2008 Simaria by-election, Candidates, J.P.S. Bhogta
The Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) candidate was Jai Prakash Singh Bhogta, a political newcomer in his late 20s. Bhogta is the son of former legislator Mahendra Bhogta. Press reports claimed that JVM(P) would hire two helicopters to help Bhogta campaign across the constituency. Key JVM(P) leaders like Pradeep Yadav, Ravindra Rai, Theodore Kido and Saba Ahmad came to the constituency to campaign for Bhogta.


2008 Simaria by-election, Candidates, Kumar Ujjwal Das
On 16 January 2008 BJP declared that it would field Kumar Ujjwal Das, Upendra Nath Das' son and political newcomer, as its candidate. The party hoped to benefit sympathy wave after the death of Das. He was a 26-year old management graduate of Jadavpur University. Ahead of the election  	Kumar Ujjwal Das faced opposition from BJP legislator Satyanand Bhogta from the nearby Chatra constituency who wished to field his wife as the BJP candidate instead.


2008 Simaria by-election, Candidates, Kumar Ujjwal Das
Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha, former Chief Minister Arjun Munda as well as Jharkhand BJP chief P.N. Singh campaigned for Das.


2008 Simaria by-election, Candidates, Meena Devi
The Jharkhand Party candidate Meena Devi was noted for declaring the largest assets, 1,430,000 Indian rupees and two buses.


2008 Simaria by-election, Candidates, Kuldeep Ganjhu
Kuldeep Ganjhu contested the election behind bars as an independent. Once a Communist Party of India (Maoist) zonal commander, Ganjhu had been arrested in 2004. Ganjhu had requested to get a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket to contest the by-election.


2008 Simaria by-election, Candidates, Ram Chandra Ram
CPI candidate Ram Chandra Ram had contested the Simaria seat since 1985. In the by-poll Ram's candidacy was backed-up by RJD, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). CPI Member of Parliament Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta declared Ram as the joint candidate of the United Progressive Alliance.


2008 Simaria by-election, Candidates, Ram Chandra Ram
JMM declared its support for Ram on 16 January 2008 (after RJD and CPI(M) had already pledged their support), calling for unity of UPA partners to defeat communal forces. However, the Indian National Congress (key constituent of UPA) hesitated to support Ram, seemingly wanting to field a candidate of its own instead. Mehta requested Congress president Sonia Gandhi to withdraw their candidate in favour of Ram.


2008 Simaria by-election, Candidates, Ram Chandra Ram
Seeking to distance itself from the Koda cabinet, CPI requested that neither Koda nor any of his ministers would campaign in favour of Ram. Union Railway Minister and RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav campaigned in favour of Ram.


2008 Simaria by-election, Security measures
The Communist Party of India (Maoist) called for a boycott of the election. All 228 voting stations were declared as sensitive. 20 companies of paramilitary and other security forces were deployed across the constituency to ensure that the election was held. Authorities organized an aerial vigil on polling day. BJP legislator Satyanand Bhogta was put under preventive detention for some time during the election day.


2008 Simaria by-election, Voting
Voting passed peacefully. Low turn-out was attributed to poll boycott and poor weather.


2008 Simaria by-election, Result
The counting of votes and declaration of the result was done on 7 February 2008. Ram Chandra Ram was declared as winner. He took his oath a Member of the Legislative Assembly in Ranchi on 8 February 2008.


2008 Simaria by-election, Result
The result was a set-back for BJP leader Arjun Munda, as it was the fourth consecutive by-election loss for BJP in the state.


2008 Simeulue earthquake
On February 20, 2008, an earthquake with a moment magnitude of 7.4 struck off the coast of Sumatra at a hypocentre depth of 26 km. The earthquake had an epicenter located on the island of Simeulue, northwest from Sinabang, a small town on the island. Three people were killed and an additional 25 seriously injured as a result of the earthquake.


2008 Simeulue earthquake, Tectonic setting
The west coast of Sumatra is dominated by the Sunda megathrust; a 5,000 km long convergent boundary where the Australian Plate subducts beneath the Burma Plate and Sunda Plate at a rate of 60 mm/yr. The subduction zone offshore Sumatra has been responsible for several large earthquakes in 2004 and 2005.


2008 Simeulue earthquake, Earthquake
The Simeulue earthquake occurred as a result of thrust faulting along the subduction zone where the Australian and Burma Plates meet. It earthquake had an epcenter close to another magnitude 7.4 earthquake in 2002. That was considered a foreshock of the 2004 event. The rupture patch for the 2008 event is located between the southern rupture area of the 2004 quake, and the northern rupture for another 2005 quake. Prior to this quake, that section of the megathrust was considered a seismic gap that last ruptured in 1797. It was not considered an aftershock of neither the 2004 or 2005 earthquakes. During the earthquake in 2008, a circular rupture area with a diameter of 60 km broke and slipped for 2.2 meters at its maximum.


2008 Simeulue earthquake, Earthquake, Damage and casualties
Three people were reported killed and 25 suffered serious injuries from the quake. The earthquake damaged many buildings in Simeulue due to the strong ground shaking. It was felt in northern Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, and even Thailand. This caused many residents along the Sumatran coast to evacuate for fear of a tsunami.


2008 Sindh provincial election
Provincial elections were held in Sindh on 18 February 2008 to elect the Provincial Assembly.


2008 Singapore Armed Forces FC season
Singapore Armed Forces FC competed as one of the 12 teams in the 2008 NTUC Income Yeo's S-League season. The club also took part in the 2008 editions of the RHB Singapore Cup and the Singapore League Cup, as well as the regional AFC Cup.


2008 Singapore Armed Forces FC season, First team
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2008 Singapore Armed Forces FC season, First team, List of 2007-08 transfers, In
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2008 Singapore Armed Forces FC season, First team, List of 2007-08 transfers, Out
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2008 Singapore Armed Forces FC season, Player seasonal records
Competitive matches only. Numbers in brackets indicate appearances made. Updated to games played May 20, 2008.


2008 Singapore Cup
The 2008 edition of the Singapore Cup soccer competition was officially known as the RHB Singapore Cup (due to sponsorship from RHB Bank). It was the 11th staging of the annual Singapore Cup tournament.


2008 Singapore Cup
The competition began on 6 May 2008, with 12 S.League clubs and 4 invited foreign teams from Thailand (2 teams), Cambodia (1) and Brunei (1). The cup was a single-elimination tournament, with all sixteen teams playing from the first round. The first round involved one-off matches. Subsequent rounds involved ties of two legs.


2008 Singapore Cup
The final (single-leg) was played on 28 November 2008, and SAFFC beat Woodlands Wellington 2–1, with the deciding goal scored by Kenji Arai in the first period of extra-time.


