2008 New Zealand general election, Issues, Economic conditions
On 5 August 2008, the Treasury announced that the New Zealand economy had entered a recession. Economic downturn has led to high-profile job losses, such as the closure of factories in Foxton,in west Dunedinand in southern Hawke's Bay. At the same time, inflation hit an eighteen-year high,with an upwards tug on the prices of basics such as food and petrol, the latter crossing the two-dollar-per-litre mark in late May.


2008 New Zealand general election, Issues, Economic conditions
At the Labour Party's campaign launch on 12 October 2008, Helen Clark became the latest world leader to guarantee bank deposits, unveiling a plan worth $150 billion whereby all retail deposits would be unconditionally covered. The plan would be voluntary to join; within two days, reports appeared stating that all of New Zealand's major trading banks had signed up. Also signed up to the plan was the National Party, with deputy leader and finance spokesperson Bill English saying that there was "still time to change the...scheme if banks find it hard to borrow overseas".


2008 New Zealand general election, Issues, Taxation
On 6 October, two days before the National Party's scheduled release of details of the tax-cut plan it had over and above the governing coalition's three-stage series of tax cuts revealed in the 2008 Budget,the Government disclosed its full fiscal situation; it showed that it expected to take $3.1 billion less tax in 2009, forcing the government to borrow $5.9 billion in 2009, rising to $7.3 billion by 2013. This implied higher costs for KiwiSaver, Working For Families and the 20 hours subsidised early-childhood plan; and higher numbers of people forced onto benefits by any prospective economic downturn. Over the next fiscal year, Dr Cullen expected GDP to rise by just 0.1%, with median house prices dropping by an estimated 10–15%.


2008 New Zealand general election, Issues, Taxation
John Key responded to the news by describing the numbers as "a bit worse than we had anticipated", and stated "I'm confident we can deliver a programme of tax cuts."


2008 New Zealand general election, Issues, Taxation
The same day Helen Clark reiterated her opinion on tax cuts beyond the government's proposal, saying "now is not the time to go out and recklessly borrow to offer tax cuts",an opinion she had first voiced in early Augustwhen the National Party used its annual conference to promise to speed up the implementation of the tax cuts, and to borrow several billion dollars to fund infrastructure projects such as a $1.5 billion broadband plan and a new prison in its first term. On 9 October, National released its policy, promising people on the average wage or higher around $47 a week extra in the hand, funded through a combination of cutting contributions to KiwiSaver, eliminating a tax credit for science and development, and changing Working For Families entitlements.


2008 New Zealand general election, Issues, Trust
On calling the 2008 election, Prime Minister Helen Clark declared that it would be "about trust", labelling the National Party's recent commitments to preserve Labour Party programmes such as KiwiSaver and Kiwibank as "insincere".


2008 New Zealand general election, Issues, Trust
Members of the Labour Party accused John Key of lying about his shareholding in Tranz Rail, by not disclosing nearly half of the shares he and his family trusts owned in the company, even though this presented a clear conflict of interest with Key's role as his party's spokesperson on transport, at a time when he asked several questions in the House about the government's plans regarding rail infrastructure.


2008 New Zealand general election, Issues, Trust
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters faced an attack on his party's credibility, first over allegations that his party did not declare a $100,000 donation from millionaire ex-patriate property developer Owen Glenn to cover Winston Peters' legal costs in a challenge to the result in the seat of Tauranga. This was referred to a House of Representatives Privileges Committee. On 22 September, the committee determined that Peters had "provided misleading information" and recommended he be censured; this was done by the House of Representatives in a 62–56 vote two days later.


2008 New Zealand general election, Issues, Trust
The second allegation revolved around the party's failure to declare the use of a secret trust to funnel large donations into New Zealand First's bank account, even though no donations over $10,000 to New Zealand First has been declared, as the law requires. This case was referred to the Serious Fraud Office for further investigation; on 11 October, New Zealand First was cleared of charges that Peters called a "waste of time" and on 24 October, New Zealand First was cleared of wrongdoing by the Electoral Commission, which was investigating donations that the party failed to declare.


2008 New Zealand general election, Electorates, Boundary changes
The Representation Commission altered many of the boundaries of New Zealand's parliamentary electorates following the 2006 census; the large growth in population between censuses lead to significant boundary changes, particularly in Auckland, the area around Christchurch and the central North Island. In May 2007, the Representation Commission announced the boundary changesto take effect for the next general election, with the boundaries finalised in September 2007.


2008 New Zealand general election, Electorates, Boundary changes
The Commission announced the formation of a new electorate in Greater Auckland, bringing the number of geographical constituencies to 70. The new seat, originally dubbed "Howick" (after the Auckland suburb), would have included parts of the existing Pakuranga, Manukau East and Clevedon electorates. After Pakuranga electors made strong objections to the proposed changes (which would have seen the inclusion of the population centres Panmure, Point England and Glen Innes into the electorate) the Commission largely reverted proposed changes to the boundaries of the Pakuranga electorate. The Commission opted to alleviate population pressures by moving the Auckland City suburb of Otahuhu into Manukau East. The revised new seat received the name "Botany" to reflect its focus on the growing population-centres of Botany Downs–Dannemora. On paper, Botany counts as a safe National seat.


2008 New Zealand general election, Electorates, Boundary changes
Even though the number of South Island electorates remains fixed, the decline in the population of electorates south of Christchurch has resulted in the boundaries of electorates from Invercargill north to Rakaia shifting northwards. The seats of Aoraki, Otago, Rakaia and Banks Peninsula all gravitated towards Christchurch. In the process:


2008 New Zealand general election, Electorates, Boundary changes
Other seats in the lower South Island increased dramatically in size.


2008 New Zealand general election, Electorates, Situation after 2005
In 2005 four MPs won seats with majorities of under a thousand: Labour's Darren Hughes beat National candidate Nathan Guy in Ōtaki by 382 votes (1.00%), and in Hamilton West, Martin Gallagher of the Labour Party won an 825-vote majority (2.46%) over National's Tim Macindoe. Both these seats saw a rematch in 2008, with the National Party candidates emerging victorious in each.


2008 New Zealand general election, Electorates, Situation after 2005
The swing to National in the central North Island saw two Bay of Plenty seats produce close results: in Rotorua, the sitting Labour MP Steve Chadwick prevailed by just 662 votes (2.17%) over National's Gil Stehbens, and in Tauranga, property developer Bob Clarkson defeated New Zealand First's leader and seven-term MP for Tauranga Winston Peters by 730 votes (2.02%). Rotorua fell to National's Todd McClay in 2008, while Simon Bridges held Tauranga for National by a wide margin, preventing Peters from returning to Parliament.


2008 New Zealand general election, Electorates, Situation after 2005
Besides the three Labour-held narrow-margin seats mentioned above (Otaki, Hamilton West and Rotorua), National had prospects of gaining Taupō, where boundary changes have added the National-leaning town of Cambridge and with it nearly 20,000 different voters – putting sitting MP Mark Burton's 2005 majority of just 1,285 votes (4.43%) at risk. Similarly, the seat of West Coast-Tasman gave Labour's Damien O'Connor a majority of 2,154 (6.77%). National reversed all of these majorities in 2008 and captured all three seats.


2008 New Zealand general election, Electorates, Situation after 2005
Part of National's core vote comes from provincial centres. In 1990, when Labour lost power, it lost every seat between the southern fringe of the Auckland urban area and Porirua except Napier and Palmerston North; in 2005, National again won several provincial seats off Labour:


2008 New Zealand general election, Electorates, Situation after 2005
National also won Tauranga off New Zealand First leader Winston Peters in 2005 and the lion's share of the ACT and United parties' core votes (and in the process gained Northcote off Labour).


2008 New Zealand general election, Electorates, Situation after 2005
The newly-drawn seat of Botany on Auckland's eastern fringe presented an electoral problem for the Labour Party – on 4 July 2008 a crowd of mostly Asian marchers numbered in the thousands protested against Labour's record on crime and sentencing and a perceived upswing in anti-Asian crime. Because of the large Asian population in the new seat, such trends may have given National candidate and victor Pansy Wong a possible advantage. Boundary changes have also shaken up the electoral landscape of the South Island. Three new seats – Selwyn, Waitaki and Rangitata, drawn respectively out of Aoraki, Otago and Rakaia, three National-held seats in 2005, damaged Labour's chances outside of Christchurch and Dunedin.


2008 New Zealand general election, Electorates, Situation after 2005
On Labour's other flank, the three Māori electorates that it held last time against a strong Māori Party challenge were in danger of falling as they did in 1996 when New Zealand First broke Labour's sixty-year stranglehold. Nanaia Mahuta again faced Angeline Greensill for the new Hauraki-Waikato seat, and narrowly held it. Māori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia also held on by a small margin against veteran broadcaster Derek Fox in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. Incumbent Mahara Okeroa, however, was defeated by Rahui Katene in Te Tai Tonga, giving the Māori Party an additional seat.


2008 New Zealand general election, Electorates, Situation after 2005
The seats of Tauranga and Epsom provided particular resonances: Winston Peters failed to retake the marginal Tauranga (and Ron Mark failed to win the Rimutaka seat), meaning New Zealand First's chances of returning to the House depended on winning 5% of the party vote, which they did not accomplish. Similarly, the electoral fortunes of the ACT Party depended very largely on Rodney Hide retaining Epsom, which he did.


2008 New Zealand general election, Electorates, Situation after 2005
Amongst other parties very aware of the 5% barrier, United Future appeared more secure in the light of Peter Dunne's grip on Ōhariu, which he maintained, though by a narrower margin than previously; and the Progressive Party retained a very strong hold via Jim Anderton's "safe seat" of Wigram.


2008 New Zealand general election, Electorates, Situation after 2005
The Greens never appeared in danger of slipping below the 5% threshold, although lacking an obvious winnable electorate seat (co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons had won Coromandel in 1999, but the electorate returned to National in 2002).


2008 New Zealand general election, Electorates, New MPs in vacated seats
A number of seats elected new MPs following the retirement of their sitting Members:


2008 New Zealand general election, Opinion polling
Having come first in the party vote at the 2005 election by just two percentage points, Labour held a slender lead in aggregate polling through the first half of 2006; a two-point lead in the first half of the year turned into a two-point deficit by May. Polling for a preferred Prime Minister showed Helen Clark nearly twice as popular as then National Party leader Don Brash.


