Hard Numbers

Hard Numbers: Winter Olympics a winner on the small screen, Blizzard hits parts of US, Brazil and China are the apparent winners of US tariff upheaval, Armed man tries to enter Mar-a-Lago

Indra Brown of Australia during the women's skiing halfpipe final at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games on Feb. 22, 2026.
Indra Brown of Australia during the women's skiing halfpipe final at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Livigno Snow Park, Livigno, Italy, on Feb. 22, 2026.
Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

⅔: The share of Italians who reportedly watched the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, which ended yesterday. More Italians consumed these Winter Games than the previous three combined. Audience numbers also jumped outside the host nation, with broadcasters in Europe, the UK, the US, and even Brazil reporting huge growth. The ice hockey rivalry between two “friendly” neighbors didn’t hurt, either.

40 million: The number of people who remain under a blizzard warning, as of Monday morning, as a snowstorm buffets the US’s northeast and mid-Atlantic. The storm has halted transit, with more than 5,000 flights canceled, and has left hundreds of thousands without power, as parts of the northeast saw over a foot of snow within a 12-hour period on Sunday.

13.6: The percentage-point reduction in the average US tariff rate on Brazil over the weekend. This comes after US President Donald Trump introduced a 15% global tariff on Saturday – up from his initial 10% figure – following the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down his country-specific duties that were imposed last year. Some countries, like Brazil, China, and India, have benefitted from this, whereas others, such as the EU, the UK, and Japan, now face higher duties. Uncertainty remains over whether trade deals clinched last year will hold.

692: The rough distance in miles that 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin drove from Cameron, North Carolina, to the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, from Saturday evening into early Sunday morning. Police said he was armed with a shotgun and a fuel cannister as he tried to enter Trump’s club around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, before Secret Service fatally shot him. The US president was in Washington, D.C., at the time.

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