2008 Singapore Cup, Knockout stage, First knockout round
The draw for the first knockout round was held on Friday, 5 April 2008 in Singapore. The first round matches started on 6 May.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix
The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, formally known as the 2008 Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, was a Formula One race held on 28 September 2008 at 20:00 SST at the newly built Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore. It was the 15th race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship, the 800th Formula One World Championship race overall, and the first ever Formula One race held at night. This was also the first time Singapore hosted a Formula One race, as the last Singapore Grand Prix was a Formula Libre event in 1973.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix
The 61-lap race was won by Fernando Alonso for the Renault team from 15th on the grid, after his teammate deliberately crashed on lap 14 to bring out the safety car after his first pit stop. Nico Rosberg claimed second in his Williams followed by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix
Felipe Massa of Ferrari started from pole position. Drivers' Championship leader Hamilton was second while reigning world champion Kimi Räikkönen qualified third. They continued in this order until Renault's Nelson Piquet, Jr. deliberately crashed on lap 14, bringing out the safety car as planned after Alonso's pit stop. The leading drivers all pitted when the pit lane was opened. Massa prematurely left the pit box with his fuel hose still attached and dropped to last place.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix
Alonso, who had pitted before the safety car was deployed, subsequently took the lead and won the race. Nico Rosberg managed to finish second despite incurring a stop-go penalty and Hamilton completed the podium in third. Red Bull Racing's David Coulthard finished 7th, scoring the final points of his career. Kazuki Nakajima also scored his final points. The result saw Hamilton extend his lead in the Driver's standings to 7 points over Massa, who failed to score. McLaren also took over the lead in the Constructors' Championship by one point from Ferrari.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix
In September 2009, Renault F1 admitted to an FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting that Piquet had deliberately crashed per instructions from Renault team principal Flavio Briatore and chief engineer Pat Symonds, in the hope of helping Alonso win. The Renault team were handed a disqualification from F1, which was suspended for two years pending any further rule infringements. Briatore was banned from all FIA-sanctioned events for life, while Symonds was banned for five years. However,  Briatore and Symonds sued the FIA in French courts, and on 5 January 2010, the Tribunal de Grande Instance overturned the ban which had been put in place on both men.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Background
In early 2007, talks of staging a Formula One Grand Prix in Singapore began, with the focus on arranging this to be a night race in order to cater Formula One's audience in Europe. The race was approved in May and construction for the grand prix complex began in August 2007. The lighting system consisted of nearly 1600 light projectors, separated by four meters and suspended 10 meters above the track. The system generated a total of 3000 lux intensity, approximately four times intensity used in standard  football stadium. The whole system required total of 108,423 meter cables and was connected to twelve twin-powered generators, generating estimated power of three megawatts.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Background
At the previous race in Italy, Sebastian Vettel took his and Toro Rosso's maiden win in the wet race. Vettel became the youngest driver to win a Formula One race, aged 21 years and 73 days. Ferrari's Felipe Massa finished in sixth place, narrowing Lewis Hamilton's lead in the Drivers' Championship to a single point. They were followed by BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica and Massa's teammate Kimi Räikkönen. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari were in the lead with 134 points, followed by McLaren-Mercedes and BMW Sauber.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Background
Due to the unusual time of the race, teams and drivers had to adapt their working hours by waking up at around midday local time, starting work around late afternoon, and staying up until 4am. Most drivers and teams praised the track after carrying out track inspections as well as arrangements undertaken by the track authorities. However, concerns were raised about high bumps on kerbs of the Turn 10 chicane. Concerns were also expressed on safety measures needed in case of rain during the race.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Practice
Hamilton set the fastest time in the first practice session on 26 September. He was followed by the Ferraris of Massa and Räikkönen and Hamilton's teammate Kovalainen. Red Bull's Mark Webber suffered a crash at Turn 18, damaging his front suspension. A number of drivers faced problems at the final corner of the circuit, including Honda's Rubens Barrichello who crashed backwards into the barriers. Toyota's Jarno Trulli also spun at this corner and subsequently made his way into the pits by driving in the wrong direction. Trulli was fined €10,000 for his misconduct.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Practice
Renault's Fernando Alonso was fastest in the second practice session, displacing Hamilton to second position with his final flying lap. The two were followed by Kovalainen, Massa and Nico Rosberg. During the session, Toro Rosso's Sébastien Bourdais almost collided with Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber as he exited from the pit lane into the first corner. In separate incidents, Timo Glock lost his front wing when he crashed into wall at Turn 7, Giancarlo Fisichella faced gearbox problems and Massa mistakenly took a wrong turn towards the escape road off the track.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Practice
Alonso was again the fastest man on the track in the final practice session, with Hamilton and Massa second and third respectively. Numerous drivers faced problems with bumps on the track, narrowly avoiding accidents. Fisichella damaged his Force India VJM01's front wing and suspension after it launched off the kerbs at the Turn 10 chicane.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
I think first of all the car was just perfect, you know, so nice to drive smoothly and then I managed to do a perfect lap and that always helps when you have a good car and you don't make any single mistakes in whatever corner you go. That is always a great achievement.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
Räikkönen topped the first qualifying session, ahead of Kovalainen and Hamilton. Nelson Piquet, Jr., Sébastien Bourdais, Rubens Barrichello, Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella were eliminated in this session. Fisichella was unable to record a time during the session after he crashed into barriers at Turn 3 due to a punctured tyre. During his flying lap, Barrichello was impeded by Nick Heidfeld and subsequently entered the pits to abandon his lap. Heidfeld was dropped three grid places for blocking and Barrichello was fined €10,000 for an unsafe pit lane entry as he did not use the deceleration zone.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
The second qualifying session was led by Felipe Massa, with Kovalainen and Räikkönen in second and third place. Hamilton barely managed to reach the third session, after a driving mistake during his penultimate run. Fernando Alonso was eliminated early in this session when his car suffered a fuel feed problem before he could set a lap time. The other drivers who failed to reach the top ten were Jarno Trulli, Jenson Button and both Red Bulls of Mark Webber and David Coulthard.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
Massa took the pole position in the final session, with Hamilton, Räikkönen and Kubica completing first two rows of the grid. Massa secured his position by clocking lap time six-tenths faster than Hamilton, describing it as his best qualifying result of the season. Kovalainen, managing fifth position, rued his tyre selections in the final session. Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Vettel and Glock occupied the third and fourth rows of the grid while the Williams' of Rosberg and Nakajima completed the top ten.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Race
The race began at 20:00 SST. During the warm-up lap, Piquet spun out at Turn 23, but immediately recovered and took his position on the grid. At the start, Massa, championship rival Hamilton and Räikkönen all got through the first sequence of corners safely and retained their positions. Kubica and Kovalainen made contact at Turn 3, causing Kovalainen to lose two places to Vettel and Glock. Heidfeld and Alonso cut the first corner but they did not receive any penalty. Massa began to edge away from Hamilton, who in turn was pulling away from Räikkönen. Jarno Trulli had begun the race on a heavy fuel load, and soon was holding up a number of cars with Williams's Nico Rosberg immediately behind him. It was not until the seventh lap that Rosberg finally passed Trulli's Toyota, and soon Nakajima and Alonso got through as well.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Race
After ten laps, Massa had built up a lead of over three seconds to Hamilton and Räikkönen was a further seven seconds behind Hamilton. On lap twelve, Alonso was the first driver who came into the pits. He switched his super-soft tyres for the soft compound tyres and rejoined at the back of the field. Two laps later, teammate Nelson Piquet, Jr. lost control of his car and hit the wall at Turn 17, blaming his hard tyres for the accident. This resulted in the first safety car period of the race.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Race
The two Red Bull cars and Rubens Barrichello managed to come into the pits before it was closed. With very little fuel left, Rosberg and Kubica had no choice but to pit despite the pit lane being closed. Barrichello's Honda then had a mechanical failure and became the second retirement of the race. After all the cars were behind the safety car, the pit lane was opened and nearly all the drivers pitted.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Race
In the pits, Ferrari prematurely released Massa with the fuel hose still attached to the car. The Brazilian was also released into the path of Adrian Sutil, who narrowly avoided the Ferrari. Massa went the full length of the pitlane before stopping just before the exit. Massa rejoined at the back of the field after the Ferrari mechanics ran down the pitlane and removed the hose from the car. Cars who had either pitted before the safety car or were on one stop strategies were now in front. Rosberg now led from Trulli, Fisichella, Kubica, Alonso, Webber, Coulthard and Hamilton.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Race
Rosberg started to pull away from the heavily fuelled Trulli and Fisichella's Force India, who held up most of the field behind him. In the next few laps, Felipe Massa was given a drive through penalty for an unsafe release from the pits while Rosberg and Kubica were given 10 second stop-go penalties for refuelling when the pitlane was closed. The Ferrari driver served his penalty and rejoined the track still in last place. Kubica came into the pits from fourth and dropped behind Massa. After building a lead of over fifteen seconds to Trulli, Rosberg served his penalty a lap later but only lost three positions. He rejoined the circuit in fourth behind Alonso and Jarno Trulli took over the lead.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Race
A lap later, Fisichella came in from second to make his only pit stop, moving Alonso and Rosberg into second and third. Trulli led the race for four more laps before making his only stop of the night, handing the lead to Alonso. He soon pulled away from Rosberg who pitted from second on lap 41, rejoining in seventh. Alonso made his final stop a lap later but still rejoined in the lead, just ahead of second and third placed Coulthard and Hamilton. Coulthard lost momentum and the McLaren overtook the Red Bull at turn seven. At the end of the lap, both cars pitted and Coulthard nearly left with his fuel hose attached.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Race
After 45 laps, Alonso led Timo Glock by just over six seconds and Rosberg by a further eleven seconds in third. The Toyota driver pitted two laps later, rejoining in fifth. Four laps later, Trulli began to slow down and soon retired after a mechanical failure. On the same lap, Räikkönen made his second and final stop of the race and rejoined in fifth. A lap later, Massa spun at Turn 18 and lightly tapped the tyre wall without sustaining much damage. Moments later, Sutil fell victim to the same corner and damaged his front suspension, becoming the fifth retirement of the night. The incident brought out the second safety car period of the race.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Race
The safety car withdrew from the circuit with nine laps remaining and Alonso pulled away from Rosberg and Hamilton. Glock, Räikkönen, Vettel, Heidfeld and Coulthard (ultimately, claiming points for the final time) were in the remaining points positions. Rosberg was coming under pressure from Hamilton, who was looking to capitalize on Massa's incidents. With four laps remaining, Räikkönen bounced off the kerbs at the Turn 10 chicane and crashed into the barriers while chasing Glock, promoting Nakajima into the points. Alonso maintained his lead over Rosberg and took his first win for Renault since his return to the team.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Race
Rosberg held on to second and Hamilton settled for third. Massa finished in 13th place and the points difference between himself and Hamilton increased to seven points and McLaren took over the lead in the Constructors' Championship. With teammate Räikkönen failing to finish, this was the first time the Ferrari team had failed to score any points in a race since the 2006 Australian Grand Prix. Räikkönen recorded his tenth fastest lap of the season during the race, tying his own record that he shared with Michael Schumacher. Heidfeld broke a Schumacher record, being classified for a 25th consecutive race.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
A first podium of the season and first victory as well and I am extremely happy. I cannot believe it right now, I think I need a couple of days to realise we won a race this year. It seems impossible all through the season to be close to the top guys and here suddenly we have been competitive from Friday. Obviously we started at the back and the first safety car helped me a lot and I was able to win the race.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
Fernando Alonso, speaking after his first win of the year.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
Fernando Alonso credited his success to the team's strategy and bit of luck. He said that the team chose a two-stop strategy with a short initial stint as opposed to a one-stop strategy, considering the difficulties of overtaking on the track and possibility of brake problems. Nico Rosberg was pleased with his career best result, although he recalled when he thought his efforts for a good finish might have been in vain after being given a stop-and-go penalty.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
He mentioned that he had to come in for the pit stops on the same lap that the safety car came out, and admitted that he was annoyed with the penalty. Hamilton said that he tried to get close to Rosberg towards the final laps, after the second safety car period. However, seeing that overtaking was extremely risky, he decided against it, considering that neither of the Ferraris was going to score.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said that the reason for Massa's pit incident was not the electronic signalling system but a human error. He defended the electronic system saying that the system saves any reaction time for the driver as opposed to a standard "lollipop" system, and considering it was a human error, the incident may have happened with a lollipop as well.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
Toyota filed a protest against Toro Rosso for releasing Sebastian Vettel in Timo Glock's path during their first pit stops under the safety car. The stewards, however, rejected Toyota's plea.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
In the Drivers' Championship, Lewis Hamilton's third place moved him seven points clear of Felipe Massa on 84 points. With both Ferrari drivers failing to score, McLaren took over the lead in the Constructors' Championship on 135 points. Fernando Alonso's victory meant that Renault overtook Toyota for fourth place in the constructors standings.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Reactions
The international media and many of those directly involved in Formula One praised the staging of the SingTel Singapore Grand Prix highly. Fears which were previously expressed about the weather, visibility and narrow nature of the circuit itself all proved unfounded. Organisation of the event itself was widely deemed to be impeccable as the ushering, transport, and security services all ran like clockwork. However, the drivers did complain about how bumpy the track was, particularly off the racing line, which made overtaking difficult on a street circuit hemmed in by barriers.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Reactions
Sports supremo and Formula One's commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone heralded the Singapore Grand Prix as the "new jewel in the Formula One sports crown", a phrase often used to describe the Monaco Grand Prix circuit. He described Singapore as an example to follow and would make people reconsider their opinions of Asia.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Reactions
For years I've been saying go East, not West. When you think about it, most parts of Asia where people have visited, they sort of put everything in one basket – 'Singapore is the same as India, Malaysia and Thailand'. That's how they feel because they don't know any better. Hopefully this will open people's eyes and they'll say, my God, Singapore really is alive and well.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Reactions
Several other prominent Formula One personalities were quoted as saying,


