29 December 2014 Last updated at 09:18
• The search for QZ8501 – rolling report
The Afghan, who has been given the code name "Doody," is a "mid-level commander" in the Taliban, according to a secret NATO list. The document lists enemy combatants the alliance has approved for targeted killings. "Doody" is number 3,673 on the list and NATO has assigned him a priority level of three on a scale of one to four. In other words, he isn't particularly important within the Taliban leadership structure.
AirAsia QZ8501: Indonesia plane 'at bottom of sea'
The missing AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 is likely to be at the bottom of the sea, the head of Indonesia's search-and-rescue agency has said.
Bambang Soelistyo said the hypothesis was based on the co-ordinates of the plane when contact with it was lost.
The search is continuing for the aircraft, a day after it disappeared with 162 people on board, but no trace has been found so far.
The Airbus A320-200 was on a flight to Singapore.
The pilots had requested a course change because of bad weather but did not send any distress call before the plane disappeared from radar screens.
"Based on the co-ordinates given to us and evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea, the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea," Bambang Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, told a news conference in Jakarta.
Aircraft accident rates at historic low despite high-profile plane crashes
Figures from the Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives put the total number of fatalities for 2014 at 1,320 and assume no one on QZ8501 will be found alive• The search for QZ8501 – rolling report
Although the rate of aircraft accidents in 2014 is at a historical low, the loss of AirAsia flight QZ8501 with 162 people on board is likely to result in a significant uptick in the rate of aircraft fatalities compared with the past few years.
Figures from the Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives put the total number of fatalities for 2014 at 1,320 and assume no passengers on QZ8501 will be found alive. This would make it the the highest annual fatality figure since 2005. The BAAA counts military transport planes and any aircraft capable of carrying six or more passengers.
The Aviation Safety Network put the number of fatalities, excluding QZ8501, at 526 for 2014, the highest since 2010. The ASN figures only include aircraft capable of carrying 14 or more passengers and excludes military aircraft. It also reportedly excludes casualties from hostile actions, such as the downing of MH17 in the Ukraine.
Fox News presenter mocked after appearing to link disappearance of Flight QZ8501 with pilots' use of metric and imperial measurement systems
Air strikes escalate Libyan conflict as city and port of Misurata attacked
Forces loyal to Tubruq-based government hit an air base, a port and a steel factory
Borzou Daragahi
Warplanes attacked Libya’s third-largest city of Misurata yesterday, the first time the industrial port of 300,000 has been struck in a seven-month civil conflict that has already set on fire the country’s largest oil terminal.
The three air strikes, launched by forces loyal to the internationally recognised Tubruq-based government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni, hit an air base, the port and a steel factory.
“The armed forces chief of staff declared Misurata a military zone and it will be besieged from east and west alongside continuous escalating strikes,” said Brig Gen Saqr al-Garoushi, commander of the Thinni government’s airforce, in Libyan media.
Obama's Lists: A Dubious History of Targeted Killings in Afghanistan
By SPIEGEL Staff
Combat operations in Afghanistan may be coming to an end, but a look at secret NATO documents reveals that the US and the UK were far less scrupulous in choosing targets for killing than previously believed. Drug dealers were also on the lists.
Death is circling above Helmand Province on the morning of Feb. 7, 2011, in the form of a British Apache combat helicopter named "Ugly 50." Its crew is searching for an Afghan named Mullah Niaz Mohammed. The pilot has orders to kill him.
Climate shift in the Pacific may accelerate global warming
December 29, 2014 - 6:07PM
Peter Hannam
With 2014 likely to be declared the world's hottest year on record, the last thing the planet needs is a climate shift to turbo-charge the global warming already under way.
While it's an early call, a measure of surface temperature differences in the Pacific shifted to a positive reading in the five months of November, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – the longest such run in almost 12 years.
Known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the El Nino-like pattern typically lasts 15-30 years and is understood to operate as an accelerator on global surface temperatures during its positive phase – and a brake during its negative phase – as the ocean takes up fluctuating amounts of the extra heat being trapped by rising greenhouse gas emissions.
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