A United Nations report said that the floods in Pakistan had stranded at least 800.000 people beyond reach of ground transport. Of some 17 million directly affected, five million had been made homeless. Pakistan asked the International Monetary Fund for a loan of eleven billion dollars.
North Korean leader Kim Jong II visited China for the second time in four months, raising speculation that he was accompanied by his son and named successor Kim Jong Un.
Yet another prime ministerial change was in prospect in Japan when Ichiro Ozawa said he would challenge the recently chosen prime minister Naoto Kan at forthcoming Democratiic Party elections.
Northern Ireland's police ombudsman reported evidence that the police, the government and the Catholic church had colluded to conceal the suspected involvement of a Catholic priest in 1972 IRA bombings that killed nine people.