2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 13 August
Homes in Dublin affected by flooding included those in Finglas (a number of elderly women were rescued from a complex), Glasnevin, Clontarf and Blanchardstown – including an area around Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown. The N3 at Blanchardstown was closed for a time and there was flooding on the M50. Some lanes on the Naas Road and Carlingford to Newry Road in County Louth were also closed. In County Kerry, the main Castleisland to Killarney road was impassable in the morning due to flooding, with some cars being stranded. The Gneeveguilla Killarney road was also impassable after a river broke its banks. Ballinorig in Tralee town reported flooding whilst there was a tree down on the road to Ardfert quarries. A tree was also down on the road between Tarbert village and the ferry.


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 13 August
In Northern Ireland, three teenagers from County Down were rescued from the Mourne Mountains in the middle of torrential rainfall. The three girls, aged between 15 and 17, awoke at 05:00 to discover their campsite had been washed away, with a swollen river determining the need for mountain rescue. The chairman of the Mourne Rescue Service, Ed Kilgore had this to say:


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 13 August
"If they had decided to try to get across the river it could have been nasty"


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 13 August
and said the girls were "wet, miserable and relieved" upon rescue. The girls were met by relatives at the foot of the mountain, with dry clothes given out by the rescue team. Elsewhere in the county, a man in his early 40s was killed as a result of a two-vehicle collision near Crossgar, with heavy rain blamed for the treacherous driving conditions. Five other motorists had to be pulled from their vehicles near Moira when flood waters entrapped them.


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 14 August
The Irish Insurance Federation said the cost of compensating the victims of the floods could reach tens of millions of euro. Victims of a 2002 flooding in Ringsend called on the Irish Government to provide humanitarian assistance to those whose homes were devastated by the 2008 series of floods. In County Sligo, the Arigna to Geevagh Road was reported to still be blocked due to a landslide around Gleann. In County Leitrim, the Dowra to Drumkeeran road was deemed passable as were the Drumkeeran to Manorhamilton and Kiltyclogher to Glenfarne roads. In County Meath, the flooding receded on the N2 at Balrath near Kentstown making the road passable.


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 16 August
Severe weather conditions were witnessed across the country. The M4 between the Maynooth and Kilcock exits was closed as a result of "serious" flooding. The Clane to Kilcock Road was blocked and the Kilcock to Summerhill road was reduced to one lane due to the floods. Motorists were asked to use the M7 due to the Newbridge to Naas road being partially closed from Tuckers roundabout. The road from Rathangan to Kildare town was described as "impassable". The Clifden to Westport road near Letterfrack was blocked.


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 16 August
In County Wicklow, Rathnew experienced what was described as "severe flooding" and the Wicklow to Rathnew and Trim to Dublin roads were impassable The Skreen to Walterstown road was closed, although the Navan/Slane road was later deemed passable. In County Tipperary, a bridge at Ballynunty collapsed following heavy rain. The Park Road in Ravensdale, County Louth was impassable. Severe flooding in County Monaghan blocked the Castleblayney to Lough Egish road at the bypass bridge whilst flooding was reported along the N54 Monaghan to Clones road and on the Carrickmacross to Ballybay road. The Tramore road in County Waterford was impassable from the Ballindud roundabout to Tramore. There were also reports of localised flooding in parts of Dublin.


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 16 August
A section of one of the busiest roads in Northern Ireland, the Westlink in Belfast, was closed after flooding put the new Broadway underpass under six metres of water. Five cars entered the underpass while it was under two metres of water and had to be abandoned. Northern Ireland's Minister for Regional Development, Conor Murphy, ordered an investigation into why the recently constructed £104 million (€132 million) underpass was flooded. It was the first time the underpass had had to cope with heavy rain. Northern Ireland's Environment Minister Sammy Wilson announced a compensation package for those whose homes were affected by the flooding.


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 17 August
Carlow town was the centre of the flood alerts on 17 August. Rising waters from the River Barrow led to over 100 people being evacuated from a four-storey apartment block on Centaur Street. Kennedy Street was closed off. The Civil Defence was monitoring two other apartment blocks ready to evacuate them if waters rose further. Elsewhere in the county, the road between Tullow and Rathtoe was blocked after a two-car collision in which six people were injured. The wounded were brought to St. Luke's General Hospital in Kilkenny.


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 17 August
Gardaí reported that there was still flooding in Daingean and Edenderry in County Offaly where the canal had burst its banks. There were reports of flooding around Clonygowan. In County Laois, Mountmellick's main street was flooded, whilst the Mountmellick to Ballyfinn (R423) and Mountmellick to Derryclooney roads were both impassable due to flooding. Diversions were in place on the N77 Kilkenny to Durrow road because of flooding at Ballyragget. In County Galway the N59 on the Oughterard side of Moycullen was partially blocked after a truck overturned. In Northern Ireland, the M1 reopened inbound from Black's Road to Stockman's Lane and outbound from Saintfield Road. The M2 fully re-opened. Stena Line's fastferry sailings between Rosslare and Fishguard on the 18th were cancelled due to severe weather forecast for the south Irish Sea, causing severe passenger disruption.


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 18 August
Carlow town remained the worst affected area by the flash floods. Roads were flooded in County Offaly, County Tipperary, County Kilkenny, County Laois and County Galway. Parts of Carlow town were under almost two metres of flood water after the River Barrow burst its banks following heavy rainfall. Approximately 100 people spent the night in a hotel when they had to evacuate their apartment block on Centaur Street. Others were ferried to and from work in the morning by the Civil Defence.


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 18 August
Minister for the Environment John Gormley, visited Carlow to view the crisis, and said that the contract for flood defences would proceed "as quickly as possible". Staff at Winnie Dalgarno's flooded pet store in Graiguecullen had to take animals home when electricity was switched off. Winnie said: "We have lost a few reptiles, our birds have been badly affected, we had 20 hamsters floating, I have had to put rabbits in bird cages."


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 18 August
In Ennis, the body of 31-year-old cook and father-of-one, Przemyslaw Jablonski was recovered from the River Fergus. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Meath County Council advised people in Athboy to boil all water they used from the mains supply. Supply was shut down as a precautionary measure after a local river burst its banks, threatening to contaminate the drinking water supply.


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 18 August
Eircom reported nearly 4,300 faults over the previous weekend, with 6,500 reported faults that day. The worst affected areas included Clontarf, Blanchardstown, Phibsboro, Portmarnock, Leixlip and Clane.


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 18 August
Flooding at Portadown caused delays of up to 90 minutes on the Dublin to Belfast train service.


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 19 August
Drinking water was delivered to hundreds of households in County Sligo where flood water caused problems with the fresh water supply. Sligo County Council issued notice for people to boil water before use. Boil notices were also in place in parts of County Meath – Athboy, Kildalkey and Ráth Cairn – following the bursting of a river's banks.


2008 Irish flash floods, Timeline of events, 19 August
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's News at One, Environment Minister John Gormley said despite the economic downturn, money would be made available to provide flood defences for Carlow whose flood waters were subsiding (although a number of streets remained closed with dozens of residents who were forced to leave their apartments still being housed in temporary accommodation). The Office of Public Works said that contracts for flood defence systems would soon be finalised for towns such as Mallow, Ennis and Clonmel. Speaking on Morning Ireland, Tom Sherlock, principal officer of engineering services at the OPW, expressed confidence that new flood defence schemes already in place in some towns would hold for many years.


2008 Irish pork crisis
The Irish pork crisis of 2008 was a dioxin contamination incident in Ireland that led to an international recall of pork products from Ireland produced between September and early December of that year. It was disclosed in early December 2008 that contaminated animal feed supplied by one Irish manufacturer to thirty-seven beef farms and nine pig farms across Republic of Ireland, and eight beef farms and one dairy farm in Northern Ireland, had caused the contamination of pork with between 80 and 200 times the EU's recommended limit for dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs i.e. 0.2 ng/g TEQ fat (0.2 ppb).


2008 Irish pork crisis
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland moved on 6 December to recall from the market all Irish pork products dating from 1 September 2008 to that date. The contaminated feed that was supplied to forty-five beef farms across the island was judged to have caused no significant public health risk, accordingly no recall of beef was ordered. Also affected was a dairy farm in Northern Ireland; some milk supplies were withdrawn from circulation.


2008 Irish pork crisis
Within days thousands of jobs were either lost or under threat at pig processing plants across the country, as processors refused to resume slaughter of pigs until they received financial compensation. Pork supplies to a total of twenty-three countries was affected, thirteen within the European Union and the remainder outside in an area across at least three continents. Countries affected include: Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Estonia, the UK, France, Portugal, Cyprus, Romania, Russia, the United States, Canada, Switzerland, China, South Korea, Japan and Republic of Singapore.


2008 Irish pork crisis
It is now suspected that the oil that contaminated the offending pig feed with dioxins came from County Tyrone. Some reports suggest the recovery of the Irish pork market would take up to a decade. The Irish government has been criticised over its handling of the incident.


2008 Irish pork crisis
On 18 December 2008, it was disclosed that the beef samples from the affected farms had dioxin levels between 100 and 400 times the legal limit. However the Irish authorities insisted that the threat to public health from Irish beef products, even though the dioxin levels were higher than in the affected pork, was insignificant. On 25 January 2009, Chinese quarantine authorities seized over 23 tonnes of frozen and contaminated Irish pork which was imported by a company in the city of Suzhou in October 2008. On 28 January 2009, Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture was told by Indaver Ireland managing director John Ahern that Ireland could "sleepwalk" into another pork crisis if the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, continued with his plans to commence widespread use of mechanical biological treatment.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Background
On the evening of 6 December, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland ordered the recall, withdrawal and destruction of all Irish pork products dating back to 1 September. It was announced that "dioxins & dioxin like PCBs", a group of highly toxic synthetic halogenated organic compounds, had been discovered in pork at levels between 80 and 200 times the EU's recommended safety limits. This contamination, which was first realised on 1 December, came about as a result of contamination of pig feed.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Background
The positive results for dioxins and dioxin like PCBs were confirmed on the afternoon of 6 December and announced within hours. The Irish general public were advised to destroy all their purchased pork products as Ireland's Department of Agriculture and the Food Safety Authority had initiated an investigation. Contaminated feed was used at as many as forty-six farms in the Republic of Ireland of which thirty-seven raised cattle for beef and nine produced pork. Additionally, contaminated feed was used on eight cattle farms in Northern Ireland. Beef products, from cattle who may have been fed contaminated feed, were judged to be safe and were not recalled from market. One cattle farm in Northern Ireland used the feed for beef and dairy cattle, and milk from this farm was removed from the .


