10 things you need to know today: September 3, 2015

(Image credit: (AP Photo/Petr David Josek))

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1. Obama lines up enough votes to seal Iran deal
2. China announces 300,000-troop cut from People's Liberation Army
3. Syrians, including toddler, drown trying to reach Greece
4. Kentucky clerk faces hearing over refusing same-sex marriage licenses
5. Guatemalan president resigns over fraud scandal
6. Ex-staffer to plead the Fifth regarding Hillary Clinton's email server
7. Migrants leave Budapest after train station reopens
8. Judge declines to drop charges against 6 Baltimore officers for Freddie Gray's death
9. Hulu unveils long-awaited ad-free option
10. Love Bug star Dean Jones dies at 84

published 3 September 2015

1. Obama lines up enough votes to seal Iran deal

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) announced Wednesday that she would support the Iran nuclear deal, giving President Obama the 34th and final Senate vote he needed to sustain a veto of a Republican-sponsored resolution rejecting the agreement. House and Senate majorities plan to vote against the deal between Iran and six world powers, which requires Tehran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. Congress has until Sept. 17 to act on the deal.

China will reduce its army by 300,000 troops as part of its ongoing effort to modernize its military, President Xi Jinping said Thursday during a massive parade of tanks, missiles, and soldiers to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. The trimming of China's 2.3-million strong armed forces was seen as a bid to show that China poses no expansionist threat. At the same time, five Chinese ships were spotted in international waters off Alaska during President Obama's visit to the state — the first such sighting in the Bering Sea.

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At least 12 people fleeing the war in Syria drowned on Wednesday trying to reach the Greek island of Kos. A photograph of one of the victims — 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi — was widely publicized, renewing pressure on leaders over their handling of a growing migration crisis gripping Europe. The boy, his 5-year-old brother Galip, and mother Rehan, 35, died when their boat capsized after leaving Turkey. A relative said Thursday the family tried to emigrate to Canada from the war-torn town of Kobani, but their application was rejected in June.

Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk Kim Davis defied a Supreme Court order to start issuing same-sex marriage licenses for a second straight day on Wednesday ahead of a Thursday federal court hearing on whether to hold her in contempt of court. Davis, citing her religious beliefs, stopped issuing marriage licenses — to any couples, gay or straight — in June after the Supreme Court ruled same-sex couples had the right to marry. Lawyers for four couples she denied marriage licenses asked a judge to impose fines to force her to comply.

Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina resigned late Wednesday hours after the attorney general's office issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with a corruption scandal, his spokesman said. The developments came days after the nation's congress stripped Perez Molina of his criminal immunity. The fraud scandal involves alleged bribes by business people seeking to avoid customs duties. It has already landed Perez Molina's former vice president in prison, and led to the resignations of several cabinet members.

A former Hillary Clinton staffer who helped set up the private email server she used as secretary of state has been called to testify before a congressional committee, and reportedly plans to invoke his Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions. Digital records indicate that the former State Department IT specialist, Bryan Pagliano, set up the server in 2009. The House Select Committee on Benghazi, which is investigating Clinton's emails, subpoenaed Pagliano last month.

Hundreds of migrants in Hungary boarded a train on Thursday bound for a town near the Austrian border after authorities reopened Budapest's main train station. Earlier, chaos erupted when officials opened the station's doors after a two-day shutdown, only to tell migrants rushing in that all trains into Western Europe had been canceled. About 3,000 people, many of them refugees from Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East, have been camped outside Keleti station this week, hoping to go on to seek asylum in Germany and other countries.

A judge on Wednesday rejected a defense request to drop charges against six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died after sustaining a spinal injury in police custody. The death was ruled a homicide. The officers' trial will begin next month; a pretrial hearing on September 10 will decide whether the case should be removed from Baltimore due to its publicity. The case sparked protests and rioting, and helped fuel the Black Lives Matter movement.

Hulu on Wednesday launched an alternative subscription plan that will let customers stream videos without commercial interruptions, making it more competitive with streaming rivals Netflix and Amazon. Until now, even Hulu's paid subscribers had to endure multiple commercial breaks, which could not be skipped. The $11.99/month premium service will still serve ads on a select few programs as the result of studio rights held on certain series.

Dean Jones, who starred in classic Disney family films such as The Love Bug and That Darn Cat!, has died in Los Angeles of complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 84. Jones was best-known for his role in 1968's The Love Bug as a struggling racing driver whose fortunes are changed by a Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own. He made 46 films, 10 of them for Disney, and also performed in five Broadway shows and numerous TV shows.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.