FRANCE: A special court has cleared Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti of conflict of interest, ruling that he was not guilty of having used his office to settle personal scores.

The former lawyer had been accused of abusing his position to order probes targeting magistrates who investigated him, his friends and his former clients.

Mr Dupond-Moretti had denied wrongdoing and refused to resign.

NEPAL: A gay couple has become the country’s first to receive official same-sex marriage status.

Surendra Pandey and Maya Gurung registered their marriage at the Dorje village council office in the mountains west of the capital Kathmandu.

Earlier this year, Nepal’s Supreme Court issued an interim order allowing same-sex marriages for the first time.

SOUTH AFRICA: A lift suddenly fell about 656 feet while carrying workers to the surface at a platinum mine in South Africa, killing 11 and injuring 75 — 14 of them critically.

The accident happened at the end of the workers’ shift on Monday evening at a mine in the city of Rustenburg. All the injured workers were hospitalised.

Mine operator Impala Platinum Holdings chief executive Nico Muller said in a statement on Tuesday that an investigation had begun and that the mine had suspended all operations.

 
PAKISTAN: A court has acquitted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif of corruption charges, removing a major obstacle to him standing in parliamentary elections in February.

The Islamabad High Court's decision came weeks after it restored Mr Sharif’s right to appeal against a 2018 conviction relating to the purchase of luxury flats in London.

Mr Sharif returned to Pakistan in October, after four years of self-exile abroad to avoid serving a 10-year prison sentence on corruption charges.