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This is The World in Brief from The Economist.

Our Top Stories This is The World in Brief from The Economist. Our top stories.

NATO called for a full investigation into the cause of an airplane crash in Kazakhstan

that killed at least 38 of the 67 people on board.

Russia has warned against hypotheses that it was hit by Russian

air defenses. The Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft had been diverted from landing in Grosny in Chechnya

before attempting an emergency landing. Russian state media blamed a bird strike.

Syria's new authorities said it would hunt down militias loyal to the ousted president,

Bashar al-Assad, hiding in rural areas of the Tartis province.

On Wednesday, 14 of the new government's policemen were killed in an ambush in the coastal area,

a stronghold of Mr. Assad's supporters.

Manmahan Singh, a former Prime Minister of India, died at the age of 92. Mr. Singh served two terms

between 2004 and 2014. His coalition passed important legislation, including a rural jobs scheme, a

right to information act, and Adharr, a digital identity system. His second term was blighted

by allegations of corruption. Finland's Coast Guard seized an oil tanker in the Baltic Sea and escorted it to Finnish waters.

...