Hard Numbers: Japan's same-sex marriage ruling, British Uber drivers, EU-Mercosur trade pact under pressure, Atlanta shooting spree

Plaintiffs' lawyers and supporters show a banner that reads 'Unconstitutional decision' after a district court ruled on the legality of same-sex marriages outside Sapporo district court in Sapporo, Hokkaido, northern Japan March 17, 2021

13: A Japanese court ruled for the first time that the government's failure to recognize same sex marriage is unconstitutional after 13 gay couples filed coordinated lawsuits in February 2019. It's unclear, however, how the government will act: on Wednesday, Tokyo reiterated that its stance did not violate the Constitution. To date, Japan is the only G7 country that does not recognize same-sex marriage.

70,000: After a major legal defeat in Britain's Supreme Court, Uber will now have to provide more legal protections to its 70,000 British drivers. The ruling is a massive blow for Uber, which has long lobbied against greater labor rights for its drivers, and could influence ongoing labor battles with gig economy companies in the EU and the US.

450: More than 450 NGOs have called for the EU to abandon a draft free trade deal with Mercosur countries — a bloc including Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay — which they say would give rise to an increase in deforestation and other livestock trade harmful to the environment. The 2019 deal, which would create a trade bloc spanning roughly 750 million people, has stalled, as France and Germany express concerns over Brazil's lack of protection of the Amazon rainforest.

8: Eight people — six of whom were identified as Asian women — were killed Tuesday in a shooting rampage at several spas in Atlanta, Georgia. Although the police has yet to determine whether race was the motive for the attacks, crimes against Asian Americans in the US have surged since the pandemic began a year ago.

More from GZERO Media

Palestinian children look at rubble following Israeli forces' withdrawal from the area, after Israel and Hamas agreed on the Gaza ceasefire, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 10, 2025.
REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

Israel approved the Gaza ceasefire deal on Friday morning, bringing the ceasefire officially into effect. The Israeli military must withdraw its forces to an agreed perimeter inside Gaza within 24 hours, and Hamas has 72 hours to return the hostages.

- YouTube

French President Emmanuel Macron is scrambling to pull France out of a deepening political free fall that’s already toppled five prime ministers in two years. Tomorrow he’ll try again—and this time, says Eurasia Group’s Mujtaba Rahman, the fifth pick might finally stick.

In these photos, emergency units carry out rescue work after a Russian attack in Ternopil and Prikarpattia oblasts on December 13, 2024. A large-scale Russian missile attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure left half of the consumers in the Ternopil region without electricity, the Ternopil Regional State Administration reported.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes part in a welcoming ceremony with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, November 9, 2017.
REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

China has implemented broad new restrictions on exports of rare earth and other critical minerals vital for semiconductors, the auto industry, and military technology, of which it controls 70% of the global supply.