Today's edition of quick hits:
* ISIS: "ISIS militants released a video purporting to show two Japanese hostages on Tuesday and demanded a $200-million ransom. Global security firm and NBC News counterterrorism consultant Flashpoint Intelligence said the video appeared to be authentic. It features two handcuffed captives in orange garb similar to the jumpsuits worn by Guantanamo Bay detainees kneeling next to a masked jihadi who brandishes a knife."
* Crisis conditions in Yemen: "The presidential residence and palace in Yemen were shelled on Tuesday by Houthi rebel militiamen, the information minister reported, in an escalation of the fighting that has gripped the capital for the past few days and raised fears of a coup in one of the Middle East's weakest countries."
* Related news: "The U.N. Security Council denounced rebels' seizure of Yemen's presidential palace on Tuesday and called on the world to rally behind President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, a strong U.S. ally."
* Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) declared a state of emergency "for two counties on the Yellowstone River, after a pipeline over the river burst on Saturday morning, contaminating the drinking water. Bridger Pipeline LLC, which operates the 12-inch Poplar pipeline, estimates that 300 to 1,200 barrels (2,600 to 50,400 gallons) of light Bakken crude dumped into the Yellowstone [River] before the pipeline was shut off."
* NYC: "A man has been charged in Manhattan with trying to buy three to five lethal doses of the highly toxic poison ricin, seemingly for the purpose of reselling it, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday in Federal District Court."
* I'm sure they were just in the neighborhood: "An armed Russian spy ship, the Victor Leonov CCB-175, sailed into Havana harbor this morning, just hours before the Obama Administration and the Havana government will sit down for bilateral talks. The Russian warship is openly docked at a cruise ship terminal in the port of Havana, in plain sight for all to see."
* Gun violence: "A male doctor who was shot twice Tuesday morning inside Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital sustained life-threatening injuries, according to a hospital spokesperson. A suspect, who died from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds, had entered the hospital and asked for the doctor by name."
* I guess this is a case worth watching: "Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is planning to sue Fox News for its inaccurate reports on Muslim 'no-go zones,' she told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday."
* Education: "More recent research ... has found that when schools have more money, they are able to give their students a better education. A new study on those who went to school during the school-finance cases a few decades ago found that those who attended districts that were affected by the rulings were more likely to stay in school through high school and college and are making more money today."
* When you argue that pronoun distribution, among other things, is an important metric for evaluating State of the Union addresses, it might be time to choose a new beat for your journalistic career.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.