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Background
Following the discovery, the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen and the Irish Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith attended talks at their government's Department of Agriculture. Alongside them were the Minister for Health, Mary Harney and Minister of State for Food, Horticulture and Food Safety, Minister of State for Food and Horticulture, Trevor Sargent and Minister of State (with special responsibility for Health Promotion and Food Safety), Mary Wallace. The opposition party Fine Gael's spokesperson for agriculture, Michael Creed described the discovery as "potentially the biggest threat to the agriculture food sector since the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease".


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Background
On the afternoon of 7 December, the FSAI claimed identification of the source as a contaminated ingredient which had been added to pork feed, and said it was now considered that the profile of dioxins located is similar to those found in electronic transformer oils. On the evening of that same day, RTÉ, the state-run broadcaster, reported that the source of the crisis was a processing plant in County Carlow (see #Millstream Power Recycling Limited). A garda investigation was launched.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Background
The Association of Pigmeat Processors refused to continue slaughtering pigs, insisting they needed a massive financial package (up to €1 billion) from the Irish government to assist them with the mass recall. The European Union maintained that there would be no funding for the Irish pork industry in the wake of the crisis. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny criticised the Irish government, calling the crisis "an unmitigated disaster".


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Affected products
Most pork products are at risk of contamination; however, pork gelatine, products containing pork gelatine such as sweets, crisps and snack foods and sauces with pork or ham content are not.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Health effects of dioxins and PCBs
Dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are two groups of predominately man-made toxic chemicals which, when consumed, affect both the immune and reproductive systems and are classified as probably carcinogenic by the World Health Organization and in the United States by the National Cancer Institute and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. The toxicity of dioxins and dioxin like PCBs is mediated by their ability to bind strongly to the aryl hydrocarbon cell receptor that is present in most animals.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Health effects of dioxins and PCBs
Several epidemiological studies have observed a correlation between high levels of dioxins and PCBs in humans and a wide variety of adverse health effects e.g. chloracne, lowering of IQ, dysfunction of the thyroid gland and reduction of thyroid hormone levels, elevated rates of endometriosis in women, higher levels of diabetes in women, precocious puberty in females and subtle developmental delay in children, as evidenced by altered play activity.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Health effects of dioxins and PCBs
Males appear to be more sensitive to poisoning by high levels of dioxins & dioxin-like PCBs and are more likely to develop severe symptoms e.g. young men poisoned by TCDD (the most toxic dioxin) are less likely to father boys. See Geusau et al. (2001) who describe the clinical manifestations of two extremely severe (and probably criminal) dioxin poisoning cases.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Health effects of dioxins and PCBs
Much of the hazard posed by dioxins and PCBs comes from their environmental persistence and their lipophilic nature, resulting their propensity to accumulate in the food chain, particularity in the fat of animals. About 80% of human exposure to dioxins and PCBs comes from animal derived foods e.g. poultry, beef and dairy. However, the health effects and risks of long-term, low-level exposure to the general public cannot be observed directly, and are highly controversial.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Health effects of dioxins and PCBs
It is not known if the dose response relationship at low-levels of exposure is sub-linear or linear, or has a threshold i.e. harmless at very low levels. Risk assessments are further complicated by the observation that contamination typically involves a complex mixture of related chemicals, the toxicity of each varies and has to be factored according to its Toxic Equivalency Factor (TEF) (where TCDD = 1). The product of TEF is the Toxic Equivalent Quantity (TEQ), and it is this value that is used in risk assessments (an on-line ).


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Health effects of dioxins and PCBs
The European Union (EU) uses a linear dose response curve at low-levels of exposure, below the point where there are epidemiological data. In other words, the EU assumes there is no safe level of dioxins and PCBs. Accordingly, the European Union sets extremely stringent limits for dioxin and dioxin like PCBs in food, set just above the usual background levels found in various food categories e.g. fish, poultry, beef, pork etc. The limit set for dioxins in pork fat and meat is 1 pg/g TEQ i.e. 1 parts per trillion (ppt) (see swimming pool illustration). The maximum dioxin contamination measured in Irish pork was 0.2 ng/g TEQ fat (200 ppt), equivalent to dispersing 10 drops of TCDD throughout a 2.5 million litre Olympic sized swimming pool.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Millstream Power Recycling Limited
RTÉ News has named the company behind the contaminated animal feed as Millstream Power Recycling Limited, located just outside Fenagh, County Carlow in the south-east of the country. All production at the plant was stopped in the week before the announcement, when a link between it and the contaminated feed was first suspected. A representative of the firm, Edward Curtin, denied reports of a use of industrial oil in the contaminated pig feed, saying that, whilst oil is used to power the machinery used for processing, he is not certain that this is the source of the outbreak. The oil, at the firm's insistence, was only ever purchased from "legitimate suppliers" within the Republic of Ireland. The owner of Millstream Power Recycling Limited was named as Robert Hogg (43).


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, The Irish pork industry
The pork industry is the fourth biggest in Ireland's agriculture sector, worth around €400 million per year to the Irish economy. The country's farms produce over 3 million pigs per annum, almost 50% of which are consumed within the Republic. The remainder is exported, heavily to the neighbouring territories of Northern Ireland and Britain, but it also features in grocery stores and processed meats throughout two continents – Europe and Asia. In 2007, Ireland exported 113,000 tons of pig meat, nearly half of which went to the United Kingdom.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, The Irish pork industry
Over 500,000 live pigs were also shipped to the UK for slaughter and processing in that country. Ireland's other major customers of its pork are Germany, the buyer of 9,000 tons in 2007; France, Italy and several countries within the boundaries of Eastern Europe, which together purchased over 20,000 tons, Russia, the buyer of 6,600 tons, and China, which came into the ownership of 1,100 tons.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Effects
Within two days of the first announcement 1,800 jobs had been lost in the Irish pig industry with a further 6,000 jobs said to be at risk by Ireland's largest trade union SIPTU. Ireland's largest pig meat processor, Rosderra Irish Meats Group Ltd., turned away all of its 850 employees at four plants on 8 December, telling them to sign up for state unemployment benefits.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Effects
Workers in the pork industry who were laid off in the wake of the crisis, including those from affected plants in Edenderry, Waterford and Kilkenny, were carried out a lunchtime protest at Leinster House (government buildings in Dublin) on 11 December. SIPTU organised the demonstration citing "delays in resuming production" and the financial "dire straits" some workers were in as their reasons. Processors halted the slaughtering of pigs until the Irish government promised them financial reparation. c.100,000 pigs were slaughtered and the estimated costs of the crisis was €100 million.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Reactions, Local reactions
Within hours a number of local newspapers in Ireland including the Longford Leader and the Leitrim Observer had reproduced copies of the same Press Association article.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Reactions, National reactions
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland moved immediately to reassure the general public of Ireland. Speaking on RTÉ Radio on the morning after the initial announcement, Deputy chief executive of the FSAI, Alan Reilly said it was "necessary as a precautionary measure" to remove all pork products from within the country. He said he "expected" pork products to be available again before the busy Christmas period got underway and is scheduled to meet government officials and retailers within hours.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Reactions, National reactions
Irish hotels and guesthouses were immediately notified of the unfolding situation and asked to dispose of all their pork products by the Irish Hotels Federation. Some Tesco outlets initially only gave refunds for their own branded pork produce but have since begun issuing refunds to all affected Irish products. Superquinn however gave full refunds. A helpline set up by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland had received 3,000 calls within 72 hours of the outbreak.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Reactions, International reactions
The UK's Food Standards Agency has said it does not believe its country's consumers face "significant risk" but it was still awaiting confirmation from the Irish authorities that the affected products had not been exported to its neighbour. Chief Scientist Andrew Wadge stated on his FSA blog that because dioxins remain in the body for approximately 30 years, exceeding regulatory limits for a few days has an "insignificant" effect on the individual consumer. The Tolerable Daily Intake standard sets a level that is without appreciable risk to health over a prolonged period.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Reactions, International reactions
In Asia, South Korea has banned imports and advised retailers to stop selling Irish produce, Singapore was following suit, whilst China has "provisionally" stopped importation. Japan has also said it may recall Irish pork products.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Reactions, International reactions
Within twelve hours of the pork recall announcement, the international press was carrying the story and within thirty-six hours there were over 1,700 newspaper articles on the crisis globally. Tabloid The Sun announced the story as "Toxic Irish pork is swept off shelves" whilst the Daily Mirror opted for "Poison pork panic: Irish pigs were fed on plastic bags". Daily Express ran the story under the banner headline "Shoppers told: Don't eat toxic Irish pork" and the Daily Mail went with the headline "British shoppers 'may not be able to tell whether they have Irish poison pork in their fridge'".


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Reactions, International reactions
The Times had the headline "Shops rush to take Irish pork off shelves", warning that EU labelling laws meant pork originating in Ireland could have been labelled as British. Le Monde had the top-five most e-mailed website headline "Dioxin alert in Irish pork" and The Straits Times website had the crisis as its second most popular story. El País reported its concern that contaminated meat might have arrived in Spain via France and Portugal.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Reactions, International reactions
The New York Times, under the headline "Ireland investigating tainted pork" and The Washington Post, under the headline "Ireland recalls pork products after dioxin test", covered the story in their own short ways. AFP had the headline "Ireland scrambles to contain pork cancer scare" and the Xinhua News Agency was one of the earliest news agencies to follow the story with headlines including "Irish police to investigate pork contamination". CNN tagged the story as "another red flag being waved over dinner tables this week with warnings from the Irish government not to eat its pork products", comparing the crisis to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, bird flu and the 2008 Chinese milk scandal.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Pork, Return to shelves
Superquinn has said it would have Irish pork, traceable to one farm in County Kilkenny on shelves by 11 December, becoming the first Irish supermarket chain to do so. However, as early as 7pm on 10 December Irish retailer Dunnes had approved Galtee ham back on shelves for sale.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Other affected foods, Beef
Twenty one cattle farms in the Republic were discovered to have used the contaminated pig feed, whilst eight cattle farms used it in Northern Ireland. It was disclosed on 18 December 2008 that beef samples from the affected farms had dioxin levels between 100 and 400 times above the legal limit. The Irish authorities went to great lengths to insist that the threat to public health from Irish beef products, despite the extremely high dioxin levels, was insignificant. It was noted that the official announcement made no reference to the dioxin levels being 100 to 400 times the legal limit. In a statement the FSAI recommended "that cattle which are locked down from these 21 farms should now be slaughtered and not allowed enter the food chain". There was to be no public recall of Irish beef. The European Commission was being kept informed.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Other affected foods, Beef
However, 3,000 animals from these herds have been slaughtered and have already entered the food chain since September. The UK's Food Standards Agency was conducting tests to assess the level of dioxins present in Northern Irish cattle herds.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Other affected foods, Milk
One farm in Northern Ireland has been identified as having fed contaminated animal feed to dairy cattle. Northern Ireland's Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Michael McGimpsey has announced restrictions on milk supplies in the province.


