SYDNEY, Aug. 26--AsiaNet/InfoQuest ELECTION BETTING... SYDNEY - Centrebet politics punters are betting thatNational's taxation policy is not an election winner as bigbets continue to flood in for Helen Clark's Labour to be theparty that provides the prime minister following the eagerlyanticipated election on September 17. http://www.centrebet.com ELECTION FUNDING... SAN FRANCISCO - The Asia Foundation, the premier non-profitorganization devoted to Asia's development since 1954,announced today that it has received a $US4,900,000 grant fromthe Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) tofund a local election and democratic governance program inIndonesia. http://www.asiafoundation.org FRANKLIN EDICTIONARY... BURLINGTON - Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc., a worldleader in handheld information, today announced that SeikoInstruments Inc. is beginning distribution of Franklin's firstproduct for the burgeoning Japanese eDictionary market. http://www.sii.co.jp/corp/eg/index.html http://www.franklin.com MARKETING AGREEMENT... IRVING - Sniffex, Inc., producers of Sniffex, an explosivedetection device, announced today the signing of an exclusivemarketing agreement with Global Engineering Systems FZC forIndia. http://www.sniffex.com WATER WEEK... STOCKHOLM - The Mexican government, through the Secretariatof the 4th World Water Forum and the World Water Council,issued a Second Announcement of the Forum during the Seminar"Local Actions for a Global Challenge", held in the frameworkof the World Water Week in Stockholm. http://www.worldwaterforum4.org.mx AIRPLANE BARREL... WICHITA - Spirit AeroSystems, Inc., today rolled out thefirst developmental barrel section for the 787 Dreamliner builtin its Wichita, Kan., factory. The barrel, called Section 41,comprises the airplane's forward section and is made ofadvanced composite materials. GOODRICH CORPORATION... CHARLOTTE - Goodrich Corporation has been selected by ChinaCargo Airlines to supply the main deck and lower lobe cargohandling system for its two new Boeing 747-400ERF freighters. http://www.goodrich.com H1 RESULTS... ZURICH - Swiss Re's first half 2005 earnings were CHF 1.4billion, while annualised return on equity was 13 per cent, inline with the target over the cycle. http://www.swissre.com NEW CEO... ZURICH - Swiss Re's Board of Directors has appointed JacquesAigrain, Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 January 2006. http://www.swissre.com MARITIME ORGANIZATION... SAN FRANCISCO - A new organization - The American Friends ofthe Australian National Maritime Museum - seeking US supportfor a unique Australian-American maritime cultural program willmake its first appearance in San Francisco this month. POST-ACQUISITION STRATERGY... SEOUL - Following Avnet, Inc's announcement on 5 July thatthe company had closed its acquisition of Memec Group HoldingsLimited, Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia Pacific todayannounced its post-acquisition strategy. http://www.em.avnet.com (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agenciesdistributing unedited, translated news releases for worldwideclients. Visit www.asianetnews.net for full-text versions.)