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Reactions
The guys here have done an absolutely unbelievable job. The effort that has gone into this circuit in the last 12 months is nothing short of phenomenal. I think of the spectacle of a night race, but not only have we got a night race, we have also got a great circuit, a really challenging circuit. They have just raised the bar considerably for a new circuit and the spectacle of racing at night in a big city such as Singapore is really exciting.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Reactions
It has a good chance of challenging Monaco for being the jewel in the crown of Formula One. That is the most accurate thing to say. They have great weather, a very good track and the grandstands packed. I think there is a lot of enthusiasm out there.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Reactions
It is not just a new experience, it is a real big step in the history of grand prix racing because it has been done so well. Everything has been proven now and we can take this model and apply it to anywhere in the world – either to bring to Europe the race at a time when people watch it, or even within Europe to make it more spectacular.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Reactions
I think it is a big, big step forward for Formula One. The pictures, the atmosphere is really one of a kind and this gives a completely new experience to all the viewers worldwide but also to the spectators. That is very positive and the whole scenery I think is unreal. It is like in a movie and I think it is a big, big step. I think Bernie pushed very hard, so thanks to him.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Reactions
The most impressive thing for me is what an amazing job they have done here in Singapore to prepare the circuit. I cannot particularly fault it. I think they did a tremendous job, so I feel everyone deserves a real pat on the back because it is really impressive."


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Reactions
Of course, when you race on a track that would work better as a circus rink or something along those lines, anything can happen, because the real show was put on yesterday by the safety car. This is humiliating for the F1 world. During the next few weeks, I would like discuss this with all the other teams.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Reactions
Locally, Sunday's F1 night race on the local MediaCorp TV Channel 5 drew more viewers than the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony in the previous month, becoming the highest-rated programme for the year. The average ratings for Sunday's race were 17.8 per cent, or 789,000 viewers, as compared to 17.3 per cent (765,000 viewers) for the opening of the Beijing Games. The world's inaugural F1 race under floodlights is reported to have been watched by an estimated global TV audience of about 400 million.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, FIA investigation
During the race, Renault F1 driver Nelson Piquet, Jr. crashed on Lap 14, which at the time he attributed to a simple mistake. At the time, his Renault teammate Fernando Alonso was the only driver to have pitted for fuel, and he later went on to win the race. After Piquet, Jr. left Renault in August 2009, allegations surfaced that this crash had been deliberate, to give an advantage to Alonso.


2008 Singapore Grand Prix, FIA investigation
Following a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) investigation in which Piquet, Jr. stated he had been ordered by Renault team principal Flavio Briatore and engineer Pat Symonds to stage the crash, on 4 September 2009 Renault were charged with conspiracy and race fixing, and were due to face the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on 21 September 2009. Initially, Renault and Briatore stated they would take legal action against Piquet, Jr. for making false allegations; before the 21 September meeting, however, Renault announced they would not contest the charges and that Briatore and Symonds had left the team.


2008 Singapore League Cup
The 2008 Singapore League Cup marks the second occasion on which the Singapore League Cup competition has been staged. (The event was launched in 2007). Its official sponsored name for 2008 is the Avaya-J&J League Cup.


2008 Singapore League Cup
In 2007, the event was held before the start of the S.League season (and serving as a pre-season warm-up tournament), and was won by Woodlands Wellington FC. However, in 2008, the event is being held during the S.League season. All 12 S.League teams have entered the 2008 competition.


2008 Singapore League Cup
The cup is being played over four rounds. The top four teams in the S.League in 2007 were given a bye to the Quarter-Final stage.


2008 Singapore League Cup
The final will be played on 16 June at Jalan Besar Stadium.


2008 Singapore League Cup, Teams, Round one
The draw for the first knockout round was held on Tuesday, 13 May 2008 in Singapore. The first round matches kick off on 30 May. The matches are played on a one match basis. The winners advance to the Quarter-Final stage. Teams who had finished in top 4 positions of 2007 S.League received a bye and need not participate in Round one knockout competition. They were: Singapore Armed Force FC, Home United, Tampines Rovers and Gombak United respectively.


2008 Singapore Super Series
The 2008 Singapore Super Series was the fifth tournament of 2008 BWF Super Series badminton tournament. It was held from June 10 to June 15, 2008 in Singapore.


2008 Singer Sri Lankan Airlines Rugby 7s
The 2008 Singer Sri Lankan Airlines Rugby 7s was the tenth year and final year of the Singer Sri Lankan Airlines Rugby 7s tournament. Malaysia defeated South Korea 31 - 21 in the final of the Cup.


2008 Sioux Falls Cougars football team
The 2008 Sioux Falls Cougars football team represented the University of Sioux Falls in the 2008 NAIA football season. The Cougars captured the 2008 NAIA Football National Championship with a 23–7 victory over the top-ranked Carroll (MT). The team also won the Great Plains Athletic Conference championship with a perfect 10–0 record. This was the school's third NAIA Championship (1996, 2006) and second in three years. The team was coached by Kalen DeBoer.


2008 Sioux Falls Cougars football team, Schedule
USF would start the season ranked #2 and would stay at that spot through the championship series.


2008 Six Days Track Cycling Events
The 2008 Six days track cycling events are multi-race competitions, each taking place over six days at various locations in mainland Europe. The riders challenge each other in track cycling disciplines including the madison, track time trials, sprints, and Derny motor-paced races.


2008 Six Nations Championship
The 2008 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2008 RBS 6 Nations because of sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the ninth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, the 114th series of the international championship.


2008 Six Nations Championship
Fifteen matches were played over five weekends from 2 February to 15 March, resulting in Wales winning the Grand Slam, their second in the last four championships and tenth overall. In winning the Grand Slam, Wales also won the Triple Crown, for beating each of the other Home Nations, for the 19th time. Wales conceded only two tries in the championship, beating England's previous record of four tries conceded. Wales' Shane Williams was named the Player of the Championship.


2008 Six Nations Championship squads, England
Squad announced on 9 January 2008, accessed from . Caps updated 10 January 2008 from . On 19 January 2008, Peter Richards was injured playing in a match for London Irish and ruled out of the Six Nations. Due to more injuries in the squad London Irish scrum-half Paul Hodgson, Bath flanker Michael Lipman and Gloucester number eight Luke Narraway were all called up to the squad.


2008 Six Nations Championship squads, England
On 2 February 2008, in England's opening match, Mike Tindall and Tom Rees were injured and ruled out of the rest of the tournament, while David Strettle is out for four to eight weeks. Because of this Newcastle scrum-half Lee Dickson, London Irish fly-half Shane Geraghty and Sale flanker Magnus Lund were added to the squad. Andrew Sheridan and Phil Vickery were forced to withdraw from England's game against Italy, Bristol's Jason Hobson was called up to the bench as a reserve.


2008 Six Nations Championship squads, England
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2008 Six Nations Championship squads, France
Initial squad announced on 22 January 2008, accessed from . Changes since then are:


2008 Six Nations Championship squads, France
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2008 Six Nations Championship squads, Ireland
Squad announced 15 January 2008, accessed from . Cap totals updated 16 January 2008 from . On 24 January 2008, Jerry Flannery was handed an eight-week suspension for stamping on Julien Bonnaire in a match for Munster, therefore ruling him out of taking any part in the Six Nations. He later appealed against this decision and had his ban reduced to one month, making him available for Ireland's final three games. Gordon D'Arcy broke his right arm in the first half of Ireland's Six Nations opener against Italy on 2 February, ending his Six Nations campaign. On 19 February, Paul O'Connell was named on the bench for Ireland's game against Scotland after making a successful return from a back injury.


2008 Six Nations Championship squads, Ireland
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2008 Six Nations Championship squads, Italy
Squad announced 9 January 2008, accessed from . Nick Mallett decided to drop Denis Dallan, Enrico Patrizio, Ludovico Nitoglia, Ramiro Pez, Robert Barbieri and Antonio Pavanello from the original squad, while former captain Marco Bortolami is out for the first half of the tournament with an eye injury. Carlos Nieto missed the game against Ireland because of the death of his father, meaning Lorenzo Cittadini took his place on the bench. He then returned for their match against England.


2008 Six Nations Championship squads, Italy
On the announcement of Italy's squad for their game against Wales, Matteo Pratichetti, Kaine Robertson and Pablo Canavosio were ruled out with minor injuries, Enrico Patrizio and Ludovico Nitoglia were recalled due to this. Meanwhile, David Bortolussi was injured in training and ruled out for the rest of the tournament, Paolo Buso took his place in the squad. Also with the return of Marco Bortolami to full fitness, Tommaso Reato lost his place in the squad. But then Ludovico Nitoglia once again lost his place in squad, this time to Alessio Galante


2008 Six Nations Championship squads, Italy
On 27 February, Mauro Bergamasco was handed a 13-week ban for gouging Wales' Lee Byrne during the teams' match.


