Mauritius has an excellent brand image for visitors derived from its capacity and experience in dealing with high-end tourists in a way that other sectors like textiles and financial services don't or can't. Its current marketing campaign is a good move to improve its prospects but the concept "Mauritius was made first, and then heaven" from Mark Twain could be the real booster.

"I was born on the tiny atoll of Peros Banhos in the middle of the Indian Ocean." Thus began Olivier Bancoult's recent lecture at Bristol University. The leader of the «Chagos Refugee Group» will soon find out whether he has the right to return to the hallowed archipelago.

"We are selling everything in this country: from our bodies to our land and now our sea and lagoons. Is there anything left for us?" asked Jack Bizlall, spokesperson for a nongovernmental network of organisations called Kalipso.

The 1.2 million-strong population of Mauritius presently enjoys plentiful piped potable water from the 2000 mm average annual rainfall that falls over the island annually. But large amounts of water are wasted, and with growing demand from new development, the island's water security may come under pressure in the near future.

The "Mauritius: sustainable island" project aims to drastically reduce the country's dependency on fossil fuels. Where does CT-Power's coal-fired plant fit into this strategy?

All students - whatever their financial circumstances - who have the potential for university studies now have the opportunity to do so. They must apply at the ministry of Education to benefit from the fund created in the budget.

Jayen Cuttaree, politician

By Santosh Mahadeo, former director of Curriculum, Ministry of Education

It is high time that non petroleum producing countries created their own organization and an oil fund with the objective countering effects of soaring oil prices on their development endeavors, ambassador of Mauritius to Ethiopia proposed on Thursday.

Mauritius and the Seychelles are cooperating to make a joint submission to the United Nations in order to secure additional areas of continental shelf.

Listening to an interview of the minister of Finance recently, I felt that it was more like a lecture than an in-depth interview.

The diagnostic assessment introduced in the second term is being followed-up. The ministry of Education is coming with a plan for Standard III under-achievers as from the 3rd term. Its aim is to raise their level.

"I walked into Lycee Labourdonnais in the 70s. Although I did not achieve all my schooling there, I did much of it there beginning in the 3rd year of primary school. In terms of teachers, the first who comes to my mind was one of Biology (Sciences de la Vie et de la Terre in the French system), and I got him for the last two years of my secondary education. His name was Mr.

President George W. Bush promised yesterday to be constructive in talks on global warming but said a deal was impossible unless fast-growing China and India agreed to limit their greenhouse gas emissions.

We often read in the press about foreign workers working in deplorable conditions apart from living in an unhygienic state. Such a situation is nothing new as it has existed for a long time.

If the Guinness Book of Records ever decided to reward a bumbling act of brute stupidity, the Voice of Hindu's (VOH) illegal raid of Candos Hospital would surely be a shoe-in for the accolade. It is often said that idle hands do the devil's work. I thus suggest that members of this outfit get a job, or a life, or both. This might give them a more constructive way of occupying their Friday ...