Was Arbery's killing a hate crime? Jury hears dueling views NEWS BRIEFING

BRUNSWICK, Ga. - Three white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery on a residential street acted out of "pent-up racial anger" and should be convicted of hate crimes, a federal prosecutor told a jury Monday.

Defense attorneys argued that the Black man was fatally shot in self-defense and had acted suspiciously during prior trips to the neighborhood.

The jury of eight white people, three Black people and one Hispanic person heard dueling reasons for the killing in U.S. District Court, where verdicts on hate crime charges rest not on whether the pursuit and shooting were justified, but whether they were motivated by racism.

Prosecutor Christopher Perras argued that Travis McMichael "was just looking for a reason" to hurt a Black person when the 25-year-old Arbery jogged past his home on a Sunday afternoon in February 2020. Perras cited a slew of racist comments and videos the defendant had posted online.

And when McMichael, his father and a neighbor began chasing Arbery, they had no evidence he had done anything wrong, but they assumed he had because he was Black, Perras said.

"There's a big difference between being vigilant and being a vigilante," said Perras, later adding: "It's important for you to understand the full depth of the defendants' racial hatred."

Travis McMichael's attorney, Amy Lee Copeland, told the jury that prosecutors presented no evidence that he "ever spoke to anyone about Mr. Arbery's death in racial terms" or committed prior acts of racial violence.

Basic facts of the case aren't disputed. Travis McMichael and his father Greg McMichael armed themselves and chased Arbery in a pickup after he was spotted running past their home. A neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, joined the pursuit in his truck and recorded the video of Travis McMichael firing the fatal shots at point-blank range.

The McMichaels and Bryan were all convicted of murder last fall in a Georgia state court. The U.S. Justice Department charged them separately in federal court with hate crimes, alleging that all three men violated Arbery's civil rights and targeted him for being Black.

Navy's new drone fleet: The U.S. Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet announced Monday the launch of a new joint fleet of unmanned drones with allied nations to patrol vast swaths of the region's volatile waters as tensions simmer with Iran.

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper said 100 unmanned drones, both sailing and submersible, would dramatically multiply the surveillance capacities of the U.S. Navy, allowing it to keep a close eye on waters critical to the flow of the global oil and shipping.

Cooper said he hopes the drone force using artificial intelligence would be operational by the summer of 2023.

Aussies welcome travelers: International tourists and business travelers began arriving in Australia with few restrictions on Monday, bringing together families in tearful reunions after separations of two years or longer forced by some of the most stringent pandemic measures of any democracy in the world.

Australia closed its borders to tourists in March 2020 in a bid to reduce the local spread of COVID-19, but on Monday removed its final travel restrictions for fully vaccinated passengers.

Travelers were greeted at Sydney's airport by jubilant well-wishers waving toy koalas and favorite Australian foods.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said all travelers' vaccination status would be checked before they arrived.

Tourism Australia managing director Phillipa Harrison said she expected tourist numbers would take two years to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.

German protests: German officials condemned protests Monday by climate activists who blocked roads including near the country's biggest port.

Members of the group Uprising of the Last Generation glued themselves to roads in Stuttgart, Freiburg and near the port of Hamburg to demand an end to food waste.

Bavaria's top state security official said such blockades weren't covered by freedom of assembly.

Omid Nouripour, the head of Germany's environmentalist Green Party, expressed support for protests but said the blockades could undermine support for measures to tackle climate change.

Germany is not on track to meet its goals for reducing emissions of planet-warming gases.

NYC subway safety plan: New York's latest plan to tackle crime and homelessness in subways was rolling into action Monday after police logged more than a half-dozen attacks in trains and stations over the holiday weekend.

Mayor Eric Adams' plan involves sending more police, mental health clinicians and social service outreach workers into the subways.

The plan notes that many people who use the subways for shelter need help. But it says police will crack down on sleeping, littering, smoking, doing drugs or loitering.

It calls for clearing all passengers out of trains at the ends of their lines, an approach that has waxed and waned over the years.

Rohingya case: Lawyers for Myanmar's military rulers on Monday sought the dismissal of a case that accuses the Southeast Asian nation of genocide against the Rohingya ethnic minority, saying the United Nations' top court lacked jurisdiction.

Public hearings at the International Court of Justice went ahead amid questions about who should represent Myanmar in the aftermath of the military takeover of the country last year.

The decision to allow Myanmar's military-installed government to represent the country at the hearings drew sharp criticism.

A shadow administration known as the National Unity Government made up of representatives including elected lawmakers who were prevented from taking their seats by the military takeover had argued that it should be representing Myanmar in court.

The legal team was led by Ko Ko Hlaing, the minister for international cooperation. He replaced pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the country's legal team at earlier hearings in 2019. She is in prison after being convicted on what her supporters call trumped-up charges.

The military launched what it called a clearance campaign in Rakhine state in 2017 after an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group. Over 700,000 Rohingya fled into neighboring Bangladesh, and security forces were accused of mass rapes, killings and torching thousands of homes.

Caption: European storm wave: A car crushed by a tree is seen Monday in Cologne, Germany. Northern Europe has been battered by three major storms fueled by an unusually strong jet stream in a five-day span, leaving at least 14 dead across the continent. In Germany, insurance broker Aon estimated that the successive storms caused $1.8 billion in damage. Federico Gambarini/dpa