Hard Numbers

Hard Numbers: Swift rocks the vote, ICC targets Russian commanders, Subianto eyes growth, Big Apple’s cash splash

​American singer songwriter Taylor Swift performing during the first night of the The Eras Tour in Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Friday, February 16, 2024.
American singer songwriter Taylor Swift performing during the first night of the The Eras Tour in Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Friday, February 16, 2024.
(AAP Image/Joel Carrett)
282 million: Ahead of the Super Tuesday primaries, Taylor Swift called on her 282 million Instagram followers to “make a plan to vote today.” No endorsements yet for specific candidates, but Republicans are bracing for the risk that Swift will use that giant megaphone to boost Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.

2: The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for two senior Russian commanders, Sergei Kobylash and Viktor Sokolov, over alleged crimes against humanity in Ukraine.

8: Indonesia’s newly elected president, Prabowo Subianto, said Tuesday that within five years, his country can grow at 8% per year … without a government spending spree that unbalances the government’s books. That’s what Willis Sparks’ grandfather used to call a “good trick if you can do it.”

70: High interest rates continue to take a toll as nearly 70% of homes in New York City purchased in the final three months of 2023 were bought without a mortgage. (Some folks have apparently saved up their cash). It’s a record high and a jump from 55% in the same period of 2022.

More For You

President Trump unveiled “Project Freedom,” an initiative to escort ships and restore traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, on Sunday. By Tuesday evening, he had unceremoniously suspended it by Truth Social post, shortly after Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters how committed the administration was to it.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets his supporters as he arrives at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters, as the BJP won the Assam state assembly election and was on course to win West Bengal, in New Delhi, India, May 4, 2026.
REUTERS

India’s Modi consolidates grip after historic state election win, Venezuela and Guyana are back in court over border dispute, Trump administration weighs a hands-on approach to AI

Natalie Johnson

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney attended a meeting of the European Political Community in Armenia this weekend, a first by the leader of a non-European country. He was invited to discuss common interests in trade, energy, and security. In a speech that echoed his address to the World Economic Forum in Davos two months earlier, Carney called on middle powers, including Canada and European nations, to work together in the wake of disruption of the established world order — implicitly pointing to the United States. “It’s my strong personal view that the international order will be rebuilt,” he told the crowd in Yerevan, “but it will be rebuilt out of Europe.”

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan’s government fell after losing a no-confidence vote, putting Romania’s access to EU recovery funds – worth approximately $13 billion – at risk.

Natalie Johnson

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan’s government fell after losing a no-confidence vote, putting Romania’s access to EU recovery funds – worth approximately $13 billion – at risk. The country, which has the largest budget deficit in the EU, has to complete the bloc’s mandated economic reforms by August to unlock the funds. But with its country’s pro-EU government pushed out, those reforms are uncertain.