2008 New Zealand general election, Opinion polling
Things changed in early 2007, with new National leader John Key improving on Brash's preferred Prime Minister rating by ten points, and overtaking Clark as preferred Prime Minister in May; at the same time National jumped out to a sizeable lead over Labour ranging from between eight and eighteen points, spending most of 2007 and 2008 with support from around fifty percent of the electorate. Labour's popularity slumped, hitting its lowest point in the winter of 2008, before beginning a slow climb into the high thirties in August and September.


2008 New Zealand general election, Opinion polling
Leading up to the election, polls indicated a range of possible outcomes on election day; some suggested Labour could form a coalition government, while others predicted National in control. Of the "minor" parties, only the Green Party consistently polled over the five-percent threshold, and United Future and the Progressive Party frequently failed to register a mention. Both ACT's and the Māori Party's popularity since 2005 remained steady at around two percent, while New Zealand First failed to poll over the threshold after December 2006. The polls gave varied results for preferred Prime Minister, with some giving Clark a slight lead, and others giving Key a sturdy margin.


2008 New Zealand general election, Coalition preferences during the campaign
The coalition preferences of various parties played a role during the campaign, due to the likelihood that no party would get an absolute majority of seats in the House. ACT emerged as the first "minor" party to announce that it would support a prospective National-led government. United Future also announced that it would side with National in late October, after supporting the Labour government for six years.


2008 New Zealand general election, Coalition preferences during the campaign
The Progressive Party, led by Jim Anderton, had served as a steady coalition partner to Labour and the electorate probably expected it to remain so. The Green Party, which abstained from opposing the Labour-led government in supply and confidence votes through the life of the 48th Parliament (2005 to 2008), said on 20 October that the only party of the two main parties it could form a coalition with was Labour.


2008 New Zealand general election, Coalition preferences during the campaign
In the light of New Zealand First's run-in with the Serious Fraud Office, John Key ruled out that party as a government support partner on 31 August 2008, saying "the sheer weight of allegations and the actions of Mr Peters in the last few months means that I have lost that confidence in him". At that time, Peters' future seemed under a cloud; after his party being cleared of charges of serious fraud, National restated its position, saying that the result of the case has not altered it.


2008 New Zealand general election, Coalition preferences during the campaign
Based on polls commissioned by the Māori news show Marae, the Māori Party appeared likely to win most of the Māori electorates and stood a chance of holding the balance of power. The party's MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Hone Harawira, stated at the end of September that the party could work with both Labour and National. On 28 September, National announced a commitment to abolish the Māori electorates in time for the 2014 election.


2008 New Zealand general election, Coalition preferences during the campaign
The Māori Party has benefited greatly from the Māori electorates, and its co-leader Tariana Turia was unimpressed: "They think again that they can deny us the right to participate. If they want a relationship with the Māori Party then very clearly they're starting off on the wrong foot". Marae polls released on 12 October showed 62 percent of voters polled in the two northernmost Māori electorates were resistant to the idea of a National–Māori government; co-leader Pita Sharples responded to the poll results by saying his party would be "stupid" to ignore the poll figures.


2008 New Zealand rugby league season
The 2008 New Zealand rugby league season was the 101st season of rugby league that had been played in New Zealand. The main feature of the year was the inaugural season of the Bartercard Premiership competition that was run by the New Zealand Rugby League. Auckland won the title by defeating the Canterbury Bulls 38–18 in the Grand Final.


2008 New Zealand rugby league season, International competitions
The New Zealand national rugby league team played two matches in New Zealand in 2008 as build up to the World Cup. As the All Golds they played a match against the New Zealand Māori in New Plymouth. They also defeated Tonga in a test match in Auckland. The Kiwis went on to win the World Cup for the first time, defeating Australia 34 - 20 in the Final.


2008 New Zealand rugby league season, International competitions
Coached by Stephen Kearney the World Cup squad was captain Nathan Cayless, Adam Blair, Greg Eastwood, David Fa'alogo, Nathan Fien, Dene Halatau, Bronson Harrison, Lance Hohaia, Krisnan Inu, David Kidwell, Thomas Leuluai, Issac Luke, Simon Mannering, Sika Manu, Benji Marshall, Steve Matai, Jason Nightingale, Sam Perrett, Sam Rapira, Jerome Ropati, Setaimata Sa, Jeremy Smith, Evarn Tuimavave and Manu Vatuvei.


2008 New Zealand rugby league season, International competitions
Earlier in the year New Zealand had lost 12-28 to Australia. Roy Asotasi, Iosia Soliola, Sonny Bill Williams, Frank Pritchard and Brent Webb played in this match but were not included in the World Cup squad.


2008 New Zealand rugby league season, International competitions
As part of the Festival of World Cups New Zealand sent teams to the University Rugby League World Cup, International Police Rugby League World Cup, Women's Rugby League World Cup and Defence Forces World Cup. New Zealand, coached by Frank Endacott, won the Women's World Cup while the New Zealand Police lost the final of the Police World Cup.


2008 New Zealand rugby league season, International competitions
The New Zealand Māori side were coached by Luke Goodwin with Richie Blackmore and Chris Anderson providing assistance. The squad to face the All Golds was Kevin Locke, Jordan Rapana, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Wairangi Koopu, Jason Nightingale, Arana Taumata, Rangi Chase, Sam McKendry, Ben Ellis, Weller Hauraki, Bronson Harrison, Anthony Cherrington, Lee Te Maari, Jared Kahu, Joseph Cahill, Chance Bunce, James Tamou and Kevin Proctor. Bronx Goodwin, Chase Stanley, Craig Smith, Charlie Herekotukutuku and Karl Johnson were added to the team for the World Cup opening match against the Indigenous Dreamtime Team.


2008 New Zealand rugby league season, National competitions, Rugby League Cup
The New Zealand Rugby League ruled that the Rugby League Cup would be defended in all Bartercard Premiership matches, home and away. The Cup changed hands in the Final, when Auckland defeated the holders, Canterbury, 38–18.


2008 New Zealand rugby league season, National competitions, Bartercard Premiership
The 2008 season was the inaugural Bartercard Premiership. It replaced the Bartercard Cup as the top division of rugby league in New Zealand.


2008 New Zealand rugby league season, National competitions, Bartercard Premiership, Teams
Canterbury were co-coached by Brent Stuart and Dave Perkins with Phil Prescott as the director of coaching. Mike Dorreen and Logan Edwards were the co-coached of the age group side.


2008 New Zealand rugby league season, National competitions, Bartercard Premiership, Teams
Auckland were coached by Sam Panapa and included Pita Godinet, Jeremiah Pai and Wayne McDade.


2008 New Zealand rugby league season, Australian competitions
The New Zealand Warriors competed in the National Rugby League competition. They finished 8th out of 16 teams before winning in the Qualifying and Semi finals before losing to eventual premiers Manly.


2008 New Zealand rugby league season, Australian competitions
The Junior Warriors finished third in the Toyota Cup, making the finals before losing to the Brisbane Broncos in a Preliminary Final.


2008 New Zealand rugby league season, Club competitions, Auckland
The Mt Albert Lions won the Fox Memorial, defeating Otahuhu 24–22 in the final. The Otahuhu Leopards won the Rukutai Shield (minor premiership) while Richmond won the Stormont Shield. Richmond also won the Sharman Cup (second division) while the New Lynn Stags won the Pheland Shield (third division).


2008 New Zealand rugby league season, Club competitions, Auckland
Mt Albert were coached by Brent Gemmell and included Steve Buckingham, Sala Fa'alogo, Paul and David Fisiiahi, Anthony Swann and Matthew Sturm.


2008 New Zealand rugby league season, Club competitions, Other Competitions
The Taniwharau Rugby League Club defeated Hamilton City Tigers to win the Waikato Rugby League competition.


2008 New Zealand rugby league season, Club competitions, Other Competitions
Pacific won the Baywide premier competition. This was a joint competition run by the Coastline and Bay of Plenty Rugby League's.


2008 New Zealand rugby union tour
The 2008 New Zealand rugby union tour was a series of matches played in Hong Kong, United Kingdom and Ireland in November 2008, by New Zealand national rugby union team.


2008 New Zealand rugby union tour
The All Blacks obtained their third Grand Slam after the 1978 tour and 2005 New Zealand rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland.


2008 New Zealand rugby union tour
The tour opened with a match against Australia in Hong Kong, valid for Bledisloe Cup.


2008 New Zealand rugby union tour, Bledisloe Cup
A First match was played in Hong Kong against Australia. It was the fourth match between the two teams. Winning the match, the All Blacks, tied the series (2–2) valid also for Bledisloe Cup, holding the title.


2008 New Zealand rugby union tour, Grand Slam, Scotland
The first test gave All Blacks an easy victory, with Richie McCaw and Dan Carter on the bench of reserves.


2008 New Zealand rugby union tour, Grand Slam, Ireland
Also again Ireland, the All Blacks obtain a good victory, but the first half (close 10–3) was not easy, and the All Blacks lead the match only thanks a penalty try in the last minute of the half.


2008 Newcastle City Council election
Elections were held for one-third of the 78 seats on the Newcastle City Council on 1 May 2008. The ruling Liberal Democrat Party slightly increased their majority, and the table below shows the composition of the Council Chamber following these results.


2008 Newcastle Knights season
In 2008 the Newcastle Knights took part in the 100th year of the Telstra Premiership, finishing the season 9th.


2008 Newport City Council election
Elections to Newport City Council were held on 1 May 2008 along with elections to the other 21 local authorities in Wales, community council elections in Wales and 2008 United Kingdom local elections.


2008 Newport City Council election
Councillors elected in this election serve a four year term.


2008 Newport City Council election
The next full election took place on 3 May 2012.


2008 Next Generation Adelaide International
The 2008 Next Generation Adelaide International was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 31st edition of the event known that year as the Next Generation Adelaide International, and was part of the International Series of the 2008 ATP Tour. It took place at the Memorial Drive Park in Adelaide, Australia, from 31 December 2007 through 6 January 2008.


2008 Next Generation Adelaide International
The draw was led by former World No. 1, two-time Adelaide champion and recent Cincinnati semifinalist Lleyton Hewitt, Moscow runner-up Paul-Henri Mathieu, and Basel finalist Jarkko Nieminen. Also competing were Bucharest winner Gilles Simon, Canada Masters semifinalist Radek Štěpánek, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Martín del Potro and Sébastien Grosjean.


