5 Things to Know for Your New Day – Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Domestic violence does Ray Rice in. 'Jihadi John' is close to being ID'd. And we're on watch for iWatch.

It's Tuesday, and here are the “5 Things to Know for Your New Day."

1. RAY RICE

Double-barrelled discipline: The controversy had stretched for months, but in the end, the resolution came quickly: First, Ray Rice was cut from the Baltimore Ravens. Then, minutes later, he was suspended indefinitely by the NFL. The catalyst for the sudden change? A video acquired by TMZ, showing Rice punching his then-fiance Janay Palmer in an Atlantic City casino elevator - then dragging her limp body halfway out the door, and dropping her on her face with her skirt hiked up.

Rice had already been disciplined by the NFL for this incident, receiving just a two-game suspension. After the video came out, the NFL quickly released a statement noting, "That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today." That only sparked more questions: If TMZ had obtained the video, why hadn't the NFL? What other flaws had there been in the league's investigation?

2. ISIS BEHEADINGS

Unmasked: He's the man known as 'Jihadi John' - speaking with what sounds like a British accent and holding a knife to American journalist James Foley's throat just before his beheading. Now, U.S. and British authorities are honing in on who they believe is the man: a Brit linked to an extremist group based in London. Officials are not naming him yet, citing the investigation and concerns that ISIS still has American hostages.

Meanwhile, the family of slain hostage Steven Sotloff believes ISIS paid as much as $50,000 to rebels who alerted the militant group that the American journalist had entered Syria. Barak Barfi, who last saw his friend the morning Sotloff was kidnapped, told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" that the family had learned from "sources on the ground" that a member of a moderate rebel group phoned ISIS.

3. ROYAL BABY

You and me and baby makes ... four: You can pretty much divide the world into two camps: those who crave every last detail about Prince William and Kate, and those who couldn't care less. Yesterday was a great day for the first camp when Buckingham Palace announced the couple's expecting their second child. With Scotland voting next week on whether to separate from the U.K. , the Guardian newspaper actually ran a poll, "Will the new royal baby save the union?" The answer: no. But talk about pressure on a fetus!

4. EBOLA OUTBREAK

Yikes!: This isn't good. A federal investigation has found that Homeland Security is totally "ill-prepared" for something like the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic - or something worse, such as a global Ebola outbreak. In 2006, Congress gave DHS $47 million to prepare for such a national medical crisis. And the department did go shopping; it spent millions on this equipment that might now be completely worthless, missing or unnecessary.

5. APPLE ANNOUNCEMENT

The big reveal: There will come a day - and one hopes, in the not-too-distant-future - where we will no longer wait with bated breath for every new Apple announcement. But alas, that day isn't today. Expect lots of ink as the tech giant announces its new products: a new iPhone and a smartwatch. But unless they shoot lasers, we won't be impressed.

Those are your five biggies for the day. Here are a few others that are brewing and have the Internet buzzing.

- Going green: We're betting this sharbador (Shar Pei + Labrador) will do for broccolli what Popeye the Sailor did for spinach

[youtube=http://youtu.be/eqUNT2lvvCQ]

- Maximum cuteness: This is a two-week-old baby elephant blowing bubbles. What more needs to be said?

[youtube=http://youtu.be/BTJe5c0z4AU]

- One for the record books: Maibam Itomba Meitei has spent 14 years perfecting his record - the most consecutive pinky pullups!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/CtC4juczaWI]

- Bad trip: This man pulls out of his garage and straight into a tornado

[youtube=http://youtu.be/_M3xDTlXpQI]

- Busted!: This cat's thought bubble? "It's not what you think."

[youtube=http://youtu.be/gVsI3Jz4d8c]