After drawing international acclaim, Indonesia's moratorium on forest clearing has proved hard to implement, as special interests whittle down the area protected under the agreement, environmental groups say.

The U.K. government Tuesday published its long-awaited draft Energy Bill, which contains mechanisms and incentives designed to encourage some GBP110 billion investment in low-carbon energy such as offshore wind and new nuclear power stations.

With around a quarter of the U.K.'s power generating capacity closing by the end of the decade as aging nuclear and old coal plants are shuttered, the legislation is part of government plans to keep the lights on while meeting binding climate change targets.

The first private spacecraft aiming to dock with the international space station blasted off from Florida early Tuesday with split-second precision, but the biggest tests for the mission are still days ahead.

A coalition of environmental and tribal groups filed a challenge Wednesday to a federal air-emissions permit for a Royal Dutch Shell RDSA -1.84% PLC drilling ship, the latest legal maneuver aimed at stopping the oil giant's exploration plan off Alaska's Arctic coast.

The Obama administration gave Shell the go-ahead last year to move forward with plans to drill for oil in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. The coalition's court challenge targets a ship that Shell plans to deploy for drilling in the Beaufort Sea starting as early as mid-July when the sea-ice clears.

Japan launched for the first time early Friday a rocket with a non-Japanese payload, fulfilling a spare-no-expense, two-decade quest to compete in the world's $4.3 billion commercial satellite-launch business.

Japan enters an increasingly crowded orbit of newer players and established companies delivering space cargo at relatively low cost, raising questions about whether Tokyo's long campaign risks fizzling shortly after it takes off.

India's Supreme Court Friday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe JSW Steel Ltd.'s role in procuring iron-ore from illegal mines in the southern state of Karnataka.

A panel formed by the court had earlier sought the probe while submitting its investigation report on illegal mines in three mineral-rich districts of Karnataka.

The apex court has also asked the federal agency to probe the role of Karnataka's former chief minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa, in allowing illegal mining.

The Asia-Pacific region may be home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies including China, Japan, India and Indonesia. But, last year at least, it also was the most vulnerable to natural disasters that hampered expansion and disrupted trade.

The United Nations Economic and Social Survey of the Asia Pacific, a report released Thursday, says Asia Pacific sustained damages and losses of $266.8 billion out of $366 billion globally in 2011 — the worst year in history for catastrophes.

A trial to apportion blame and damages for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster will now start in 2013 after the New Orleans judge hearing the case scheduled a new start date.

The delay is a boost for BP BP.LN -3.11% PLC, which is facing billions of dollars in fines from the U.S. government for its part in the incident. Federal and state authorities had pressed for a summer trial, arguing that damages payments from the responsible parties were needed to speed up Gulf Coast restoration efforts.

India’s Cabinet has given its approval to a “National Monsoon Mission,” which will equip the weather department with high-end computers, radars and scientific manpower to generate more detailed and accurate forecasts.

India’s current antiquated methods of forecasting the all-important monsoon rains is getting a re-vamp.

No other weather phenomenon generates as much excitement among policymakers and economists, given that it holds the key to farm output, a sector employing half the country’s workforce.

Hong Kong has long preferred to blame its smoggy skies on polluting factories just over the border in mainland China. But new analysis suggests that the blame for much of the city’s pollution rests squarely on Hong Kong’s shoulders.