2008 Next Generation Adelaide International, Finals, Doubles
Martín García /  Marcelo Melo defeated  Chris Guccione /  Robert Smeets, 6–3, 3–6, [10–7]


2008 Next Generation Adelaide International – Doubles
Wesley Moodie and Todd Perry were the defending champions, but Moodie chose not to participate, and only Perry competed that year. Perry partnered with Jordan Kerr, but lost in the first round to Chris Guccione and Robert Smeets.


2008 Next Generation Adelaide International – Doubles
Martin Garcia and Marcelo Melo won in the final 6–3, 3–6, [10–7], against Chris Guccione and Robert Smeets.


2008 Next Generation Adelaide International – Singles
Novak Djokovic was the defending champion, but chose not to participate that year.


2008 Next Generation Adelaide International – Singles
Unseeded Michaël Llodra won in the final 6–3, 6–4, against third-seeded Jarkko Nieminen.


2008 Nicholls State Colonels football team
The 2008 Nicholls State Colonels football team represented Nicholls State University in the 2008 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Colonels were led by fifth-year head coach Jay Thomas. They played their home games at Manning Field at John L. Guidry Stadium and were a member of the Southland Conference. They finished the season 3–6, 3–4 in Southland play to finish in fifth place.


2008 Nickelodeon Indonesia Kids' Choice Awards
The 2008 Nickelodeon Indonesia Kids' Choice Awards were held on 29 November 2008, at the Balai Sarbini in Setiabudi South Jakarta and hosted by Tora Sudiro, Tasya Kamila, and Ringgo Agus Rahman. The ceremony awards held the theme for "Candylane".


2008 Nickelodeon Indonesia Kids' Choice Awards
Agnes Monica, Afgan, Cinta Laura, and Raffi Ahmad led the nominations with two categories. Agnes Monica was the biggest winner of the night, taking home two awards  in the categories: Favourite Female Singer and Indonesian Star Wannabe Award.


2008 Nicky Rackard Cup
The 2008 Nicky Rackard Cup was the 4th annual third tier hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association. Sligo beat Louth in the final.


2008 Nicky Rackard Cup, Format
Ten county teams participated in the 2008 Nicky Rackard Cup, with Fingal (north Dublin) and "South Down" (Down excluding the Ards Peninsula) bringing the total to twelve.


2008 Nicky Rackard Cup, Format
Each team in the group played each other once in the first phase. The top two teams in each group advanced to the quarter-finals.


2008 Nicky Rackard Cup, 2008 season facts
Sligo, the eventual winners of the competition finished the preceding league tournament without a win, resulting in relegation to division 4 next year. Donegal, who won every game of the league, were eliminated from the Championship at the first (group stage) hurdle.


2008 Nicky Rackard Cup, 2008 season facts
Sligo had the opportunity of defending their crown in 2009 after losing 1-17 to 1-13 to Roscommon in the championship promotion/relegation play-off. However a change in the Hurling competition structures with the introduction of a 4th tier championship Lory Meagher Cup meant that sligo and Roscommon both played in the 2009 Nicky Rackard Cup.


2008 Nicky Rackard Cup, 2008 season facts
The Sligo team that won the 2008 Nicky Rackard Cup was


2008 Nicky Rackard Cup, 2008 season facts
C Brennan; F Coyne, W Gill, R Cox; D Clarke, M Burke (0-01), L Reidy; J Mullins, D Collery; M Gilmartin (0-01), D Burke (0-02), P Severs (1-04, 0-03f); J Bannerton (1-01), K Raymond (1-08), L Cadden (0-01)


2008 Nicky Rackard Cup, 2008 season facts
Subs J O'Brien F Hayes C Herrity R Haughey N Cadden J Kelly S Kerins M Shelly C O'Mahony D Cox C Hacket K Doyle P Quinn


2008 Nicky Rackard Cup Final
The 2007 Nicky Rackard Cup final was a hurling match played at Croke Park on 3 August 2008 to determine the winners of the 2007 Nicky Rackard Cup, the 3rd season of the Nicky Rackard Cup, a tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association for the third tier hurling teams. The final was contested by Sligo of Connacht and Louth of Leinster, with Sligo winning by 3-19 to 3-10.


2008 Nikon Indy 300
The 2008 Nikon Indy 300 was the 19th and final race of the 2008 IndyCar Series season. It was held on 26 October 2008 on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Queensland, Australia.


2008 Nikon Indy 300
It was the first time the race was held for the Indy Racing League after 17 years as a Champ Car race. The race did not count towards the 2008 IndyCar season points as the race date was held after the Chicagoland Speedway 300, which was preset as the season finale prior to the merger of Champ Car and IRL. The previous non-points race had been the 1992 Marlboro Challenge, a CART all-star race.


2008 Nikon Indy 300
The race was won by an Australian driver for the first time in the 18-year history of the event with Ryan Briscoe winning for Team Penske after leading much of the race, while pushed hard by the near-local, New Zealander Scott Dixon. Ryan Hunter-Reay emerged from an entertaining dice to complete the podium in third position.


2008 Nikon Indy 300, Team changes
With the championship decided, some teams used the race as a prelude to the 2009 season. Dario Franchitti made his return to IndyCar after a failed attempt at breaking into NASCAR, taking Dan Wheldon's seat at Chip Ganassi Racing, with Wheldon moving on to his 2009 team, Panther Racing, replacing Vítor Meira. Meira moved to his new team, A. J. Foyt Enterprises.


2008 Nikon Indy 300, Qualifying
Rain fell on early parts of qualifying which caught several cars out, most notably Danica Patrick who hit the wall on her out lap wrecking the nose of the car and putting her out of qualifying without a lap recorded. The rain stopped fairly early and Ryan Hunter-Reay made best fist of the conditions, topping Group 1 two and a half tenths of a second clear of Alex Tagliani.


2008 Nikon Indy 300, Qualifying
The group was well spaced with Vítor Meira and E. J. Viso almost a second behind the top two and well clear of the final two cars to advance, Mario Moraes and Ryan Briscoe. Graham Rahal missed the cut by less than two-tenths of a second with Oriol Servià the other car unlucky to miss out.


2008 Nikon Indy 300, Qualifying
Will Power continued to show the pace he had shown through practice to top the second group, almost four second faster the Group 1 as the track dried. Tony Kanaan shadowed the local hero with Justin Wilson within a tenth of Kanaan. Scott Dixon and returning teammate Dario Franchitti progressed while again a Penske car sat on the bubble, Hélio Castroneves the last car to make it into Group 2. Marco Andretti was well down on Castroneves while Dan Wheldon made a troubled debut for his new team, missing the cut by almost two seconds.


2008 Nikon Indy 300, Qualifying
Dixon topped Section 2 track times improving from over 1:50 to 1:39.2049 for Dixon's best lap. Castroneves improved to second ahead of Kanaan, who would subsequently lose his bets lap and drop out of the top six, Franchitti and Briscoe. Power having led much of the session stopped early and had a nervous wait as his time was rapidly bettered, but made it through with Hunter-Reay joining the Firestone Fast Six.


2008 Nikon Indy 300, Qualifying
Dixon, Power and Briscoe swapped top times early until Power started to dominate. With time running out Dixon recorded a 1:35.7672, the fastest lap time recorded in all of qualifying with Briscoe and Franchitti filling the top three when on his last lap Power backed off and found something for a last charge, recording a 1:34.9451, smashing the Fast Six field by eight-tenths of a second.


2008 Nikon Indy 300, Race
Justin Wilson pitted on the warm-up lap with the gearbox sticking in third, but rejoined to start from the back. Will Power immediately dominated the start, pulling a two-second lead on the first lap. Scott Dixon started second but after being forced to cut the first chicane was relegated behind Ryan Briscoe by the officials.


2008 Nikon Indy 300, Race
Mario Moraes and Vítor Meira clashed at the second chicane with Meira spinning without hitting anyone. A few lap later Moraes caused the first safety car, clipping the turn 2 chicane, breaking the right rear corner of the car. Townsend Bell was eliminated after a clash with Helio Castroneves which wrecked Bell's steering. Later the same lap Castroneves had a right rear puncture caused by Danica Patrick's front wing while passing the Andretti Green Racing driver.


2008 Nikon Indy 300, Race
Lap 17 saw the end of Power's dominance of the meeting as he crashed at the Bartercard chicane, which put Briscoe into the lead ahead of Dixon. Briscoe pitted for fuel immediately upon catching backmarker Patrick, but Dixon waited another lap and was held up behind her. At the same time Graham Rahal touched the rear of Car 20, spinning the Vision Racing car at the bottom corner and Ed Carpenter stopped as well, almost blocking the track. The emerging safety car almost hit Dixon as he completed his stop.


2008 Nikon Indy 300, Race
Behind the safety car Patrick stopped and stalled, almost hitting the stationary car of Carpenter. Dario Franchitti clipped the tyre bundle on the inside of the same chicane and spun and stalled bringing out the safety car. After the restart Tony Kanaan had the right rear suspension break without apparent reason.


2008 Nikon Indy 300, Race
After the second round of pitstops the battle for third between Alex Tagliani and Ryan Hunter-Reay was interrupted by Dario Franchitti as poor pitstop and a poor pit position for Conquest Racing saw Tagliani drop several position behind EJ Viso. Viso later would twice have to give up spots for cutting chicanes, first to Tagliani, then Castroneves. Lap 48 saw Jaime Camara go straight on and stalled the car attempting to recover.


2008 Nikon Indy 300, Race
In the races closing stages Dixon closed in on Briscoe, the two remaining local drivers lapping significantly faster than the rest of the field. Ed Carpenter hit the wall at turn 3 on the last lap but it did not affect the lead battle and Briscoe won his home race ahead of Dixon. Ryan Hunter-Reay finished third.


2008 Nikon Indy 300, Support categories
The 2008 Nikon Indy 300 shared the top billing with Round 11 of the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship series, as well as three support categories.


2008 Nineveh campaign
The 2008 Nineveh campaign was a series of offensives and counter-attacks between insurgent and Coalition forces for control of the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq in early-to-mid-2008. Some fighting also occurred in the neighboring Kirkuk Governorate.


2008 Nineveh campaign, Background
In mid-October 2006, al-Qaeda announced the creation of Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), replacing the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC) and its Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).


2008 Nineveh campaign, Background
The capital of Ninawa province, Mosul, forms the northern tip of the "Sunni Triangle" and lies on a sectarian fault line between Sunni Arabs and Kurds. Before the Iraq War, it was a Ba'ath party stronghold and a major source of officers for the Iraqi Army. The U.S. 4th Infantry Division was originally tasked with entering northern Iraq through Turkey, however the Turkish government blocked the attempt.