2008 Six Nations Championship squads, Italy
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2008 Six Nations Championship squads, Scotland
Squad announced 8 January 2008, accessed from . Caps updated 17 January 2008 from . After originally being dropped from the squad, hooker Dougie Hall, props Bruce Douglas and Craig Smith and lock Scott Murray were all called up to the squad due to injuries in the main squad.


2008 Six Nations Championship squads, Scotland
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2008 Six Nations Championship squads, Wales
Squad announced 14 January 2008, accessed from . Caps updated 14 January 2008 from . In Wales' opening game of the Six Nations, Alun Wyn Jones was left with an injury to his ankle. For their next game, Warren Gatland called up Cardiff lock Deiniol Jones to cover for him.


2008 Six Nations Championship squads, Wales
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2008 Six Nations Under 20s Championship
The 2008 Six Nations Under 20s Championship was the first Six Nations Under 20s Championship, a rugby union competition for under-20 national teams, played between February and March 2008. This was the first competition of the new under-20s tournament, following the merger of the under-19 and under-21 tournaments. England won the tournament along with the Grand Slam and Triple Crown.


2008 Six Nations Under 20s Championship, Top try scorers
Zagar, Bastareaud (both FRA), Strain (SCO), Stegmann, Ellis, Cox, Eves (all ENG) – 2


2008 Six-red Snooker International
The 2008 Six-red Snooker International (also known as the 2008 SangSom 6-red Snooker International for promotional and marketing purposes) was a six-red snooker tournament that took place between 8 and 13 July 2008 at the Montien Riverside Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.


2008 Six-red Snooker International
Twenty-one of the tournament's 48 competitors were currently on the 2008/09 main tour of the more established 15-reds game, including former world champions Peter Ebdon and Ken Doherty, 2007 finalist Mark Selby and the hugely successful Jimmy White. A relatively high proportion of competitors were from Asia.


2008 Six-red Snooker International, Round-robin stage
The top four players from each group qualified for the knock-out stage. All matches were best of 9 frames.


2008 Skagit County shootings
On September 2, 2008, 28-year-old Isaac Zamora killed six people (including one sheriff's deputy) and wounded two more on a shooting rampage in Skagit County, Washington. The incident began when Skagit County Sheriff's Deputy Anne Jackson responded to a call at Zamora's home in Alger, Washington. Zamora shot Jackson and then left the residence. He shot seven additional people and led authorities on a high-speed chase along Interstate 5 before surrendering at the Skagit County Sheriff's Office in Mount Vernon, Washington.


2008 Skagit County shootings
At his 2009 trial, Zamora pled guilty to several felony charges, including four counts of aggravated murder, in the shootings, and not guilty by reason of insanity to two additional counts of aggravated murder. Zamora received four life sentences and was subsequently committed to Western State Hospital. In 2012, Zamora was moved to the Monroe Correctional Complex due to concerns that his presence posed a threat to hospital staff and other patients. In 2019 Zamora is appealing for a new trial.


2008 Skate America
The 2008 Skate America was the first event of six in the 2008–09 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Comcast Arena at Everett in Everett, Washington on October 23–26. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters earned points toward qualifying for the 2008–09 Grand Prix Final. The compulsory dance was the Viennese Waltz.


2008 Skate Canada International
The 2008 Skate Canada International was the second event of six in the 2008–09 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Ontario on October 30 – November 2. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters earned points toward qualifying for the 2008–09 Grand Prix Final. The compulsory dance was the Pasodoble.


2008 Skate Canada International, Schedule
The switch from daylight saving time to standard time was on November 2. Therefore, the events on Friday and Saturday were UTC-4, and the events on Sunday were UTC-5.


2008 Skorpion Zinc strike
The 2008 Skorpion Zinc strike was a worker's strike against the ownership of the Skorpion Zinc mine near the southern Namibian town of Rosh Pinah in ǁKaras Region. Skorpion Zinc is the largest zinc mine in Africa and the eighth largest in the world. Lasting 19 days (from May 10, 2008, to May 29, 2008), the workers ended their strike when management agreed to a 12 percent raise in wages plus overtime and travel expenses. The workers had originally demanded a 14 percent raise in wages. The strike was supported by the Namibia's Mineworkers Union of Namibia, who accused Skorpion Zinc of practising racial discrimination and of negotiating in bad faith.


2008 Skorpion Zinc strike, Effects
The strike only marginally affected outputs, as only a day's worth of production was lost during the 19-day strike.


2008 Skycity Triple Crown
The 2008 Skycity Triple Crown was the sixth round of the 2008 V8 Supercar season. It was held on the weekend of July 4 to 6 at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin, Northern Territory.


2008 Skyrunner World Series
The 2008 Skyrunner World Series was the 7th edition of the global skyrunning competition, Skyrunner World Series, organised by the International Skyrunning Federation from 2002.


2008 Skyrunner World Series
From this year and up to 2011 (4 editions) was introduced Skyrunner World Series Trials.


2008 Skyrunner World Series, Skyrunner World Series Races
The World Cup has developed in 6 races from May to September. in addition at the 8 trials.


2008 Skyrunning European Championships
The 2008 Skyrunning European Championships was the 2nd edition of the global skyrunning competition, Skyrunning European Championships, organised by the International Skyrunning Federation and was held in Zegama (Spain), took place on 25 May 2008, coinciding with the Zegama-Aizkorri Maratoia.


2008 Skyrunning European Championships, Results
The race of the VII Zegama-Aizkorri Maratoia (42.195 km) was the only competition with 391 athletes who reached the finish line of both sexes and nations (including non-European ones). obviously the medals of the European Championships were awarded by compiling single rankings, male and female, and not including non-European athletes.


2008 Skåne County earthquake
The 2008 Skåne County earthquake occurred at 06.20am CET (05.20 UTC) on 16 December and affected the southern part of Sweden and eastern parts of Denmark. The epicenter was 5 km southwest of Sjöbo and 60 km east of Malmö. The earthquake was considered "moderately strong" with a moment magnitude calculated at 4.2–4.3 . Strong shaking was reported widely in Sweden from Skåne to Östergötland, in Denmark, and in northern Poland.


2008 Skåne County earthquake
The Skåne region is known for extremely low seismic activity, with only three small earthquakes (each less than 2.8) detected between 1970 and 2008, and only 14 earthquakes since 1375. Roadways in Sweden and Denmark were reported with cracks but investigations did not determine if any were caused by the earthquake.


2008 Slamdance Film Festival
The 2008 Slamdance Film Festival took place in Park City, Utah from January 17 to January 25, 2008. It was the 14th iteration of the Slamdance Film Festival, an alternative to the more mainstream Sundance Film Festival.


2008 Slamdance Film Festival
The Festival received over 3,500 submissions from 25 countries for less than 100 slots.


2008 Slamdance Film Festival, Awards
The 2008 Slamdance Film Festival recognized the following films at its awards ceremony. The Grand Jury Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature Award winners will be screened at the IFC Center in New York City in February 2008. Only first-time filmmakers working with production budgets of $1 million or less were allowed to compete in Feature competition. The winners shared more than $200,000 in cash and prizes, and one winner won guaranteed production of a feature film.


2008 Slamdance Film Festival, Films
Films that premiered at the festival included Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father, a documentary about the murder of Zachary Turner.


2008 Sligo Intermediate Football Championship
This is a round-up of the 2008 Sligo Intermediate Football Championship. St. Molaise Gaels were crowned champions for the fourth time, the first under the new name, after a replayed final victory over 2005 champions Coolaney/Mullinabreena.


2008 Sligo Intermediate Football Championship, Group Stages
The Championship was contested by 13 teams, divided into four groups. The top two sides in each group advanced to the Quarter-Finals, with the remaining sides in each group facing the Relegation playoffs to retain Intermediate status for 2009, as the restructuring of the Championships got under way.


2008 Sligo Senior Football Championship
This is a round-up of the 2008 Sligo Senior Football Championship. Eastern Harps were crowned champions for the sixth time in their history, after a convincing defeat of Tubbercurry in the decider. The reigning champions, Tourlestrane, surrendered the title after failing to emerge from their group, and the once-dominant town outfit, St. Mary's, were forced to survive a playoff to retain their senior status. The 2000 champions Bunninadden were not so fortunate however, and were relegated to Intermediate level, just two years after last contesting the final.


2008 Sligo Senior Football Championship, Group Stages
The Championship was contested by 16 teams, divided into four groups. The top two sides in each group advanced to the Quarter-Finals, with the bottom sides in each group facing the Relegation playoffs to retain Senior status for 2009, as the restructuring of the Championships got under way.


2008 Slough Borough Council election
Elections to the Borough Council in Slough, England, were held on 1 May 2008. This was the 123rd Slough general local authority election (including both whole council elections and elections by thirds) since Slough became a local government unit in 1863.


2008 Slough Borough Council election
The regular 2008 election was to fill fourteen seats, one from each ward, for the 2008-2012 term. These fourteen seats were last contested in the whole Council election of 2004, following the redrawing of the ward boundaries in the Borough.


2008 Slough Borough Council election
The election also filled a casual vacancy, for the remaining three years of a 2007-2011 term. The vacancy was caused when Eshaq Khan (Conservative-Central ward) was removed from office, on 18 March 2008, following the hearing of an election petition (for more details see the external link to the judgment of the Election Commissioner below).


2008 Slough Borough Council election
The remaining twenty-six Slough Councillors will continue in office, for seats which will be next contested in 2010 or 2011.


