TODAY'S TALKING POINTS 07-30-15

TODAY'S TALKING POINTS

The University of Cincinnati officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man was charged with murder. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters saidWednesday that if convicted, Ray Tensing could face life in prison for shooting Samuel DuBose during a July 19 off-campus traffic stop. "This is the most asinine act I've ever seen a police officer make," Deters said at a press conference. "It was unwarranted. It's an absolute tragedy that in the year 2015, anyone would behave in this manner." The Cincinnati Police Department has been looked at as a national model for law enforcement reform over the past decade, and this incident has the potential to quickly ruin their reputation.

Taliban leader Mullah Omar was confirmed dead by Afghan officials. Omar, a close friend and protector of Osama bin Laden and one of the most wanted men in the world, has been rumored to be dead before. But Wednesday’s report that he died in 2013 of health problems in Pakistan was deemed credible by the White House. The announcement came before a second round of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban was reportedly supposed to occur, but early Thursday Taliban officials said they were "not aware" of any such talks.

United Airlines was reportedly hacked. Bad news for frequent fliers: The same team who hacked into the Office of Personnel Management’s database also obtained records on millions of passengers who flew with one of the world’s biggest airlines. This latest hack, which occurred in late May or early June but wasn’t disclosed until Wednesday, raises questions of whether the perpetrators could be developing cyber weapons that could knock a nation’s infrastructure offline.

Want to see if your personal information has ever been exposed? This New York Times quiz will tell you.

A professional hunter arrested in the death of Cecil the lion appeared in court. Zimbabwean Theo Bronkhorst was charged Wednesday with “failing to supervise, control and take reasonable steps to prevent an unlawful hunt.” He and landowner Honest Ndlovu, who will appear in court at a later date, were reportedly paid $50,000 by Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer to facilitate the hunt. A petition demanding justice for Cecil went viral Wednesday.

Airplane debris found in the Indian Ocean appears to be from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Authorities said Wednesday they're working on verifying that the wing piece belongs to the passenger flight that mysteriously went missing in March 2014.