October 3, 2008 (Friday)
- 2008 South Ossetia war aftermath:
- An attempt of assassination of head of the Akhalgori Ossetian administration, Anatoli Margiev failed. He survived the explosion of a bomb planted on a road in Georgian village while driving to Tskhinvali, South Ossetia. (Rustavi 2)
- Two teenagers are injured after blowing up a landmine at the territory of the military base in Gori, Georgia. (Rustavi 2)
- Seven Russian soldiers die from an explosion in breakaway South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali. (Bloomberg) (Civil Georgia) (CNN)
- PACE calls for international probe into the 2008 South Ossetia war. (Civil Georgia)
- Subprime mortgage crisis:
- U.S. President George W. Bush signs the US$ 700,000,000,000 bailout bill after it is passed by the House. (NPR News)
- In response to the 2008 Chinese milk scandal, Australia begins withdrawing Chinese-made Kirin milk tea from shops after discovering it contained melamine in tests. (The Australian)
- Greece announces it will follow Ireland's lead and guarantee all bank deposits in the country. (RTÉ)
- 2008 Russian financial crisis:
- Both of Russia's main stock exchanges, the MICEX and RTS, suspend trading of stocks "for technical reasons" as the markets rally after a 1-1/2 day trading halt that ended earlier in the morning. (Financial Times)[permanent dead link]
- Trading is suspended for a second and a third time in the same day at the RTS stock exchange as Russian equities tumble. The dollar-denominated stock index was last down 7.8% in intraday trading. At MICEX, index fell 6.2% in intraday trading. (MarketWatch)
- Investigators in the United States announce that they have found human remains in what is believed to be the wreckage of Steve Fossett's plane, which went missing over California a year ago. (BBC News)
- United States government announces sale of billions of dollars of arms to Taiwan to keep a balance with China's massive arms buildup aimed at Taiwan. (CBC News)
- Russia's foreign minister calls for international action to halt piracy in Somalia. (BBC News)
- The remains of a Viking-era stave church, including the skeletal remains of a woman, is uncovered near the cemetery of the Lännäs church in Odensbacken outside Örebro in central Sweden. (The Local)
- A jury convicts retired American football player O.J. Simpson of armed robbery and kidnapping, 13 years to the day after he was acquitted of killing his ex-wife and her friend in Los Angeles. (New York Times)