2008 Slough Borough Council election
In an election where, in most parts of England, the Labour Party did badly; in Slough they regained control of the Council for the first time since 2004. Labour gained two seats from the Conservatives (and arguably a third by taking the vacant seat, last held by Eshaq Khan), one seat from the Liberal Democrats and one seat from the UK Independence Party. The Tories offset their losses by gaining one seat from Labour and another from The Slough Party. As a result of these changes the Council then had 23 Labour members and 18 opposition councillors.


2008 Slough Borough Council election
Dissension within the Labour Party, within a few weeks of the election, led to three councillors defecting to the Conservative Party; producing a 21 non-Labour and 20 Labour split on the Council. Two of them returned to Labour later the same day, again reversing control of the Council.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough
Slough has an unusual balance of political forces. The council, between 2004 and 2008, had no party in overall control. A coalition of the Britwellian, Independent, Liberal and Liberal Democrats Group (BILLD) and the Conservative Group formed a coalition administration. In the 2007-2008 municipal year the Labour Group and the one councillor of The Slough Party were in opposition.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough
The BILLD Group is itself a local coalition, before the 2008 election containing members from five parties or groups of independents. The organisations represented in the group, as at April 2008, were the Slough Liberal Democrats, the Slough Liberals, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), the Independent Britwellian Residents and Independents from Wexham Lea ward. The existing members of the Group had an electoral pact for the 2008 election, continuing electoral arrangements which started with the 2001 Slough Council election.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough
The Slough Party and a number of Independents, not affiliated to the BILLD group or the coalition administration, also contested the 2008 election.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough
In the previous election, in 2007, the Labour Party gained one seat from the Conservatives and one from the Liberal Democrats. However the Conservative Party defeated the then longest serving Labour Councillor and former Mayor, Lydia Simmons. This return was subsequently found, by an Election Commissioner, to have been obtained by corrupt and illegal means. Labour finished the 2007 count with a net gain of one, which left Slough Council still in a state of no overall control. The existing coalition administration (supported by all Councillors not in the Labour group, except for one) continued in office for the 2007-2008 municipal year.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough
During 2007-2008 the Conservative Party lost one seat following the hearing of an election petition. The casual vacancy, caused by the removal from office of former Councillor Eshaq Khan (Conservative-Central ward), was filled at the May election.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough
At the time of the 2008 election there were twenty councillors each supporting the administration and the opposition, with one vacancy. A single net gain by the opposition parties would have probably resulted in a change of administration. Two net gains for the Labour Party would ensure the first single party majority administration since the party lost control in 2004.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough
After the election count Labour secured four net gains, to give the party a 23:18 margin and a majority of five for the start of the 2008-2009 municipal year.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough, Election result 2008
The change in Conservative representation is calculated on the basis of the outcome of the 2007 count, without regard to the subsequent  election petition.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough, Election result 2008
The plus/minus figure is the change in votes percentage from the 2007 Slough Council election.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough, Election result 2008
Total valid votes: 29,910Total spoilt votes: 182Slough BC turnout: 32.93%


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough, Election result 2008
New Council by group: Labour 23, BILLD 12 (Independent 3, Independent Britwellian Residents 3, Liberal 3, Liberal Democrats 3), Conservative 6. Total 41.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough, Changes after the election
The Labour Party officially decided to nominate Raja Mohammaed Zarait (Chalvey) for Mayor, Joginder Singh Bal (Farnham) for Deputy Mayor, Robert Anderson (Farnham) for Leader of the Council and James Swindlehurst (Cippenham Green) for Deputy Leader of the Council. These nominations were due to be confirmed at the Annual Meeting of the Council on 15 May 2008.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough, Changes after the election
Pervez Choudhry, elected as a Labour Councillor for Central on 1 May 2008, claimed that 15 of the then 23 Labour Councillors had wanted him as leader. Councillor Diana Coad (Conservative-Langley St Mary's) announced, on 12 May 2008, that Choudhry and an unspecified number of other ex-Labour councillors would enable the Conservative-BILLD coalition to remain in control.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough, Changes after the election
On 13 May 2008 the Conservatives announced that two more Labour Councillors had defected to them, reducing the Labour group to 20 members and giving the 21 non-Labour Councillors the chance to control the Council. The new defecting Councillors were Sukhjit Dhaliwal (Farnham) and Mohammed Rasib (Chalvey).


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough, Changes after the election
Later, on 13 May 2008, the Labour Party announced that the two Councillors were no longer leaving, so the balance on the Council would be 22-19 in favour of Labour. The Labour Party Chairman was quoted as saying "There was an internal misunderstanding and certain people tried to exploit that. Once it is all over they party needs to look at what happened and how it can be rectified for the future."


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Recent political history of Slough, Changes after the election
On 15 May 2008 the Labour nominees for Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Leader of the Council (and Labour group) and Deputy Leader were installed in office. The Leader of the Opposition (and BILLD group leader) is Robert Plimmer (Liberal Democrat-Foxborough) and the leader of the Conservative group is Derek Cryer (Conservative-Langley St Mary's).


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Summary of Election results by party from 2004
Note: The 2004 election was for the whole Council. Other elections are for a third of the Council. For them the overall totals, after the election, are given in brackets.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results
A candidate who was an incumbent Councillor for the ward being contested has an * following their name. An incumbent Councillor for another ward, has a + following the name.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results
Figures for the eligible electorate are given as at 3 March 2008. The Returning Officer has confirmed that the number of electors for each Ward has to be based on the current Register, plus any alterations made up to 3 March. The number given is derived from the full register, not the edited register available to the general public. The spoilt votes and turnout figures are taken from the Slough Council website.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results
The maximum election expenses for a candidate are calculated on the basis of £600 plus 5 pence for every entry in the register (as first published).


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results
The change columns record alterations from the 2007 results. In Central Ward, where there were two seats up this year and only one last year, no attempt is made to calculate changes in party vote share. The problems with vote fraud in 2007 would, in any event, make any figures for changes in that ward largely meaningless.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results
Swing figures are only calculated when the same two parties shared the first two places in both the 2007 and 2008 elections. The swing given is two party or Butler swing, ignoring votes for other candidates. Swing is not calculated for Central Ward, for the same reasons why changes are not calculated. Contrary to the usual convention a positive swing figure is towards Labour and a negative swing towards Conservative (or other party as specified in the result).


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results, Britwell (Independent Britwellian Residents hold)
Paul Janik is a former Independent Britwellian Residents Councillor for this ward, serving from 2003 to 2006.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results, Central (2008-2012 term: Labour gain from Conservative; 2008-2011 term: Labour gain from vacant)
As two seats were filled at the election, the bloc vote electoral system was used. Each elector was entitled to cast up to two votes. The candidate with most votes was elected to the four-year term and the one in second place was returned for three years.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results, Central (2008-2012 term: Labour gain from Conservative; 2008-2011 term: Labour gain from vacant)
A local newspaper (the Slough Observer) reported, in its edition of 18 April 2008, that Councillor Aziz (the current Deputy Mayor of Slough) had appeared at Slough Magistrates Court facing charges related to the election fraud scandal at last year's Central ward election. The councillor was suspended from the Conservative Party on Thursday 17 April 2008. As it was too late for a nominated candidate to withdraw from this year's election, Councillor Aziz will remain on the ballot as an official Conservative candidate. Former Councillor Eshaq Khan, one of the other defendants in the criminal case, had been expelled from the Conservative Party following the recent election court hearing.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results, Central (2008-2012 term: Labour gain from Conservative; 2008-2011 term: Labour gain from vacant)
Councillor Pervez Choudhry was an incumbent councillor for the Chalvey ward, at the time of the election. A.S. Dhaliwal had represented the ward from 2000 until the 2004 Slough Council election.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results, Cippenham Green (Labour gain from UK Independence Party)
Geoff Howard is a former Slough Councillor for the Labour Party and then the Conservative Party. He ultimately joined UKIP in 2004, shortly before the parliamentary election of 2005 at which he contested the Slough seat for his new party. He was seeking re-election to the council seat which he last won as a Conservative candidate in 2004.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results, Cippenham Meadows (Labour hold)
Kevin Pond is a former councillor, representing Upton ward between 2004 and 2006. He was nominated shortly before the close of nominations when the previous Conservative candidate proved to be ineligible.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results, Colnbrook with Poyle (Labour gain from Conservative)
Councillor Smith was, at the time of the election, the leader of the Conservative group on Slough Council.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results, Farnham (Labour hold)
Councillor Anderson was the leader of the Labour group on Slough Council. Sumander Khan represented Central ward from 2004 to 2006.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results, Foxborough (Liberal Democrats hold)
Duncan Buchanan served as a Councillor from Baylis & Stoke ward from 2004 to 2006.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results, Haymill (Liberal hold)
Councillor Stokes was the Leader of the Council (2004–2008) and of the BILLD group.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results, Langley St Mary's (Conservative gain from The Slough Party)
Neil Arnold was elected in 2004 as an Independent Langley Residents candidate. He supported the coalition administration until he joined The Slough Party around the time of the 2007 council election.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results, Langley St Mary's (Conservative gain from The Slough Party)
Peter Dale-Gough is the husband of Diana Coad, another Councillor from this ward.


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results, Upton (Conservative hold)
Julia Long is a former Mayor of Slough from 2004–2005


2008 Slough Borough Council election, Ward results, Wexham Lea (Independent hold)
Councillor Haines is a member of the BILLD group and a supporter of the former (2004–2008) coalition administration.


2008 Slovak Cup Final
The 2008 Slovak Cup Final was the final match of the 2007–08 Slovak Cup, the 39th season of the top cup competition in Slovak football. The match was played at the Štadión pod Dubňom in Žilina on 1 May 2008 between FC Artmedia Petržalka and FC Spartak Trnava. Artmedia defeated Spartak Trnava 1-0.