2008 Irish pork crisis, European Food Safety Authority's statement
In its statement issued on 10 December 2008, The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) considered that the levels of dioxin & dioxin like PCBs in Irish pork, before the contaminated pork was withdrawn, posed no risk to health. The EFSA calculated a number of different exposure scenarios, and they found that if a consumer ate Irish pork each day over the 90-day period, 10% of which was contaminated, the "increase in the body burden [would be] of no concern for this single event". In the "very extreme case" of eating large amounts of 100% contaminated Irish pork every day over the 90-day period in question, the EFSA considered that "this unlikely scenario would reduce protection, but not necessarily lead to adverse health effects".


2008 Irish pork crisis, European Food Safety Authority's statement
However the EFSA warns that its calculations are "Based on the very limited new data related to the current contamination incident of pork, which were made available to EFSA" and concludes its statement with the "EFSA based this statement on a limited data set". It also makes clear that its calculations assumed that exposure at these high levels only began in September 2008. If it would be found that the animal feed had been contaminated prior to September 2008 then it would be have to re-evaluate its findings. The statement did not address the issue of contaminated beef.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Criminal investigation
A criminal investigation commenced in December 2008 and on 6 March 2010 it was reported in the Irish Times that a criminal prosecution would be taken in relation to the incident.


2008 Irish pork crisis, Civil case
Millstream Recycling Ltd. has taken a civil case against Gerard Tierney of Blackrock, and against his company Newtown Lodge Ltd. Millstream claims its pig feed products were contaminated by "defective" oil supplied by Mr. Tierney and his company.


2008 Ironman 70.3 World Championship
The 2008 Ironman 70.3 World Championship was a triathlon competition held in Clearwater, Florida on November 8, 2008. The race was sponsored by Foster Grant and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. The championship race is the culmination of the Ironman 70.3 series of events that took place from October 2007 to September 2008. Athletes, both professional and amateur, earn a spot in the championship race by qualifying in races throughout the 70.3 series. The 2008 championship race was represented by athletes from 52 different countries and 46 different U.S. States.


2008 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Qualification
The 2008 Ironman 70.3 Series featured 29 events that enabled qualification to the 2008 World Championship event to its top age group finishers, with all races also awarding professional slots. Some 70.3 events also acted as qualifiers for the full Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. The 70.3 Series expanded the number of qualifying races from 23 in 2007 to 29 events in 2008. Those events added included races at Geelong, Australia, Penha, Brazil (replacing the race in Brasilia), Huntsville, Ontario, Pucón, Chile, Haikou, China, Buffalo City, South Africa, Boise, Idaho, Lawrence, Kansas, and Providence, Rhode Island. Events in Port Macquarie and Ensenada, Baja California were discontinued from the series.


2008 Ironman World Championship
The 2008 Ford Ironman World Championship was held on October 11, 2008 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. It was the 32nd such Ironman Triathlon World Championship, which has been held annually in Hawaii since 1978. The champions were Craig Alexander and Chrissie Wellington. The championship was organised by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC).


2008 Ironman World Championship, Medallists, Women
The championship race had a total of 1,731 athletes competing (1,256 men and 475 women) from 51 countries started the race with 1,634 finished, 94 did not finish and 3 were disqualified. A maximum temperature of 81.6 °F (27.6 °C) made for warm racing conditions with wind gusts reaching 13.0 mph (20.9 km/h).


2008 Ironman World Championship, Qualification
To enter for the 2008 World Championship race, athletes were required to qualify through performance at an Ironman or selected Ironman 70.3 race, through Hawaii residency, through a random allocation lottery, or by invitation from the WTC.


2008 Ironman World Championship, Qualification
The Ironman 2008 Series consisted of 21 Ironman qualifying races plus the Ironman World Championship 2008 which was itself a qualifier for the 2009 Ironman World Championship. The series started with Ironman Wisconsin 2007 held on September 9, 2007, and in total 1,800 athletes qualified for the World Championship race.


2008 Ironman World Championship, Qualification, Qualifying Ironmans
There were 33,769 recorded Ironman finishing times during the 2008 series, with the fastest time of 7:59:55 set by Chris McCormack in the Ironman European Championship 2008.


2008 Isle of Anglesey County Council election
The 2008 Isle of Anglesey Council election took place on Thursday 1 May 2008 to elect members of the Isle of Anglesey County Council in Wales. This was the same day as other United Kingdom local elections. The previous full council election was on 10 June 2004 and the next full council election was held on 2 May 2013.


2008 Isle of Anglesey County Council election, Election result
Forty county councillors were elected from forty electoral wards (by the 2013 election this had been reduced to 30 councillors and eleven electoral divisions). Seven seats had no election because there were no opposing candidates (this was a reduction in comparison with 2004, when 14 seats were uncontested).


2008 Isle of Anglesey County Council election, Election result
Following the election a group of Independent councillors, known as the Original Independents and led by Cllr Phil Fowlie, formed a coalition with Plaid Cymru to control the council. Cllr Fowlie resigned from the council (and his Rhosneigr ward) in 2009 after the council continued to be embroiled in controversy.


2008 Isle of Anglesey County Council election, By-elections prior to 2013 elections
A by-election was held in the Rhosneigr ward in November 2010, following the resignation of Independent councillor (and former council leader) Phil Fowlie in September 2010. The seat was won by independent candidate, Richard Dew, by 261 votes.


2008 Isle of Man TT
2008 Isle of Man TT Festival was held between Saturday 24 May and Saturday 7 June on the 37.733-mile Snaefell Mountain Course and was the 89th Isle of Man TT Race. After the 2007 Centenary TT Races, the 2008 event included a second 600cc Supersport Junior TT race and the re-introduction of two-stroke motor-cycle racing with a Lightweight TT and Ultra-Lightweight TT race on the (4.25 mile) Billown Circuit in the Isle of Man.


2008 Isle of Man TT
For the 2008 Isle of Man TT Races, following the deaths of a race competitor and two spectators at the 26th Milestone during the 2007 Senior TT a number of changes occurred in spectator safety and road widening occurred at Braddan Bridge and a new link road and mini-roundabout at Governor's Bridge. The race organisation changed with the Manx Motor Cycle Club (MMCC) replaced by ACU Events Ltd a subsidiary of the Auto-Cycle Union (ACU).


2008 Isle of Man TT
A contract for the official course vehicles was awarded to Audi in a 3-year deal to celebrate the win by the pre-war Audi satellite company DKW by Ewald Kluge in the 1938 Isle of Man TT Races. A further contract was awarded to Yamaha UK to provide motor-cycles and support for the TT Travelling Marshalls.


2008 Isle of Man TT
The Isle of Man TT competitor Martin Finnegan was killed while racing at the Tandragee 100 Races on 3 May 2008 and this was followed by the former Isle of Man TT and Manx Grand Prix winner Robert Dunlop who died in an accident on 16 May 2008 at Mather's Cross during practice for the 2008 North West 200 Races.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Practice Week 2008
The first practice session for 2008 Isle of Man TT Races featured an evening untimed session and Newcomers control lap on Saturday 24 May 2008. It was Guy Martin, despite a crash at the 2008 Pre-TT Classic earlier in the day, that dominated the first timed practice session on Monday 26 May 2008 with a lap of 17 minutes and 57.83 seconds an average speed of 126.020 mph on a 1000cc Honda for the Superbike TT race. The 2008 TT Newcomer, James McBride had a high speed crash at Gorse Lea on Monday evening practice suffering leg fractures.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Practice Week 2008
The Italian competitor Angelo Conti crashed at the 33rd Milestone and suffered minor injuries. There was a 2-day interlude to practice during Tuesday and Wednesday of practice caused by weather conditions on the Mountain Section of the course. It is announced that the replacement to the injured James McBride would be Michael Dunlop after the recent death of his father Robert Dunlop and his recent win in the 250cc class at the 2008 North West 200 Races had decided to compete at the 2008 Isle of Man TT races after all.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Superbike TT Race
With problems with cancellations due to poor weather on the Snaefell Mountain Course the pole time for the Superbike TT race was set by John McGuinness in 17 minutes, 32.24 seconds an average speed of 129.085 mph. The 6 lap (226.38 miles) Superbike TT Race was scheduled for mid-day start on Saturday 31 May 2008 and the first competitor away from the TT Grandstand was Guy Martin who was delayed by 10 seconds from his designated start-time due to confusion in the pre-stage area.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Superbike TT Race
The next competitor, Conor Cummins riding a 1000cc Yamaha with a start interval of 10.00 seconds was delayed by about 4 seconds and John McGuinness at number 3 was delayed by 7 seconds and McGuinness said;- "....still pulling one of my gloves on when I heard Martin's bike going down towards Bray Hill. I screamed at the boys to get the warmers off. I think everyone thought there was a delay. No one had called us forward." The delays were accounted for in the lap-timing, although John McGuinness and 1000cc Honda was sidelined with an electrical mis-fire and pulled-in at Glen Helen on lap 2 and Guy Martin retired on lap 4 at Sulby with an oil-leak to his Honda motor-cycle.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Superbike TT Race
The early lead was held by Ian Hutchinson at Glen Helen on lap 1 riding a 1000cc Yamaha and only 8 seconds covered the top 12 competitors. Despite the delayed start, Guy Martin stormed to the lead by Parliament Square in Ramsey on lap1 by 0.43 seconds from John McGuinness with the Australian Cameron Donald riding a 1000cc Suzuki in 3rd place.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Superbike TT Race
Despite the delay and the standing-start, Guy Martin set a new lap record for the Superbike TT in 17 minutes and 32.09 seconds an average speed of 129.103 and led John McGuinness by 3.98 seconds and Cameron Donald by 6.75 seconds in 3rd place on corrected time on lap 1. The old lap record was broken by McGuinness on lap 1 at an average speed of 128.617 mph, although was reported touring at Laurel Bank on lap 2 retiring at Glen Helen and McGuinness explained that;- ".... The Bike suffered a slight misfire at the top of the Mountain.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Superbike TT Race
It got progressively worse after that and I could't continue after Ballacraine." After the retirement of John McGuinness, the lead was extended by Guy Martin to 8.9 seconds over Cameron Donald in 2nd place and his New Zealand teammate Bruce Anstey in 3rd place. Another new lap record was established by Guy Martin for the Superbike TT on lap 2 at an average speed of 129.540 mph and after the pit-stop at the TT Grandstand led Cameron Donald by 14 seconds.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Superbike TT Race
The lead was reduced to 10.21 seconds by Ramsey Hairpin by Cameron Donald on lap 3 and fellow Suzuki rider Adrian Archibald replaced Ryan Farquhar in 4th place. The Yamaha motor-cycle of Ian Hutchinson suffered an oil-leak at Union Mills forcing him to retire from the race.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Superbike TT Race
With the retirement of Guy Martin at Sulby Village on lap 4, also with an oil leak, the 2008 Superbike TT Race became the " Down under Dice " with Suzuki teammates Cameron Donald and Bruce Anstey increased their pace to produce laps at an average speed of 128.558 mph and 128.601 mph respectively. On the last lap, Bruce Anstey tried to increase his pace to wrestle the lead from his Suzuki teammate, "I tried to pull away in the last-lap, but could't manage it so I let Cameron back in front again and just followed him home."


