You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
5 scientists
At least five scientists have been dismissed from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Board of Scientific Counselors. A spokesperson for EPA administrator Scott Pruitt suggested Pruitt may swap in people from the industries the EPA regulates. [The New York Times]
5.7 percent
Mexico overtook Germany to become the fourth-largest beer producer in 2016, upping production to 5.7 percent of the world’s market. (Well, at least according to data from the Mexican Beer Chamber.) China, making about 24 percent of the world’s beer, is No. 1, followed by the U.S. and then Brazil. All together, the top five countries make about 55 percent of Earth’s beer. [Bloomberg]
10 percent
During President Trump’s first 50 days in office, 62 percent of his tweets got more than 100,000 likes. In the following 51 days, just 10 percent of his tweets passed that benchmark. [Bloomberg]
66 percent
France elected centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron as its president on Sunday. Macron soundly defeated far-right National Front candidate Marine Le Pen, 66 percent to 34 percent. [The Guardian]
$25 million
It appears that Comcast dodged a bullet last week. Apparently, the company’s venture capital arm almost gave up to $25 million to the “organizers” of the doomed Fyre Festival. That was the would-be uber-exclusive music festival that turned instead into a dirtier, less funny version Gilligan’s Island. [Bloomberg Pursuits]
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