Midday Roundup: ISIS demands $200 million to spare Japanese captives

Deadly demands. ISIS militants are demanding a $200 million ransom to spare the lives of two Japanese hostages the group plans to kill in 72 hours. Kenji Goto Jogo, 47, is a freelance journalist who went last year to report on the conflict in Syria. Haruna Yukawa, a 42-year-old private military company operator, was kidnapped in Syria in August. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in Israel as part of a weeklong visit to the Middle East, called the ISIS demands “unforgivable.”He also made a distinction between radicalized and peace-loving Muslims, saying, “Extremism and Islam are completely different things.”In a video, the black-clad militant brandishing a long knife speaks with a British accent and seems to be the same man who appeared in videos showing the beheading of British and American hostages. The ransom amount is directly tied to the amount Japan has contributed to the fight against ISIS and other terror groups in the Middle East. “You have proudly donated $100 million to kill our women and children, to destroy the homes of the Muslims,”the militant said.

Coup attempt? A political battle in Yemen almost sparked a coup today as rebels with the Houthi movement launched an attack on the private residence of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Earlier in the day, the rebels stormed the official palace. The president’s supporters say his opponents are trying to oust him by force. Houthi leaders say they are fighting for the rights of the country’s Zaydi Shiite sect. They have vowed to escalate the violence if the president doesn’t agree to their demands over a draft constitution. The Houthis seized the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in September and have been expanding their control into areas of the country dominated by Sunni Muslims. Instability in the country is bad news for Western nations looking for help controlling terror groups in the area. The al-Qaeda branch operating in the country claimed responsibility for the attack in Paris that left 12 people dead earlier this month.

Fatal collapse. A construction worker at the site of an Interstate 75 overpass in Cincinnati died last night after the bridge collapsed while crews were preparing it for demolition. The man, whose name has not been released, was crushed by falling debris. The driver of a semitruck also sustained minor injuries, but police officials said a few seconds difference in his travel time could have cost him his life. Officials do not know what caused the overpass to collapse. The accident caused major gridlock around the city this morning as commuters tried to find routes around the closed section of freeway.

No signs of terrorism. The Indonesian transport minister said today a review of radar data showed AirAsia Flight 8501 climbed to an unusually high altitude very quickly and stalled before it plunged into the Java Sea. The ascent was beyond the aircraft’s capability, he said. Investigators still don't know exactly why the pilot tried to take the plane up to such a height, but after listening to the cockpit recordings, they ruled out terrorism or any outside influence. “The voice from the cockpit does not show any sign of a terrorist attack. It is only the pilot, sounding very busy,” Andreas Hananto, an investigator at Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee, told Reuters. Another investigator said they heard no signs of an explosion. While they have ruled out some causes of the crash, investigators still don’t know what actually brought down the plane on Dec. 28 with 162 people on board.

Seeking justice. Jury selection will begin today in the trial of James Holmes, the 27-year-old man accused of opening fire with an automatic rifle in a packed Colorado movie theater in 2012, killing 12 and wounding about 70 others. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. The prospective jury pool of 9,000 peopleis one of the largest in U.S. history. Legal experts say it will be difficult to find jurors who can truly be impartial after so much publicity and debate surrounding the case. Already several people who received jury summonses were released because they are witnesses for the prosecution. Jury selection is expected to take several months.