Portal:Current events/2008 August 9

August 9, 2008 (Saturday)

2008 Summer Olympics:
- Shooter Kateřina Emmons of the Czech Republic wins the women's 10 meter air rifle competition, the first gold medal of the 2008 Summer Olympics, setting an Olympic record for both the qualifying and final scores. (Los Angeles Times)
- Woman's weightlifter Chen Xiexia sets Olympic records in both the clean and jerk and total weight lifted, winning China's first and the second gold medal of the summer. (BBC News)
2008 South Ossetia War:
- Russia and Georgia continue to fight in South Ossetia and Georgia. The search for the dead and injured continues after at least 2,000 civilians were killed after two days Georgian offensive. Russia reported 12 peacekeepers killed and 30 wounded in the previous day during the Georgian tank and missile bombardment of Tskhinvali. (BBC News) (AP via Yahoo! News) (BBC News) (RIAN)
- Russian jets attack military targets in the Georgian city of Gori, outside South Ossetia, killing 60 people; two are shot down. (BBC News) (BBC News)
- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia launched a military operation to help peacekeepers stationed in the region under UN mandate since the early 1990s defend their position after 15 were killed during Georgian operations and to protect South Ossetians many of whom hold Russian citizenship. (RIA) Russia's Foreign Ministry accuses Ukraine of encouraging Georgia to carry out "ethnic cleansing" in South Ossetia. (Reuters)
- Georgia's parliament approves a state of war across the country for the next 15 days. (Reuters) Delegates from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, European Union, and United States head to Georgia to broker peace. (BBC News)
- The Georgian-controlled section of the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia came under fire from aircraft. Abkhazia's foreign minister Sergei Shamba, said Abkhaz forces had launched an attack aimed at driving Georgian forces out of the gorge. Georgian television claimed the attacks were by Russians. (BBC News)
- Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili called for a cease fire which his Security Council secretary said means that Georgian troops will withdraw from Tskhinvali and stop responding to Russian shelling. (AP via Google News)
- Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt evokes the memory of Adolf Hitler in condemning Russia's attacks on Georgia, saying the protection of Russian citizens there does not justify the assault. "Attempts to apply such a doctrine have plunged Europe into war in the past... And we have reason to remember how Hitler used this very doctrine little more than half a century ago to undermine and attack substantial parts of central Europe". (The Local)
At least 38 Warao Indians are dead in Venezuela from a suspected outbreak of rabies from vampire bats. (CNN)
A mudslide at an illegal gold mine in Burkina Faso causes at least 31 deaths. (AP via The Guardian)
Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr announces the formation of a cultural unarmed group of the Mehdi Army militia. (BBC News)
An uprising in the Burmese town of Taunggok, about 200 km northwest of Yangon, results in arrests. (BBC News)