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Superbike TT Race
The 2008 Superbike TT was won by Cameron Donald in 1hour, 47 minutes and 5.89 seconds to set a new race record at an average race speed 126.82 mph and become the first Australian winner of an Isle of Man TT race since Graeme McGreggor won the 1984 Junior TT and Formula 2 TT races. In second place was Bruce Anstey at an average race speed of 126.826 mph.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Superbike TT Race
In 3rd place, Adrian Archibald also riding a 1000cc Suzuki motor-cycle at an average race speed of 126.826 mph to produce a Suzuki 1-2-3 win at the 2008 Superbike TT Race. Run in warm weather and the winner Cameron Donald mentioned;- "It was hot out there. The tar was melting in place."


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Sidecar TT Race 'A'
The 3 lap (113.00 miles) Sidecar TT Race 'A' was run in the same warm weather conditions as the Superbike TT Race. It was the 600c LCR Honda outfit of Nick Crowe/ Mark Cox that had dominated practice with a fastest time of 19 minutes, 35.66 seconds an average speed of 115.534 set on Friday evening practice. The first competitor away from the TT Grandstand was the 600cc DMR Suzuki sidecar outfit of Dave Molyneux/Dan Sayle that immediately retired at the end of the pit-lane with clutch problems.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Sidecar TT Race 'A'
The 600cc LCR Suzuki of John Holden/Andrew Winkle led the Sidecar TT Race 'A' at Glen Helen by 1.86 seconds on lap 1 from the LCR outfit of Nick Crowe/ Mark Cox with the 600cc LCR Honda of Klaus Klaffenbock/Christian Parzer in third place a further 3.36 seconds behind the leaders. At Ballaugh Bridge on the first lap, John Holden/Andrew Winkle had extended their lead to 3.5 seconds and to 6 seconds by Ramsey Hairpin over Nick Crowe/Mark Cox.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Sidecar TT Race 'A'
The 600cc LCR Honda sidecar of Klaus Klaffenbock/Christian Parzer retired just before Parliament Square in Ramsey and the 600cc Yamaha of Steve Norbury/Rick Long now moved into 3rd place and the 600cc Suzuki of Simon Neary/Jamie Winn into 4th place. As Nick Crowe/Mark Cox increased their race pace, the lead of John Holden/Andrew Winkle fell from 5.3 seconds at the Bungalow to 3.1 seconds at the end of lap 1 at the TT Grandstand.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Sidecar TT Race 'A'
At Glen Helen on lap 2, the lead for John Holden/Andrew Winkle was now reduced to 0.19 seconds. Due to the increasing race speed of Nick Crowe/Mark Crowe and problems experienced by John Holden/Andrew Winkle with a failing rear shock absorber they slipped 4.19 seconds behind the new leaders of Crowe/Cox at Ramsey Hairpin on lap 2. The Yamaha sidecar of Steve Norbury/Rick Long retired at Handley's Corner on lap 2 allowing Simon Neary/Jamie Winn to claim 3rd place and to lead the 600cc LCR Suzuki of Tim Reeves/Patrick Farrance by just 0.23 seconds in 4th place.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Sidecar TT Race 'A'
A lap of 19 minutes, 40.43 seconds an average race speed of 115.066 mph on lap 2 by Nick Crowe/Mark Cox was the fastest of the race and now led John Holden/Andrew Winkle by 9.8 seconds. This lead increased to 12 seconds by Glen Helen on lap 3 for Crowe/Cox and the Yamaha sidecar of Simon Neary/Jamie Winn retired at Union Mills allowing TT newcomer Tim Reeves/Patrick Farrance into 3rd place.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Sidecar TT Race 'A'
On the final climb of the Mountain Section, Nick Crowe/Mark Cox extended their lead to 16.49 seconds to win Sidecar TT Race 'A' in 59 minutes and 22.80 seconds at an average race speed of 114.372 mph from John Holden/Andrew Winkle in 2nd place at an average race speed of 113.751 mph and the former World Sidecar Champion Tim Reeves/Patrick Farrance in 3rd place at an average race speed of 111.096 mph. Despite the fast race pace, Nick Crowe commented that;- "The bike did not feel very fast today.... It wouldn't pull top gear properly.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Sidecar TT Race 'A'
I may have overgeared it, but perhaps it was the heat.". The 3rd place for Tim Reeves was the first podium place for a sidecar driver as a TT newcomer since Rolf Biland and Ken Williams finished 2nd in the 1977 Sidecar Race 'B.' In respect to his decision to enter the Isle of Man TT Races, Tim Reeves had some harsh comments;- "I had some many doubters. So many said I wouldn't cut it here so this has just pi**ed in their Corn Flakes."


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Superstock TT Race
The first race on Monday 2 June 2008 was the 4 lap (150.92 miles) Superstock TT Race for 1000cc motor-cycles conforming to the 2008 MCRCB Superstock Regulations. The practice leaderboard for the Superstock TT Race was headed by Ryan Farquhar riding a 1000cc Kawasaki motor-cycle with a time of 17 minutes and 52.41 seconds an average speed of 126.657 mph set on Thursday evening practice.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Superstock TT Race
With low mist on the Mountain Section course the 2008 Superstock TT Race went ahead without a delay in the start-time and race officials cleared the grid at the 2-minute race-start signal to prevent the problems that occurred at the start of the Superbike TT Race. At Glen Helen in mixed road conditions on lap 1, the 1000cc Honda motor-cycle of John McGuinness led Gary Johnson with a race number 16 and a start interval of 2 minutes 30 seconds, by 2.3 seconds from the Suzuki of Bruce Anstey in 3rd place.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Superstock TT Race
By the time that McGuinness arrived at Ramsey Hairpin on lap 1 the other competitors had increased their race pace and he now only led by 0.16 seconds from the Suzuki of Cameron Donald. With further damp patches between Ramsey Hairpin and the Water Works Corner and mixed weather including mist on the Mountain Section, it was Cameron Donald that seized the initiative and now led McGuinness at the Bungalow by a narrow margin of 1.10 seconds. The first lap was completed in 17 minutes and 53.12 seconds an average speed of 126.573 mph by Cameron Donald to lead John McGuinness by 1.75 seconds in 2nd place, the Kawasaki of Ryan Farquhar in 3rd place and the Honda of Gary Johnson relegated to 4th place.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Superstock TT Race
Although Guy Martin riding a Honda completed lap 1 in 6th place with a lap of 125.090 mph, he increased his race speed during lap 2 to 126.926 mph to move into 3rd place on the Mountain Section pushing the Yamaha of Conor Cummins into 3rd place. Race leader, Cameron Donald produced the fastest lap of the 2008 Supersport race in 17 minutes and 44.5 seconds an average speed of 127.544 mph.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Superstock TT Race
A delay caused by an overflow of petrol for McGuinness during refuelling at a pit-stop at the end of lap 2 increased the lead for Cameron Donald to 8 seconds. Problems with a fuel-cap lost 5 seconds for Conor Cummins in pit-lane and allowed Ryan Farquhar to claim 4th place. The winner of the 2007 Superstock race, Bruce Anstey retired on lap 2 at the TT Grandstand after suffering with the effects of flu, while both Keith Amor and Gary Johnson retired at Governor's Bridge after running-out of petrol.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Superstock TT Race
On lap 3, Cameron Donald increased the lead to 17.5 seconds, although on lap 4 McGuinness lapped at a speed of 126.619 mph to reduce the margin to 15.07 seconds on the last lap and Cameron Donald riding for Suzuki won the 2008 Superstock TT race in 1hour, 11 minutes and 59.69 seconds an average race speed of 125.776. After missing the 2007 Centenary TT races through injury, Cameron Donald celebrated a double-win and said the race was won due to the weather conditions;- "...I was a bit surprised about the fog on the mountain.... Then I thought there is no traffic coming the other way and no kangaroos, so I put my head down and went for it."