2008 Slovenian Supercup
The 2008 Slovenian Supercup was a football match that saw the 2007–08 PrvaLiga champions Domžale face off against the Slovenian Cup winners Interblock. The match was held on 9 July 2008 at the Sports Park in Domžale. After 120 minutes of no goals, Interblock won their first Slovenian Supercup title by defeating Domžale 7–6 on penalties.


2008 Slovenian parliamentary election
EU Member State(Eurozone Member State)(Schengen Area Member State)NATO Member StateCouncil of Europe Member StateOECD Member State


2008 Slovenian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Slovenia on 21 September 2008 to elect the 90 deputies of the National Assembly. 17 parties filed to run in the election, including all nine parliamentary parties. The election was won by the Social Democrats (SD), who then went on to form a government together with Zares, Liberal Democracy of Slovenia (LDS) and the Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia (DeSUS).


2008 Slovenian parliamentary election, Opinion polls, Exit polls
According to exit polls, conducted by the Interstat agency for Radiotelevizija Slovenija, Social Democrats (SD) won the most votes, 32.02%. Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) finished second with 28.04%. Other parties followed: Zares 10.05%, Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia (DeSUS) 6.74%, Slovenian National Party (SNS) 5.58%, Liberal Democracy of Slovenia (LDS) 5.21%, and Slovenian People's Party (SLS) with Youth Party of Slovenia (SMS) 4.28%. New Slovenia (NSi) and Lipa, the parliamentary parties before the elections, did not reach the 4% limit.


2008 Slovenian parliamentary election, Opinion polls, Exit polls
According to exit polls, conducted by the Mediana agency for POP TV, the results are following: SD 31.5%, SDS 27.7%, Zares 9.7%, DeSUS 7.6%, LDS 6.1%, SNS 5.8%, SLS-SMS 4.2%. The margin was not reached by NSi (2.6%) and Lipa (2.3%).


2008 Slovenian regionalisation referendum
A referendum on establishing thirteen provinces was held in Slovenia on 22 June 2008. While turnout was only 10.9% of registered voters, voters in all but one of the thirteen proposed provinces approved the change, the exception being central Slovenia. The referendum was not binding, and a parliamentary decision to establish the provinces was expected later in 2008. While the government explained the necessity of the reform with the fact that Slovenia is the only EU country not to have primary subdivisions, and that it would lead to better administration, the opposition criticised the large number of provinces and called for abstention in the referendum.


2008 Sobeys Slam
The 2008 Sobeys Slam was held November 27–30 at the John Brother MacDonald Stadium in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. It was the fourth of five women's Grand Slam events during the 2008-09 curling season. It was the last Sobeys Slam before a one-year hiatus. It was also the second season where the event was a Slam. The total purse was $C 60,000 with $16,000 going to the champion Marie-France Larouche rink


2008 Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras season
The 2008 season is the 94th season in Palmeiras's existence, and their 93rd in Brazil's first division. They spent 1 season in Campeonato Brasileiro Série B in 2003


2008 Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras season, League table, Results summary
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost;


2008 Société Générale trading loss
In January 2008, the bank Société Générale lost approximately €4.9 billion closing out positions over three days of trading beginning January 21, 2008, a period in which the market was experiencing a large drop in equity indices. The bank states these positions were fraudulent transactions created by Jérôme Kerviel, a trader with the company. The police stated they lacked evidence to charge him with fraud and charged him with breach of trust and illegally accessing computers. Kerviel states his actions were known to his superiors and that the losses were caused by panic selling by the bank. Société Générale's own wrongs were later established by a French jurisdiction, which led the Cour de cassation to cancel the €4.9 billion sanction on Kerviel.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, Employment history of Jérôme Kerviel
Kerviel joined the middle offices in the bank Société Générale in the summer of 2000, working in its compliance department. In 2005 he was promoted to the bank's Delta One products team in Paris where he was a junior trader. Société Générale's Delta One business includes program trading, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), swaps, index and quantitative trading.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, The incident
Bank officials claim that throughout 2007, Kerviel had been trading profitably in anticipation of falling market prices; however, they have accused him of exceeding his authority to engage in unauthorized trades totaling as much as €49.9 billion, a figure far higher than the bank's total market capitalization. Bank officials claim that Kerviel tried to conceal the activity by creating losing trades intentionally so as to offset his early gains. According to the BBC, Kerviel generated €1.4 billion in hidden profits by the end of 2007. His employers say they uncovered unauthorized trading traced to Kerviel on January 19, 2008. The bank then closed out these positions over three days of trading beginning January 21, 2008, a period in which the market was experiencing a large drop in equity indices, and losses attributed are estimated at €4.9 billion.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, The incident
The bank claimed Kerviel "had taken massive fraudulent directional positions in 2007 and 2008 far beyond his limited authority" and that the trades involved European stock index futures. Though bank officials say Kerviel apparently worked alone, skeptics question how unauthorized trading of this magnitude could go unnoticed. Kerviel's unassuming background and position have heightened the skepticism that he worked alone. Some analysts suggest that unauthorized trading of this scale may have gone unnoticed initially due to the high volume in low-risk trades normally conducted by his department.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, The incident
The bank said that whenever the fake trades were questioned, Kerviel would describe it as a mistake then cancel the trade followed by replacing that trade with another transaction using a different instrument to avoid detection. Kerviel's lawyers, Elisabeth Meyer and Christian Charrière-Bournazel, said that the bank's managers "brought the loss on themselves"; accused the bank's management of wanting to "raise a smokescreen to divert public attention from far more substantial losses in the last few months"; and said that Kerviel had made the bank a profit of $2 billion as of Dec. 31, 2007.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, The incident
Kerviel is not thought to have profited personally from the suspicious trades. Prosecutors say Kerviel has been cooperative with the investigation, and has told them his actions were also practiced by other traders in the company. Kerviel admits to exceeding his credit limits, but claims he was working to increase bank profits. He told authorities that the bank was happy with his previous year's performance, and was expecting to be paid a €300,000 bonus. Family members speaking out say the bank is using Kerviel as a scapegoat to excuse its recent heavy losses.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, Methods used
The bank states that Kerviel was assigned to arbitrage discrepancies between equity derivatives and cash equity prices, and "began creating the fictitious trades in late 2006 and early 2007, but that these transactions were relatively small. The fake trading increased in frequency, and in size". The Executive Chairman of Société Générale, Daniel Bouton described the pattern as like "a mutating virus" in which hundreds of thousands of trades were hidden behind offsetting faked hedge trades.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, Methods used
Officials say Kerviel was careful to close the trades in just two or three days, just before the trades' timed controls would trigger notice from the bank's internal control system, and Kerviel would then shift those older positions to newly initiated trades. City experts have expressed skepticism of the bank's account, saying that a pattern of closing out trades within the three-day cycle alleged could not be accomplished given the immense sums involved.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, Allegations of fraud and legal ramifications
In answers to the rumors alleging Jérôme Kerviel had fled Paris following the discovery of the unauthorized trading, on January 24, 2008, Kerviel's lawyer denied that he attempted to disappear and said he remained in Paris to face the accusations.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, Allegations of fraud and legal ramifications
Also on January 24, 2008, Société Générale filed a lawsuit against "a 31-year-old person" for creating fraudulent documents, using forged documents and making attacks on an automated system, according to Clarisse Grillon, a spokeswoman for the Nanterre prosecutor. Le Figaro reported that in addition to the Société Générale lawsuit, a group of shareholders filed a lawsuit for fraud, breach of trust and forgery.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, Allegations of fraud and legal ramifications
On the eve and afternoon of January 25, 2008, police raided the Paris headquarters of Société Générale and Kerviel's apartment in the western suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine to seize his computer files. On January 26, 2008, the Paris prosecutors' office stated that Kerviel "is not on the run. He will be questioned at the appropriate time, as soon as the police have analysed documents provided by Société Générale." He was taken into police custody later that day.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, Allegations of fraud and legal ramifications
Kerviel's initial 24-hour detention was extended to 48 while French law enforcement questioned him about possible accomplices. The investigation later widened to encompass his personal cell phone records, and to explore possible links to other individuals working at rival banks and private investment firms who may be involved. The police are investigating whether he worked alone, and whether any investors outside of Société Générale may have been tipped in advance. Police are interested whether others were involved in either the trades themselves, or received notice of the bank's impending sell-off before the details of the scandal were publicly disclosed.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, Allegations of fraud and legal ramifications
Kerviel was formally charged on January 28, 2008, with abuse of confidence and illegal access to computers. He was released from custody a short time after. The charges filed carry a maximum three-year prison term. On January 29, 2008, investigating judges Renaud van Ryumbecke and Francoise Desset had rejected prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin's bid to charge Kerviel with the more serious crime of "attempted fraud" and refuse bail.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, Allegations of fraud and legal ramifications
Société Générale characterizes Kerviel as a rogue trader and claims Kerviel worked these trades alone, and without its authorization. Kerviel, in turn, told investigators that such practices are widespread and that getting a profit makes the hierarchy turn a blind eye. The current investigation involves what is reported to be the largest fraud in banking history.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, Allegations of fraud and legal ramifications
On 11 March 2008, Société Générale announced that another of their employees had been taken into custody in connection with the investigation of the fraud, and their headquarters searched by police.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, Allegations of fraud and legal ramifications
Kerviel's trial began on 8 June 2010. On 5 October 2010, he was found guilty and sentenced to five years of prison, with two years suspended, full restitution of the $6.7b which was lost, and a permanent ban from working in financial services. Caroline Guillaumin, a spokes-woman for Société Générale, stated that the restitution was "symbolic", and that the bank had no expectation that the sum would be paid. Olivier Metzner, Kerviel's lawyer, described the sentence as "extraordinary" and said that Kerviel would appeal. Kerviel's sentence was suspended until his appeal is completed.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, Potential economic effects
On January 21, 2008, European stock markets suffered heavy losses of about 6%. The sharp fall, which was followed by an emergency cut in the federal funds rate by the United States Federal Reserve on the following Tuesday (US markets were closed on the Monday for Martin Luther King Jr Day), came as Société Générale tried to close out positions built up by Kerviel. This has led to speculation that stock market turbulence caused the Federal Reserve Board to cut the rate. A Federal Reserve spokesperson denied the central bank knew of Société Générale's situation when it made its decision.


