You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
17 percent
Kamala Harris had a great debate, according to the few polls we’ve gotten so far. The junior senator from California jumped from 8 percent going into the first debate on Wednesday to nearly 17 percent after she appeared on stage on Thursday night, according to Morning Consult polling conducted in partnership with FiveThirtyEight. Much of that added support came at the expense of Joe Biden, with whom Harris tussled in the second night of the Democratic debates. Polling Morning Consult did for Politico showed a similar trend. There are 217 days until the Iowa Caucuses. [FiveThirtyEight, Politico]
90 super nests
Super nests — colonies that can be home to more than 15,000 wasps — are proliferating in Alabama thanks to warmer winters. Typically, there are only one or two seen each year in the summer. This year, the number is expected to approach 90, according to an entomologist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. “With our climate becoming warmer, there might be multiple surviving queens producing more than 20,000 eggs each,” the entomologists told the Times. [The New York Times]
4 years, $164 million
Kevin Durant’s new office will be just down the street from the apartment of yours truly, as the former Golden State star is joining the Brooklyn Nets in a four-year, $164 million deal. He will be joined there by free agents Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan. Durant, however, is not expected to play at all next season following the Achilles injury he suffered in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. [ESPN, FiveThirtyEight]
80 minutes
President Trump spent three made-for-TV hours in the Korean Demilitarized Zone on Sunday, including about 80 minutes with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. In so doing, Trump became the first sitting American president to step foot into North Korea. It was “a chaotic spectacle reflective of the last-minute nature of the invitation to the authoritarian leader,” per the Associated Press, which included a “scuffle” between journalists and North Korean security guards. [Associated Press]
At least 7 dead
At least seven people died and 181 people were injured yesterday in mass protests in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Tens of thousands of protestors marched, demanding “the immediate and unconditioned handover of power to civilians,” as heavily armed security lined the streets and snipers reportedly shot at people. [CNN]
$26 million behind
“Avengers: Endgame” was re-released in theaters last week with a new, previously deleted scene in a bid to topple “Avatar” as the highest-grossing movie of all time. The move garnered it another $5.5 million over the weekend, its tenth in theaters, leaving it $26 million shy of “Avatar”s $2.78 billion in global ticket sales. “Avatar” has held the top spot for nearly a decade. [Variety]
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