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Supersport Junior TT Race 1
Held in improving weather conditions the second race of the day was the 4 lap (150.92 mph) Junior TT race 1 for 600cc motor-cycles conforming to the 2008 MCRCB Supersport Regulations. The practice leaderboard for the Junior TT Race was headed by Ryan Farquhar riding a 600cc Kawasaki motor-cycle with a time of 18 minutes and 25.06 seconds an average speed of 122.915 mph set on Friday evening practice. The first competitor away from the TT Grandstand was the 600cc Honda of Guy Martin who retired on lap 1 at the Highlander.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Supersport Junior TT Race 1
The pre-race favourite, the 600cc Suzuki of Bruce Anstey led at Glen Helen by 1.7 seconds from the 600cc Yamaha of Ian Hutchinson and John McGuinness riding a Honda in 3rd place. After reaching the official timing point at Ballaugh Bridge on lap 1, Bruce Anstey now led by 6 seconds from McGuinness in 2nd place. The lead increased to 9.32 seconds by Ramsey Hairpin on lap 1 and the places behind the leader Anstey continued to change as Ryan Farquhar moved into 3rd place only 0.3 seconds behind McGuinness.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Supersport Junior TT Race 1
On the mountain section of the course the 600cc Honda of Keith Amor passed McGuinness for second place and Bruce Anstey completed lap 1 in 18 minutes and 9.04 seconds at an average speed of 124.723 mph to lead by 11.76 seconds. While Anstey continued to increase his lead to 15.2 seconds on lap 2 at Glen Helen, Keith Amor in 2nd place had only managed to marginally increase his lead over McGuinness from 1.19 to 1.3 seconds. At the Ramsey Hairpin on lap 2, Bruce Anstey led on the road and on corrected race-time by 23 seconds from Keith Amor and John McGuinness, Ian Hutchinson passed Farquhar for 4th place only to retire at Sulby on lap 3.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Supersport Junior TT Race 1
A lap of 123.600 mph on lap 3 by Steve Plater riding a 600cc Yamaha, passed Ian Lougher and Conor Cummins to claim 5th place. The fast race pace was continued by Bruce Anstey, completing lap 2 in 18 minutes and 3.40 seconds an average speed of 125.372 and breaking the lap record previously held by Guy Martin for the Junior TT by 1.63 seconds. At the pit-stop at the end of lap 2, Bruce Anstey led by 24.82 seconds from McGuinness who had regained 2nd place with a slender lead of 0.08 second of Keith Amor.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Supersport Junior TT Race 1
A much faster pit-stop by McGuinness reduced the lead of Bruce Anstey by 5 seconds, although this advantage was reduced by Ballaugh Bridge on lap 3 and Anstey's lead was now back to 21 seconds. Another lap of 119.040 mph on lap 3 by Steve Plater elevated him to 4th place, passing the Kawasaki of Ryan Farquhar.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Supersport Junior TT Race 1
This was followed by another lap of 124.363 mph by Steve Plater on lap 4, passing Keith Amor at Glen Helen on corrected time for 3rd place and only 9 seconds behind McGuinness in 2nd place reducing the gap between Plater and McGuinness to 5 seconds at Ramsey Hairpin on the last lap. The Mountain Section again proved to be conclusive as Steve Plater passed McGuinness to claim 2nd place on corrected time by 0.87 seconds at the finish-line and 21.27 seconds behind the 1st place of Bruce Anstey with an average race speed of 122.927 mph.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Supersport Junior TT Race 1
A post-race technical inspection of the 600cc Suzuki of Bruce Anstey discovered an oversized exhaust-cam lifter at 8.75 mm as the Supersport regulations define a maximum limit of 8.00 mm. The TT race organiser accepted that a mistake by the race engine builder caused by a mis-labelled exhaust cam part resulted in the breach of the race homologation rules and the subsequent disqualification of the 600cc Suzuki of Bruce Anstey from first place.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Supersport Junior TT Race 1
The revised result for the 2008 Supersport TT Race 1 elevated Steve Plater riding a 600cc Yamaha to 1st place in a race time of 1 hour, 14 minutes and 1.07 seconds at an average race speed of 122.338 mph. After his achievement to claim second place and then elevated to winner, Steve Plater said that;- "I can't believe it. It's been a rollercoaster of emotions for me.... My head is a big snowball. I need to let it sink in for a while."


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Supersport Junior TT Race 2
The 4 lap (150.92 mph) Junior TT race 2 held on Wednesday 4 June 2008 was run in the shadow of the exclusion of Bruce Anstey for a technical infringement from Mondays Supersport race 1. Determined to make amends and again race favourite for Supersport race 2, Bruce Anstey found that it was the 600cc Yamaha of Ian Hutchinson that led by 0.4 second at Glen Helen on lap 1. This was increased to 1.0 seconds at Ballaugh Bridge and Ian Hutchinson led the 600cc Hondas of John McGuinness and Guy Martin in 3rd place.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Supersport Junior TT Race 2
As the official timing-point at Ramsey Hairpin was reached on lap 1, the 600cc Suzuki of Bruce Anstey now led by 0.41 second from Ian Hutchinson and Guy Martin. The 600cc Kawasaki of Ryan Farquhar was now in 4th place and was timed on the Sulby Straight at 172.50 mph as the 600cc Honda of John McGuinness slowed with an oil-leak and eventually retired at the end of the first lap.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Supersport Junior TT Race 2
The winner of Mondays Superport race, Steve Plater retired his 600cc Yamaha at the Bungalow along with the 600cc Honda of Keith Amor on lap 1 after he had experienced a small fire on the descent down Bray Hill after a lead from the wiring-loom worked loose and melted on the carbon-fibre bodywork. It was Ian Hutchinson that produced a lap of 18 minutes and 13.09 seconds an average speed of 124.261 mph to lead Bruce Anstey by 0.83 seconds at the TT Grandstand on lap 1.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Supersport Junior TT Race 2
As the pace increased, Bruce Anstey lapped in a new record time of 18 minutes and 3.51 seconds an average speed of 125.359 to lead Ian Hutchinson by 7.96 seconds. At the pits stops at the end of lap 2, Matts Nilsson was awarded a 5-second penalty for over-shooting the stop-box. At the Mountain Box on lap 3, Cameron Donald retired with mechanical problems as his teammate, Bruce Anstey continued to dominate the remainder of the Supersport Race to win in 1 hour, 13 minutes and 35.71 seconds at an average race speed of 123.041 mph. An obviously relieved Anstey said; -"I wanted to put Monday behind me. The bike felt better than it did on Monday. If it had not been so windy on the Mountain Mile I could have gone faster and perhaps broken the race record."


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Sidecar TT Race 'B'
The 3 lap (113.00 miles) Sidecar TT Race 'B' it was again the 600c LCR Honda outfit of Nick Crowe/ Mark Cox that had dominated the race and led the 600cc LCR Suzuki of John Holden/Andrew Winkle by 2.4 seconds at Glen Helen on lap 1 and the DMR 600cc Suzuki of Dave Molyneux/Dan Sayle in 3rd place. At Ballaugh Bridge the sidecar outfit of Dave Molyneux/Dan Sayle passed Holden/Winkle on corrected race time and were a full 5 seconds behind the leading sidecar crew of Nick Crowe/ Mark Cox.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Sidecar TT Race 'B'
As the leaders approached the official timing at the Bungalow, the LCR outfit of Nick Crowe/Mark Cox had almost made-up the 10 second road starting difference completing lap 1 in 19 minutes and 48.35 seconds an average speed of 114.300 mph with a lead of 8.95 seconds. Passing Molyneux/Dan Sayle on the road at Braddan Bridge the lead for Nick Crowe/Mark Cox was 10.47 seconds ahead on lap 2 at Glen Helen. The 600cc Suzuki outfit of Kenny Howles/Doug Jewell crashed at the 11th Milestone on lap 2 and the sidecar crew were air-lifted to Nobles Hospital.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Sidecar TT Race 'B'
The 600cc DMR Suzuki of Roy Hanks/Dave Wells retired at the Windy Corner on the same lap. The 2nd place crew of Dave Molyneux/Dan Sayle made a number of attempts to try to pass the leaders on lap 2 & 3 and Nick Crowe/Mark Cox won the Sidecar TT Race 'B' in 59 minutes and 34.76 seconds an average race speed of 112.989 mph. The winner Nick Crowe said the close racing with Dave Molyneux that;- "....you could not have put a cigarette paper between us at times – in fact I'sure we did touch fairings in places."


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Senior TT Race
The Blue Riband event of TT Race week was the Senior TT race over 6 lap (226.38 miles) of the Snaefell Mountain Course held on Friday 6 June 2008. A parade lap for Ducati racing motor-cycles held before the start of the Senior TT included former World Superbike Champion and TT race winner Carl Fogarty along with Trevor Nation, Frank Rutter and Michael Rutter. The former 1950s TT competitor Sammy Miller crashed a twin-cylinder 1978 Ducati 900SS motor-cycle at the Water Works Corner during the parade lap and was unhurt.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Senior TT Race
The 12 noon start for the much anticipated Senior TT was expected to be a battle between the 2008 double TT winner Cameron Donald and his Suzuki teammate Bruce Anstey after claiming his 7th TT win a couple of days earlier to equal the number of wins of former TT competitor Mick Grant. The first competitor away from the TT Grandstand was the 1000cc Honda of Guy Martin. The local Isle of Man TT rider, Conor Cummins retired at the 2nd Milestone on lap 1 near Union Mills after his 1000cc Yamaha suffered an oil-leak.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Senior TT Race
At Glen Helen on lap 1, despite also having a suspected oil-leak the 1000cc Honda of John McGuinness led by 0.4 seconds from the 1000cc Yamaha of Ian Hutchinson and the 1000cc Suzuki of Bruce Anstey in 3rd place. As the leaders of the Senior TT reached the official timing-point in Ramsey on lap 1, the Honda of McGuinness now led Bruce Anstey by 0.15 seconds and his Suzuki teammate Cameron Donald in 3rd place, followed by Guy Martin and Ian Hutchinson slipping to 5th place.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Senior TT Race
A lap of 128.631 mph by Bruce Anstey from a standing start gave him a lead of 1.98 seconds over john McGuinness at the end of lap 1, increasing his lead to 2.5 seconds at Ballaugh Bridge on lap 2 and then to 4.5 seconds at the Bungalow on fast Mountain Section of the course and recording another lap at an average speed of 129.445 mph.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Senior TT Race
The lap 2 pit-stops proved to be dramatic as Bruce Anstey promptly retired with a slipping-clutch and Guy Martin retired at the Quarterbridge after his pit-stop with a failed alternator. This left John McGuinness with a 4-second lead over the Suzuki of Cameron Donald on lap 3 and a 34-second lead over Ian Hutchinson in 3rd place. As the pace of the Senior TT race increased, the lead that McGuinness held fell to 2.0 seconds at Ballaugh Bridge on lap 3 to a lead of 0.1 seconds at the Ramsey Hairpin over Cameron Donald.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Senior TT Race
At the start of lap 4, John McGuinness held onto a lead of 0.78 seconds at the TT Grandstand which he held until Ramsey on the same lap. The run over the Mountain Section proved to be crucial as with Bruce Anstey on lap 1 his Suzuki teammate, Cameron Donald claiming a lead of 3.1 seconds over the Honda of John McGuinness at the official timing-point at the Bungalow. A lap of 129.231 mph by Cameron Donald gave him a health lead going into the second pit-stop at the end of lap 4.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Senior TT Race
Despite, John McGuinness having a slightly faster pit-stop he remained in 2nd place and the deficit was increased to 4.12 seconds at Glen Helen on lap 5 and by Ramsey this had increased to 6.74 seconds. As the Australian, Cameron Donald was on course for a prestigious hat-trick of TT wins on the last lap of the Senior TT the 6.74 second lead at the TT Grandstand fell dramatically to a 9.27 second deficit as the Honda of John McGuinness became the new leader at Glen Helen on lap 6.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Senior TT Race
As Cameron Donald slowed his pace with an oil-leak from a split crankcase on the last lap, John McGuinness produced the fastest lap of the race in 17 minutes and 28.54 seconds an average speed of 129.517 mph which was only 6.73 seconds slower than the 130.354 mph outright record set during the 2007 Centenary TT Races.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Senior TT Race
After 6 laps of the Snaefell Mountain Course, John McGuinness won the 2008 Senior TT race in 1 hour, 46 minutes and 47.69 seconds at an average race speed of 127.186 mph, the most dramatic Senior TT race since 1992 when Steve Hislop won the Senior TT after beating Carl Fogarty.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, Senior TT Race
After claiming his 14th Isle of Man TT win and equalling the record of Mike Hailwood, in the winners enclosure John McGuinness said that;- "It was the closest big-bike TT race I have been in....I was relieved to hear the British National anthem as I was getting tried of listening to the New Zealand and Australian ones."


