The killing of the son of veteran Afghan guerrilla commander Jalaluddin Haqqani came days after the arrest of the Afghan Taliban’s top military strategist, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in a joint Pakistani-U.S. operation in the city of Karachi.

A pilotless U.S. drone fired two missiles into a Haqqani network compound on Thursday in Pakistan’s North Waziristan ethnic Pashtun tribal region on the Afghan border, killing three people.

Mohammad Haqqani, a son of Jalaluddin Haqqani whose network is linked to al Qaeda and has carried out several high-profile attacks in Afghanistan, was among the dead, Pakistani security officials said.

But another son of the elder Haqqani, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is a much more high-profile target of the U.S. drones.

“Mohammad Haqqani is a younger brother of Sirajuddin. He (Mohammad) was killed in the attack,” a security official who declined to be identified told Reuters.

Jalaluddin Haqqani, who is in his 70s, has passed on the leadership of his militant faction to Sirajuddin.

U.S. forces in Afghanistan describe Sirajuddin as one of their biggest enemies and the United States has posted a bounty of up to $5 million for him.

Thursday’s drone strike was in Dandi Darpakhel village near North Waziristan’s main town of Miranshah where many members of Haqqani’s extended family have been living since the U.S.-backed Afghan jihad, or holy war, against Soviet forces in the 1980s.

Sirajuddin Haqqani was known to visit the village but another Pakistani intelligence agency official said he was not there at the time of the attack.

Residents and government officials also confirmed the death of Mohammad Haqqani.

U.S. drones have targeted the village several times and 23 people, many of the members of the Haqqani family, were killed in a strike there in September 2008.

“HIGH-WATER MARK”

Jalaluddin Haqqani has had close links with Pakistani intelligence, notably the military’s main Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.

U.S. ally Pakistan officially objects to the drone strikes, saying they are a violation of its sovereignty and fuel anti-U.S. feeling which complicates Pakistan’s efforts against militancy.

But at least some strikes are carried out with the consent of Islamabad, in particular those on Pakistani Taliban militants fighting the state.

U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke on Thursday hailed the arrest of Baradar, the Afghan Taliban’s number two man, as a high-water mark for Pakistani-U.S. collaboration.

But Interior Minster Rehman Malik suggested Baradar might not be handed over to the United States. Asked by a reporter about the fate of Afghans arrested in Pakistan, Malik said they would be investigated for any crime in Pakistan.

If found innocent, they would be returned to their country and not the United States, he said.

Pakistani cooperation against militants is a sensitive issue for the government of a country where many people are suspicious of the U.S.-led campaign against militancy.

Despite that, Pakistan has arrested hundreds of al Qaeda members since the September 11 attacks on the United States and handed many of them over to the United States.

The Haqqani faction does not launch attacks in Pakistan but sends fighters across the border into Afghanistan from its stronghold in lawless North Waziristan.

Separately, two pro-Taliban militants suspected of involvement in several high-profiles attacks in Pakistan were killed in a shootout with police in the central city of Faisalabad after they refused to surrender, police said.

In the southwestern province of Baluchistan, unidentified gunmen kidnapped four Pakistani aid workers employed by a Western relief agency.

Taliban operate in the gas-rich province as well as separatists not linked to the Taliban who have been waging a low-level insurgency for decades.

Separatists kidnapped an American working for the United Nations in Baluchistan last year and held him for more than two months before releasing him.

News of the Taliban arrests emerged as the US special envoy to Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, met Pakistan’s prime minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, in Islamabad Photograph: Faisal Mahmood/Reuters

Pakistan has arrested two more senior Afghan Taliban figures, it emerged yesterday, raising the possibility that ­Islamabad has begun a major strategic shift away from backing “good” militants.

Mullah Abdul Salam and Mullah Mir Muhammad, the “shadow governors” of the northern Afghan provinces of Kunduz and Baghlan respectively, were captured in recent days inside Pakistan.

In a stark illustration of the domestic terrorism problems facing Pakistan, a bomb blast yesterday at a mosque in the north-western tribal belt killed 29 people, including some militants, and injured about 50 others. The explosion tore through the mosque in the Aka Khel area of Khyber, a local official said.

