ISIS Again: Japanese and American officials say they have not verified a video released on the Internet that purports to show the execution of a Japanese hostage by Islamic State militants. There’s no word about a Japanese journalist who has been held with the other man. The Islamic State had threatened to execute both men if they were not paid a $200 million ransom. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his country will not give in to terrorism.

Injia: President Obama is in India trying to smooth the sometimes-fractious relations between the two countries. The president reports a breakthrough in getting US companies to build nuclear power plants in India. The president also reports an agreement to work together to cut back on greenhouse gases.

World: The Nigerian army claims to have turned back a Boko Haram attack onMaiduguri, the biggest city in the country’s northeast. The city of two million people is reported to have been attacked from two different directions, with explosions and gunfire heard in the center of the city. The military reports that a major base north of the city was overrun, with as many as a 1,000 soldiers fleeing into the bush.

>Voters went to the polls in Greece today to decide whether to continue with an economic austerity plan or to bring in the left-wing Syriza party and possibly leave the Euro zone.

Ukraine: Rocket fire from pro-Russian rebels hit a market, shops, and homes in the port city of Mariupol yesterday, killing at least 30 people. The Ukraine military rushed to reinforce the area. What appear to be heavy weapons in pristine condition have been seen pouring into the area, suggesting major Russian support for the rebels.

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko said, “The time has come to name their sponsors. The help given to militants, weapons deliveries, equipment and the training of manpower – is this not aiding terrorism?”

AirAsia: Recovery teams have made two failed attempts to lift the main fuselage of AirAsia 8501 from the bottom of the Java Sea. The second time a line connecting lifting balloons snapped. Seventy bodies have been recovered, but the remains of most of the 162 passengers and crew are believed to be trapped inside. The effort has been hampered all along by ocean currents and rough weather.

Winter: A major winter storm is developing that could bring deep snow all the way from Philadelphia up through Massachusetts and into Maine over the next 48 hours. Blizzard watches with a foot or more of snow expected have been issued from northeast New Jersey to Boston.

Softballs: New England Coach Bill Belichick said yesterday in a press conference that his team had conducted an exhaustive investigation and found no tampering with the footballs used in last Sunday’s AFC championship win against Indianapolis. Belichick posited that the temperature difference between the warm locker room and the chilly stadium may have accounted for the drop in the balls’ air pressure. The Man of Few Words said, “This is the end of this subject for me for a long time.”

But wait, one more question. Why were the Indianapolis balls fully inflated under the same conditions?

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