In this bulletin, Former President of China Jiang Zemin resigns from his military post, US President Bush to Address the UN, more developments in the James Hardie Asbestos Case and Yukos suspends oil exports to China.

Former President Jiang Zemin has resigned from his powerful post as Chairman of the Military Commission. President Hu Jintao now assumes that role. Long-running tesnsions finally gave way to a peaceful transfer of power, a first for the Communist Party. Reports say that a deal was struck between supporters of the two supremos which allowed Jiang to save face. He is still expected to weild considerable influence over decision-making.

It is still to early to tell how President Hu will use his new powers. He reiterated the position of the Communist Party in the structure of China. However, his position on issues of human and workers rights and Falun Gong remain unknown.

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President Bush will focus on Iraq and Afghanistan in a speech at the United Nations this week. President Bush will tell leaders gathered for the U.N. General Assembly that he will not allow violence to disrupt elections in Afghanistan next month, or a vote in Iraq scheduled for January.

Mr Bush will reiterate the commitment of the US and her allies to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. The US is prepared to play a leading role in the international community to uphold values and security.

With Saddam toppled, the United Nations has agreed to help with the country's transition to democracy, but that has not meant the end of the debate over Iraq.
The White House says it is still optimistic that the January electoral date can be met. President Bush will meet with Secretary-General Annan on Tuesday before his address to the General Assembly.




The man inquiring into James Hardie's arrangements for its asbestos liabilities in Australia has found executives breached corporation law.
Mr. David Jackson QC says James Hardie separated from its former asbestos liabilities to avoid paying out more than 300-million-dollars but three years ago told the Australian Stock Exchange and the public that a foundation would fully fund its asbestos liabilities.
The claims were made by chief executive Peter McDonald who may face criminal charges relating to knowingly misleading the Australian Stock Exchange.
Mr Jackson says the company should have known it was not leaving enough money for asbestos victims and has also found breaches to the Trade Practices Act.
He says an extra one-point-five-billion-dollars is needed to fund the claims and the funds of foundation it set up will run out within three years.
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Oil prices on world markets have risen following the announcement by troubled Russsian oil giant Yukos that it is temporarily suspending two thirds of its oil exports to China.

The company faces a multi-billion dollar tax bill, which it has been unable to pay because of a court order freezing it assets.

The decision by Yukos to halt the supply of 100,000 barrels a day to the China National Petroleum Corporation has been justified by difficulties in paying rail transport costs and Customs duties.

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The Asian Development Bank says two out of every three persons in South Asia live on less than two dollars a day despite strong economic growth in recent years. South Asia includes India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan.
Economists are calling for a redistribution of the benefits of economic growth in the region.
The gross domestic product of South Asian countries grew at an overall rate of more than five percent in 2003, with India posting the strongest growth at about eight percent. That growth has lifted millions of people out of poverty, but South Asian countries are not transforming the lives of the poor as quickly as China and East Asia.
Greet van der Linden, vice president of the Manila-based bank in New Delhi says that countries should focus on investing in rural infrastructure, as economists say such investments raise productivity in the agriculture sector, and help better distribute incomes. Rural areas and farmers constitute the bulk of this region's population.
The report also suggests that South Asia should focus more on establishing labor-intensive industries, as much of India's economic expansion has come in the information technology sector, although the boom has not helped the poor.
Economists warn that decades of sustainable growth will be needed to defeat poverty in South Asia, one of the world's most densely populated regions.

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Many incidents of police brutality have been reported by people appealing against various grievance s in Beijing.

This includes the beating of an unidentified American reporter who tried to intervene in an attack on two elderly men from Henan province who had gone to the State Council Appeals Office and the National People’s Congress Appeals Office in Yongdingmen.

Eyewitnesses say the reporter was beaten unconscious, dumped in a police vehicle and has not been seen or heard of since.

In another incident which occurred after more than 1,000 policemen were sent to Beijing by local governments to intercept the appealers, one man had his leg broken and police fired a machine gun into the air to break up another group.

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In China, four bank employees convicted of large-scale financial corruption in Zhengzhou and Zhuhai Cities have been executed.
The four were members of the China Construction bank and two were convicted of stealing almost three-and-a-half-million dollars by forging cheques and bank notes.
Another used a stolen passport to draw up a line of credit which resulted in a loss to the bank of over 10-million-dollars.
In recent times China has sentenced almost 28-thousand people for finance-related crimes. Over four-thousand have been sentenced to more than five years in prison, life imprisonment or death.
Nevertheless, the rate of finance-related crimes in China remains high