Islamabad has always been viewed as a reluctant partner of the west in Afghanistan, as it was believed to be secretly continuing to support the Taliban and host its leadership on Pakistani soil, despite officially breaking with the militant movement after the 9/11 attacks.

But this week it was revealed that Pakistani authorities had arrested the deputy leader of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in Karachi and, when news of the two other Taliban arrests emerged, many analysts argued that a new Islamabad policy could be crystallising.

A more cynical interpretation suggested that, instead of turning its back on the Taliban, Pakistan was simply pressuring them to the negotiating table.

By weakening the Taliban, Islamabad could force the militants into cutting a deal that would still give it some measure of power and a strong say in Afghanistan’s future. “I think it’s a bit early to call it a strategic shift, but clearly the political calculations in Pakistan are changing,” said Shuja Nawaz, an expert on the Pakistani military at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based thinktank. “The idea being they can play a role in getting the US to communicate [with the Taliban].”

The flurry of arrests does raise the question of why Pakistan’s military intelligence did not do this earlier. “They seem to have found their old address book,” quipped one senior US official in the region. Aside from the Taliban arrests, Pakistani officials also said that up to nine militants linked to al-Qaida were held in overnight raids in Karachi, with the help of intelligence provided by the US. One was identified as Ameer Muawiya, who officials said was in charge of foreign al-Qaida militants operating in Pakistan’s tribal area and was an associate of Osama bin Laden.

Pakistan’s powerful army and especially its military Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which runs policy towards neighbouring Afghanistan, had appeared to be keeping the Taliban going, in expectation of the day when western forces leave Afghanistan and the extremist movement could return to power, beholden to Islamabad, as it was before 2001.

“I think a shift is taking place inside the military,” said Khalid Aziz, head of the Regional Institute of Policy Research and Training, an independent thinktank based in the north-western city of Peshawar.

“At the end of it, if the old model had continued into a post-US withdrawal situation and Pakistan had continued supporting the good Taliban it would almost certainly end up as a civil war in Afghanistan.”

Renewed civil war in Afghanistan would blow over to Pakistan, especially its tribal area and North-West Frontier province, which is populated by Pashtuns, the biggest ethnic group in Afghanistan.

In a speech this month, Pakistan’s army chief, Ashfaq Kayani, claimed he had brushed aside the doctrine of “strategic depth”, which meant controlling Afghanistan to stop Indian influence there.

“If Afghanistan is peaceful, stable and friendly, we have our strategic depth because our western border is secure,” Kayani said.

Backing the Taliban in the past has also come at a massive domestic cost, as the movement spawned a copycat group in Pakistan that is even more violent and has squarely targeted the state. More civilians were killed in terrorist violence in Pakistan last year than in Afghanistan.

According to the official governor of Kunduz province, Mohammad Omar, the “shadow governors” were arrested in the Pakistani city of Quetta within the last two weeks. The so-called Quetta shura, or leadership council of the Taliban, is supposed to be based in that city. “This [the arrests] is because of the pressure of the world community on Pakistan, and the explosions happening inside Pakistan, the crisis in Pakistan,” said Omar.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the US was pleased with the recent arrests. He declined to say whether they were the result of better intelligence or an increased willingness by Pakistan.

“What I will say to you, yet again, is that we are enormously heartened by the fact that the Pakistani government and their military intelligence services increasingly recognise the threat within their midst and are doing something about it,” Morrell said.

The eighth season of American Idol premiered on January 13, 2009 and concluded on May 20, 2009. Judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson continued to judge the show’s contestants, along with Ryan Seacrest as host. The season introduced Kara DioGuardi as the fourth judge on the Idol panel.[1] It was also Abdul’s final season as a judge.[2] Kris Allen was announced the winner of the competition on May 20, 2009, defeating runner-up Adam Lambert after nearly 100 million votes, the highest recorded vote total in the history of the show. Kris Allen is the only married winner of the competition at the time of his victory.

The eighth season saw numerous changes to the format of the show. There were 36 semi-finalists instead of 24, and thirteen finalists instead of twelve, nine contestants chosen by the public and four by the judges. Another addition was the “save,” which was used on the top seven results show to veto Matt Giraud’s elimination.