2008 Nineveh campaign, Background
Instead, 2,000 paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade and 1,000 U.S. Special Forces soldiers from the 10th Special Forces group opened a smaller front from Kurdistan, working with the Kurdish Peshmerga to secure Kirkuk and Mosul. As a result, the U.S. forces did not have a large military presence in Ninawa following the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime. In early April 2003, the 173rd Airborne launched Operation Option North to secure Kirkuk and its nearby oilfields. Meanwhile, U.S. Special Forces and Peshmerga turned towards Mosul, securing the city on April 11 after the Iraqi Army V Corps surrendered.


2008 Nineveh campaign, Background
Despite efforts by the Special Forces commander, Lt. Col. Waltemeyer to keep Kurdish forces out of the city, Mosul fell into chaos with armed Kurds looting the city and forcing Arabs out of homes. At the same time, former Ba'athists and Iraqi military personnel fled south to Tikrit and began to form the insurgency. By the end of the first week of American occupation of Mosul, 31 Iraqis had been killed and 150 wounded.


2008 Nineveh campaign, Background
Towards the end of April, 20,000 soldiers from the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, led by Maj. Gen. David Petraeus arrived in Mosul and assumed responsibility for Ninawa province.


2008 Nineveh campaign, Background
In January 2004, 8,700 soldiers of the 3rd SBCT/2nd Infantry Division replaced the 101st Airborne, effectively halving the number of U.S. soldiers. Ethnic tensions in Mosul grew, with the Sunni Arabs and the insurgents occupying the west side of Mosul and the Kurds occupying the east side. The situation worsed in October 2004 when the 1st SBCT, 25th Infantry Division relieved the 3/2 SBCT. The 1/25 SBCT had only 3 battalions in Mosul since one of its battalions was redeployed to Fallujah as part of Operation Phantom Fury.


2008 Nineveh campaign, Background
At the same time, insurgents moved from Fallujah to Mosul and began launching attacks. On November 11, 2004, insurgents conducted a large scale operation against police stations in Mosul, facing little resistance from the Iraqi police who refused to fight. Undermanned Coalition forces were forced to rely on thousands of Kurdish Peshmerga to help recapture the city, which was retaken after two weeks of heavy fighting.


2008 Nineveh campaign, Background
Between 2004 and 2006, a stalemate existed between the Kurdish forces in the east of the city (who had been reflagged as the 2nd Iraqi Army Division) and Sunni insurgents who were firmly entrenched in western Mosul.


2008 Nineveh campaign, Background
In early 2007, coalition forces launched a new counter insurgency strategy throughout Iraq, mainly focused on Baghdad and the surrounding belts. The U.S. military command responsible for Ninewa province, Multi-National Division North, was again forced to operate without one of its battalions when the 2nd battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment was deployed to Mansoor district as part of the Baghdad Security Plan. At this point, MND-N had one combat brigade in Ninewa Province, the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division, under the command of COL Stephen Twitty.


2008 Nineveh campaign, Background
This unit was composed of three combat battalions, including 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment and 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment stationed at FOB Marez in Mosul and 5-82 FA BN at FOB Q-West near Qayarrah. These units were supported by the 4th Special Troops Battalion and the 27th Brigade Support Battalion.


2008 Nineveh campaign, Background
At the same time, the Iraqi Army 2nd Division had redeployed two of its battalions to Baghdad. Despite the reduced Coalition and Iraqi presence in Mosul, attacks fell by half, from between 15 and 18 attacks per day in December 2006, to 7-9 attacks in July. However, coalition operations in Diyala and Baghdad were forcing insurgents north along the Tigris River valley up to Mosul.


2008 Nineveh campaign, Preparations
Following their defeats during Operation Phantom Thunder and Operation Phantom Strike in 2007 the insurgents lost their primary base of operations in Diyala province and were still under attack by Coalition forces as part of operation Phantom Phoenix. Having also lost their bases in Al Anbar and in Baghdad itself, remaining insurgent forces were forced to retreat towards northern Iraq and establish their main bases in Mosul, their last supply route through which they moved weapons, personnel and money from abroad into the country.


2008 Nineveh campaign, Preparations
Mosul also had strong strategic importance as a main logistics hub for Al-Qaeda in Iraq because of its size and location - sitting at crossroads between Baghdad, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The insurgents established a new base in Mosul and prepared for a 'decisive final battle' in the words of the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. If they lost their center in Mosul the insurgents would not be able to effectively fight anymore.


2008 Nineveh campaign, Preparations
By mid-January 2008, the US 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 8th Regiment had been redeployed to Mosul from Baghdad, joining the 3rd Squadron of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (3-3 ACR), who had been in the city since December 2007, when the 3ACR took over responsibility for Nineveh province from the 4th HBCT of the 1st Division. The city was split into two halves, with each unit responsible for security on their side. Two Iraqi Army battalions from the 2nd Division who had been deployed in Baghdad as part of Operation Imposing Law returned to Mosul.


2008 Nineveh campaign, Preparations
Also, in January 2008, the Iraqi Security Forces established the Ninewa Operational Command (NOC), to coordinate the various Iraqi Security Force units operating in the province, as well as liaise with Coalition forces operating in the province. A Sunni Arab, Major General Riyadh Jalal Tawfiq, previously commander of the 9th IA Division, was selected to command the NOC.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign
Sporadic fighting had already been going on since late 2007, after the insurgents had been routed from Diyala. In early 2008, however, Al-Qaeda wanted to make it clear that they could still fight effectively in Iraq.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign
On January 23, a massive cache of explosives was detonated in an abandoned building in Mosul in the Zinjeli neighborhood. Insurgents were tipped off that Iraqi security forces were preparing to search the building and when the police came they detonated the explosive. The explosion killed 60 people, all of them civilians, wounded 280 and leveled several buildings.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign
The next day, as the police was investigating the scene, of the massive bombing the day before, gunmen opened fire on them. At that time a suicide bomber targeted the car of the police chief of Mosul, who was on the scene, killing him and two other policemen.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign
On January 25, the Iraqi Prime Minister ordered Iraqi military reinforcements to Mosul to begin an offensive to crush the remaining al-Qaeda elements that were still holding out in the area. The troops, tanks and helicopters began arriving in Mosul on January 27, including elements of the 35th Brigade, 9th (Armored) Division.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign
However, a day after the reinforcements arrived insurgents ambushed a U.S. military patrol in the city killing five soldiers. The patrol was initially attacked by an IED, but then insurgents in a nearby mosque opened fire on soldiers in the patrol after the roadside bombing, prompting a fierce gunbattle as U.S. and Iraqi troops secured the area. Iraqi soldiers entered the mosque but the gunmen had already fled.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign
During the fight for the north there was also some sporadic fighting in other areas, such as Tal Afar to the west of Mosul, Kirkuk further to the north-east and Hawija which is just south of Kirkuk.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign
On February 18, Coalition forces captured Abd-al-Rahman Ibrahim Jasim Tha'ir, Al Qaida's military emir for Mosul. Abd-al-Rahman was moved to Mosul from Bayji after the previous emir was captured on January 21. His capture allowed Coalition forces to develop intelligence about the Al-Qaeda in Iraq network in south-east Mosul, and on March 1 it was reported that Coalition forces had killed the military emir for south-east Mosul on February 27, Abu Yasir al-Saudi.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign
Al-Saudi was a Saudi national who had previously fought in Afghanistan and had been involved in many deadly terrorist attacks across Mosul, including the January 28 ambush, since arriving in Iraq in August 2007 with three other Saudis. It was also reported that 142 insurgents had been killed or captured in Mosul since the operation began.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign
On March 15, a force of between 10–12 insurgents attacked an Iraqi Army combat outpost with grenades, RPGs and small arms. The insurgents were repulsed and 3 were killed in the attack.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign
On March 23, an insurgent suicide bomber, in a truck with a bullet-proof windshield, attacked Combat Outpost Inman, an Iraqi Army military base in western Mosul. He blasted through an armored vehicle to reach the courtyard of the military headquarters. In the ensuing explosion 13 Iraqi soldiers were killed and 42 people, including 30 soldiers, were wounded.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign
On April 14, an insurgent suicide bomber attacked a group of Peshmerga soldiers near Sinjar. Following the attack insurgents opened up on them with small-arms fire and RPGs. 14 soldiers were killed and 15 wounded.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign
On April 26, insurgents attacked an Iraqi Army checkpoint in Mosul. A suicide bomber detonated an explosive laden vehicle killing 2 Iraqi civilians and wounding 4. Insurgents than followed the explosion with small arms and RPG fire. Iraqi Army and Coalition forces returned fire, killing one terrorist.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign, Operation Lion's Roar
On May 10, the Iraqi Army, backed by 10,000 Sunni tribesmen loyal to the government, began Operation Za'eer al-Assad Fi Saulat al-Haq (Operation Lion's Roar in Arabic) in Mosul. A curfew was placed over the city at 9 pm and arrest warrants were issued for Al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders. The operation was announced by Major General Riyadh Jalal Tawfiq in a statement at the Ninewa Operational Command headquarters. During the first day of the operation, 92 targets were raided throughout Mosul