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, National Road Race Meeting 2008
The National Road Race Meeting, now the traditional final event of the Isle of Man TT Festival and was the venue for the re-introduction of two-stroke motor-cycle racing with a Lightweight TT and Ultra-Lightweight TT race on the Billown Circuit on Saturday 7 June 2008. Held in almost perfect weather and evening sunshine, the first race was the 12 lap (51.00 miles) 125cc Ultra-Lightweight TT race on the 4.25-mile Billown Circuit in Castletown.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, National Road Race Meeting 2008
The leader from the start was the 125cc Honda of Chris Palmer leading by 3 seconds from Ian Lougher on lap 1, increasing his lead to 12 seconds over Lougher by lap 4. Despite being only in 7th place on lap 1 at Ballabeg Hairpin, Dan Sayle changing from a sidecar TT passenger to the solo class moved up to 3rd place by lap 3. With only 2 laps remaining, Chris Palmer led Ian Lougher by 20 seconds only for Lougher to have his chain break of his 125cc Honda on the exit of Castletown Corner.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, National Road Race Meeting 2008
The 2008 Lightweight TT Race was won by Chris Palmer in 32 minutes and 32.309 seconds at an average race speed of 94.042 mph from Dan Sayle and Nigel Moore in 3rd place. After the TT Race debut at the Billown Circuit, Chris Palmer was delighted with his win and said;- "That last lap was a very long way, indeed 12 laps of this course is a heck of a distance for the little two-strokes as there is so much accelerating, braking and clutch-slipping. It is also pretty demanding as a rider. I reckon 12 laps of this course is harder than four laps of the Mountain."


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, National Road Race Meeting 2008
The 2nd race of the Billown TT was the 12 lap (51.00 miles) 250cc Lightweight TT race and was closely contested event with Chris Palmer the race 1 winner grabbing the holeshot down to Ballakeighen Corner and to lead lap 1. The leader for the next 2 laps was Ian Lougher from Ryan Farquhar, Michael Dunlop and Chris Palmer in 4th place. By lap 4, Michael Dunlop claimed the lead from Ryan Farquhar who later led lap 6 by 0.1 second from Ian Lougher and Michael Dunlop.


2008 Isle of Man TT, TT Race Week 2008, National Road Race Meeting 2008
A broken crankshaft ended Michael Dunlop's race at Ballabeg Hairpin on lap 9, while Ian Lougher edged away from the opposition in the remaining laps to win the 2008 Lightweight TT Race in 30 minutes and 22.495 seconds at an average race speed of 100.741 mph. In 2nd place was Ryan Farquhar who finished the 2008 National Road Meeting with a win on a 1000cc Kawasaki in the 9 lap (38.25 miles) support race in 21 minutes and 39.200 seconds at an average race speed of 105.988 mph.


2008 Isle of Man TT, Results, Race results, 2008 Superbike TT final standings.
Fastest Lap and New Lap Record: Guy Martin – 129.540 mph (17'28.54) on lap 2.


2008 Isle of Man TT, Results, Race results, 2008 Sidecar TT Race 'A' TT final standings
Fastest Lap: Nick Crowe and Mark Cox – 115.066 mph (19'40.43) on lap 2.


2008 Isle of Man TT, Results, Race results, 2008 Superstock TT final standings.
Fastest Lap: Cameron Donald – 127.544 mph (17'44.95) on lap 2.


2008 Isle of Man TT, Results, Race results, 2008 Supersport Junior TT Race 1 (Revised Result)
Fastest Lap: Steve Plater – 124.127 mph (18'12.19) on lap 4.


2008 Isle of Man TT, Results, Race results, 2008 Supersport Junior TT Race 2 Result
Fastest Lap and New Lap Record: Bruce Anstey – 125.359 mph (18'03.51) on lap 2.


2008 Isle of Man TT, Results, Race results, 2008 Sidecar TT Race 'B' final standings
Fastest Lap: Nick Crowe and Mark Cox – 114.544 mph (19'45.81) on lap 2.


2008 Israeli Basketball League Cup
The 2008 Israeli Basketball League Cup, for sponsorship reasons Winner Cup 2008 (Hebrew: גביע ווינר, Gevi'a Winner), was the 3rd edition of the Israeli Basketball League Cup pre-season tournament. It was played between 12 October and 16 October at Malha Arena in Jerusalem and at Gan Ner Arena in Gan Ner. Hapoel Jerusalem has won the cup after beating Ironi Nahariya 84-69 in the final. MVP was Timmy Bowers (Hapoel Jerusalem).


2008 Israeli Basketball League Cup, Tournament bracket
The teams were seeded according to their last season standings.


2008 Israeli municipal elections
Municipal elections were held in Israel on 11 November 2008.


2008 Israeli tour bus crash
The 2008 Israeli tour bus crash was a road accident in southern Israel on 16 December 2008 in which a coach carrying Russian tour operators left the road and plunged into a ravine, killing 25. It is the deadliest traffic accident in Israel's history.


2008 Israeli tour bus crash, The crash
The coach was carrying 60 passengers, a group of Russian tour operators from St Petersburg from Ovda International Airport to the holiday resort of Eilat. The accident occurred when the bus driver, Edward Gelfond, attempted to overtake another bus on a steep, winding stretch of the road. The bus crashed through the roadside safety barrier and fell 60 metres down a slope, turning over several times.


2008 Israeli tour bus crash, The crash
It was initially reported that 24 passengers had died; the figure later rose to 25. Another 33 people were hurt, including 23 in serious condition, and taken to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, Yoseftal Medical Center in Eilat and Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.


2008 Israeli tour bus crash, Cause
Gelfond, who survived the crash, claimed that something fell on him, causing him to lose control, though Minister of Transport and Road Safety Shaul Mofaz stated that there was a dispute between the two drivers and that the accident "was the result of the drivers' thuggery." However, the second bus driver Rami Vazana has claimed there was no dispute, and that Gelfond had just been attempting to overtake him. Israel Police have stated that it is too soon to place the blame on a dispute between the two bus drivers. It was later revealed that Gelfond had 22 prior traffic convictions, whilst initial reports suggested that he was speeding at the time of the accident, claims which Gelfond denied. Investigators discovered that the coach's tachograph was missing the disc used to record speed.


2008 Israeli tour bus crash, Cause
Gelfond was arrested immediately after being released from hospital. On 14 July 2009 he was charged with manslaughter, and in 2014 was sentenced to 8 years in prison.


2008 Israeli tour bus crash, Reaction
Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, expressed sorrow over the "horrific outcome". He and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni conveyed condolences to the victims' families. A special emergency hotline began operating at the Jewish community center in St. Petersburg, and the Jewish Agency contacted the Russian embassy in Israel and offered to provide whatever assistance required by the families. The Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Tourism Ministry began operating a situation room aimed at facilitating the communication with the Russian embassy in Israel and the Russian government. Two Russian government planes took off to Israel, one carrying the victims' families and the other carrying doctors, medical equipment, psychologists and rescue teams.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire
The 2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire was an Egyptian-brokered six-month Tahdia (an Arabic term for a lull) "for the Gaza area", which went into effect between Hamas and Israel on 19 June 2008. According to the Egyptian-brokered agreement, Israel promised to stop air strikes and other attacks, while in return, there would not be rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza. Once the ceasefire held, Israel was to gradually begin to ease its blockade of Gaza.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire
During the initial week of the ceasefire, Islamic Jihad militants fired rockets on Israel. Under pressure from Hamas, Islamic Jihad had agreed to abide by the temporary truce, which was meant to apply only to Gaza, but had balked at the idea of not responding to Israeli military actions in the West Bank. The New York Times reported that the Islamic Jihad action broke the Hamas-Israeli Gaza truce. During the next 5 months of the ceasefire, Gazan attacks decreased significantly for a total of 19 rocket and 18 mortar shell launchings, compared to 1199 rockets and 1072 mortar shells in 2008 up to 19 June, a reduction of 98%.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire
The agreement called on Israel to increase the level of goods entering Gaza by 30 percent over the pre-lull period within 72 hours and to open all border crossings and "allow the transfer of all goods that were banned and restricted to go into Gaza" within 13 days after the beginning of the ceasefire. The increase in supplies of food, water, medicine and fuel did improve, but the increase was only to an average of about 20 percent of normal levels. Two months later the volume of goods arriving was too low to significantly improved living conditions, preventing UNRWA from replenishing its stores. Israel told U.S. officials in 2008 it would keep Gaza's economy "on the brink of collapse".