Changes from Season 7

Several changes were planned for season 8. Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly stated that Idol would feature fewer “William Hung-like” contestants and “funny auditions,” and would quickly move its focus to the potential singers during the earlier stages of the competition, thus moving the season at a faster pace.[3] Mike Darnell, president of Fox’s alternative programming, said the contestants would be more emotional and that viewers would learn more about them and their pasts than they had in the previous season.[4] Songwriter and record producer Kara DioGuardi was added as a permanent fourth judge on the panel. She had previously collaborated with Celine Dion, Hilary Duff, Enrique Iglesias, Leona Lewis and Christina Aguilera, and produced several Top 40 hits. As a songwriter, she had already worked with several American Idol alumni and winners, including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, David Archuleta and David Cook.[5] Meanwhile, Ken Warwick became the new executive producer, as Nigel Lythgoe had left the show to focus on So You Think You Can Dance and his new show with Simon Fuller, Superstars of Dance.[6] Idol Gives Back was canceled for season 8, as the ongoing economic crisis and recession, left Idol officials uncomfortable asking financially struggling viewers to donate.[7] The semifinals saw the biggest change as the wild card round returned for the first time since the third season. After voters picked three finalists from each of three groups of 12 semi-finalists, the judges selected eight of the previously eliminated 27 semifinalists to return and perform a song on the March 5, 2009, show. They were judged by the panel, instead of a vote by the viewers, with four advancing to the finals.[8][9] Although the finals had been billed from the beginning of the season as a set of 12 contestants, the judges announced at the last minute that they would be advancing a fourth wild card/thirteenth contestant, Anoop Desai, as well.

Another change in the Idol format, which was revealed on March 11, 2009, is that the judges are eligible to exercise a veto power on one eliminated contestant at any given point of the competition and spare them from elimination for that particular week. This can only be invoked up until the Final 5. The following week two contestants will be eliminated if the save is used because nobody is eliminated on the week that the save is used. The save can only be used once and it must be unanimous.

Early process

Regional auditions phase

Locations

Auditions were held in the following cities:[10]
Episode Air Date Audition City Date Audition Venue Tickets to Hollywood
January 13, 2009 Glendale, Arizona[11] July 25, 2008 Jobing.com Arena 27
January 14, 2009 Kansas City, Missouri August 8, 2008 Kemper Arena 27
January 20, 2009 San Francisco, California[12] July 17, 2008 Cow Palace 12
January 21, 2009 Louisville, Kentucky[13] July 21, 2008 Freedom Hall 19
January 27, 2009 Jacksonville, Florida August 13, 2008 Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena 16
January 28, 2009 Salt Lake City, Utah July 29, 2008 EnergySolutions Arena 13
January 29, 2009 East Rutherford, New Jersey August 19, 2008 Izod Center 26
San Juan, Puerto Rico August 2, 2008 Coliseo de Puerto Rico 9
Total Tickets to Hollywood 149

Contestants are required to be between the ages 16 and 28 on July 15, 2008 and eligible to work in the United States. Contestants are ineligible if they were part of the top 40 from previous seasons (exception being for those who reached the top 50 from season 7), if they hold recording or management contracts or if they are not U.S. citizens or landed immigrants (i.e. temporary residents).
Hollywood phase

For this season, the Hollywood round moved from the Orpheum Theatre to the Kodak Theatre, which was previously used for the finale in seasons 1 and 3-6. In addition, the Hollywood round was extended to two weeks.

In the first round, the 147 contestants each sang a short solo a cappella performance of any song. The next round had the remaining 107 contestants performing in groups of three or four. The 72 contestants that passed group day performed one more solo song, this time accompanied by a band, before being narrowed down to 54. The final 54 then went to the “judges’ mansion” in Los Angeles for the final results, and the Top 36 were announced. Some contestants had a sing-off to determine who would enter the top 36.
Semi-finals

The top 36 were announced in a special two-hour broadcast on Wednesday, February 11, 2009.[14]
All 36 contestants, performing in three groups of twelve, sang songs that were Billboard Hot 100 Hits.