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign, Operation Lion's Roar
On May 13, four days after the start of the military offensive, five Iraqi soldiers were killed in Mosul after their unit hit a roadside bomb in Mosul. The Iraqi Army announced that it had captured two senior al-Qaida in Iraq leaders east of Mosul. However, the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front, said large numbers of gunmen had escaped to the Hamrin mountains following the start of the offensive.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign, Operation Lion's Roar
On May 14, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki arrived in Mosul to supervise the operation, mirroring a similar move made in March when he flew down to Basra to supervise the campaign there. Al-Maliki said the aim of the offensive was to clear the city of "criminal terrorist gangs" and "it intends to provide suitable conditions for the operation of state offices, enabling it to reconstruct the city and to deliver services to its people." The U.S. military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, announced that Iraq and U.S. forces had arrested 500 people and captured 5 weapons caches. A spokesman for the Iraqi Defence Ministry said that the Iraqi Air Force was providing 24-hour surveillance of Ninewa to Iraqi commanders, a role that was previously provided by Coalition forces.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign, Operation Lion's Roar
May 15–16, Iraqi forces announced that they had detained 833 people in Operation Lion's Roar since it began. Two civilians were killed by stray bullets during fighting in Mosul, while Iraqi Special Operations Forces captured a wanted Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) member in western Mosul who was responsible for IED emplacements and providing information to ISI about the Iraqi Army. Iraqi security forces announced a 10-day amnesty for Iraqis to hand in medium and heavy weapons in exchange for cash.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign, Operation Lion's Roar
On May 19, Iraqi forces reported that they had captured Abdul Khaleq al Sabaawi, the emir of Ninawa province, in a raid in Tikrit. The same day in the town of Baaj, 130 kilometers from Mosul, gunmen ambushed a bus carrying police recruits killing 11 of them. On May 23, Iraqi police announced the capture of Abu Ahmed, an al-Qaida in Iraq financier for the three northern governorates of Salah-ad-din, Kirkuk, and Ninawa. He also led several attacks against coalition forces in Salah-ad-din.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign, Operation Lion's Roar
On May 24, the Iraqi military operation in Mosul was declared over and the city and surrounding areas declared secured by the military. The Iraqi Army stated that Al-Qaeda had been cleared from their remaining stronghold in the country. During the operation 14 Iraqi soldiers were killed. Five when they were captured and executed and nine by two roadside bombs.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign, Al-Qaeda's counterattack
Following the strong success of Operation Lion's Roar, remnants of insurgent forces tried to conduct a string of bombings to counteract the military operations.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign, Al-Qaeda's counterattack
On May 29, a double suicide bombing hit the north of the country. A suicide bomber in Sinjar, near the Syrian border, killed 17 people and wounded 42 others. 16 of the dead were policemen or police recruits. One civilian was also killed. The police chief was dismissed over the incident. Meanwhile, in Mosul, a suicide bomber driving a police vehicle killed three police commandos and wounded nine others, including two policemen. In a separate attack, at least 20 civilians were wounded when a car bomb exploded near a bus station in Mosul.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign, Al-Qaeda's counterattack
On June 2, a suicide bomber with a car packed full of explosives targeted the Ninawa police station in eastern Mosul, killing 13 people, including five policemen, and wounding 50 others.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign, Al-Qaeda's counterattack
On June 4, insurgents ambushed a U.S. military patrol in the town of Hawija, in the neighboring Kirkuk Governorate, killing three soldiers.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign, Al-Qaeda's counterattack
On June 8, a suicide car bomber attacked a U.S. military outpost in Hawija leaving one U.S. soldier dead. Another 18 soldiers and two Iraqi contractors were wounded.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign, Al-Qaeda's counterattack
On June 26, a car bomb attack targeted the offices of Ninawa Provincial Governor Duraid Kashmula in Mosul. The attack left 18 people dead and 80 wounded. By this time it was reported that all security gains made by the security forces during operation Lion's Roar had disintegrated. Insurgents managed to re-enter the city and gunmen were seen roaming the streets in force.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign, Death of Al-Qaeda Leader in Mosul
On June 27, the U.S. military announced that it had killed Abu Khalaf, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Mosul. He was shot dead by American forces during a raid on a building in Mosul. Al-Qaeda suffered perhaps its greatest blow when American soldiers killed Khalaf, the "emir of Mosul". He had been a close associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most notorious leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, who was killed in an airstrike two years before. An aide wearing a suicide vest died with the emir, as did a woman who tried to pull the detonator on his vest.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign, U.S. news coverage of victory over Al-Qaeda
On July 7 the Investor's Business Daily posted an editorial lamenting the failure of U.S. news media to report the defeat of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), while London's The Sunday Times reported, "the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror." A terrorist force that once numbered more than 12,000, with AQI strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq, has over two years been reduced to a mere 1,200 fighters, backed against the wall in the northern city of Mosul.


2008 Nineveh campaign, The campaign, U.S. news coverage of victory over Al-Qaeda
The editorial stated that the destruction of Al-Qaeda in Iraq was one of the most unlikely and unforeseen events in the long history of American warfare.


2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season
The 2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 59th season since the NPB was reorganized in 1950. The regular season started on March 20 with the Pacific League opener, and on March 28 with the Central League opener. On March 25 and 26, the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics played 2 regular season Major League Baseball games at Tokyo Dome. During their visit, they also played exhibition games against the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants.


2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season, Changes
The Seibu Lions added the prefecture name "Saitama" in front of the team name starting with this season.


2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season, Changes
As to reduce the interference to teams whose main players would play in the Olympic Games, this year's trade and new foreign players deadlines were pushed to the end of July, instead of the end of June. Also, teams having more than three players selected by National teams were given an extra quota of foreign player limit during the Olympic Games.


2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season, Changes
The postseason playoff ("Climax Series") regulations have changed to give more advantages to League Champions, now the second stage series will play for 6 games, while the League Champion will have a one-win advantage.


2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season, Changes
In late June, the Free Agency regulation was amended after negotiation between the players committee and owners. Players are now eligible for free agency after 8 years of service to a team (1 playing year = 145 days on the active roster), players drafted before 2007 are shortened to 7 (University/Company/Independent League) to 8 (High School) years. However, oversea FA right which allow them to play in the Major League Baseball still needs 9 playing years. This amendment is also effective on non-Japanese players. Alex Ramírez, who served 8 playing years in Japan, became a "local player" after the season.


2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season, Standings, Central League, Climax Series 2nd Stage
Yomiuri Giants (3) vs. Chunichi Dragons (1) The Giants have a one-game advantage.


2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season, Standings, Pacific League, Climax Series 2nd Stage
Saitama Seibu Lions (4) vs. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (2) The Lions have a one-game advantage.


2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season, Standings, Interleague Games
Note: Whenever multiple teams have same number of wins, the team having better standings in last year's interleague games will have advantage, thus Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks won the interleague title, despite Hanshin Tigers beating the Hawks 3 out of 4 games. A similar rule applies to other teams tied in wins.


2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season, Climax Series
Note: All of the games that are played in the first two rounds of the Climax Series are held at the higher seed's home stadium. The team with the higher regular-season standing also advances if the round ends in a tie.


2008 Nishihara mayoral election
Nishihara, Okinawa held a mayoral election on September 7, 2008. Incumbent mayor Seiyu Tarakaki, supported by Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito Party, was narrowly defeated by the progressive candidate Akira Uema, supported by all centre, centre-left and left parties.


2008 Niuean general election
Parliamentary elections were held in Niue on June 7, 2008. They were initially expected to be held in April, but were delayed until June 2008. Niue has a 20-member legislative assembly, called the Niue Assembly, whose members are elected by approximately 600 registered voters. The assembly consists of 20 total members, 6 elected on a common roll and 14 representatives of the villages


2008 Niuean general election, Election management
The election was managed and controlled by the Chief Electoral Officer, Togia Sioneholo, who is also the Secretary of the Niue Department of Justice, Lands and Survey. However, since Sioneholo was also a candidate, he had to go on leave as required by the Niue Public Service Regulations. Hubert Kalauni took over the control and management of the election as Sioneholo's replacement. (Sioneholo won a seat in the Niue Legislative Assembly.)


2008 Niuean general election, Election results
Only three of the six sitting common assembly members retained their seats in the general election. O'Love Jacobsen, who has been a member of the Niue Legislative Assembly for twenty years and was re-elected, remarked that the election was a call for change by Niuean voters. Jacobsen believed that the election would lead to a new government and a new Premier of Niue. She openly supported Toke Talagi's candidacy for the incoming prime ministership against current Premier Young Vivian.


2008 Niuean general election, Election results
One of the three incumbent common assembly MPs who failed to be re-elected was Hima Douglas, former High Commissioner to New Zealand, who was unseated by Niue's Secretary of Justice Togia Sioneholo. Two female candidates, Mahetoi Hekau and Esther Pavihi, were elected as new members thereby unseating two incumbent MPs, Michael Jackson and Krypton Okesene.


2008 Niuean general election, Election results
In the capital and main village of Alofi, challenger Dalton Tagelagi easily defeated the incumbent member in the Alofi South constituency.


2008 Niuean general election, Election results, Formation of new government
Despite the fact that new members, including Togia Sioneholo, Mahetoi Hekau and Esther Pavihi, were elected to the legislative assembly, no single candidate for the premiership had a clear majority.


2008 Niuean general election, Election results, Formation of new government
The highest polling candidate in the election, incumbent MP Toke Talagi, stated he was considering to challenge Young Vivian for the premier's post; caretaker Deputy Premier Fisa Pihigia stated he would also stand if Talagi decided to stand, as Pihigia considered himself to be better suited to fend off a challenge from Talagi than Vivian.


2008 Niuean general election, Election results, Formation of new government
Eventually, Talagi and Vivian stood for premier. Talagi was elected on Thursday, June 26, 2008, with fourteen votes to Vivian's five, with one abstaining.


2008 Niuean general election, Election results, Formation of new government
Atapana Siakimotu was returned unopposed as Speaker of the House.


2008 Niuean general election, Election results, Formation of new government
On Thursday 20 June 2008, Hon Premier Toke Talagi announced through TV Niue the other three members of his Cabinet of Ministers, Hon Pokotoa Sipeli, Hon Togia Sioneholo and Hon O'love Tauveve Jacobsen.


2008 Niuean general election, Electorate Results by constituency
Final results according to Acting Chief Electoral Officer Mr Hubert Kalauni:


2008 Noida double murder case
The Noida double murder case refers to the unsolved murders of 13-year-old girl Aarushi Talwar and 45-year-old Hemraj Banjade, a male live-in domestic worker employed by her family. The two were killed on the night of 15–16 May 2008 at Aarushi's home in Noida, India. The case aroused public interest as a whodunit story, and received heavy media coverage. The sensational media coverage, which included salacious allegations against Aarushi and the suspects, was criticized by many as a trial by media.


2008 Noida double murder case
When Aarushi's body was discovered on 16 May, Hemraj, who was missing at the time, was considered the main suspect. The next day, Hemraj's partially decomposed body was discovered on the terrace. The police were heavily criticized for failing to secure the crime scene immediately. After ruling out former domestic servants of the family, the police treated Aarushi's parents—Dr. Rajesh Talwar and Dr. Nupur Talwar—as the prime suspects.


