Methane hydrates, or clathrates, are a type of frozen "cage" of molecules of methane and water, and if Japan’s claims are accurate their achievement would go down as a world first.

Pilot experiments in recent years, using methane hydrates found under land ice, have shown that methane can be extracted from the deposits. Japan says its engineers used a depressurisation method that turns methane hydrate into methane gas. Production tests are expected to continue for about two weeks.

Devised as a way of alleviating Pakistan’s chronic energy shortages, the pipeline has almost been completed on the Iranian side with construction set to begin imminently in Pakistan.

A nationwide power cut last month was blamed on a technical fault in a plant in south-western Balochistan province, but it highlighted the energy challenges the country faces.

A total of 780 kilometres of pipeline is due to be built in the country over the next two years.

The award makes AirAsia the first foreign company to attempt to capture the rising demand for services in India’s aviation sector.

AirAsia India will be a joint venture with the well-known Tata Group, based in Chennai in South India. AirAsia, which itself is Asia's largest low-cost carrier, will make an initial investment of 800m rupees and will own 49 percent of the new airline, while Tata Sons will have a 30 percent stake. Arun Bhatia, the owner of investment firm Telestra Tradeplace, will have the remaining share.

Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled the three-year funding programme to support the Afghan Ministry of Mines at an event at Downing Street attended by a host of UK investors and mining contractors.

Estimates of what lies underground in Afghanistan range from $1-3 trillion worth of gold, gems, iron ore, and oil and gas.

The Afghan Minister of Mines, Wahidullah Shahrani, welcomed the new support, saying what Afghanistan needed was "sustainable development for its people in the long term."

Ethisphere is a research-based institute dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability. This year — the seventh year Ethisphere has published the World’s Most Ethical Companies list — a record number of nominations and applications were reviewed from companies in more than 100 countries and 36 industries. For 2013, 140 companies were named to the list.

It seems our society has turned dodging responsibility into an art form. From celebrities who insist that a brush with the law was all a big misunderstanding to political figures who use spin and double-speak to blame everything on the other side, no one wants to admit it when they mess up. If you’re a business leader, the temptation to use this strategy is huge. After all, your customers are paying you to get it right, so the last thing you want is for them to know that you’ve made a mistake, right?

Behind Asia, Africa is the biggest mobile phone market in the world, and the fastest growing anywhere on the planet with the number of subscribers on the continent growing by almost 20 percent year-on-year for the last five years. Analysts estimate that by the end of 2012 there were more than 735 million subscribers across the continent, a figure that is the equivalent of a 65 percent penetration rate.

The Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES has a delightful acronym, P@SHA. Now president of the association, Jehan Ara joined about eight years ago, “so I’m not responsible for the name!” she says. P@SHA was founded in 1992 by nine technology companies, but its membership has since grown to include more than 400 of the country’s largest software houses, product development centres, BPO companies, animation and new media studios and consulting and system integration companies.

Six short months can make a big difference: when we last spoke to Ed Rochette, the energetic chairman of Vancouver-based East Asia Minerals (EAS) his burden seemed heavy. Today it is a lot lighter. Let us recap. When Rochette came in as the chairman of the company he was alarmed by the heavy burn rate of capital.