Below are the three semi-final groups with contestants listed in their performance order. In each group, three people advanced to the next round, based on votes by the viewers. The top male and female recipient advanced, along with the next highest vote recipient of the remaining ten contestants in each group. Each week two males advanced however it was never revealed who was the highest voted and which advanced through the non-gender specific slot. Following those nine singers advancing, eight of the remaining 27 semi-finalists were selected by the judges to compete in the Wild Card round. Following another performance by each Wild Card contender, the judges selected four contestants to advance to the final group of 13.

Semi-Final Group 1 - Billboard Hot 100 hits

* Jackie Tohn - “A Little Less Conversation” (Elvis Presley)
* Ricky Braddy - “A Song for You” (Leon Russell/Donny Hathaway)
* Alexis Grace - “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” (Aretha Franklin)
* Brent Keith - “Hicktown” (Jason Aldean)
* Stevie Wright - “You Belong with Me” (Taylor Swift)
* Anoop Desai - “Angel of Mine” (Monica)
* Casey Carlson - “Every Little Thing He Does Is Magic” (The Police)
* Michael Sarver - “I Don’t Want to Be” (Gavin DeGraw)
* Ann Marie Boskovich - “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” (Aretha Franklin)
* Stephen Fowler - “Rock with You” (Michael Jackson)
* Tatiana Del Toro - “Saving All My Love for You” (Whitney Houston)
* Danny Gokey - “Hero” (Mariah Carey)

Advancing to the Top 13: Alexis Grace, Michael Sarver, and Danny Gokey
Wild Card Contenders: Ricky Braddy, Tatiana Del Toro, and Anoop Desai
Ryan Seacrest announced that there was a 20,000 vote gap between Michael Sarver and Anoop Desai.
Semi-Final Group 2 - Billboard Hot 100 hits

* Jasmine Murray - “Love Song” (Sara Bareilles)
* Matt Giraud - “Viva la Vida” (Coldplay)
* Jeanine Vailes - “This Love” (Maroon 5)
* Nick Mitchell / “Norman Gentle” - “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” (Jennifer Holliday)
* Allison Iraheta - “Alone” (Heart)
* Kris Allen - “Man in the Mirror” (Michael Jackson)
* Megan Joy - “Put Your Records On” (Corinne Bailey Rae)
* Matt Breitzke - “If You Could Only See” (Tonic)
* Jesse Langseth - “Bette Davis Eyes” (Kim Carnes)
* Kai Kalama - “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” (Jimmy Ruffin)
* Mishavonna Henson - “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)” (Train)
* Adam Lambert - “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (The Rolling Stones)

Advancing to the Top 13: Allison Iraheta, Kris Allen, and Adam Lambert
Wild Card Contenders: Matt Giraud, Megan Joy, Jesse Langseth, and Jasmine Murray
Semi-Final Group 3 - Billboard Hot 100 hits

* Von Smith - “You’re All I Need to Get By” (Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell)
* Taylor Vaifanua - “If I Ain’t Got You” (Alicia Keys)
* Alex Wagner-Trugman - “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” (Elton John)
* Arianna Afsar - “The Winner Takes It All” (ABBA)
* Ju’Not Joyner - “Hey There Delilah” (Plain White T’s)
* Kristen McNamara - “Give Me One Reason” (Tracy Chapman)
* Nathaniel Marshall - “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” (Meat Loaf)
* Felicia Barton - “No One” (Alicia Keys)
* Scott MacIntyre - “Mandolin Rain” (Bruce Hornsby and the Range)
* Kendall Beard - “This One’s for the Girls” (Martina McBride)
* Jorge Núñez - “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” (Elton John)
* Lil Rounds - “Be Without You” (Mary J. Blige)

Advancing to the Top 13: Lil Rounds, Scott MacIntyre, and Jorge Núñez
Wild Card Contender: Von Smith
Wild Card Round - Billboard Hot 100 hits

* Jesse Langseth - “Tell Me Something Good” (Rufus and Chaka Khan)
* Matt Giraud - “Who’s Lovin’ You” (The Jackson 5)
* Megan Joy - “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” (KT Tunstall)
* Von Smith - “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” (Elton John)
* Jasmine Murray - “Reflection” (Christina Aguilera)
* Ricky Braddy - “Superstition” (Stevie Wonder)
* Tatiana Del Toro - “Saving All My Love for You” (Whitney Houston)
* Anoop Desai - “My Prerogative” (Bobby Brown)

