UK hands Indian Ocean islands to Mauritius

Britain yesterday said it would give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius but under what US President Joe Biden called a "historic agreement" will keep its strategic joint military base with the United States on Diego Garcia.

Britain has been under pressure for decades to hand over the Indian Ocean islands but has resisted because of the Diego Garcia base, a key installation used to help US operations across the Indian Ocean and Gulf regions.