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The mangled tail section of an AirAsia A320 that went down in the Java Sea last month has been lifted to the surface, but the "black boxes" searchers hoped to find in the debris were not immediately located.

The flight-data recorders that might tell investigators what caused Flight QZ8501 to crash, killing all 162 aboard, appear to have separated from the tail section recovered today, officials say.

Michael Sullivan, reporting for NPR from Thailand, says search teams took advantage of a break in the weather to bring the tail of the plane to the surface.

The Associated Press writes: "The red metal chunk, with the word "Asia" written across it, was brought to the surface using inflatable balloons. ... The debris was hoisted from a depth of about 100 feet, and local TV footage showed it resting on a ship."

In a statement issued today, the Asia-based low-cost carrier said that the tail piece "has been transported to Pangkalan Bun and will be handed over to Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) for further investigation.

"The sonar [equipment] continued to detect more objects which are suspected to be the plane's front section and detected pings suspected to be from the plane's black box flight recorders near the location where the tail was found," the statement, posted on Facebook, reads. "Sea divers, vessels and helicopters were deployed to observe the focused searched area.

Reuters reports that so far, 48 bodies have been recovered from the sea.

AirAsia flight QZ8501

The Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry crude oil from Canadian oil sands down to the U.S. Gulf Coast, isn't just an infrastructure project. It's also a symbol for the fight over the future of energy.

Energy

Infographic: How Tar Sands Oil Is Produced

Producing oil from Alberta's tar sands emits more pollution than traditional oil drilling, so many environmentalists want that crude left in the ground. And more broadly, they want the world to turn away from climate-changing fossil fuels toward cleaner forms of energy, like wind and solar.

Mike Hudema, who works with Greenpeace Canada as a climate and energy campaigner, is one of those activists. He says he sympathizes with people who need jobs: He has family members who work in Alberta's oil fields. Still, Hudema considers it a victory when big oil companies announce delays in new oil sands projects.

Last September, Norway's Statoil postponed one project for at least three years. Before that, French oil giant Total S.A. shelved a planned project.

"Total cancelled its multi-billion-dollar tar sands project," Hudema says, "And they've stated fairly openly that part of the reason for the cancellation is because of lack of pipeline capacity."

Energy

Canadian Regulators Investigate Mysterious Tar Sands Spills

The Keystone XL pipeline is one project that would boost capacity. And companies do say the ability to transport crude out of Canada is one reason they delay projects. But there are other reasons that are just as important, says Greg Stringham, vice president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

"It hasn't been one single pipeline that has been the cause of that re-evaluation," he says. "It has been labor; it has been competitiveness; it has been the corporate decisions."

Those corporate decisions include the question of where a global company will choose to invest its money. And today — especially with low oil prices — it's not hard to find more lucrative investments.

Energy

What You Need To Know About The Keystone XL Oil Pipeline

The Keystone XL approval delay is just one setback for an industry Stringham says has a bright future. Canada's oil sands produced more than 2 million barrels of crude per day last year.

New projects are in the works, Stringham says, and output will grow.

"It is to the point where it has gone from just a Canadian industry to a North American industry and we're on the verge of moving it to a global industry," he says.

So, Stringham says, companies aren't waiting for the Keystone XL pipeline. There are other ways to move oil: trains, barges and alternate pipelines. He says as long as the U.S. and the world wants oil, Alberta will find a way to supply it.

Energy

Blocking Keystone Won't Stop Oil Sands Production

For opponents who want to keep that oil in the ground, like Hudema at Greenpeace, that means more battles ahead.

"When we talk about tar sands development we're talking about going against the biggest carbon bullies on the plant," Hudema says. "Every major multinational oil company is involved in this development."

Comparing their resources to his, Hudema says he thinks environmental groups are doing a pretty good job. And every day that Alberta's tar sands oil stays in the ground is another victory.

oil sands

greenpeace

Keystone XL Pipeline

oil

More than a dozen United Airlines flight attendants who were fired for their insistence on additional screening measures after discovering "menacing" graffiti scrawled on an airplane have filed a federal complaint against their former employer.

The Los Angeles Times reports: "On July 14, 2014, United crews departing from San Francisco International Airport bound for Hong Kong found the words 'BYE BYE' in six-inch high letters alongside two faces, one smiling and the other one also smiling, but with eye brows drawn in a more sinister expression. The writing was traced in an oil slick from the auxiliary engine in the [Boeing 747] aircraft's tail cone. "

The 13 flight attendants have filed a federal whistleblower complaint with the Department of Labor. They say they found the drawing "menacing" and "devilish" and that they requested that more than 300 passengers aboard the July 14 flight be taken off for an additional security sweep.

Reuters says:

"The flight attendants, all with 18 or more years of experience, said the airline refused to deplane the passengers and conduct a security inspection. They said they disobeyed orders to work, believing the lives of more than 300 passengers and crew on the jumbo jet could be endangered.

"After a delay, the July 14 flight was eventually canceled. United accused the flight attendants of insubordination and fired them all, according to the complaint."

United spokeswoman Christen David said on Wednesday that: "All of FAA's and United's own safety procedures were followed, including a comprehensive safety sweep prior to boarding, and the pilots, mechanics and safety leaders deemed the aircraft entirely safe to fly."

United Airlines

Terrorism

Boko Haram extremists, who seized a northern garrison town in Nigeria less than a week ago, have reportedly carried out a massacre of its inhabitants, with Amnesty International saying as many as 2,000 have been killed.

"The attack on Baga and surrounding towns, looks as if it could be Boko Haram's deadliest act in a catalogue of increasingly heinous attacks carried out by the group," says Daniel Eyre, a Nigeria researcher for Amnesty International. "If reports that the town was largely razed to the ground and that hundreds or even as many as two thousand civilians were killed are true, this marks a disturbing and bloody escalation of Boko Haram's ongoing onslaught against the civilian population."

However the BBC cautions that while there are fears of of thousands dead, "other reports have put the number in the hundreds."

Journalists are unable to report freely from the area and most reports come from telephone contact with local officials and debriefing refugees from the area.

As we reported on Sunday, Boko Haram captured the town of Baga – the only major holdout to the group's control of the northern state of Borno. Baga had been the headquarters of a multinational force, including troops from Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon that were charged with securing the area from the Islamist militants.

The Wall Street Journal reports: "Boko Haram fighters swept through the surrounding villages outside Baga, killing residents of communities who they consider to be opponents, as well as men who tried to escape, according to Mr. Masta and other survivors, as well as officials and local vigilantes. On Wednesday, Boko Haram burned down the entire town."

Since last weekend's attack, Niger has now said that it will not help the multinational force retake the town, the BBC says.

The violence has seen a bloody uptick in the run-up to next month's presidential elections in Nigeria.

The Associated Press quotes local officials as saying that about 140 children who have fled Baga and arrived in Yola, in neighboring Adamawa state, have no idea whether their parents are alive or dead. Seven others have been reunited with parents, the AP says.

By way of background, The Washington Post says: "In August, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau announced the establishment of his "Islamic Caliphate," quickly taking over every corner of Borno State in northeast Nigeria. But one town called Baga, populated by thousands of Nigerians along the western shores of Lake Chad, held out. Anchored by a multinational military base manned by troops from Niger to Chad, it was the last place in Borno under the national government's control. Over the weekend, that changed."

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the mass kidnapping of schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in Borno last April. The plight of the girls, many of whom have not been seen since, has a movement around the Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.

Boko Haram

Nigeria