You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
25 percent of 751 seats
Once the democratic dust settles, some 25 percent of the 751 seats in the European Parliament are expected to go to populists “who want to chip away at the European Union’s powers.” That figure is 20 percent higher than five years ago though it was not, however, “the deluge that many traditionalists had feared.” Voter turnout was the highest it’d been since 1994. [The New York Times]
10 people
At least 10 people have died this year trying to summit Mount Everest — the deadliest season in four years. Part of the reason may be the sheer popularity of the challenge, wrote the Post, “as scores of people attempted to ascend in a short window of good weather, producing delays that extended the time climbers spent at deadly altitudes.” [The Washington Post]
30-kilogram trophy
President Trump was on a state visit to Japan over the weekend, where he became the first sitting American president to watch a sumo wrestling tournament. He also presented a 30-kilogram (66-pound) American-made trophy to a wrestler named Asanoyama, which will now be displayed in a sumo museum. [The Japan Times]
43 percent underdogs
O Canada, prepare to receive the NBA Finals. The Toronto Raptors bested the Milwaukee Bucks, after falling down two games to none, to make the finals. It’s the team’s first appearance there, where they will meet the Golden State Warriors beginning Thursday. FiveThirtyEight’s prediction model gives the Raptors a 43 percent chance to win the championship. [FiveThirtyEight]
6 months without pay
Michael Kwan, a longtime justice court judge in Utah, was suspended for six months without pay for statements that he made both in court and on Facebook over several years that were critical of President Trump. Those comments were “laden with blunt, and sometimes indelicate, criticism,” according to the Utah Supreme Court’s ruling. One of Kwan’s posts, for example, read “Welcome to the beginning of the fascist takeover.” [CNN]
$112.7 million
The live-action remake of “Aladdin” starring Will Smith as the genie and directed for some reason by Guy Ritchie earned $112.7 million at the box office over the holiday weekend — the fifth-highest Memorial Day weekend total ever. It bested predictions which were in the “$75 million to $85 million range.” On other screens, “John Wick: Chapter 3,” “Avengers: Endgame” and “Pokemon Detective Pikachu” rounded out a Top 4, as the incentive to actually make new movies appears to have disappeared entirely. [Variety]
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