'Start Here': Kavanaugh's confirmation begins, Journalists jailed in Myanmar and U.S. cuts aid to Pakistan. What you need to know to start your day.

It's Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. Here are some of the stories we're talking about on ABC News' new daily podcast, "Start Here."

1. Kavanaugh confirmation hearings begin

Brett Kavanaugh will be on Capitol Hill Tuesday attempting to take over for the Supreme Court's swing justice, the retired Anthony Kennedy. And if Kennedy sat in the ideological center of the bench, Kavanaugh would be a big step to the right.

ABC's Kyra Phillips and ABC News' Supreme Court contributor Kate Shaw say Kavanaugh’s confirmation could swing the politics of the entire country.

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2. Reuters journalists sentenced to prison time in Myanmar

The United Nations said last week that top officials in the country of Myanmar should face charges for genocide.

While the U.S. State Department hasn't used that word yet to describe what's happening to the Rohingya minority there, our team has told us stories about people being rounded up and killed, while others desperately tried to make it across the border to Bangladesh.

And really the only reason we know about a lot of this is from reporters around the region and especially in the country itself.

Two journalists from Reuters who have covered brutal military crackdowns on the Rohingya, were sentenced to seven years in prison on Monday.

Steven Butler from The Committee to Protect Journalists says the ruling “is a message being delivered to the entire press core: Do not aggressively report on the military in Myanmar.”

3. U.S. cancels $300 million in aid to Pakistan

A U.S. service member was killed Monday in Afghanistan in what was called an inside job. It's the sixth American service member to die in Afghanistan this year.

The war is now almost 17 years old, and one of the most vexing questions has always been right across the border in Pakistan. The government has taken in billions of aid from the U.S., but are they fighting terrorism, or abetting it?

The Defense Department canceled $300 million in payments to Pakistan on Monday.

ABC News’ Luis Martinez says the move comes ahead of a trip by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the country.

4. Voters head to the polls in Massachusetts in tight Democratic primary

A primary is taking place Tuesday in Massachusetts, one of ABC’s "18 for ‘18 races," where we’re seeing a debate play out: What kind of Democrat or Republican will represent the voters come Election Day?

ABC News' Ben Siegel has been covering the primary in the state’s 7th Congressional District and says two progressives have been angling to represent a majority minority district.