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Hard Numbers

Hard Numbers: Former Nigerian leader dies, Sinner avenges French Open loss, preliminary Air India crash probe, & More

​Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari arrives for the Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, Nigeira June 11, 2015.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari arrives for the Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, Nigeira June 11, 2015.

REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde
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82: Former Nigerian leader Muhammadu Buhari, who led Africa’s most populous country both as both coup-leader and democratically-elected president, has died at the age of 82. Buhari first seized power in a coup in 1983, but was ousted after just 20 months. He eventually converted to supporting democracy, and became the first opposition leader in Nigeria to defeat an incumbent when he won the 2015 election.

4: Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner defeated Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in four sets in the Wimbledon final yesterday, claiming his fourth major victory, and avenging his extraordinary defeat to Alcaraz at the French Open last month. Sinner has faced controversy, though: he was suspended from tennis earlier this year for taking a performance enhancing drug, but the suspension was so short that he didn’t have to miss a single major tournament.

7: One of Ecuador’s most feared gang leaders has accepted extradition to the United States, where he will face seven charges related to drug smuggling and arms trafficking. Jose Adolfo Macias is currently serving a 34 year sentence in Ecuador, a country where gang violence has gotten so bad that the president has imposed a state of emergency. Macias escaped prison last January but was recaptured in June.

18,400: Air India now says that the pilots flying Flight 171, the London-bound flight that crashed last month in Ahmedabad and left at least 260 dead, had a combined 18,400 hours of flight experience. Yet a preliminary probe still leaves open the possibility of pilot error in the fatal crash: investigators said that the fuel was cut off to both engines, meaning the crash wasn’t due to mechanical failures or design flaws.

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