2008 Noida double murder case
The police suspected that Rajesh had murdered the two after finding them in an "objectionable" position, or because Rajesh's alleged extra-marital affair had led to his blackmail by Hemraj and a confrontation with Aarushi. The accusations enraged the Talwars' family and friends, who accused the police of framing the Talwars in order to cover up the botched-up investigation. The case was then transferred to the CBI, which exonerated the parents and suspected the Talwars' assistant Krishna Thadarai and two domestic servants—Rajkumar and Vijay Mandal.


2008 Noida double murder case
Based on the 'narco' interrogation conducted on the three men, the CBI assumed that they had killed Aarushi after an attempted sexual assault, and Hemraj for being a witness. The CBI was accused of using dubious methods to extract a confession, and all the three men were released after it could not find any solid evidence against them.


2008 Noida double murder case
In 2009, the CBI handed over the investigation to a new team, which recommended closing the case due to critical gaps in the evidence. Based on circumstantial evidence, it named Rajesh Talwar as the sole suspect, but refused to charge him due to the lack of any hard evidence. The parents opposed the closure report, calling CBI's suspicion of Rajesh Talwar as baseless. Subsequently, a special CBI court rejected the CBI's claim that there was not enough evidence, and ordered proceedings against the Talwars. In November 2013, the parents were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, but many critics argued that the judgment was based on weak evidence. The Talwars challenged the decision in the Allahabad High Court.


2008 Noida double murder case
On 12 October 2017, the court acquitted them, calling the evidence against them unsatisfactory and severely criticizing the police, CBI and the media for not having investigated the murder properly. On 8 March 2018, the CBI challenged the acquittal in the Supreme Court. The case remains unsolved.


2008 Noida double murder case, Background
Aarushi Talwar (24 May 1994 – 16 May 2008) was a 13-year-old student at the Delhi Public School. She was the daughter of a dentist couple, Dr. Rajesh Talwar and Dr. Nupur Talwar. The family lived in an apartment in Sector 25 (Jalvayu Vihar) of Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. Rajesh and Nupur practiced together at their clinic in Sector 27 of Noida. They also saw patients at the Fortis Hospital, where Rajesh headed the dental department. In addition, Rajesh taught at the ITS dental college in Greater Noida.


2008 Noida double murder case, Background
Anita and Praful Durrani, another dentist couple and close family friends of the Talwars, lived in the same city. The couple shared the Noida clinic with the Talwars: Rajesh and Anita worked at the clinic in the mornings (9am–12pm), while Praful and Nupur worked there in the evenings (5pm–7pm). The Durranis and the Talwars also shared a clinic in Hauz Khas area of Delhi.


2008 Noida double murder case, Background
Yam Prasad Banjade, better known as Hemraj, was the Talwar family's live-in domestic help and cook. He belonged to Dharapani village in the Arghakhanchi district of Nepal.


2008 Noida double murder case, Background, Events preceding the murders
The murders on the night of 15–16 May 2008 were preceded by the following events:


2008 Noida double murder case, Background, The apartment
The 1300 sq. ft. apartment had 3 bedrooms(including servants' room), a drawing-dining room and a servants' quarters, where Hemraj slept. Rajesh and Nupur slept in the master bedroom, while Aarushi slept in an adjacent room. Hemraj's room had a separate entry from outside the apartment; it also opened into the apartment from inside.


2008 Noida double murder case, Background, The apartment
The entrance to the Talwars' apartment at Jalvayu Vihar had three doors: the outermost grill gate, a middle grill door located in the passageway, and the innermost wooden door. Hemraj's room had two doors - one door opened inside the apartment, and the other door was located between the two grill doors. The Talwars had the outermost gate removed a year after the murders.


2008 Noida double murder case, Discovery of Aarushi's body
On 16 May 2008, the family's housemaid Bharati Mandal (35) rang their doorbell around 6 am. She had been employed six days earlier. Every day, Hemraj would open the door for her, as Nupur and Rajesh were late risers, but this time, nobody opened the door even after she rang a second time. She later stated that she tried pushing the outermost gate, but it did not open.


2008 Noida double murder case, Discovery of Aarushi's body
After Bharati rang the doorbell a third time, Nupur opened the innermost wooden door. Speaking through the mesh of the middle grill door, she told Bharati that this door was locked from outside. She asked Bharati about the whereabouts of Hemraj. When Bharati said that she had no idea, Nupur remarked that Hemraj must have gone outside to fetch milk and must have locked the door from outside. She asked Bharati to wait outside until Hemraj returned. Bharati did not want to wait and asked Nupur to throw the keys. Nupur asked her to go downstairs so that she could throw the keys to her from the balcony.


2008 Noida double murder case, Discovery of Aarushi's body
Nupur then called Hemraj's mobile phone, but the call was abruptly cut. When she tried calling him again, the phone appeared to have been switched off. When Bharati reached downstairs, Nupur asked her to go back and check if the door was just latched, not locked. Bharati insisted that Nupur throw the keys anyway, so that she wouldn't have to take the stairs again, in case the door was locked. Nupur then threw the keys down to Bharati.


2008 Noida double murder case, Discovery of Aarushi's body
According to the Talwars, by this time, Rajesh also woke up. He entered the living room and saw a near-empty Scotch whisky bottle on the dining table, which surprised him. He asked Nupur who had kept the bottle there, and then alarmed, asked her to check Aarushi's room. Aarushi's room had a self-locking door, and it would generally be locked. It could be opened only from inside or from outside with a key. But the couple found it unlocked on that morning. When they entered the room, they saw Aarushi's dead body lying on her bed. Rajesh started screaming, while Nupur remained silent (due to shock, according to her).


2008 Noida double murder case, Discovery of Aarushi's body
Meanwhile, Bharati returned to the outermost gate: she pushed it, and it opened without the key. She found that the middle door was latched, but not locked. She opened the latch and walked in. When she entered the apartment, she saw Rajesh and Nupur crying. Nupur asked her to come inside Aarushi's room. Bharati stood at the entrance of the room, as Nupur walked inside. Aarushi's body lay on her bed; it was covered with a flannel blanket. Nupur pulled the blanket, and Bharati saw that Aarushi's throat was slit.


2008 Noida double murder case, Discovery of Aarushi's body
Both the parents blamed Hemraj for Aarushi's murder in front of the maid. Bharati walked out of the apartment to inform the neighbours. She returned to the house and asked the Talwars if they wanted her to do the daily household chores. When they said "No", she moved on to work in other households.


2008 Noida double murder case, Discovery of Aarushi's body
The Talwars called their family and friends. Puneesh Rai Tandon, a neighbour who lived one floor below the Talwars, asked the Jalvayu Vihar security guard Virendra Singh to inform the police. By the time the police arrived, there were 15 people in the living room and 5-6 people in the Talwars' bedroom; only Aarushi's room was vacant. The crime scene had been "completely trampled upon". The story of a murder in an affluent neighbourhood also attracted many mediapersons, who gathered around the house by 8 am.


2008 Noida double murder case, Hemraj as the suspect
On 16 May, the missing servant Hemraj was the prime suspect. In his police complaint, Rajesh blamed Hemraj for his daughter's murder. He repeatedly told the police to pursue Hemraj instead of wasting time in the apartment, and offered them 25,000 rupees to rush to Hemraj's native village in Nepal. The police suspected that Hemraj entered Aarushi's room in an inebriated state after consuming Scotch whisky, and tried to sexually assault her. When she resisted, he killed her with a kukri (a Nepali knife). The police announced a reward of ₹ 20,000 for tips leading to his capture.


2008 Noida double murder case, Hemraj as the suspect
Aarushi's body was taken for post-mortem around 8:30 am by two Uttar Pradesh police constables. Rajesh's brother Dinesh Talwar, his driver Umesh Sharma and his childhood friend Ajay Chadha accompanied the constables. Around 1 pm, the body was brought home and placed on ice slabs in the living room. It was taken for cremation at the Antim Niwas crematorium around 4 pm. According to the Talwars, who were later accused of being in a hurry to cremate the body, it was decomposing fast, and the family elders were pushing for cremation. In addition, the police confirmed that the body was not needed for any further examination.


2008 Noida double murder case, Hemraj as the suspect
The police later alleged that the Talwars' domestic staff showed undue haste in cleaning Aarushi's room. In Talwars' defence, their compounder Vikas Sethi told the court that he had received the permission to clean the house from the police personnel and a lady constable present on the crime scene.


2008 Noida double murder case, Hemraj as the suspect
A part of Aarushi's blood-stained mattress was cut out and sent to the forensics lab along with her pillow, bed sheet and clothes. Vikas Sethi later testified that he, along with three others, tried to dump the remaining part of the mattress on the terrace, but found it locked. An old lady then told him to put the mattress on the neighbouring terrace. Rajesh's driver Sharma then asked the neighbour Puneesh Tandon for the key to his terrace.


2008 Noida double murder case, Hemraj as the suspect
Earlier, at 4 pm also, Sharma had asked Tandon for the key, saying that he needed to dump the ice brought for Aarushi's body. This time, Tandon opened the terrace himself. Sharma, Sethi and two others dragged the mattress to his terrace. Tandon then locked the terrace door. None of them noticed the body of Hemraj, which was lying on the adjacent terrace, separated by a grilled wall.


2008 Noida double murder case, Hemraj as the suspect
According to CBI, when the post-mortem report was being written between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. on 16 May, a series of telephonic conversations had happened between Dinesh Talwar, Dr. Sushil Chaudhury (Dinesh's friend and the chairman of the ICARE Eye Hospital) and K K Gautam (retired Deputy Superintendent of Police). K K Gautam, while deposing at the CBI court later in 2012, stated that Chaudhury had requested him to get any references to a sexual assault removed from the post-mortem report, but he refused to oblige. He told the court that he had mentioned this incident to the first CBI team, but they left out this information from their records.


2008 Noida double murder case, Discovery of Hemraj's body
On the morning of 16 May, the visitors to the Talwars' house noticed some bloodstains on the terrace door handle. Rajesh's former colleagues Rajiv Kumar Varshney and Rohit Kochhar later told the police that they saw bloodstains on the terrace door, its lock and the staircase leading to the terrace. While visiting the Talwars' house, Varshney had taken the stairs to the terrace by mistake. However, several other witnesses testified that they had not noticed any bloodstains on the staircase in the morning. These witnesses included several police officers, Umesh Sharma, Puneesh Rai Tandon, Bharati Mandal and Vikas Sethi. Thus, the bloodstains might have been left by the group that tried taking Aarushi's mattress to the Talwars' terrace.


