Bangkok, Nov. 19 : Ajay Chhibber, the head of the U. N. Development Program''s regional bureau for Asia and the Pacific, has warned of the prospect of social unrest in Asia because of the global meltdown.

He told the Washington Post in an interview here that the slowdown in major markets such as the United States and Europe poses fundamental problems for Asian economies that have used exports to fuel their extraordinary growth.

Chhibber said there are still 900 million Asians living below the World Bank poverty line, defined as an income of less than 1.25 dollars a day, Chhibber said, adding, "There are another 300 million who just came out of that group, so they are literally on the margin."

Hong Kong - The majority of consumers in Asia are skeptical about the motives behind companies that sponsor environmentally friendly initiatives, a global study published Tuesday claimed.

Most believed companies only sponsor green initiatives to improve their public image or to sell more products rather than because they cared about the environment, the study of green perceptions, attitudes and behaviour concluded.

Of the six Asian countries included in TNS Our Green World study, the Koreans emerged as being the most skeptical, with only 5 per cent of those questioned believing companies went green because they cared.

Taipei- Taiwan's former vice president Lien Chan Monday headed to Peru for the November 22 leaders' summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, becoming the highest-ranking envoy from the island to attend the annual event.

Leading a 13-member delegation of foreign and economic affairs experts and officials, Lien was to stop at New York for three days before flying to Lima on November 20.

Hong Kong - Scores of office workers were evacuated from central Hong Kong Monday as police detonated a suspected Second World War bomb unearthed on a building site.

The bomb was discovered on the site of the new government headquarters next to Victoria Harbour on Hong Kong island on Monday morning, police said.

Bomb-disposal experts were called in, the site was cordoned off and a section of the busy harbour-side road closed down while the detonation took place. No one was injured.

Hong Kong was heavily bombed throughout World War II as British and Japanese armies battled for control of the strategically located former colony.

New Delhi - India's stock indices dipped downward by more than 3 per cent Monday after a meeting of the world's leading economies failed to throw up any immediate solutions to the global economic crisis and Japan announced its economy had slid into recession.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark 30-share Sensex was trading at around 8,990 at noon, about 4.21 per cent below its previous close.

The broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was hovering around 2,704.80, 3.76 per cent below Friday's close.

Washington  - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said Saturday in Washington that he looked forward to working with US president- elect Barack Obama.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the Group of 20 nations to address the world economic crisis, Aso was asked about his thoughts on Obama.

"Obama-san?" he asked, before saying they had spoken over the phone since the November 4 election. And though it was difficult to know much about his personality from the brief discussion, Aso said that Obama appeared to show an interest in Asia.