2008 Société Générale trading loss, Potential economic effects
It is estimated that over the period the total trading in futures and the cash market for the Euro Stoxx 50 was €544 billion. This would make the unwinding of Kerviel's position account for five per cent or less of overall activity. Société Générale's investment banking chief, Jean Pierre Mustier, acknowledged that the three days of forced selling played a role in the market's overall decline, but characterized that impact as "minimal".


2008 Sokoto State gubernatorial by-election
The 2008 Sokoto State gubernatorial by-election occurred on May 24, 2008. PDP candidate Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko won the election, defeating DPP Muhammed Dingyadi and other candidates.


2008 Sokoto State gubernatorial by-election, Results
Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko from the PDP won the election. He defeated Muhammed Dingyadi of the DPP and several others.


2008 Sokoto State gubernatorial by-election, Results
The total number of votes cast was 785,682, valid votes was 698,362 and rejected votes was 87,320.


2008 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council election
The 2008 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council election took place on 1 May 2008 to elect members of Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council in the West Midlands, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative Party gained overall control of the council from no overall control.


2008 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council election, Campaign
17 seats were contested in the election, with the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Labour and Green parties contesting every ward. The British National Party had 12 candidates, up from 5 in the 2007 election, the United Kingdom Independence Party stood 9 candidates and the sole Independent stood in St Alphege, having previously won a seat there in a 2005 by-election for the Conservatives.


2008 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council election, Campaign
Among those standing were Jim Ryan, defending Bickenhill as a Conservative, having previously won it as an Independent after over twenty years of being a Labour councillor there, Howard Allen returned to the Liberal Democrats to defend his seat in Shirley West, after time as an Independent and Peter Hogarth in Silhill where he had lost his seat in 2007. Meanwhile, 2 councillors stood down at the election, Conservative Susan Gomm and Liberal Democrat June Gandy from Silhill and Shirley East wards respectively.


2008 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council election, Campaign
The Conservatives had lost their majority on the council at the 2007 election but continued to run it as a minority administration. During the campaign the Conservative party leader David Cameron visited Solihull, saying that the council was well run under the Conservatives and that they were hopeful of making gains. The Liberal Democrats criticised the record of the council on recycling, said they would create more activities for young people to take part in and called for the Liberal Democrats to be represented in the council's cabinet. Meanwhile, Labour said its councillors had a strong impact on the council and had been involved in getting the regeneration project for northern Solihull started.


2008 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council election, Election result
The results saw the Conservatives regain a majority on the council after making 2 gains. The Conservatives gained Kingshurst and Fordbridge from Labour and Blythe from the Liberal Democrats, while Jim Ryan was re-elected as a Conservative in Bickenhill. This meant the Conservatives took a 1-seat majority with 26 of the 51 councillors, although they did lose 1 seat to the Liberal Democrats in Elmdon.


2008 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council election, Election result
Meanwhile, the Green party won a first seat on the council after winning Smith's Wood ward by 331 votes. The Green's Mike Sheridan defeated the Labour leader on the council, Hugh Hendry, who had been a councillor for 18 years. Sheridan thus became the first Green councillor in the West Midlands conurbation and one of only 4 in the whole Midlands, after a campaign that he said focused on regeneration and preserving green space.


2008 Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council election, Election result
This result had the following consequences for the total number of seats on the council after the elections :


2008 Sony Ericsson Open
The 2008 Miami Masters (also known as the Sony Ericsson Open for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 24th edition of the Miami Masters, and was part of the ATP Masters Series of the 2008 ATP Tour, and of the Tier I Series of the 2008 WTA Tour. Both the men's and the women's events took place at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Florida, United States, from March 26 through April 6, 2008.


2008 Sony Ericsson Open
The men's field was headlined by World No. 1 and Masters Cup champion Roger Federer, Chennai finalist Andy Roddick, and Australian Open champion, Indian Wells Masters winner and defending champion Novak Djokovic. Other top players in the field were 2007 Moscow titlist Nikolay Davydenko, Masters Cup runner-up David Ferrer, Andy Roddick, David Nalbandian and Richard Gasquet.


2008 Sony Ericsson Open
The women's field was led by World No. 1 and Tour Championships winner Justine Henin, Australian Open runner-up and Indian Wells champion Ana Ivanovic, and Indian Wells finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova. Among other players competing were Australian Open semifinalist and Indian Wells semifinalist Jelena Janković, Paris titlist Anna Chakvetadze, Venus Williams, Daniela Hantuchová and Serena Williams.


2008 Sony Ericsson Open, Finals, Men's Doubles
Bob Bryan /  Mike Bryan defeated  Mahesh Bhupathi /  Mark Knowles 6–2, 6–2


2008 Sony Ericsson Open, Finals, Women's Doubles
Katarina Srebotnik /  Ai Sugiyama defeated  Cara Black /  Liezel Huber 7–5, 4–6, [10–3]


2008 Sony Ericsson Open – Men's Doubles
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan were the defending champions, and won in the final 6–2, 6–2, against Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles.


2008 Sony Ericsson Open – Men's Singles
The 2008 Sony Ericsson Open – Men's Singles was the men's singles event of the 2008 Sony Ericsson Open, an ATP Masters Series tennis tournament held in late March and early April. Novak Djokovic was the defending champion, but lost in the second round to Kevin Anderson.


2008 Sony Ericsson Open – Men's Singles
Nikolay Davydenko defeated Rafael Nadal 6–4, 6–2 in the final to win his second Masters Series title.


2008 Sony Ericsson Open – Women's Doubles
Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur were the defending champions, but Stosur chose not to participate, and only Raymond competed that year. Raymond partnered with Elena Likhovtseva, but lost in the quarterfinals to Květa Peschke and Rennae Stubbs.


2008 Sony Ericsson Open – Women's Doubles
Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama won in the final 7–5, 4–6, [10–3] against Cara Black and Liezel Huber.


2008 Sony Ericsson Open – Women's Singles
The 2008 Sony Ericsson Open – Women's Singles was the women's singles event of the 2008 Sony Ericsson Open, a WTA Tier I tennis tournament held in late March and early April. Serena Williams was the defending champion, and won in the final 6–1, 5–7, 6–3 against Jelena Janković. It was the fifth time Williams had won the tournament, tying the record with Steffi Graf.


2008 South Africa Sevens
The Emirates Airlines South Africa Sevens is played annually as part of the IRB Sevens World Series for international rugby sevens (seven-a-side version of rugby union). The 2008 competition, took place on 5 December and 6 December at Outeniqua Park in George, Western Cape, it was the second Cup trophy in the 2008-09 IRB Sevens World Series.


2008 South Africa rugby union tour of Europe
The 2008 South Africa rugby union tour of Europe was a series of matches played in November 2008 in Great Britain by South Africa national rugby union team.


2008 South African Figure Skating Championships
The 2008 South African Figure Skating Championships were held at the Festival Ice Rink in Kempton Park from 30 September through 3 October 2007. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's and ladies' singles at the senior, novice, and pre-novice levels. There was also a junior and juvenile ladies' competition.


2008 South African municipal by-elections
A series of South African municipal by-elections was held in 2008 for ward seats on local municipal councils throughout the country. These by-elections were held to replace deceased, resigned or incapacitated councillors.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, January
Two seats in one province were up for election on 23 January.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, February
Two seats in one province were up for election on 13 February.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, 5 March
One seat in one province was up for election on 5 March.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, 19 March
Five seats in one province were up for election on 19 March.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, April
Five seats in three provinces were up for election on 2 April.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, 7 May
On 7 May, Vusumuzi Moses Ncube of the IFP was elected as councillor for Ward 3 in Mtubatuba (Mtubatuba) – KZ275.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, 21 May
11 seats in 6 provinces were up for election on 21 May.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, July
On 15 July, a municipal by-election was held in five provinces.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, July, Eastern Cape
Two wards were contested:In Ward 26 in Qaukeni Municipality [Flagstaff (Ingquza Hill)] – EC153 Sizakele Theophilus Hlongwane of the ANC is the new councillor, while Dean Neville Biddulph of the DA is the new councillor in Ward two in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (Port Elizabeth) – NMA.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, July, Gauteng
Ward 55 in Tshwane Metro (Pretoria) – City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (TSH) was won by Suzette Fourie of the DA.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, July, KwaZulu-Natal
Ten by-elections were scheduled to take place in KwaZulu-Natal of which only nine took place. The Natal High Court interdicted the holding of the by-election in Ward four in eMadlangeni (Utrecht) – KZN253 on 15 July. The interdict was issued pending the outcome of a Court Application by M. E. Khoza involving the decision by the Executive Council of KwaZulu-Natal to remove him from office as a councillor of the eMadlangeni Municipal Council. Of the nine, eight were won by the IFP and one by the DA.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, July, KwaZulu-Natal
The new councillor for DA is Anton Michael Raubenheimer in Ward three in Endumeni Local Municipality (Dundee) – KZN241. This ward was previously held by the IFP. The new councillors for the IFP in KwaZulu-Natal are:


2008 South African municipal by-elections, July, Northern Cape
Ward two in Moshaweng Municipality (Kgalagadi) – NC451 was won by Kebonye Gladys Gasehete of the African National Congress.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, July, Western Cape
Ward 103 in City of Cape Town (Cape Town) – CPT was won by Johannes Frederik Hermanus van der Merwe of the DA.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, September
Four seats in four provinces were up for election on 10 September:


2008 South African municipal by-elections, 15 October
9 seats in 4 provinces were up for election on 15 October.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, 15 October, 29 October
Three seats in two provinces were up for election on 29 October:


2008 South African municipal by-elections, December
On 10 December, a by-election was held in 41 local municipality seats in 5 provinces.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, December, By province, Free State
two by-elections took place and both wards were won by the African National Congress:


2008 South African municipal by-elections, December, By province, KwaZulu-Natal
eight by-elections took place in KwaZulu-Natal. The new councillors for the African National Congress are:


2008 South African municipal by-elections, December, By province, KwaZulu-Natal
The Inkatha Freedom Party has four new councillors in KwaZulu-Natal. They are:


2008 South African municipal by-elections, December, By province, Northern Cape
Ward 5 in Dikgatlong (Barkly West) was won by Naledi Georginah Molete of the African National Congress.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, December, By province, Western Cape
Of the eight wards contested in the City of Cape Town (Cape Town), two went to the Democratic Alliance and six went to independent candidates. They are:


2008 South African municipal by-elections, December, By province, Western Cape
In the rest of the province, the new councillors are:For the African National Congress


2008 South African municipal by-elections, December, Controversy, ANC barring from ward elections
The ANC was barred from fielding candidates in 12 of the 27 seats up for election in Western Cape by the IEC, a decision that was contested by the ANC.


