TODAY'S TALKING POINTS 08-31-15

TODAY'S TALKING POINTS

Thai police arrested a man over the Bangkok bombing. A 28-year-old foreigner, who may be part of a people-smuggling gang, was taken into custody after police raided his apartment and found bomb-making materials similar to those used in the Aug. 17 bombing of the Erawan Shrine, which killed 20 and injured more than 120. Police have awarded themselves $84,000 to motivate officers who are still on the hunt for others who may have been involved in the attack.

Al Jazeera journalists were sentenced to three years in an Egyptian jail. Mohamed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste are facing jail time on charges of aiding a terrorist organization, but on Saturday the judge only mentioned the issue of broadcasting video footage that “contained false news” with the intention of harming the country. The trial, which has widely been described as a sham, has sparked international outcry and calls for their acquittal.

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who represented Fahmy, said the verdict “sends a message that journalists can be locked up for simply doing their job.” Despite her work on this and several other landmark cases, she’s still being referred to as an “actor’s wife.”

The U.S. is developing sanctions against China over hacks. The move comes after the security breach at the Office of Personnel Management that exposed the sensitive information of more than 22 million current and former government employees. The U.S. hasn't actually decided to issue the sanctions yet — they're unprecedented and would make the U.S.' relationship with China a bit more tense.

Donald Trump’s still surging in the polls. The bombastic businessman is still leading the Republican race as Hillary Clinton slips among Democrats.

A Quinnipiac University poll revealed “arrogant” is the word voters think of most when they think Trump, but Sarah Palin only had kind things to say about the Republican frontrunner when she interviewed him Friday night.   Chris Christie may have one-upped Trump’s statement on illegal immigrantsSaturday when he said he would track immigrants like FedEx packages: “We let people come to this country with visas, and the minute they come in, we lose track of them. We need to have a system that tracks you from the moment you come in.”

Oliver Sacks and Wes Craven died. Renowned neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks, 82, the author of books like, "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat," died Sunday hours before legendary horror filmmaker Wes Craven, who haunted your dreams through A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream, died at 76.

President Barack Obama heads to Alaska to talk climate change. The president heads north the same day diplomats gather for a conference on global warming (paywall).

As leaders talk about ways to curb emissions to protect the planet, Italian energy group Eni is celebrating its discovery of one of the world's largest natural gas fields off of Egypt's coast.