Portal:Current events/2008 August 8

August 8, 2008 (Friday)

The 2008 Summer Olympics starts with the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony at the Beijing National Stadium. (The Christian Science Monitor)
2008 South Ossetia War:
- Around 0:30 AM (local time), Georgia begins a full-scale attack on the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, using tanks, military aircraft, artillery, and infantry. Major-General Marat Kulakhmetov, the commander of a small force of Russian peacekeepers under CIS mandate in Tskhinvali makes a statement that Georgian 'heavy artillery shelling conducted for several hours' and 'has practically demolished the town' (The Times) (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia) (RIAN) After a night of heavy fighting, Georgian forces close in on the capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali. (BBC News) (Reuters) Russian commanders reported that Georgian military forces attack a Russian peacekeepers' base in Tskhinvali with heavy artillery and missiles. Several peacekeepers reported dead and wounded. (RIAN)
  - President of Georgia, Milkeil Saakashvili agrees that the timing (the first day of Olympics, with many world leaders in Peking) of the 'major military offensive' of Georgia, during which the 'South Ossetian capital' devastated 'was not coincidental'. (AP via YouTube)
- The Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin warns Georgia against "acts of aggression" against South Ossetia and later declares that a "war has begun." In response, the President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili declares that Russia "is fighting a war with us in our own territory." (AGI) (The New York Times)
- Mikheil Saakashvili accuses Russian aircraft of attacking Tbilisi and outlying airfields. (Delfi) He calls for mobilization of Georgia's army, claiming Russia started an aggression on Georgia. (Alfa)
- NATO and the European Union urge an immediate end to the violence in South Ossetia. (Reuters)
- The Russian Ministry of Defence claims 10 Russian peacekeepers in the area were killed and 30 wounded so far during the Georgian army offensive. At least 15 civilians are also reported dead. (BBC News via YouTube) The Georgian Interior Ministry claims three Georgian soldiers were killed at an airbase outside of Tbilisi. (BBC News) Both Russian state television and Georgian sources report Russian troops and tanks moving into South Ossetia and approaching Tskhinvali. (CNN) (BBC News)
- With most of the city of Tskhinvali in ruins, 1400 civilians reported dead during the first day of Georgian offensive. (RussiaToday via YouTube)
- The United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls on Russia to withdraw its troops from Georgia. (AFP via Google News) (CNN via YouTube)
A car bomb in the town of Tal Afar in northern Iraq kills at least 21 people and injures about 70. (BBC News)
At least 13 people die when a private charter bus falls off a bridge onto a creek north of Dallas, Texas. (MSNBC)
Studenka Train Disaster: An express train crashes into a bridge near the town of Studenka in the Czech Republic resulting in 7 people dead and around 70 injured. (AFP via Yahoo! News) (AP via Yahoo! News)
A terrorist group seeking an independent Muslim state in Xinjiang, China releases a video threatening an attack on the 2008 Olympic Games. (The New York Times)
The President of the United States George W. Bush dedicates a new American embassy in Beijing. (VOA)
Economic crisis of 2008:
- UK home repossessions rise by 48%. (BBC News)
- The OECD reports slower growth and declining employment in the U.S. (BBC News) (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Former U.S. Senator and Democratic ex-presidential candidate John Edwards admits to an affair with Rielle Hunter after having earlier denied it. (CNN)