2008 Noida double murder case, Discovery of Hemraj's body
Kocchar stated that the bloodstains on the terrace door were brought to the attention of a police constable named Akhilesh Kumar. Praful Durrani, who also visited the house, claimed that the policeman initially dismissed the spot on the terrace door as rust, and was also dismissive of the bloodstains on the floor. According to Varshney, the police told him that the killer must have tried to escape through or hide weapon on the terrace, but returned after finding it locked. Eventually, the police were persuaded to investigate the terrace, but they could not get the key to the terrace door.


2008 Noida double murder case, Discovery of Hemraj's body
Rohit Kochhar later testified that when a policeman asked Rajesh for the terrace key, he "went into the house and did not come out for a long time." Varshney told the court that Rajesh went "towards staircase and immediately returned and went inside the house". Rajesh later stated that he does not have exact recollection of what happened at that time, but he insisted that he never stopped the investigators from visiting any part of the house. Ultimately, the police were unable to open the door and let it remain locked until the next day.


2008 Noida double murder case, Discovery of Hemraj's body
Superintendent of Police (SP) Mahesh Mishra testified that he had asked for the terrace door to be opened on 16 May. However, his subordinates told him that Rajesh Talwar couldn't find the key and they couldn't find a mechanic to break open the door. He also stated that he had filed a report on this "carelessness" with the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Noida.


2008 Noida double murder case, Discovery of Hemraj's body
On the morning of 17 May, Rajesh and Nupur Talwar left for Haridwar to immerse Aarushi's ashes in the Ganges river as per the Hindu custom. Several visitors continued to arrive at the Talwars' house (which was being managed by Dinesh Talwar) with their condolences. These visitors included retired police officer K.K. Gautam, who had been requested by Sushil Chaudhury to come to the Talwars' house. After arriving at the house, Gautam examined the rooms of Aarushi and Hemraj. Dinesh then showed him the blood stains on the terrace door handle.


2008 Noida double murder case, Discovery of Hemraj's body
According to Gautam, Dinesh requested him to get the terrace door unlocked. Gautam then called SP Mahesh Mishra, and told him that the lock needed to be broken. Mishra promised that he would himself visit the crime scene, and meanwhile, sent the station officer Dataram Nauneria to the apartment. The key to the terrace was still missing. Anita Durrani asked the Talwars' neighbour Puneesh Tandon if he had a duplicate key to the Talwars' terrace, to which Tandon replied in the negative. Ultimately, Dataram Nauneria broke open the lock. As the group entered the terrace, they saw bloody drag marks. A body "in advanced stage of putrefaction" was discovered lying in a pool of blood at about 10:30 am.


2008 Noida double murder case, Discovery of Hemraj's body
Dinesh Talwar couldn't identify the newly discovered body, and called Rajesh and Nupur (who were on their way to Haridwar), asking them to return home. Meanwhile, SP Mahesh Mishra also reached the spot. When the couple arrived at the home, Nupur didn't enter the house: she sat in the car with Aarushi's ashes, as she considered it inauspicious to take the ashes inside. Rajesh went upstairs to identify the body. He told the police that he couldn't be sure that the body was that of Hemraj, due to the injuries and the decomposition. Later, a friend of Hemraj identified the body as his.


2008 Noida double murder case, Discovery of Hemraj's body
Rajesh and Nupur later resumed their journey to Haridwar and returned the same day. At Haridwar, Rajesh entered the time of Aarushi's death as 2 am in the priest's records. An autopsy of Hemraj's body was conducted at night by Dr. Naresh Raj.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered
The UP police did not cordon off the crime scene immediately, and many people, including the media, were freely roaming in the apartment without any permission when the forensic team arrived to gather evidence. According to the CBI team, 90% of the evidence at the crime scene was destroyed due to the police's negligence.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, The injuries
According to their post-mortem reports, both Aarushi and Hemraj died between 12 am and 1 am. Both had been first attacked with a heavy blunt weapon, which caused a "U/V-shaped" scar and resulted in their deaths. Then, their throats were slit with a sharp weapon. There was no sign of asphyxia.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, The injuries
In May 2008, the forensic scientists stated that Aarushi was first assaulted with "a heavy sharp-edged weapon". The first hit on the forehead resulted in her death within two minutes, as indicated by the blood clot size.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, The injuries
In 2012, after Aarushi's parents were charged with the murder, the CBI claimed that according to the experts, the "dimensions of the striking distance" of one of Rajesh's golf clubs was identical to the dimensions of the injuries found on the bodies. Dr. Sunil Dohre testified that the weapon used for the U/V-shaped injuries could possibly be a golf club. The defence argued that the CBI officers had drawn the words "golf club" from Dohre's mouth. Talwars' lawyer stated that Aarushi had suffered a hairline fracture, and produced the forensic expert Dr. RK Sharma, who told the court that this fracture could not have been caused by a golf club.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, The injuries
The weapon used for slitting the throats of the victims was never found. The identical measurements of the lacerated wounds indicated that the same weapon was used on both the victims. In May 2008, the forensic scientists remarked that the wounds displayed a "clinical precision and careful thought", as they were inflicted at the right spot to cut the windpipe and dissect the vital left common carotid artery which supplies oxygenated blood to the brain. Initially, when the Noida police first suspected the parents, they stated that the weapon used was a "surgical knife". By June 2008, the CBI's suspicion had shifted to the three Nepali men, and the weapon was believed to be a kukri, a type of Nepali knife.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, The injuries
The second CBI team returned to the "surgical instrument" theory. In 2013, CBI told the court that according to the faculty at the Talwars' alma mater Maulana Azad Medical College, their dental students were taught surgery. The defence argued that a dentist's scalpel has a cutting surface of about a centimeter: the instrument is too delicate to cut through the carotid artery. According to the defence witness Dr. RK Sharma, the wounds could have been caused by surgical scalpel No. 10 (not used by dentists) or a kukri.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Aarushi's room
Aarushi's body lay on her bed, covered with a white flannel blanket. Her face was covered with her schoolbag.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Aarushi's room
There was blood on the pillow, the bed, the walls, the floor and the front side of the bedroom door. However, there was no blood on the toys, the schoolbag and the pink pillow kept on the back of the bed. These items were within the range of the splashed blood area, which indicates that they were placed on the bed after the murder. Aarushi's body lay undisturbed on the bed, and the bed sheet was laid out smoothly. According to the CBI, no bloodstains were found on the book The 3 Mistakes of My Life, which Aarushi was supposedly reading before her murder.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Aarushi's body
The 2008 post-mortem report written by Dr. Sunil Dohre marked Aarushi's genital area as "nothing abnormal detected", thus ruling out a sexual assault, but also noted the presence of a "whitish discharge" at her vagina. The whitish discharge sample was sent for pathological examination at the local district hospital, which reported absence of semen. However, later, in 2009, when this vaginal swab sample was sent to CBI's forensic labs, it was suspected to have been tampered with (see below). Ultimately, the CBI concluded that the sample had got contaminated, but not deliberately tampered with. Later, gynaecologist Dr. Urmila Sharma testified that the whitish discharge is normal in 13- and 14-year-old girls after the beginning of a menstrual cycle.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Aarushi's body
The bed sheet had a wet circular mark below her pelvic area, which was not urine. There was no such wet patch on her pyjamas, which were untied; no urine or any other bodily fluid was found on her underwear either. The lower garments of Aarushi appeared to have been pulled up or pulled down, as her buttock cleavage was visible. CBI suspected that her pelvic area was swabbed clean, and the pyjamas were pulled up afterwards.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Aarushi's body
Later in 2012, Dr. Dohre stated that Aarushi's private parts were "extraordinarily dilated", although there were no signs of rape. He stated that her hymen was ruptured and that it had an old tear. He also stated that her vaginal orifice was "unduly large", the mouth of her cervix was visible and the whitish discharge was confined to the vagina, when it should have spread to the "entire area". Dr. Dohre stated that he had not mentioned these observations in his original report, because these were his "subjective findings", and because "the findings were non-specific and were very strange". He added the wide vaginal opening found on Aarushi's body could have resulted only when someone manipulated it while the rigor mortis was setting in. He thus concluded that Aarushi's private parts appeared to have been cleaned after she died.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Hemraj's body and the terrace
Hemraj's body had been dragged at least 20 feet on the terrace after his death, as evident by a blood trail and abrasion-contusion on his elbows.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Hemraj's body and the terrace
The body was lying on the left of the roof entrance near the external unit of the air conditioner (AC), and was covered by a panel from the roof cooler. The body appeared to have been dragged towards to AC unit, as the quantity of blood was more near the AC unit. An expert from FSL Gandhinagar as well as a team of experts from CFSL concluded that the drag mark on the roof resulted from a blood-soaked body being dragged after being kept in a bed sheet.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Hemraj's body and the terrace
This raised suspicion that Hemraj might have been killed somewhere else, and his body dragged to the terrace in order to hide it. However, in June 2008, CBI's UV Light testing team reported that it didn't find Hemraj's bloodstains anywhere except the terrace. So, unless the killer cleaned up the original murder spot, Hemraj seems to have been killed on the terrace. The blood found on the staircase leading to the terrace on 17 May might have come from the mattress that the cleaners were trying to dump on the terrace.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Hemraj's body and the terrace
A double-bed cover was draped upon the iron grill that separated the Talwars' terrace from the neighbouring terrace. The investigators found a smudged blood-stained palm print on the terrace wall. The blood was later identified as that of Hemraj, but the print could not be identified. The police also photographed a blood-stained shoe print on the terrace; the shoe size was 8 or 9.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Hemraj's body and the terrace
According to the Talwars' lawyer Pinaki Mishra, those who had found Hemraj's body saw hair in his mouth, possibly that of his killer. However, the police did not check this.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Hemraj's body and the terrace
Unlike Aarushi's body, which had undigested food in the stomach, Hemraj had just 25 ml of liquid in his stomach, indicating that he did not have dinner. This evidence was also supported by the fact that his dinner was found untouched in the kitchen on the morning of 16 May.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Hemraj's body and the terrace
In 2012, during proceedings against Aarushi's parents as suspects, Dr. Naresh Raj told the court that Hemraj's penis was swollen when his body was brought for autopsy. According to him, this meant that he was either in middle of a sexual intercourse, or was about to have one. The defence lawyer cited a medical book which stated that this swelling of penis after death was normal. In response, the doctor stated that his conclusion was not based on any medical authority, but on experiences from his own married life.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Hemraj's room
On 1 July 2008, the first CBI team recorded a statement by KK Gautam, describing Hemraj's room as he found it on 17 May. According to this statement, Gautam saw three glasses, two of which had some quantity of liquor in them, while the third one was empty. He also found three bottles: Kingfisher beer, a Sprite and Sula whisky. Later, DNA of Hemraj was found on the Kingfisher bottle, although according to CBI's investigators, he was a teetotaler.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Hemraj's room
Gautam also visited the servant's toilet where he "found urine of more than one person". According to the statement, he also saw a depression on Hemraj's mattress pointing to the presence of three people in his room. However, in 2012, Gautam told the court that there was no liquor in any of the glasses. He also stated that he had not suggested presence of three people in the room, based on the state of the mattress. When questioned about the discrepancies, he stated that the investigating officer should be asked why his statements were not recorded correctly. He stated that an officer from the first CBI team "distorted several things he said, added things he did not say, and produced a statement that suited the line of investigation at the time."


