Welcome to Beijing and IAU XXVIII General Assembly. Although the world economic situation continues to show stress, the science of astronomy is flourishing on many fronts. True, we are not immune to the negative effects of sharply reduced funding for projects and positions, yet our do-main sees increased international collaboration, pioneering facilities and techniques in development, and significant discoveries that are changing the way humanity thinks about the universe and our place in it. Programs that the IAU has undertaken such as the United Nations International Year of Astronomy 2009 and the creation of the Office of Astronomy for Development in Cape Town have been hugely successful.

The President of the IAU, Prof. Robert Williams, welcomed the delegates and members to this first business session of the General Assembly. The President invited the General Secretary, Dr. Ian Corbett, to start the business session.

The President of the IAU, Prof. Robert Williams, welcomed the delegates and members to this first business session of the General Assembly. The President invited the General Secretary, Dr. Ian Corbett, to start the business session.

The incoming IAU President, Norio Kaifu, welcomed the participants to the Closing Ceremony of the XXVIIIth General Assembly.

This report outlines IAU business conducted by or through the Executive Committee in the triennium between the Rio de Janeiro General Assembly, 3-14 August 2009, and the Beijing General Assembly, 20-31 August 2012.

The triennial meeting of Commission 4 was attended by 16 people. All of the presentations from the meeting are provided on the commission website at http://www.iaucom4.org/c4docs.html, so this report provides only summaries.

President of Commission 7 Zoran Knežević opened the business meeting at 18:40 and proposed the agenda which was accepted without change.

The business meeting was opened by the President, Dafydd Evans, who presented the agenda, which was approved. It was agreed that Norbert Zacharias should be the secretary of the meeting and take the minutes. This session was attended by about 20 participants.

During the XXVIII IAU General Assembly in Beijing IAU Commission 19 - Rotation of the Earth - held a business meeting and a scientific meeting. The business meeting was held on Wednesday, 29 August 2012 during session 1 (08:30-10:00). It was attended by about 35 participants, and six reports were given. First the activities of IAU Commission 19 during the past triennium (2009–2012) were highlighted by the Commission president. Afterwards, the Commission secretary presented the results of the elections for the next triennium (2012–2015) and a list of new members of the Commission. The designated Commission president provided an outlook into the next triennium, before the representatives of the international bodies and services IAG (International Association of Geodesy), IVS (International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry), and IERS (International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service) gave reports about recent activities. A summary of the business meeting is given below in Section 2. The scientific meeting was held on Thursday, 20 August 2012 during sessions 1 and 2 (08:30-12:30). Eleven presentations were given, and about 40 participants attended the sessions. Summaries of the presentations are provided below in Section 3.

The Business Meeting of Commission 10 was held as part of the Business Meeting of Division II (Sun and Heliosphere), chaired by Valentin Martínez-Pillet, the President of the Division. The President of Commission 10 (C10; Solar activity), Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi, took the chair for the business meeting of C10. She summarised the activities of C10 over the triennium and the election of the incoming OC.

The President of C12, Alexander Kosovichev, presented the status of the Commission and its working Group(s). Primary activities included organization of international meetings (IAU Symposia, Special Sessions and Joint Discussion); review and support of proposals for IAU sponsored meetings; organization of working groups on the Commission topics to promote the international cooperation; preparation of triennial report on the organizational and science activities of Commission members. Commission 12 broadly encompasses topics of solar research which include studies of the Sun's internal structure, composition, dynamics and magnetism (through helioseismology and other techniques), studies of the quiet photosphere, chromosphere and corona, and also research of the mechanisms of solar radiation, and its variability on various time scales. Some overlap with topics covered by Commission 10 Solar Activity is unavoidable, and many activities are sponsored jointly by these two commissions. The Commission website can be found at http://sun.stanford.edu/IAU-Com12/, with information about related IAU Symposiums and activities, and links to appropriate web sites.

The President of IAU Commission 49 (C49; Interplanetary Plasma and the Heliosphere), Nat Gopalswamy, chaired the business meeting of C10, which took place on August 23, 2012 in the venue of the IAU General Assembly in Beijing (2:00 - 3:30 PM, Room 405).

The business meeting of IAU Commission 15 (C15) took place in Beijing on 29 August 2012, from 14:00 to 18:00, in room 405 of the China National Convention Center. This report of the business meeting of Commission 15 at the 2012 IAU GA is based on the report provided by Alberto Cellino, past president, and on the minutes taken by Daniel Hestroffer, secretary of Commission 15 in the triennium 2009 to 2012, and current secretary.

The business meeting of commission 22 was held at the room 403 on 24 th August 2012 (14:00-15:30) in the China National Convention Center in Beijing.

The business meeting of IAU Commission 36 took place during the GA in Beijing on August 27th, and its major topic was the re-structuring of the IAU Divisions and consequences for our Commission. The meeting was conducted by the new president, Joachim Puls, since the past president (still in charge during the GA), Martin Asplund, could not participate.

Commission 42 (C42) co-organized, together with Commission 27 (C27) and Division V (Div V) as a whole, a full day of science and business sessions that were held on 24 August 2012. The program included time slots for discussion of business matters related to Div V, C27 and C42, and two sessions of 2 hours each devoted to science talks of interest to both C42 and C27. In addition, we had a joint session between Div IV and Div V motivated by the proposal to reformulate the division structure of the IAU and the possible merger of the two divisions into a new Div G. The current report gives an account of the matters discussed during the business session of C42.

The business session for Commission 37 was held on 24 August 2012 at the IAU General Assembly in Beijing. The meeting was attended by about a dozen members of our Comission, including President Carraro, VP de Grijs and several committee members. We introduced ourselves and then went through a powerpoint presentation first prepared by outgoing President Elmegreen and revised by incoming President Carraro. The contents of the powerpoint presentation are given in this summary.

The meeting was attended by the President and Vice-President of the Commission, along with approximately 15 other members. The President reported on the election of new officers that took place at the end of March 2012, for four new members of the Organizing Committee as well as a new Vice-President, and thanked the outgoing members. Tomaz Zwitter (Slovenia) was elected as the new VP (2012–2015), and the new OC members for the period 2012–2018 are Alceste Bonanos (Greece), Alain Jorissen (Belgium), David Katz (France), and Matthias Steinmetz (Germany). The current VP, Dimitri Pourbaix, became the President through 2015.

IAU Commission 6 “Astronomical Telegrams” had a single business meeting during the Beijing General Assembly of the IAU. It took place on Friday, August 24, 2012. The meeting was attended by five C6 members (N. N. Samus; D. W. E. Green; S. Nakano; J. Ticha; and H. Yamaoka). Also present was Prof. F. Genova as a representative of the IAU Division B. She told the audience about the current restructuring of IAU Commissions and Divisions and consequences for the future of C6.