Advancing to the Top 13: Jasmine Murray, Megan Joy, Matt Giraud, and Anoop Desai
Finalists
Kris Allen

* Kris Allen (born June 21, 1985 in Jacksonville, Arkansas, 23 years at the time of the show) is from Conway, Arkansas and auditioned in Louisville, Kentucky. Allen’s interest in music began at an early age; he taught himself how to play guitar at the age of 13, as well as numerous other instruments.[15] Prior to Idol, he worked as a worship leader at New Life Church in Maumelle, Arkansas, and is a member of Chi Alpha Campus Ministries at the University of Central Arkansas, where he is a business major. Allen was announced the winner of the eighth season of American Idol on May 20, 2009.[16] He went on to release his first official single, No Boundaries, which was written by Idol judge Kara DioGuardi. As a part of winning Idol, Allen was signed by Jive Records and 19 Entertainment.[17] His first official album under the new label released November 17 2009.

Adam Lambert

* Adam Lambert (born January 29, 1982 in Indianapolis, Indiana, 26 years at the time of his audition) is from San Diego, California and auditioned in San Francisco, California. Lambert grew up in Rancho Peñasquitos, San Diego, California and attended Deer Canyon Elementary School, Mesa Verde Middle School, and Mt. Carmel High School, where he was in theater, choir, and also performed with the school’s jazz band.[18] Lambert has been a stage actor since the age of ten, performing in such productions as You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and Wicked.[19] Lambert roomed with Kris Allen.[20] Lambert was announced as the runner-up for the eighth season of American Idol on May 20, 2009.[16]

Danny Gokey

* Danny Gokey (born April 24, 1980, 28 years at the time of his audition) is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and auditioned in Kansas City, Missouri. Gokey first began singing in church with his family, and has been a worship leader for his church in Milwaukee, Faith Builders International Ministries, for several years.[21] Four weeks before Gokey auditioned for American Idol, in July 2008, his wife Sophia underwent surgery due to congenital heart disease. She later died from complications regarding the extensive surgery.[22][23] He was eliminated from the Top 3 on May 13, 2009.[16]

* Allison Iraheta (born April 27, 1992 in Glendale, California, 16 years at the time of her audition) is from Los Angeles and auditioned in San Francisco, California. Iraheta began singing at an early age, performing at small venues for her family and friends.[24] In 2006, Iraheta won the Telemundo television series Quinceañera, where she won $50,000 and a recording contract, where only the prize money was granted.[25] She was eliminated from the Top 4 on May 6, 2009. She has been the youngest finalist as a 16 year-old turning 17 during Top 5 week. Her debut album, Just Like You was released on December 1, 2009 to positive reviews, with the single Friday I’ll Be Over U.

Matt Giraud

* Matt Giraud (born May 11, 1985 in Dearborn, Michigan, 23 years at his time of the show) is from Kalamazoo, Michigan and auditioned in Louisville, Kentucky. Initially eliminated from the Top 13, Giraud was chosen by the judges to rejoin the competition during the Wild Card round. Similarly, Giraud was eliminated during the Top 7, but was saved by the judges. Giraud grew up in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where he graduated from Lincoln High School in 2003.[26][27] He released an album called Perspective in 2003 and another in 2006 called Mind Body and Soul.[27]

Anoop Desai

* Anoop Desai (born December 20, 1986 in Cary, North Carolina, 22 years at the time of the show) is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina and auditioned in Kansas City, Missouri. Desai is an only child,[28] whose father was born in India and mother was born in South Africa.[29] Beginning his career as an actor for the television station WRAL-TV in Raleigh in a local television series entitled “CentralXpress.com”, and played the character “Raj.”[30] Desai attended Carnage Middle School and Phillips Middle School, then later went on to attend East Chapel Hill High School, graduating in 2004.[31] Desai’s performance as a soloist on the song “She Has No Time” was included on the 2007 iteration of the annual BOCA (Best of College A Cappella) compilation album.[32] Desai has credited his decision to audition for American Idol to the death of a friend, Eve Carson,[33] who was murdered.[33] Initially eliminated from the Top 13, he was chosen by the judges to rejoin the competition during the Wild Card round. His advancement to the finals made American Idol history, making it a top 13.