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, The doors and the keys
There were no signs of forced entry into the apartment, and the middle grill door had been found latched from the outside in the morning. There were two known sets of keys to the house entrance. One set was with the Talwars, and another with Hemraj. Nupur threw down one bunch of keys to the maid on the morning of 16 May. According to the CBI, Nupur had taken these keys from Hemraj's room.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, The doors and the keys
According to Nupur, Hemraj's keys would usually be kept on the sideboard, but she couldn't find them on that morning; so, she threw down her own keys to the maid.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, The doors and the keys
The question whether this key was that of Nupur or Hemraj was initially relevant to the investigation, as there were reports that the middle grill door had been locked from outside with a key (If both the keys were inside and CBI was right, it could mean that the parents locked the door, then went inside their apartment through Hemraj's door which they locked from inside, in order to mislead the investigators). However, later, the maid Bharati's testimony in the court established that the door was merely latched from outside. Thus, if the killers were not the parents, they could have shut the innermost wooden door (which automatically locked when shut), and then latched the middle grill door from outside.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, The doors and the keys
When the maid, Bharati, visited the house on the morning of 16 May, she tried to push the outermost gate but could not open it. When she came back at the gate after collecting the bunch of keys (which Nupur had thrown down), she could open it by pushing it. The CBI theorized that the gate was originally latched from inside: when Bharati went down to fetch the keys, Nupur came to the passage via Hemraj's room, and unlatched it.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, The doors and the keys
In September 2012, the defence claimed that the maid Bharati Mandal was a tutored witness, as she told the court Jo samjhaya gaya wahi bayan de rahi hu ("I am saying whatever I was explained.") However, Bharati denied that she had given any incorrect statement under CBI's pressure. The defence stated that this door was not closed, and presented Rajesh's driver Umesh Sharma as a witness, who stated that this outermost door could be opened by pushing it hard.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, The doors and the keys
The key to the terrace door was never found. According to the Talwars, this key was present in Hemraj's bunch of keys, which went missing after the murders.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, The doors and the keys
The door to Aarushi's room (and the main door of the house) would lock automatically when shut. Aarushi's door could either be opened from inside, or from outside with a key. Usually, her room would be locked at the night, and its keys would be at Nupur's bedside. There was no sign of forced entry in Aarushi's room. On the morning of 16 May, the key was found in its shoe-shaped key ring, on top of a framed wall sculpture near the house entrance, in the living room.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, The doors and the keys
Nupur later told police that she was not sure whether she closed Aarushi's door the last time she entered the room at 11:00 pm, and if she did, she might have let the keys hanging in the key slot. She claims to have stated this in several lie detector, brain mapping and narco-analysis tests that she cleared. In 2013, the SP Mahesh Kumar Mishra told the court that, on 16 May 2008, Rajesh Talwar claimed that he had locked Aarushi's room from outside at 11:30 pm on the previous night. Rajesh also told him that he had forgotten to lock his own bedroom door from inside, and someone could have stolen the key to Aarushi's room from his room.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Phone records
Both Aarushi and Hemraj had mobile phones, and both the phones disappeared after the murder.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Phone records
Hemraj used a Tata Indicom mobile with the electronic serial number #20CFA3EC. The SIM card was registered in name of Rajesh. On 15 May, Hemraj had received two calls from the Talwars' clinic: the first call at 4:58 pm lasted for 10 minutes, and the second call at 5:37 pm lasted for 2 and a half minutes. Rajesh was working in his Hauz Khas clinic at the time, while Nupur was in another area of Noida (Fortis Hospital), as indicated by her mobile phone records. The Talwars' defence lawyer later claimed that Krishna Thadarai was working in the Noida clinic at that time.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Phone records
The last call made to Hemraj during his lifetime was at 8:27 pm, and it lasted for 6 minutes. The call had been made from a PCO in Sector 31; the PCO was located a kilometer away from the Talwars' apartment. The investigators were unable to determine who made this call.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Phone records
The phone records confirmed that Nupur called Hemraj's phone from the Talwars' landline at 6.01 a.m. on 16 May. The call was picked up, but disconnected after two seconds. This call was the last received on the phone, which was somewhere in the coverage area of the Nithari village cell tower 1362/254. The cell tower had a radius of around 1 km, and covered the apartment complex in which the Talwars (and Thadarai) lived. The police therefore suspected that the killer was present inside the house or in its vicinity on the morning of 16 May.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Phone records
Hemraj's phone was never found, but according to the CBI, the number was briefly active in Punjab.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Phone records
Aarushi used a gloss black Nokia N72. She would usually chat with her friends on phone until past midnight. However, on the night of 15 May, her mobile phone was inactive after 9:10 pm. According to the investigators, some of her friends had tried to contact her, but found her mobile phone switched off. The police suspected that either the battery of Aarushi's mobile phone had died or it had been confiscated by this time.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Phone records
Around midnight, Aarushi's friend Anmol tried calling Aarushi on her mobile and then on the family's landline, but there was no response. Anmol sent an SMS message to her mobile phone at around half-past-midnight. According to the phone records, this SMS was not received by Aarushi's phone.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Phone records
A few days after her death, Aarushi's phone was found on a dirt track by a housemaid named Kusum, near Noida's Sadarpur area. The phone was possessed by her brother Ram Bhool since May 2008, but he started using it only in February 2009, when he bought a new SIM card. He used it intermittently; on 12 September 2009, the police traced the phone to his residence in Bulandshahar, and recovered the phone from one Jitender whom he had just sold the phone to.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Phone records
Kusum and Ram Bhool were taken into custody for questioning, but the CBI determined that they had no role in the murders: they were not aware that the phone belonged to Aarushi, and had no mala fide intention in keeping it. The police did not find a data card, pictures or text messages on the recovered phone.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Phone records
The family's landline phone was kept in the bedroom of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar. According to the investigators, Anmol called the landline phone around 11:30 pm, and the call lasted 34 seconds. However, Rajesh denied any knowledge about such a call. Anmol also dialed the family's landline number around midnight, after having failed to reach Aarushi on her mobile: there was no response. The Talwars say that Aarushi would sometimes turn off the ringer on the landline at night, and she might have done it on that night too.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Phone records
The neighbour Puneesh Tandon later told the court that when he visited the Talwar residence on the morning of 16 May, he asked Nupur's father if he had called the police. Nupur's father told him that the landline was out-of-order.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Phone records
Rajesh's mobile phone records do not indicate anything out of the ordinary. The tower location indicates that he was at his residence. He had exchanged 16 calls with his fellow practitioner Anita Durrani until 8 pm. At 9:50 pm, he called the Impressionzz traders in Mumbai, from whom he had ordered Aarushi's camera through Indiatimes shopping, probably to ask about a camera feature. At 10.04 pm, he received a call from the father of a patient, who had an appointment on the next day.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Phone records
At 10:06, he called Dr. Mridul Seth to consult on a surgery scheduled on the next day. At 10:15, he received a call from Vikas Sethi, an employee at his Hauz Khas clinic. At 10:38, he received a call from a UAE number. At 10:54 pm and 11:01 pm, he made calls to the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, Chicago. The next call from his mobile was at 6:19 am on the next day, after the discovery of Aarushi's body.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Phone records
Nupur's mobile phone was switched off from 7:40 pm on 15 May to 1 pm on 18 May. The call records showed that it had not been switched off even once during 60 days preceding the murder.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Claims of threat to Hemraj's life
According to the police, Hemraj had told some of his friends about a threat to his life. Although Hemraj's son-in-law Jeevan denied any knowledge of such a threat, a social worker Usha Thakur confirmed that five days before his murder, Hemraj had told her that he feared for "his life and that of some of his near and dear ones". Later, she told the investigators that she could not do anything for him that day, since she had rush to Bangalore due to a family emergency.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Claims of threat to Hemraj's life
Nearly three years after the murder, in March 2011, Hemraj's wife Khumkala, a resident of Nepal, came to India. She moved a plea at the CBI court in Ghaziabad, alleging that she suspected the Talwars to be the murderers. She stated that Hemraj treated Aarushi like his own daughter, but had strained relations with Rajesh. She claimed when Hemraj visited Nepal in December 2007, he had described Rajesh as a short-tempered person who rebuked him for trivial things and even chased him to beat him up.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Claims of threat to Hemraj's life
She also claimed that Hemraj had called her from a PCO 15 days before his murder: He told her that Rajesh and Nupur suspected him of leaking their family secrets. When Rajesh's brother Dinesh visited their house, he also looked upon Hemraj with suspicion. The three threatened to kill him, if he dared leak the family's private information to the outsiders. According to her, Hemraj was frustrated with the Talwars' behaviour and was searching for a new job.


2008 Noida double murder case, Evidence gathered, Claims of threat to Hemraj's life
Hemraj's wife also claimed that Hemraj had not sent any money back home since December 2007, and had told her that he had kept the money with the Talwars. But the Talwars did not send her Hemraj's dues after his murder. When asked why she had not made these revelations earlier, she stated that she had faith in India's judiciary until that point; her lawyer stated that she came from a poor family and had little awareness.


2008 Noida double murder case, Previous servants as suspects
The discovery of Hemraj's body had greatly embarrassed the police, as their initial investigation focused on him as the murderer. The police were also criticized for other investigation lapses, such as not cordoning off the crime scene. The investigating officer Dataram Nauneria (Noida Sector-20 police Station Officer) was shifted on 17 May. The next day, Superintendent of Police (City) Mahesh Mishra was also transferred.