Thursday, December 16 top stories
It is Thursday, December 16. Here are today’s top stories.
Extreme December weather continues
On Wednesday there were about 55 reports of wind gusts over 75 mph in the Great Plains and Midwest regions, which is a record for a single day. There were about 20 reports of tornadoes in Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska. Several places in Colorado had wind gusts of 100 mph or greater. Several semi-trucks flipped over to their sides and one driver in Iowa was killed. There are nine wildfires in Oklahoma. The weather is blamed on unusual and record-breaking heat in December.
All kidnapped missionaries in Haiti released
A spokesperson for the Haitian National Police said all the missionaries that were kidnapped by a gang in Haiti have been released. There were 17 missionaries in total, 16 of them Americans and one Canadian. They were kidnapped on October 16 as they were returning to their base from a visit to an orphanage. Five of them were released over the past two months, and now all of them are free. There isn’t much information on the ransom — previous reports said the gang demanded $1 million per person.
CNN fires producer over child sex charges
CNN fired a senior television producer named John Griffin after he was arrested by the FBI and charged with enticing minors to engage into unlawful sexual activity in Vermont. CNN said the charges are deeply disturbing. Federal law enforcement said Griffin would contact parents of minors to teach the children how to be sexually submissive. At CNN, Griffin worked closely with Chris Cuomo, who was also fired for his role in helping his brother Andrew Cuomo when he was accused of sexual harassment. If Griffin is convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life imprisonment.
France bans nonessential travel to Britain
France announced a ban on nonessential travel to and from Britain over concerns with the Omicron variant of Covid-19. England reported about 88,000 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday and British health officials say cases of the Omicron variant are doubling less than every two days in parts of the country.
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Study: Omicron multiples 70x faster in body
A study from the University of Hong Kong found that the Omicron variant multiples 70 times faster in the human bronchial tubes compared with the original Covid-19 virus or the Delta variant. This may be the reason why the Omicron seems to be able to spread so quickly. But the study said the omicron infection in the lung is significantly lower than the original Covid-19 virus, which means the disease is less severe. The study’s leader said we should still take omicron very seriously because it can infect many more people and get around vaccines, so there may be more instances of severe diseases and death.
5 children killed in bouncy castle accident
In Australia, five children died when a bouncy castle they were in was lifted about 30 feet in the air by a gust of wind. Four other children were injured. The bouncy castle was set up at a school in Tasmania for an end-of-the-year celebration. The victims were 10 to 12 years old. A police commander said it is a very tragic event.
U.S. Navy reveals laser weapon tests
The U.S. Navy announced it tested a laser weapon that successfully destroyed a floating target on the Gulf of Aden. Images showed naval officers wearing special sunglasses as a large laser device sent a long, red beam towards a target. The Navy said the lasers could be used to destroy drone boats filled with bombs.
That is all the top stories for today. Check out our other videos. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/16/weather/extreme-weather-central-us-thursday/index.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/16/haiti-missionaries-released/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/16/world/europe/france-uk-travel-restrictions-omicron.html
https://news.yahoo.com/4-children-die-bouncy-castle-070011354.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-navy-laser-weapon-test-gulf-of-aden-images/