38 candidates run for post

of Oxford university chief

LONDON: Britain’s University of Oxford on Wednesday said 38 candidates are in the running to become its next chancellor but Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan is not among them despite his party saying he had applied. The candidates are vying to succeed former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten, who left in June after 21 years. The ceremonial post has been occupied continuously since 1224. High-profile names to replace him include former Conservative party leader and foreign secretary William Hague, Labour party former EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson and former attorney general Dominic Grieve. — AFP

Eastern Turkey rattled

by magnitude 5.9 quake

ISTANBUL: Many areas of eastern Turkey were shaken up by a 5.9-magnitude quake on Wednesday although there were no immediate reports of injuries, officials said. The tremor happened at 10:46 am (0746 GMT) in Kale in Malatya, a province that was badly hit by the violent 7.8-magnitude earthquake which struck on February 6, 2023, killing more than 53,500 people in Turkey and almost 6,000 in neighboring Syria. “For now, there has been no loss of life nor destruction of property following the magnitude 5.9 earthquake,” the state’s AFAD disaster management agency wrote on X. — AFP

France opens murder probe

after motorist hits cyclist

PARIS: French prosecutors said Wednesday they had opened a murder probe after a motorist ran over a cyclist following an altercation on a central Paris street. Witnesses said the driver, 52, appeared to deliberately target the cyclist who died at the scene near the Madeleine in the capital’s wealthy 8th district on Tuesday. According to daily Le Parisien, quoting witnesses, the driver at the wheel of a SUV hit the cyclist with his car, and then drove over him, crushing his body under the heavy vehicle. The cyclist, 27, went into cardiac-respiratory arrest. Efforts by emergency services rushing to the scene to save him failed. — AFP

Search fails for remains of

British soldier killed by IRA

DUBLIN: A search in Ireland for the remains of a British soldier killed and secretly buried by Irish republican paramilitaries almost 50 years ago has ended without success, authorities said Wednesday. Robert Nairac, a British Army captain, was abducted by the IRA from a pub in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, in May 1977 while working undercover and attempting to gather intelligence. The 28-year-old soldier was taken to a nearby forest across the border with the Republic of Ireland where he was tortured and shot dead. — AFP

Colombia grants Indigenous

groups environmental authority

BOGOTA: The Colombian government said Tuesday it had granted the country’s Indigenous groups new environmental authority on their lands, just days before hosting the UN’s COP16 conference on biodiversity. “We have signed a decree with the president of the republic that recognizes the Indigenous authorities as the environmental authorities of their people and territory,” Environment Minister Susana Muhamad told reporters. She added that 115 Indigenous communities would wield new powers within their territories, including over land use, ecosystem protection and conservation rulemaking. – AFP

Kenya impeachment hearings

against deputy president

NAIROBI: Kenya’s senate began impeachment hearings against Kenya’s deputy president on Wednesday, hours after a court said the proceedings were constitutional, clearing the way for a vote on his dismissal this week. Kenya’s National Assembly voted on Tuesday last week to impeach the deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua, on 11 charges which included corruption, undermining the government and stirring ethnic hatred. Gachagua has denied all charges. Gachagua has said the impeachment motion, backed by opposition lawmakers and allies of President William Ruto, was based on falsehoods that constituted a political lynching. – Reuters