Lil Rounds

* Lil Rounds (born October 20, 1984, 24 years at the time of the show) is from Memphis, Tennessee and auditioned in Kansas City, Missouri. Shortly before her audition on Idol, a tornado hit Memphis, forcing Rounds to temporarily live in a motel.[34][35] Her grandfather once worked with the music legend B.B. King.[36]

* Scott MacIntyre (born June 22, 1985, 23 years at the time of the show) is from Scottsdale, Arizona and auditioned in Phoenix, Arizona. MacIntyre is the first legally blind person to audition for American Idol.[37] MacIntyre began practicing music at the age of six.[38] Home-schooled until the age of fourteen,[39] he later attended Arizona State University’s Barrett Honors College and Herberger College of the Arts soon afterwards.[40] In 2005, USA Today named him one of its twenty College Academic All-Stars.[41] He obtained his masters degree at Royal Holloway, University of London and the Royal College of Music, where he studied on a Marshall Scholarship. MacIntyre produced his first CD when he was eleven, and has recorded five more CDs since then. He recently has been accepted to both Oxford University and Cambridge University for further graduate-level education.

Megan Joy

* Megan Joy (born September 18, 1985, 23 years at the time of the show) is from Sandy, Utah and auditioned in Salt Lake City, Utah. Initially eliminated from the Top 13, Joy was chosen by the judges to rejoin the competition during the Wild Card round. In high school, Joy unsuccessfully tried out for numerous performance groups, including choir, and never had any singing lessons before her audition on Idol.[42] Joy graduated from Taylorsville High School in Taylorsville, Utah in 2003. She has one son named Ryder.[43]

Michael Sarver

* Michael Sarver (born March 28, 1981 in Sulphur, Louisiana, 27 years at the time of the show) is from Jasper, Texas and auditioned in Phoenix, Arizona. Sarver, an oil rig worker, began singing at the age of twelve, and has written over 890 songs for himself since that time.[44] Sarver graduated from Sulphur High School in 1998.[45] Sarver is married to his wife Tiffany, and has two children.

Alexis Grace

* Alexis Grace (born June 9, 1987, 21 years at the time of the show) is from Memphis, Tennessee and auditioned in Kansas City, Missouri. She gave birth to her daughter when she was nineteen. Grace began singing at an early age .[46]

* Jorge Núñez (born October 1, 1987 in Cidra, Puerto Rico, 21 years at the time of the show) is from Carolina, Puerto Rico and auditioned in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Núñez speaks three languages fluently, English, Spanish and French.[47] He was the eliminated from the Top 13 in the first week of the finals, along with Jasmine Murray.[48]

* Jasmine Murray (born March 14, 1992, in Columbus, Mississippi, 16 years at the time of the show) is from Starkville, Mississippi and auditioned in Jacksonville, Florida. Initially eliminated from the Top 13, Murray was chosen by the judges to rejoin the competition during the Wild Card round. In addition to competing on Idol, she also competed in the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen pageant in 2007.[49][50] She was eliminated from the Top 13 in the first week of the finals, along with Jorge Núñez.

Finals
Top 13 - Michael Jackson

* Lil Rounds - “The Way You Make Me Feel” (Michael Jackson)
* Scott MacIntyre - “Keep the Faith” (Michael Jackson)
* Danny Gokey - “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” (Michael Jackson)
* Michael Sarver - “You Are Not Alone” (Michael Jackson)
* Jasmine Murray - “I’ll Be There” (The Jackson 5)
* Kris Allen - “Remember the Time” (Michael Jackson)
* Allison Iraheta - “Give In to Me” (Michael Jackson)
* Anoop Desai - “Beat It” (Michael Jackson)
* Jorge Núñez - “Never Can Say Goodbye” (The Jackson 5)
* Megan Joy - “Rockin’ Robin” (Michael Jackson)
* Adam Lambert - “Black or White” (Michael Jackson)
* Matt Giraud - “Human Nature” (Michael Jackson)
* Alexis Grace - “Dirty Diana” (Michael Jackson)

Eliminated: Jasmine Murray and Jorge Núñez

The judges chose not to save either Jasmine or Jorge. It was never revealed, out of Jasmine Murray and Jorge Núñez, who received the lowest amount of votes even though Jasmine was eliminated first.