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire
On 4 November 2008, Israel raided Gaza, killing six Hamas militants. The Israeli military said the target of the raid was a tunnel that they said Hamas was planning to use to capture Israeli soldiers positioned on the border fence 250m away. Hamas officials said that the tunnel was being dug for defensive purposes. Following the Israeli raid, Hamas launched barrage of rocket fire at targets in southern Israel. On 20 December, Hamas announced it would not renew the ceasefire. Israel commenced Operation Cast Lead, an organized ground and air assault against military and police targets in Hamas-controlled Gaza, on December 27, 2008, sparking the 2008-2009 Gaza conflict.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Background
After its 2006 Palestinian legislative election victory, Hamas assumed administrative control of Gaza, consolidating its this control after a military conflict with Fatah. Israel and Egypt then partially sealed their border crossings with Gaza, on the grounds that Fatah was no longer providing security. They imposed a blockade on the territory, prohibiting many exports and allowing only enough imported goods to avert a humanitarian or health crisis. After many acts of violence, foreign journalists left the Gaza strip due to the lack of security in the zone.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Background
As a result of the June 2007 tightening of the Israeli embargo on Gaza Hamas and other Palestinian paramilitias more than doubled the monthly number of Qassam rockets and mortars fired from the Gaza strip into Southern Israel. Israel conducted airstrikes and raids against Hamas and other targets in Gaza during 2007 and 2008. Hamas considers Israel an illegitimate state and Israel views Hamas as a terrorist group that must be dismantled. There is no mutually agreed text or enforcement mechanism in the understanding brokered between the two parties, neither of which recognizes the other, that would facilitate a formal ceasefire or armistice.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Background
After visiting Israel and Palestine in April 2008, former President Jimmy Carter stated that "Palestinian leaders from Gaza were noncommittal on all issues, these leaders claimed that rockets were the only way to respond to their imprisonment and to dramatize their humanitarian plight. The top Hamas leaders in Damascus, however, agreed to consider a cease-fire in Gaza only, provided Israel would not attack Gaza and would permit normal humanitarian supplies to be delivered to Palestinian citizens." Hamas was willing to consider a cease-fire in both Gaza and the Fatah controlled West Bank, but the Israelis were only interested in a Gaza agreement.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Background
At the beginning of the cease-fire, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated that "We have no illusions. The calm is fragile and likely to be short-lived." He also said that "Hamas is the address in Gaza, and it carries responsibility for everything that happens in Gaza". Hamas leadership had low expectations as well. Just minutes before the start, Israeli aircraft fired on a Gazan rocket launching squad, killing one militant. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh described the proposed period in Arabic as a Tahdia, meaning a temporary moment of calm and not a formal cease-fire.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Background
The Israeli opposition in the Knesset blasted the agreement. Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu said, "This is not a relaxation, it's an Israeli agreement to the rearming of Hamas... What are we getting for this?" In Palestine, Authority President Mahmoud Abbas praised it, and he used the lull to seek reconciliation with Hamas. Ha'aretz has alleged that even at the very beginning of the cease-fire Defense Minister Ehud Barak prepared a comprehensive intelligence-gathering program setting up battle plans against Hamas.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Terms
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) summarised the key components of the ceasefire as follows:


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Terms
A report by the British House of Commons Library, published on 22 January 2009, provides Hamas' understanding of the terms of the ceasefire:


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Terms
The agreement also provided for "movement toward the release of Corporal Shalit". On the day of the agreement the BBC referred to the Shalit issue as "negotiations on the return of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit were expected to resume within a few days". Instead, Shalit's release would be dependent on Israel agreeing to a prisoner swap, and be discussed separately from the truce, as Hamas wanted. Shalit's father and grandfather attacked the Israeli government for leaving the soldier out of the cease-fire agreement.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress
According to The New York Times, neither side fully respected the terms of the cease-fire. Hamas undertook to stop other groups from firing rockets at Israel. It took some days, but it was largely successful, with Hamas imposing its will and even imprisoning some of those who were firing rockets. Nonetheless some rockets still continued to be fired from Gaza. On the other hand, the Israeli blockade of Gaza was loosened, but the goods shipments, while up some 25 to 30 percent and including a mix of more items, never began to approach the pre-blockade levels.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress
Hamas hoped that the accord would lead Israel to suspend attacks on the West Bank and Gaza. Israeli forces continued to attack Hamas and other militants in the West Bank, prompting the rogue Palestinian militants in Gaza to fire rockets. The Israeli military also found several dozen improvised explosive devices and sniper fire cases on the Gaza border. Israel in turn hoped that the accord would lead to progress on negotiations for the release of Gilad Shalit; neither hope was met.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress
USA Today stated on 1 July that it was not clear how Hamas would know definitively whether a rocket was fired. Several militant factions operate inside Gaza. But Israel had taken a zero tolerance policy towards the truce in which every rocket and/or mortar attack would be punished in some way. On 11 August 2008 Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that a military invasion of the Gaza Strip would not stop cross-border rocket attacks by Palestinian militants, but that the seven-week-old truce mediated by Egypt had halted the barrages for the first time in years.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress
He said the numbers of short-range unguided rockets hitting Israel from Gaza had been reduced from hundreds to a handful. The same day a senior Hamas official said that the Islamic organization was not interested in renewing talks to free the abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit until Israel completely lifted the siege on Gaza.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Israeli violations of the ceasefire prior to 4 November 2008
Palestinian Center for Human Rights recorded several IDF violations in the early days of the lull.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Israeli violations of the ceasefire prior to 4 November 2008
On 19 June 2008, just a few hours after the beginning of the ceasefire Israeli forces opened fire against fishermen and farmers in Gaza.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Israeli violations of the ceasefire prior to 4 November 2008
On 23 June, Israeli forces opened fire against children and farmers in northern Gaza Strip, wounding one of the farmers, Jameel 'Abdul Rahman al-Ghoul, 68, in the neck. Subsequently, a mortar was fired at Israel from Gaza.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Israeli violations of the ceasefire prior to 4 November 2008
On 24 June 2008, Israel raided the city of Nablus on the West Bank, outside of the cease-fire area, killing a commander of Islamic Jihad and one other Palestinian. Before the raid, unknown militants had fired a mortar into Southern Israel. Later the same day, three Qassam rockets were fired from Gaza into Sderot, Israel, causing two minor injuries; Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility, stating the attack was in response to the Israeli raid. Israel then closed border crossings into Gaza; this was criticized by Hamas which said Israel was "backtracking on the calm". MSNBC has described the violence that day as the truce's "first serious test". Both sides continued to pursue calm afterward.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Israeli violations of the ceasefire prior to 4 November 2008
On 25 June, Israeli forces opened fire against farmers in southeastern Gaza Strip, injuring Salem Ahmed Abu Raida, 82, in the hand. Islamic Jihad threatened to renew rocket fire after the shooting. "We will respond to every Zionist violation at a suitable time," a spokesman Abu Hamza said. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the closure of all the crossings into the Gaza Strip. In response the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade fired a Qassam rocket at the western Negev the next day.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Israeli violations of the ceasefire prior to 4 November 2008
On 28 June IDF troops killed 7-year-old Mohamed Al Allami during a military operation in the village of Beit Omer, south of Hebron. Islamic Jihad fired a rocket or mortar shell into southern Israel, threatening to resume rocket attacks if Israel continued military operations in the West Bank.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Israeli violations of the ceasefire prior to 4 November 2008
On 29 June a Hamas official in charge of agriculture in the Gaza Strip Mohammad Ramadan Al-Agha said that the IDF was shooting at Gaza's farmers whenever they went to their land near the borders.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Israeli violations of the ceasefire prior to 4 November 2008
On 1 July a Palestinian woman was shot and wounded in the leg by the Israeli Army near the Sufa border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip while she was tending her sheep.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Israeli violations of the ceasefire prior to 4 November 2008
On 10 July Israeli troops killed an unarmed Palestinian near the border in the southern Gaza Strip, an IDF spokesman said. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed the victim had been one of its members. Palestinians fired two Qassam rockets into Israel's western Negev region, hours after the killing. Hamas arrested three militants from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades immediately after they launched the rockets at targets in Israel.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Israeli violations of the ceasefire prior to 4 November 2008
On 14 July the PA Ministry of Agriculture said that 75 per cent of agricultural lands in the Gaza Strip had been razed by the IDF.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Israeli violations of the ceasefire prior to 4 November 2008
On 23 July the IDF shot and wounded a Palestinian in the Gaza Strip.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Hamas' observance of the ceasefire prior to 4 November 2008
Prior to the incident on 4 November, in which Israeli forces destroyed a cross-border tunnel and killed six of its operatives, Hamas had been scrupulously adhering to the ceasefire – not firing rockets itself and reigning in other Palestinian groups. Hamas' adherence to the ceasefire was admitted by official Israeli spokesperson, Mark Regev.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Hamas' observance of the ceasefire prior to 4 November 2008
In an interview with David Fuller on More4 News (a sister programme of the U.K.'s Channel 4 News) on 9 January 2009, two weeks into Israel's assault on Gaza, Regev explained that "Success is freeing the civilian population of southern Israel from the fear of an incoming Hamas rockets." When Fuller put it to Regev that "there were no Hamas rockets during the ceasefire before 4 November, there were no Hamas rockets for 4 months", Regev replied: "That’s correct".


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Hamas' observance of the ceasefire prior to 4 November 2008
Support for Regev's view is found in a document provided to journalists, published by Israel's Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre: "Hamas was careful to maintain the ceasefire". Despite Israel's refusal to comply with the truce agreement to end the siege, Hamas brought rocket and mortar fire from Gaza to a virtual halt during the summer and fall of 2008.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Hamas' observance of the ceasefire prior to 4 November 2008
Hamas "tried to enforce the terms of the arrangement" on other Palestinian groups, taking "a number of steps against networks which violated the arrangement," including short-term detention and confiscating their weapons, but it could not completely end the rocket and mortar shell attacks by these rogue factions in Gaza. Hamas had sought support in Gazan public opinion for its policy of maintaining the ceasefire.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Violations of the Hamas-Israel agreement by other Gaza organisations
A week after the cease-fire agreement was reached, Hamas called on other Palestinian factions to abide by the truce. A rocket attack on Israel by al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades was condemned by Hamas as "unpatriotic." Hamas claimed it would imprison anyone, from its own ranks or other groups, caught firing rockets, but also explicitly stated it would not police the border with Israel. On 28 June, Saeb Erekat, the PLO's chief negotiator, called upon all groups to honor the lull, calling it the "supreme Palestinian interest" above all else. The three rocket attacks made from 19 to 28 June led Israel to slow down the re-opening of Gaza border areas. On 29 June, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center commented that Hamas preferred to exert outside pressure on the rocket attackers and refused to confront them directly.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Violations of the Hamas-Israel agreement by other Gaza organisations
Hamas believed that 19 June agreement required it to end rocket attacks upon Israel in exchange for an end of the blockade. According to The New York Times:


