Top Eight

Top eight stories for today including three Fox hosts entered court filings that say they were just doing their jobs when they helped stoke the flames of the conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was rigged; The Eighth Circuit ruled an Arkansas law requiring businesses that contract with the state to pledge not to boycott Israel is unconstitutional; A British lawyer was elected as the third chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, and more.

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National

1.) Three Fox hosts entered court filings Friday that say they were just doing their jobs when they helped stoke the flames of the conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was rigged.

This combination photo shows Maria Bartiromo in New York on April 6, 2016, from left, Lou Dobbs at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Md. on Feb. 24, 2017 and Jeanine Pirro in New York on Jan. 28, 2015. Fox News personalities Bartiromo, Dobbs and Pirro are seeking the dismissal of claims against them and their employer as part of a $2.7 billion libel lawsuit brought by the voting technology company Smartmatic. (AP Photo)

2.) As President Joe Biden closes out his first month in office, a large gap remains in his administration: dozens of open seats in federal and appellate courts across the country, with more to come in the next few months.

President Joe Biden during his meeting with Democratic lawmakers to discuss a coronavirus relief package, in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

3.) Reversing a controversial Trump administration policy, President Joe Biden will allow thousands of asylum-seekers waiting in Mexico to enter the U.S while their cases are pending.

Migrants, many of whom were returned to Mexico under the Trump administration's "Remain in Mexico" policy, wait in line to get a meal in an encampment near the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros, Mexico, in 2019. (Veronica G. Cardenas/AP)

4.) Giving as good as they got after an emotional two-day display from Democrats leading former President Donald Trump’s impeachment, the defense team queued up impassioned video clips of their own for a compact rebuttal argument Friday.

Razor wire tops the anti-scaling fence surrounding the permitter of the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Regional

5.) Homeless advocacy groups sued the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Friday, seeking to block Covid-19 rules that they say effectively ban the homeless from sheltering in New York City subway trains and stations.

FILE - In this Aug. 17, 2020, file photo, a child rests on a subway car while riders wear protective masks due to COVID-19 concerns in New York. The number of Americans newly diagnosed with the coronavirus is falling — a development experts credit at least partly to increased wearing of masks — even as the outbreak continues to claim nearly 1,000 lives in the U.S. each day. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

6.) An Arkansas law requiring businesses that contract with the state to pledge not to boycott Israel is unconstitutional, a split three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit ruled on Friday.

International

7.) In a reversal, the head of the World Health Organization on Friday said a team of international scientists investigating the origins of the novel coronavirus will not stop looking into whether the deadly virus accidentally escaped from a Chinese laboratory.

The logo of the World Health Organization is seen at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)

8.) After a difficult and controversial process, British lawyer Karim Khan was elected Friday as the third chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court.

Karim Khan is seen at the International Criminal Court in 2013. (Photo by ICC-CPI).

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