2008 South African municipal by-elections, December, Controversy, Participation of COPE
The newly formed COPE party did not field candidates due to it not being formally constituted and registered with the Independent Electoral Commission in time. However, all ten independent councillors who won seats in the Western Cape were also members of the COPE party, and the by-election was seen as the first electoral test for the party.


2008 South African presidential election
An indirect presidential election was held in South Africa on 25 September 2008 following the resignation of the President Thabo Mbeki. The ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), with a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly of South Africa, elected Kgalema Motlanthe as president. The ANC indicated that Motlanthe would be a "caretaker" president until the 2009 election, after which ANC president Jacob Zuma would take office.


2008 South African presidential election, Jacob Zuma's election as ANC President, Candidature for ANC President
In terms of party tradition, as the deputy president of the ANC, Zuma was in line to succeed Mbeki as president of the ANC, and, by implication, the president of South Africa in 2009. Zuma was elected as President of the ANC on 18 December 2007 with 2329 votes to Mbeki's 1505 votes, making him the clear favorite to become the next president of South Africa following the 2009 general election, since Mbeki was constitutionally unable to run again.


2008 South African presidential election, Jacob Zuma's election as ANC President, Candidature for ANC President
On 28 December 2007, the Scorpions served Zuma an indictment to stand trial in the High Court on various counts of racketeering, money laundering, corruption and fraud linked to the $5bn arms procurement deal by the South African government in 1999. The trial was to proceed on 4 August 2008. Zuma applied to the High Court to have the charges against him declared unlawful. Zuma's application was successful, and the ruling made inferences of political interference by Mbeki and others in Zuma's prosecution.


2008 South African presidential election, Resignation of Mbeki
As a result of the judge's inferences that Mbeki had interfered in Zuma's prosecution, the ANC National Executive Committee's decided to withdraw parliamentary support for Mbeki. Without that support, Mbeki formally announced his resignation on 21 September 2008. Parliament convened on 22 September and accepted the resignation with effect from 25 September, with 299 votes in favour to 10 against.


2008 South African presidential election, Resignation of Mbeki
In cases of such a void in the presidency, the constitution requires that the replacement elected by parliament to serve as the interim president until the next general election must be either the Deputy President, the Speaker of Parliament, or a Member of Parliament. ANC president Jacob Zuma was not eligible as he did not hold any of those positions at the time. Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was not supported by parliament, apparently due to her close ties to Mbeki and because her husband, Bulelani Ngcuka was involved in the decision to charge Zuma with corruption. Zuma said that the deputy president of the ANC, Kgalema Motlanthe, would become acting president until the 2009 general elections: "I am convinced - if given that responsibility - he (Motlanthe) would be equal to the task." This was confirmed by the ANC.


2008 South African presidential election, Election
In the parliamentary election, the ANC nominated Motlanthe, while the official opposition Democratic Alliance nominated Joe Seremane, its party chairman. Motlanthe was elected with 269 votes out of 361 cast to Seremane's 50.


2008 South American Beach Soccer Championship
The 2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CONMEBOL qualifier, also later and commonly known as the 2008 South American Beach Soccer Championship, was the second Beach Soccer World Cup qualification championship for South America, held from April 23–27 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.


2008 South American Beach Soccer Championship
The qualifiers were not coordinated by CONMEBOL at the time. The event was organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW), under the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Qualifier title. CONMEBOL began recognising the tournaments in 2013, under the title South American Beach Soccer Championship, also acknowledging the 2006–11 events as historic editions of the championship. CONMEBOL eventually began organising the qualifiers in 2017, under a new title.


2008 South American Beach Soccer Championship
Brazil won the championship for a second consecutive time, with Argentina finishing second and Uruguay winning the third place play of to finish third. The three nations moved on to play in the 2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Marseille, France from July 17–27.


2008 South American Cross Country Championships
The 2008 South American Cross Country Championships took place on March 2, 2008. The races were held at the Parque Ñu Guazú in Asunción, Paraguay. A detailed report of the event was given for the IAAF.


2008 South American Cross Country Championships
Complete results and results for junior and youth competitions were published.


2008 South American Cross Country Championships, Participation
According to an unofficial count, 91 athletes from 7 countries participated. This is in agreement with the official numbers as published.


2008 South American Race Walking Championships
The 2008 South American Race Walking Championships were held in Cuenca, Ecuador, on March 15-16, 2008. The track of the championship runs in the Avenida España.


2008 South American Race Walking Championships
A detailed report on the event and an appraisal of the results was given.


2008 South American Race Walking Championships
Complete results were published. The junior events are documented on the World Junior Athletics History webpages.


2008 South American Race Walking Championships, Participation
The participation of 74 athletes from 7 countries is reported.


2008 South American Rugby Championship "A"
The 2008 South American Rugby Championship was the 30th edition of the now multi-divisional rugby competition involving the top rugby nations from South America.


2008 South American Rugby Championship "A"
Division A consisted of three teams and was played on a home and away basis. Two points are awarded for a win and one for a draw.


2008 South American Rugby Championship "B"
The 2008 South American Rugby Championship "B"  will double as world cup qualifiers. It was the ninth edition of this competition


2008 South American Swimming Championships
The 2008 South American Aquatics Championships, or  Campeonato Sudamericano de Primera Fuerza de Deportes Acuáticos (as they were called in Spanish), were held March 12–16, 2008, in São Paulo, Brazil. The Championships were an event of CONSANAT, the South American Swimming Confederation, and featured competitions in diving, swimming, open water swimming, synchronized swimming and water polo.


2008 South American Swimming Championships
The swimming competition at the Championships served as a qualifying event for the 2008 Olympics.


2008 South American Swimming Championships
The water polo competition served as the South American qualifier for the UANA Cup: the Americas qualifier for the 2009 World Championships.


2008 South American Swimming Championships, Swimming
Note: Competition was in a long course (50 m) pool.


2008 South American Swimming Championships, Open water swimming
Note: Competition dates were March 7 (5 km) and March 9 (10 km).


2008 South American Swimming Championships, Open water swimming, Team results
Note: Based on fastest total time of compiled 3 fastest times (male and female) per country in both events.


2008 South American Swimming Championships, Synchronized swimming, Point standings
*Aruba is not a normal CONSANAT member, and only competed in the synchro solo competition at these Championships.


2008 South American U-17 Women's Championship
The 2008 South American Under-17 Women's Championship was the inaugural edition of the South American Under-17 Women's Championship. It was held from 12 to 30 January 2008 in Melipilla, Peñalolén and Villarrica, Chile.


2008 South American U-20 Women's Championship
The 2008 South American Under-20 Women's Football Championship was the third edition of South American under-20 women's football championship. It was held from 7 to 23 March 2008 in Porto Alegre and Bagé, Brazil. Team Brazil won this championship for the third time in a row.


2008 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics
The 3rd South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics were heldin Lima, Peru, at the Estadio de la Villa Deportiva Nacional (VIDENA) on September 5–7, 2008.


2008 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics, Participation
Between 220 and 260 athletes from 11 countries were reported to participate in theevent. An unofficial count through the result lists resulted in 230 participating athletes:


2008 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics, Medal summary
Detailed results can be found on the CBAt website, on the Fecodatle website, on the FEDACHI website and on the Tilastopaja website.


2008 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics, Team trophies
The placing tables for team trophy (overall team, men and women categories) were published.


2008 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics – Results
These are the full results of the 2008 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics which took place between September 5 and September 7, 2008, at Villa Deportiva Nacional (VIDENA) in Lima, Peru.


2008 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics – Results, Note
The names of the Brazilian athletes were completed using the published list of participants.


2008 South American Youth Championships in Athletics
The 19th South American Youth Championships in Athletics were held in Lima, Perú from November 29–30, 2008. A detailed report on the results was given.


2008 South American Youth Championships in Athletics, Medal summary
Medal winners are published. Complete results can be found on the "World Junior Athletics History"website.


2008 South American Youth Championships in Athletics, Participation (unofficial)
Detailed result lists can be found on the "World Junior Athletics History"website. An unofficial count yields the number of about 256athletes from about 12 countries:


2008 South Cambridgeshire District Council election
Elections to South Cambridgeshire District Council took place on Thursday 1 May 2008, as part of the 2008 United Kingdom local elections. Twenty seats, making up just over one third of South Cambridgeshire District Council, were up for election. Both seats in Gamlingay were contested at this election after one of the councillors retired earlier in the year. Seats up for election in 2008 were last contested at the 2004 election, and were next contested at the 2012 election. The Conservative Party retained their majority on the council.