar -- sa vites ki morisyen pe vinn obez la pa ti move gagn enn sampyon kumsa ki kompran kiapel lavites dan redwi. En plis li pre pu pran so retret.
2. Eric Triton -- enn prezidan gagn drwa kontinye zwe lamisik. Ti va dedie enn lasam redwi pu lamizik. Dimunn ti va vinn gete.
3. Pamela Patten -- enn de nu bann lavwa prefere. Tu dimunn kontan li. Anfin, apard detrwa zimaz.
4. Chitmansing Jesseramsing -- nu ex-ambasader emerit kinn servi anba 7 prezidan amerikin ek kinn ekut lamisik ek manz popcorn en sort bann 4 zuliet Lincoln Memorial.
5. Ananda Devi -- pa enn move lide avoye enn antropolog redwi -- kav gagn bann bon biografi bann personalite ki transit laba apre.
6. Shenaz Patel -- zurnalis/ekrivin progresis ki pu kav kontinye ekrir redwi.
7. Abhimanyu Unnuth -- enn lot nu bann gran poet/ekrivin (75 liv).
8. Sobhanund Seeparsad -- zurnalis/akter mollywood/ekrivin triling e en bonis enn lavwa radiofonik. Pu bon pu diskur program sa.
9. Aline Wong -- nomm enn dimunn Zen ki bien kompran limportans kapital imin pa ti pu mal.
10. Victor Glover -- ansyen sef ziz ki deza konn baz la: linn fer 4 fwa kuma guverner zeneral par interim ek 1 fwa kuma prezidan par interim.

Ramgoolam ti kav usi fer pli fasil: les Monique Bellepeau glis dan pos prezidan trankil.

Kahneman Not The First

Non-economist to win the Economics Nobel. Everybody knows that John Nash who won the prize eight years before Kahneman is a mathematician. Who doesn't remember the award-winning movie A Beautiful Mind anyway?

Nash is not the first either. This honour could very well go to Kantorovich who snatched the prize in 1975 or to Hayek who took the Nobel home a year earlier. Which confirms that you don't necessarily have to study economics to understand how the economy works. And that having a non-economist as first-deputy governor is a pretty lame excuse for not having launched the Monetary Policy Committee. When you should have.

Speaking about Economics Nobels, here are five broad categories in which the first thirty-eight ones can be grouped into. That's useful information. Just in case you might be in the mood to get one.

Wrestling Champ Dead at 83

Dara Singh visited Mauritius once -- think it was in the 70s -- and I even got the chance to go watch him fight against one Scotsman Cameron (Jack if I remember correctly) who meticulously folded his skirt before launching the hostilities. But it was not the fight everybody talked about. Nope. THE fight to attend was between Dara Singh and Mighty Mongol. Them visiting our island got Mauritians to start practising impromptu wrestling.

Court Says Galaxy Not As Cool As iPad

So that the Cupertino-based tech mogul lost the case of design infringement it brought against the South Korean giant. Judge Birss said that the iPad's competitor doesn't "have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool."

That's not going to hurt the sales of the iPad, will it?

Kuma Pyongyang TV Kav Sanz Biltin Linformasyon

Pli importan biltin linformasyon li bizin en kreol vi ki dan saem langaz 84% popilasyon kominike lakaz. Donk bizin ena enn Zurnal Televize (ZT) lor promye sen ent 19h30 ek 20h00. News ti bizin deziem pli importan biltin vi mari limportans ki angle ena dan dunya. Ti kav pas sa lor sen de ent 21h00 ek 21h30. JT en franse nu met li ent 19h00 ek 19h30 lor deziem sen.

Bann biltin pa bizin plis ki trant minit. Kav fer sa: nek ena dimann promye minis rann enn servis pa vinn fer miting lor tv tulezur.

Ek ti bizin les bann depite exprim zot en kreol dan parlman ek ena versyon Hansard en kreol usi.

Batsa lor vites.

Take Agalega, Leave DTAA Alone

Seems to have offered Mauritius according to an article published in the Times of India a little while ago. What's going on here? First policies to attract unproductive FDI are implemented for seven years. These fail miserably and we end up with a lot of debt and structural problems. Now, we're giving away our territory to save a treaty?

Scientists Say Bump in Data is Cosmic Molasses

Aka Higgs boson. After looking at data collected in the two large toys they've built in Geneva and Batavia. Which makes the standard model -- the idea that all we need to build our Universe are twelve building blocks and four fundamental forces -- a little more complete.

Two Maybelline Faces in One Movie

Who's Got The Better Voice Assistant?

iPhone 4S or Galaxy Nexus? This review shows that the latter has a better voice and is quicker for some searches. What do you think?

Proof That Reforms Have Worked

Barclays Chairman Quits Over Libor-Rigging

Days after his bank was fined GBP290 million. There is pressure for the CEO to resign too. While David Cameron announces a parliamentary inquiry into the scandal. And an insider tells us how it was done in the open.

Banksters in action? Check how Buffet ended up taking over Salomon Brothers 21 years ago.

Last Two World Cup Winners Meet in Three Hours

In the EURO 2012 Final in Kyiv. It has been a beautiful tournament with many great matches keeping fans at the edge of their seats. A few products of La Masia will be on the pitch tonight. So will the uber-cool Gigi Buffon. And the explosive Balotelli, the lead-scorer, who has one goal more than three Spanish players: Cesc, Fernando and Xabi.