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Violations of the Hamas-Israel agreement by other Gaza organisations
It took some days, but they were largely successful. Hamas imposed its will and even imprisoned some of those who were firing rockets. Israeli and United Nations figures show that while more than 300 rockets were fired into Israel in May, 10 to 20 were fired in July, depending on who was counting and whether mortar rounds were included. In August, 10 to 30 were fired, and in September, 5 to 10.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Violations of the Hamas-Israel agreement by other Gaza organisations
On 5 July Egyptian authorities found weapons and explosives in the Sinai desert they believe were destined for the Gaza Strip. On 8 July the IDF said Gaza militants fired a mortar shell into the western Negev in another violation of the truce. On 11 July Hamas arrested another four members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the village of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. On 12 and 13 July Gaza militants fired single rockets into Israel


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Violations of the Hamas-Israel agreement by other Gaza organisations
Rocket and mortar attacks continued at a rate of several rockets per month. Shortly after the start of the truce, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center commented that "rogue terrorist organizations" opposed to Hamas continued to carry out attacks. Nevertheless, rocket fire decreased 98% in the four and a half months between 18 June and 4 November when compared to the four and a half months preceding the ceasefire, since over 1,894 rockets were fired into Israel from 1 February to 18 June and just 37 were fired between 18 June and the beginning of November. However, the amount of rocket fire was only decreased by about 20% when comparing the lull in November 2008 to the time shortly before Hamas took power in Gaza.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Violations of the Hamas-Israel agreement by other Gaza organisations
On 20 November 2008, Human Rights Watch wrote an open letter to Ismail Haniya, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, and Khaled Mishaal, leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement, stating that:


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Violations of the Hamas-Israel agreement by other Gaza organisations
We recognize that until last week Hamas took efforts to halt rocket attacks by other groups as part of the 19 June ceasefire. However, throughout the ceasefire period other armed groups have continued to intermittently fire rockets from Gaza. As the governing authority in the Gaza Strip, it is your responsibility under international law to prevent such attacks, and to arrest and prosecute those who carry them out. We also urge you to take all necessary measures to curb such unlawful attacks whether or not the current ceasefire remains in place or is extended beyond its 19 December deadline.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Violations of the Hamas-Israel agreement by other Gaza organisations
Security forces under your control in Gaza have also demonstrated an ability to curb rocket fire. On at least two occasions, Hamas security personnel arrested people accused of firing rockets. On 10 July at least three members of the Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades were detained for firing rockets. All were later released however, and no charges were brought against them.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Blockade agreements
The Palestinians who negotiated the cease-fire believed that the commerce in Gaza was to be restored to the levels preceding Israel's withdrawal in 2005 and Hamas's electoral victory. Israeli policy tied the easing of the blockade on success in reducing rocket fire. Israel permitted a 20% increase in goods trucked into Gaza in the pre-lull period, up from 70 to 90 truckloads a day, and that included not only humanitarian supplies but also clothes, shoes, refrigerators, and construction materials. Fuel supplies increased from 55MW worth to 65MW worth. BBC News reported on 11 November that Gaza was then receiving only 28% of the amount of goods traded before the Hamas takeover.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Blockade agreements
Israel has stated that food imports into the Strip were restricted by its inability to operate at border checkpoints facing constant Palestinian attack, and not because of any Israeli-imposed limits. It has accused Hamas of exacerbating fuel shortages by leading labor union strikes by power plant workers. It has also accused Hamas of underfunding the Gaza health care system, and then blaming the situation on Israel despite its free trade of medical supplies. It maintains that some individuals claiming to require medical attention in Israel were in fact planning terrorist attacks, therefore forcing the government to impose travel restrictions. It also accused Hamas of continuing the smuggling of weapons into the Gaza strip via tunnels to Egypt, pointing out that the rocket attacks had not completely ceased.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Blockade agreements
Over the one-month period from 4 November to 8 December, about 700 truckloads of goods went into Gaza, which is about the amount of material that would have gone through in a single day without a blockade. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in mid-July that "easing restrictions on Gaza crossings is going very slow and the population doesn't feel that there is basically a real truce and a normal life." Jimmy Carter has stated that he believes the cease-fire could have lasted had Israel been willing to lift the blockade and allow in an "adequate" amount of humanitarian supplies.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Gilad Shalit
A group of Gaza militants, including Hamas' armed wing Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, captured Israeli Staff Sergeant Gilad Shalit in June 2006 and had held him as a hostage ever since, connecting his release to the Israel release of Palestinian prisoners. Israel directly tied his release to the cease-fire. However, the issue was not mentioned in the initial cease-fire itself, which led Shalit's father and grandfather to attack the Israeli government. In the early stage of the lull, Israeli officials had stated that they found "a certain sense of progress" on Shalit's release. Hamas considered Shalit's status to be entirely separate from the cease-fire negotiations themselves. It conditioned a deal about his release to the end of the Israeli blockade of Gaza.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Ceasefire Progress, Gilad Shalit
The lack of progress in the Egyptian-supervised talks about Shalit severely strained the ceasefire. An offer by Israel in June to release 450 prisoners was rejected by Hamas, who asked for 1,000 prisoners. The Israelis believed that the demands for Shalit's release would increase with time. They also feared a public outcry by people whose relatives died in terrorist attacks perpetrated by the prisoners. Hamas' decisions also alienated it from the government of Egypt, which had linked the opening of the Gaza/Egypt border crossing with Shalit's release. Hamas did not consider the Egyptians to be an honest broker during these talks and looked for another mediator.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Breaking of the Ceasefire
On 4 November 2008, the IDF made an incursion at least 250 meters into the Gaza Strip searching for a tunnel, claiming it was intended for the capture of Israeli soldiers and that it intended to continue with the truce, calling the raid a "pinpoint operation". According to Dr. Robert Pastor, senior advisor to the Carter Center, who met with Khaled Meshal, chairman of the Hamas political bureau in Damascus, Hamas asserted that the tunnel was being dug for defensive purposes, not to capture IDF personnel. Pastor said further that one IDF official confirmed that fact to him.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Breaking of the Ceasefire
As six Hamas fighters were killed, Hamas stated that the attack was a "massive breach of the truce". After the Israeli military attack on Hamas in Gaza on 4 November, Hamas resumed intensive rocket attacks on Israel. According to a 17 November article in The Telegraph, "since violence flared on 5 Nov, Israeli forces and militants, some of them from Hamas, have engaged in almost daily tit-for-tat exchanges."


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Breaking of the Ceasefire
The reliability of the IDF allegation that the tunnel was intended to kidnap Israeli soldiers on the other side of the border has been challenged by various sources. A member of the Carter Centre, involved in negotiations at the time with both Hamas and Israel, reported that Hamas had claimed that the tunnel was defensive against IDF shelling, with an anonymous IDF officer confirming that fact.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Breaking of the Ceasefire
Likud MK Yuval Steinitz acknowledged in an al-Jazeera interview on 4 January 2009 that Israel began actively preparing for Operation Cast Lead months beforehand, around June 2008.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Aftermath
On 13 December 2008, Israel announced that it was in favor of extending the cease-fire, provided Hamas adhered to its conditions. The conditions posed by a Hamas delegation in Cairo on 14 December, were that the parties return to the original Hamas-Israel ceasefire arrangement. Hamas would undertake to stop all rocket attacks against Israel if the Israelis would agree to open up the border crossings, not to reduce commercial traffic thereafter, and not to launch attacks in Gaza.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Aftermath
At an Israeli Cabinet meeting on 21 December, Yuval Diskin, head of Israel's internal security agency, said he thought Hamas was "interested in continuing the truce, but wants to improve its terms... It wants us to lift the siege [of Gaza], stop attacks, and extend the truce to include [the West Bank]."


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Aftermath
On 20 December, Hamas officially announced that they would not be extending the cease-fire, which had expired on 19 December, citing Israeli border closures as the primary reason, and resumed its shelling of the western Negev. Hamas continued to offer a re-establishment of the cease-fire, given the Israeli government would accept its terms. The terms were defined as the lifting of the blockade and a complete ban of military incursions into Gaza. At that time, Hamas also refused European mediation of the talks to release Gilad Shalit, citing Israel's unwillingness to cooperate on a cease-fire agreement.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Aftermath
On 23 December, Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, said in a newspaper interview that his group was willing to consider renewing the hudna if Israel refrained from operating in Gaza and lifted its blockade. The same day the IDF killed three Palestinian militants, stating that the militants were planting explosives on the Gaza border. Israel was also reluctant to open the border crossings, which had been closed since November. On 24 December the Negev was hit by more than 60 mortar shells and Katyusha and Qassam rockets, and the IDF was given a green light to operate. Hamas claimed to have fired a total of 87 rockets and mortar rounds that day at Israel, code-naming the firing "Operation Oil Stain".


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Aftermath
On 25 December 2008, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert delivered 'Last Minute' Warning to Gaza in direct appeal to Gaza's people via the Arabic language satellite channel al-Arabiya, to pressure their leaders to stop the barrages. "I am telling them now, it may be the last minute, I'm telling them stop it. We are stronger," he said.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Aftermath
On 26 December 2008, Israel reopened five crossings between Israel and Gaza for humanitarian supplies. Despite the movement of relief supplies, militants fired about a dozen rockets and mortar shells from Gaza at Israel on Friday. Fuel was allowed in for Gaza's main power plant and about 100 trucks loaded with grain, humanitarian aid and other goods were expected during the day. Rocket attacks continued—about a dozen rockets and mortar bombs were fired from Gaza into Israel, one accidentally striking a northern Gaza house and killing two Palestinian sisters, aged five and thirteen, while wounding a third. According to Israeli military officials, the subsequent 27 December Israeli offensive Operation Cast Lead took Hamas by surprise, thereby increasing their casualties.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Aftermath
A poll conducted before the rocket attacks on 24 December indicated that 46% of Israelis did not support the invasion of the Gaza Strip, while 40% did. A poll conducted on 1 January, four days after the operation begun, demonstrated that a decisive majority of Israelis support continuing the army's air campaign against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip without endangering the lives of Israel Defense Forces soldiers in a ground offensive. On 9 January public opinion poll in Israel indicated that 76% oppose truce without Gilad Shalit.


2008 Israel–Hamas ceasefire, Fatalities
According to data from B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, at least nineteen Palestinians in the Strip died from Israeli fire during the ceasefire. Three of those were civilians, one of them a 15-year-old adolescent. The group's data also states that no Israeli civilian or Israeli security force personnel were killed by Palestinian attacks from the Strip in the same period.


2008 Israel–Hezbollah prisoner exchange
The 2008 Israel–Hezbollah prisoner exchange took place on 16 July 2008 when Hezbollah transferred the coffins of two Israeli soldiers in exchange for 5 Lebanese militants held by Israel as well as the bodies of 199 militants captured in Lebanon or Israel.