You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
2 diamonds
Prince Harry is engaged to actress Meghan Markle. Some of you are going to email me and mention that this feature is called “significant” digits and we shouldn’t be including the nuptial of an overseas blueblood in such essential notes, but consider that the engagement — kicked off with a ring that includes two of Princess Diana’s diamonds — is pretty monumental as far as these things go. Markle is a divorced American Roman Catholic who’s mainly known for being in the USA show “Suits.” I’ll concede this is not how I bet the failed FOX reality program “I Wanna Marry Harry” would conclude. [BBC]
+37 percent or -32 percent
A luxury hotel in Panama is trying to drop the Trump branding from its name, the third time a building has tried to do so this year. Outside researchers say that prices in the hotel have dropped 32 percent since January. The Trump Organization claims otherwise, saying it did 37 percent better than competitors in September. How specific. [Bloomberg]
78 percent
That’s the percentage of the time that Chief Justice John Roberts agreed with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2015, up from 65 percent of the time in 2010. Roberts has shifted somewhat to the left over his time on the highest bench in the land. For contrast, in 2010 Roberts agreed with conservative Justice Samuel Alito 96 percent of the time in 2010. By 2015, he agreed with him in 84 percent of cases. [FiveThirtyEight]
969 flights
Number of flights handled at Mumbai International Airport in a 24-hour period on Friday, a new record for airports operating one runway at a time. India is poised to be a massive growth market for air travel — an airline serving the region estimated 97 percent of the 1.3 billion people in India haven’t yet traveled by air — and Mumbai’s airport is trying to increase efficiency to 1,000 flights over a 24-hour period. [Bloomberg]
$1.2 million
Expected price of an issue of Action Comics #1 being auctioned off next month. That issue introduced Superman and effectively kickstarted the superhero comic revolution. This sale comes at a challenging time in the business when comic sales are reportedly down 20 percent from last year. [Marketplace]
$11 million
That’s the amount paid by the state of Florida since 1987 to settle cases where state workers worked in a hostile work environment or were sexually harassed by supervisors or co-workers. Of those approximately 300 cases, nearly 60 percent involved Department of Corrections employees. [The Associated Press]
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