The Palestinian president, Abbas, was given standing ovations before and after his speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations in which he officially stated his country's intention to apply for full member status of the UN. In his following speech the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Palestine should make peace with Israel before seeking UN membership.
USB raised the estimate of its loss from an alleged rogue-trading scandal to US$2.3 billion. The Swiss Bank claimed the loss was the result of unauthorised trading in London which was within normal business flow and that the true magnitude of the risk exposure was distorted because the positions had been offset with fictitious forward positions. USB's biggest shareholder, Singapore's CIC sovereign wealth fund, issued a statement expressing its disappointment and concern.
In Italy transcripts of wiretapped conversations revealed prime minister Berlusconi boasting about his sexual powers and saying that he ran the country in his spare time. Meanwhile Italy's sovereign debt rating was downgraded by Standard & Poor's, worsening the country's crisis.