I am betting for Italy to win it. But only after an exciting battle.

The Economic Mess is Actually Bigger

Than previously reported. Although I had forgotten to add the budget of Jeetah's Ministry I didn't include the much larger capital repayments either. So that now -- based on the same budget 2010 numbers -- we have debt servicing 82% and 80% larger than the education budgets for 2012 and 2013 respectively. It was already 38% a couple of years ago.The total debt service for these four years is a staggering Rs69.25 billion and the corresponding figure for education spending is only Rs42.62 billion -- Rs27 billion more. That's roughly 10 Midlands Dam or one LRT plus a couple of billions to spare. In case you're wondering.

Nordic Countries Offer Best Start in Life

According to a newly built index by the Economic Intelligence Unit which measures the quality of early school environment in 45 countries. Finland, Sweden and Norway take the first three places while India grabs the last one. China is ranked 42nd. Japan sits at no. 21 but would climb about 9 spots if it made its high quality program compulsory writes the EIU.

In the meantime, Singapore students are moving out of their classrooms to expand their vistas as they get ready to widen their competitive edge. Again. Dodoland of course is planning to make students do the reverse trip during the winter holidays for another dumb dose of rote learning. And get closer to the twelve-month school year. Youpi?

Mansoor Resigns, Almost

So mentioned Le Mauricien yesterday. Which is saying that the FS crossed unauthorised lines and was cut to size by someone in government. He apparently wrote a letter of resignation but was convinced by a Senior Minister to take it back.

Why on earth did the Minister persuade him? He didn't like the font used?

Looks like AM could make use of this extremely useful guide.

How Crazy Are You?

Moody's Downgrades 15 Big Banks

Because of the tail risk -- the likelihood of huge losses -- that their capital market operations exposes them to. They also got slammed for the opacity and complexity of these activities. Opacity? Hmm, this reminds me of how opaque the irrelevant stimulus package was at the beginning before rapidly becoming redundant.

Have a look at the interesting report which some claim is five years late.

Summer Starts in the Northern Hemisphere

With the Music Day. As usual. Pretty quiet here in Dodoland. Way too quiet. Sign of the bean-counting times, eh?

What Manou and Rama Agree On

That would be the crucial importance of savings for our economy. Read us. Makes kind of sense right? That's what left over after we make our purchases. The Governor's views are currently on display in the media for consumption so no need to repeat them here. What you may have forgotten are how close they are to those that Sithanen held when he became Finance Minister for the second time back in 2005. Here's what he said:

CSO is forecasting a very low savings rate of 19.5 per cent for 2005. Here again, we must be utterly concerned. Firstly, because as a nation we are consuming at a faster rate than we are producing. Secondly, because the savings rate is below the investment rate. This will exert demand pressures on prices and will have an adverse impact on the current account of the balance of payments [emphasis mine].

Which gives us a beautiful benchmark to evaluate the so-called reforms he initiated. I guess.

BOM To Cap FX Spreads

So concluded Manou Bheenick in an interview to L'Express. That's excellent news for exporters which complain of not getting good enough FX rates from their banks. It's also long overdue for the small consumers given how wide the spreads have been recently.

I am starting to like 2012.

Who Influences Our National Policies The Most?

Is it Big Business? Or maybe the World Bank? You think it's the Prime Minister and religious organisations?

Make up your mind and vote in this interesting poll from Dr Zoom. It closes in 29 days.

BOM Gone As Far As It Could

With the key repo rate given that savings haven't improved after two university buddies messed up our macroeconomic fundamentals. The bank is also making FX credit lines available essentially because cry-babies have stopped using swaps.

Listen to the post-MPC press conference. Or have a look at the slides used.

Hungry Rafa Wins 7th French Open

In four sets a minute ago. That's one more than Bjorn Borg. And prevents the current No. 1 player in the world, Novak Djokovic, to make some history himself.

So, the best clay player ever just confirmed his status. The tennis scene should become a little bit more interesting for the balance of 2012.

Tall Cat Saves Girl From Fall

Looks like Jamaica is ready for London.

How State Can Fight Brain Drain

By giving tax breaks to companies who provide Mauritians with decent and meaningful work. And by seriously limiting the number and type of jobs that can be filled by foreigners. Because Mauritius got talent. Lots of it. But first the Government has to restore enough progressiveness in our tax structure to regain potency.

Former Chief Justice Lallah Dead At 78

He had an interesting and busy international career including being selected as one of three eminent persons to assess existing material relating to the genocide in Cambodia and to recommend appropriate measures. Rajsoomer Lallah was also responsible for drafting the rules for the 1967 general elections. Here he is talking about Malawi failing to meet its human rights reporting obligations.

Anand Still Undisputed World Chess Champ

After winning the World Chess Championship for the fifth time. I remember finding his name a couple of decades ago listed as a Grandmaster or whatever they call it when Karpov and Kasparov ruled the world and matches against Deep Blue were drawing a lot attention. I was looking for an Indian because they invented the game and just because there are so many of them.

But I got interested a lot more with Bobby Fischer. The champ who won, disappeared and reappeared to win. They even made a movie out of the chess player who was groomed to become the next Fischer.

Dylan Awarded Medal of Freedom

I just found out that he wrote Blowin' in the wind something which several generations of kids sang at school. What I did know was that he apparently got The Beatles to start smoking pot. Here's my favourite Dylan song which The Rolling Stone magazine dubbed the greatest song ever. Enjoy.