Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including the Czech Republic elected a retired NATO general as its next president; Prosecutors called an FBI agent to testify about the social media activity of five Proud Boys; Southerners are preparing for days of potentially icy conditions, and more.

National

For 10 tons of cocaine, witness says, Mexico’s top cop was paid $10M

A former member of a Mexican drug cartel testified in U.S. federal court Monday that he paid his country’s top security official millions of dollars to secure the transport of massive cocaine shipments and to protect traffickers from raids and arrests.

Drug cartel members met with a top security official in 2008 at a car wash in Guadalajara, Mexico, to arrange a bribery agreement, a witness testified on January 30, 2023. The cooperating witness' testimony was part of the government's case against former public security secretary Genaro García Luna. (U.S. Department of Justice via Courthouse News)

‘Don’t leave’: Tarrio’s orders for Jan. 6 riot on display

Putting the social media of five Proud Boys front and center in their seditious conspiracy trial, prosecutors called an FBI agent to testify Monday in front of a series of poster boards with their activity on Parler.

Charging papers for Joseph Biggs in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol show him, at left, wearing glasses. Several Proud Boys can be seen wearing traditional black and yellow emblems, but Biggs is dressed "incognito," pursuant to orders from Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio. (Justice Department via Courthouse News)

Regional

Winter storm brings icy conditions to south-central US

Winter weather has begun to settle in on large parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky as southerners prepare for days of potentially icy conditions.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning covering the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas. Jan. 30, 2023. (National Weather Service via Courthouse News)

Chicago jury hears opening arguments in billion-dollar fraud trial

The three heads of pharmaceutical advertising company Outcome Health were in Chicago's Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Monday to face trial on a collective 26 counts of wire, mail and bank fraud.

The Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago, home of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. (U.S. General Services Administration via Courthouse News)

Minnesota appeals court upholds stricter emissions standards

The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld the state’s adoption of California car emissions standards Monday, finding that state pollution regulators had the authority to do so despite the objections of car dealers.

Traffic on the Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles on Dec. 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

International

Czechs vote for pro-EU retired NATO general for president

The Czech Republic's turn toward a pro-NATO and pro-Western stance was consolidated over the weekend with the election of a retired NATO general as the next president.

The Czech Republic's President-elect Petr Pavel and his wife Eva greet supporters in Prague on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Lawyer admits to plagiarism of Mexico Supreme Court justice’s undergrad thesis

A plagiarism scandal involving the undergraduate thesis of a justice on Mexico’s Supreme Court has taken a surprising turn.

Supreme Court Justice Yasmín Esquivel Mossa, seen here in a photo taken from her Twitter account, is accused of plagiarizing her undergraduate thesis. (Twitter via Courthouse News)

Armenia calls Azerbaijan blockade an act of ‘ethnic cleansing’

Amidst rising tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the United Nations' highest court opened two days of hearings Monday for the Caucasus neighbors.

Exterior view of the Peace Palace, which houses the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in The Hague, Netherlands. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

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