Today's News: Jan. 11, 2017

—Volkswagen pleaded guilty to three criminal felony charges and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines to resolve a federal investigation into its cheating on emissions tests. More here

—The state of Texas executed Christopher Wilkins on Wednesday night, marking the first U.S. execution of 2017. More here

—President-elect Donald Trump held his first news conference today in six months—a day after fresh, and unsubstantiated, allegations linking him to Russia.

——We’re tracking the news stories of the day below. All updates are in Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5).

Read more from The Atlantic:

• How Blackmail Works in Russia

• My President Was Black

• Resistance to the Antibiotic of Last Resort Is Silently Spreading

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.