August 30, 2008 (Saturday)
- Mass marches are held in more than 70 cities across Mexico, demanding stronger action against violent crime. (AP via CNN)
- The 2008 Panzhihua earthquake in China's Sichuan province kills at least 15 people and injures dozens more. (Reuters via MSNBC)
- 2008 South Ossetia war:
- Russia announces that South Ossetia will join 'one united Russian state' (The Times).
- Hurricane Gustav:
- The National Hurricane Center advises that Hurricane Gustav has strengthened to Category 4 strength. (AP via Google News)[permanent dead link]
- Cuba evacuates 60,000 people from the west of the island as Gustav approaches the island at Category 3 strength. (This is London)[permanent dead link]
- New Orleans residents start evacuating the city as it is expected to make landfall in the United States west of the city. (New York Daily News)
- A hurricane watch is issued from High Island, Texas, east to the border of Alabama and Florida. (AP via Minneapolis Star Tribune)[permanent dead link]
- An overcrowded Indian Army boat carrying dozens of victims of the 2008 Indian floods capsizes killing at least 25 people and taking the death toll to 85. (Reuters via Los Angeles Times)
- The Pakistan Army claims that 30 militants have been killed in Swat, NWFP, in heavy fighting in recent days. (AP via the Guardian)
- Italy compensates Libya for the forced colonization in the 1910s, promising to pay US$5 billion over the next 25 years. (Bloomberg)
- The head of the Mahdi Army in Karbala, Iraq, is sentenced to death over the Battle of Karbala (2007) (AFP)