Just catching up on the news this morning? Here are the major stories you need to know about today to get your day started:
- Not so fast on that Iran deal…. since the deal was announced on Tuesday, Republicans have been vocal critics of the deal, and some have vowed to fight it in Congress. President Obama will hold a news conference to discuss the deal today at 1 p.m. ET.
- NASA’s New Horizons probe successfully sent signals home to earth from 3 billion miles away last night after its historic flyby of Pluto. The signals took 4.5 hours to make the 3 billion mile journey back from Pluto to Earth.
- An appeals court has ruled against the Colorado-based “Little Sisters of the Poor” group in their religious freedom case. The court found that employees of religious nonprofits should still be able to access contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
- The price war begins! Amazon and Walmart both have massive online sales that start today. Who will emerge victorious? (NBC News)
- Former Nazi guard Oskar Groening, 94, has been sentenced to four years in prison on 300,000 charges of accessory to murder. Groening was known as the “accountant of Auschwitz.”
And in case you missed it…
ESPN hosts the ESPYS tonight, where Caitlyn Jenner will be awarded with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. (TODAY)
How Hillary Clinton’s campaign plans to carefully re-introduce her to an audience of voters who think they already know everything about her. (New York Times)
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced Tuesday that the last of the leftover snow in the city had melted. Winter is finally over! (TODAY)
Louis Tomlinson, one of the members of One Direction, is going to be a dad (MTV)
Tom Petty speaks out on the Confederate flag: “People just need to think about how it looks to a black person. It’s just awful.” (Salon)
Pretty cool: Snapchat will now allow users to view a live stream of Ramadan prayers in Mecca. (TIME)
Sinead O’Connor says music has died because Kim Kardashian is on the cover of Rolling Stone. (Stereogum)
Nisha Chittal
Brian Walsh