July 5 top stories
Hello, it is July 5. Here are today’s top stories.
Shark attacks reported in Texas and Florida on the Fourth of July
Officials said a shark bit three people off a southern Texas beach in what the city’s fire chief called an unprecedented incident on the Fourth of July, the same day another person was bitten by a shark in Florida.
In Texas, three people were bitten in the city of South Padre Island, and the shark was later located and pushed out to deeper water.
A local fire chief said it’s unprecedented on South Padre Island. There were shark bite incidents at different times and locations. Two of the victims were taken to a local hospital. A third person with minor injuries who did not need further emergency care.
One witness who saw a woman pulled from the water who appeared to have a bite to a leg said: “Her calf was just gone, shredded. Horrific.”
At New Smyrna Beach in Florida, a 21-year-old man visiting from Ohio was bitten by a shark while he was playing football in knee-deep water. He was taken to a hospital and his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
Japan’s top court says forced sterilization on disabled people unconstitutional
In a landmark decision, Japan’s Supreme Court ordered the government Wednesday to pay suitable compensation to about a dozen victims who were forcibly sterilized under a now-defunct Eugenics Protection Law that was designed to eliminate offspring of people with disabilities.
An estimated 25,000 people were sterilized from the 1950s to 1970s without consent to “prevent the birth of poor-quality descendants” under the law. It is described by plaintiffs' lawyers as “the biggest human rights violation in the post-war era” in Japan.
The court said the 1948 eugenics law was unconstitutional and rejected the government’s claim that the 20-year statute of limitations should prevent it from paying restitution.
The Japanese government offered one-time redress money of 3.2 million yen ($19,800) to each plaintiff. However, the Supreme Court declared Wednesday the compensation was insufficient.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed “sincere regret and heartfelt apology” to the victims and said the government would consider a new compensation scheme.
Nikki Hiltz, transgender, nonbinary runner, qualifies for Olympics
CBS Sports explained that middle-distance runner Nikki Hiltz, 29, competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials on June 30, where they clocked the second fastest time ever recorded by an American in the women’s 1500-meter race.
The history-making run has solidified Hiltz’s place as a force to be reckoned with on the global stage. The transgender and nonbinary runner whose sex was assigned as female at birth will be heading to the 2024 Paris Olympics to compete among the world’s elite athletes.
After failing to qualify for the Olympic Trials in 2021, Hiltz was determined to come back stronger, and stronger they did, punching their ticket to Paris with a blazing 3:55:33.
Runners like Hiltz who were assigned female at birth do not face the same restrictions for women’s divisions as transgender athletes who were assigned male at birth.
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Labour Party wins U.K. general election
Multiple sources reported that with far-right politics ascendant in several western European countries, the United Kingdom has swung in the opposite direction. Official election results Friday showed a landslide victory for the country’s center-left Labour Party – its first victory in 19 years, since under the leadership of Tony Blair.
Incoming Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed his win as historic, saying early Friday: “Change begins now.” Starmer has met with King Charles at Buckingham Palace and officially accepted the role of prime minister of the United Kingdom.
For the Conservatives – the party of Margaret Thatcher, Boris Johnson and outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – it was the worst defeat in their party’s nearly 200-year history. Sunak resigned Friday as Conservative Party leader and apologized to the country.
After 14 years in power, the Conservatives were punished at the polls for all the tumult surrounding Brexit, Johnson’s Partygate scandal and the disastrous 2022 budget. According to the United Nations, Britain now has more children in poverty than any other wealthy country. Without London, it’s poorer than Mississippi.
U.S. jobs report shows a steady slowdown in the labor market
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. economy added 206,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate rose to 4.1%.
The report was expected to show growth of 200,000, down from the 272,000 reported for May.
Wall Street was hoping for a “Goldilocks” (the ‘just right’ growth for the economy) number for June, which would show a slow and steady decline in monthly job gains that equates with a slowing economy.
A dramatic increase in jobs would have pushed the Federal Reserve to hold off on cutting rates, keeping lending costs high for businesses and households.
On the other hand, a dramatic decrease could have indicated a concerning weakness in the labor market.
Friday’s number shows that the labor market remains strong, but is gradually ebbing.
That’s all the top stories for this week. I will not be doing daily top stories after today but I will still do various news reports here. Have a nice weekend and stay with the light!
Shark attacks reported in Texas and Florida on the Fourth of July
https://abcnews.go.com/US/south-padre-island-shark-attack/story?id=111677292
Japan’s top court says forced sterilization on disabled people unconstitutional
Nikki Hiltz, transgender, nonbinary runner, qualifies for Olympics
Labour Party wins U.K. general election
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4nglegege1o
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/04/world/uk-election-results
U.S. jobs report shows a steady slowdown in the labor market
https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/jobs-report-june-unemployment-economy-68275d9e