News Wrap: Jury begins deliberating in Ahmaud Arbery trial

Judy Woodruff:

In the day's other news: A child has died of injuries suffered when a car drove into a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Sunday.

This raises the death toll to six, as the suspect, Darrell Brooks Jr., made his first court appearance. He entered the courtroom in manacles and listened as the charges were read and as the presiding official set bail at $5 million.

Kevin Costello, Waukesha County Court Commissioner:

Detectives not only tried to stop this, but rendered an opinion that this was an intentional act. You're presumed innocent, sir. But that's what the allegations are. And I have not seen anything like this in my very long career.

Judy Woodruff:

Police have said that Brooks was speeding away from a domestic dispute when he collided with the parade.

A Black Kansas City man, Kevin Strickland, was exonerated today of three murders, and released. He had spent 43 years behind bars. Strickland was wheeled out of prison in Cameron, Missouri, hours after a judge ruled he had been wrongfully convicted by an all-white jury in 1979. Strickland was 18 at the time. He is now 62.

A federal jury in Cleveland has found three retail pharmacy giants liable in the opioid epidemic. The panel said today that CVS, Walgreens and Walmart recklessly dispensed huge amounts of pain pills in two Ohio counties. A judge will decide later on damages.

The Biden administration asked a federal appeals court today to uphold a COVID vaccine mandate for large employers. The rule is suspended, for now, after Republican state attorneys general and others argued that there's no federal authority to mandate vaccines. The U.S. Justice Department says that the policy would cut transmission of the virus.

Jury deliberations began today in Brunswick, Georgia, in the trial of three white men accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery last year. The lead prosecutor had the last words today, saying the defendants cannot that it was self-defense because they chased Arbery and started the confrontation.

Linda Dunikoski, Cobb County, Georgia, Assistant District Attorney:

They were the first, unjustified aggressors, and they were committing felonies against Mr. Arbery. And, therefore, they don't get to claim self-defense.

And you can go directly to the charges in the indictment. When they do something like this, they have to be held accountable and responsible. Nobody gets a free pass.

Judy Woodruff:

The defense says that the three men thought Arbery might have stolen something from a home under construction.

At least 45 people are dead after a bus full of tourists crashed and caught fire in Bulgaria early today. It happened near Sofia as several buses headed back from Istanbul, Turkey to North Macedonia. In the aftermath, officials inspected the remnants of a charred bus near a damaged guardrail. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

In Hong Kong, a former pro-independence leader has been sentenced to roughly 3.5 years in prison. Tony Chung was charged with secession and money laundering under an ongoing crackdown by Chinese authorities.

Back in this country, several far right organizations and their leaders were subpoenaed today in a probe of the January assault on the U.S. Capitol. A select congressional committee ordered documents and testimony from the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, and another group, plus their leaders.

On Wall Street, a mixed day of trading. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 194 points to close at 35813. The Nasdaq fell 79 points. The S&P 500 added seven.

And Australia's Christmas Island was crawling with crabs today. Millions of red crabs are migrating to the sea during mating season. It is the largest migration by any crab species in the world, and roads are closed to let the swarms travel undisturbed by humans who cross their path.

Brendan Tiernan, Natural Resource Manager, Christmas Island National Park:

Yes, you get some very different reactions.

Some people were quite freaked out by the fact that they're surrounded by millions of crawling arthropods, whereas other people are just immersed, basically, do a little red crab angel. They will lie on ground and let themselves get covered in red crabs.

Judy Woodruff:

The crabs are found only on Christmas Island. And after mating, each female can deposit up to 100,000 eggs in the ocean. So, they're not going away anytime soon.