Wednesday, December 16 top news briefs

It is Wednesday, December 16. Here are today’s top news briefs.

Tom Cruise was heard yelling at crew members on the set of “Mission: Impossible 7” in an audio recording because he was frustrated they were not following Covid-19 safety guidelines. The recording was released on “The Sun.” Cruise became irate because he saw two crew members standing too close to each other. Cruise said he is on the phone with studios and insurance companies and producers every night to try and show them they could work safely during coronavirus and they are responsible for thousands of jobs. Cruise said he doesn’t ever want to see crew breaking rules again. He warned that if crew members did not follow rules, they would be out. He used many expletives in his rant. The film is currently in production and will be released next year.

In Japan, a man was sentenced to death for murdering and dismembering nine people. His name is Takahiro Shiraishi. AP News said he was arrested in 2017 after police found the bodies of eight females and one male in cold-storage cases in his apartment. Authorities said he would approach victims who expressed suicidal thoughts on Twitter and offered to help them to end their lives. He invited them to his apartment and then raped and killed them. Defense attorneys argued that Shiraishi helped the victims with their wishes, but he admitted to killing them without their consent. The judge in the case said none of the victims agreed to be killed. In Japan, executions are carried out by hanging.

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Major League Baseball (MLB) announced they have elevated the Negro Leagues to “Major League” status. The league ran from 1920 to 1948 and existed because African-American players were barred from competing in integrated leagues due to racism. The MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said this recognition is meant to correct a longtime oversight in the game’s history and now MLB will recognize the statistics and records of about 3,400 players. ESPN said the Negro Leagues began to dissolve a year after Jackie Robinson became MLB’s first Black player with the Brooklyn Dodgers. ESPN said this meant some baseball greats such as Willie Mays and Satchel Paige will see their statistics go up.

In southern Georgia, two people who dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus had an event in which they took photos with about 50 children and mingled with people at a parade — only to later find out the couple tested positive for the coronavirus. The event was on December 10 and the two found out two days later. City officials said the two did not have symptoms during the event.

In Minnesota, a 107-year-old woman is on the news because she beat the coronavirus. Her name is Tillie Dybing. She was infected this fall at a community home, but is now fully recovered. She was born in 1913, which means she was 5 years old during the 1918 flu pandemic, so she has survived two pandemics.

That is all the top news briefs for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/tom-cruise-yells-mission-impossible-7-crew-covid-19-guidelines-1234854675/

https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1339020608294838273

https://apnews.com/article/tokyo-media-social-media-japan-asia-pacific-86867cee28d2653e736a7827b890998c

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mets-could-go-after-big-names-on-the-trade-market-here-are-pieces-new-gm-jared-porter-might-move/

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/15/us/santa-georgia-town-parade-covid-trnd/index.html

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/15/946905346/city-of-paris-is-fined-90-000-euros-for-naming-too-many-women-to-senior-position

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/16/us/107-year-old-woman-beats-covid-trnd/index.html