This episode was re-aired on June 29, 2009, in a tribute to the death of Michael Jackson on June 25. This makes it the only episode of the show to be re-aired by Fox.[51]
Top 11 - Grand Ole Opry

Mentor: Randy Travis

* Michael Sarver - “Ain’t Goin’ Down (’Til the Sun Comes Up)” (Garth Brooks)
* Allison Iraheta - “Blame It on Your Heart” (Patty Loveless)
* Kris Allen - “To Make You Feel My Love” (Garth Brooks)
* Lil Rounds - “Independence Day” (Martina McBride)
* Adam Lambert - “Ring of Fire” (Johnny Cash)
* Scott MacIntyre - “Wild Angels” (Martina McBride)
* Alexis Grace - “Jolene” (Dolly Parton)
* Danny Gokey - “Jesus, Take the Wheel” (Carrie Underwood)
* Anoop Desai - “Always on My Mind” (Brenda Lee)
* Megan Joy - “Walkin’ After Midnight” (Patsy Cline)
* Matt Giraud - “So Small” (Carrie Underwood)

Bottom 3: Allison Iraheta, Michael Sarver, and Alexis Grace

Bottom 2: Michael Sarver and Alexis Grace

Eliminated: Alexis Grace

The judges chose not to use their save on Alexis.
Top 10 - Motown

Mentor: Smokey Robinson

* Matt Giraud - “Let’s Get It On” (Marvin Gaye)
* Kris Allen - “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)” (Marvin Gaye)
* Scott MacIntyre - “You Can’t Hurry Love” (The Supremes)
* Megan Joy - “For Once in My Life” (Stevie Wonder)
* Anoop Desai - “Ooo Baby Baby” (The Miracles)
* Michael Sarver - “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” (The Temptations)
* Lil Rounds - “(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave” (Martha and the Vandellas)
* Adam Lambert - “The Tracks of My Tears” (The Miracles)
* Danny Gokey - “Get Ready” (The Temptations)
* Allison Iraheta - “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” (The Temptations)

Bottom 3: Matt Giraud, Michael Sarver, and Scott MacIntyre

Bottom 2: Matt Giraud and Michael Sarver

Eliminated: Michael Sarver

The judges chose not to save Michael.
Top 9 - Popular iTunes Downloads

* Anoop Desai - “Caught Up” (Usher)
* Megan Joy - “Turn Your Lights Down Low” (Bob Marley)
* Danny Gokey - “What Hurts the Most” (Rascal Flatts)
* Allison Iraheta - “Don’t Speak” (No Doubt)
* Scott MacIntyre - “Just the Way You Are” (Billy Joel)
* Matt Giraud - “You Found Me” (The Fray)
* Lil Rounds - “I Surrender” (Celine Dion)
* Adam Lambert - “Play That Funky Music” (Wild Cherry)
* Kris Allen - “Ain’t No Sunshine” (Bill Withers)

Bottom 3: Megan Joy, Allison Iraheta, and Anoop Desai

Bottom 2: Megan Joy and Anoop Desai

Eliminated: Megan Joy

Simon made it clear that the judges would not even consider using the save on Megan.
Top 8 - Year They Were Born

* Danny Gokey - “Stand by Me” (Ben E. King)
* Kris Allen - “All She Wants to Do Is Dance” (Don Henley)
* Lil Rounds - “What’s Love Got to Do With It” (Tina Turner)
* Anoop Desai - “True Colors” (Cyndi Lauper)
* Scott MacIntyre - “The Search Is Over” (Survivor)
* Allison Iraheta - “I Can’t Make You Love Me” (Bonnie Raitt)
* Matt Giraud - “Part-Time Lover” (Stevie Wonder)
* Adam Lambert - “Mad World” (Tears for Fears)

Bottom 3: Anoop Desai, Scott MacIntyre, and Lil Rounds

Bottom 2: Anoop Desai and Scott MacIntyre

Eliminated: Scott MacIntyre

Paula and Kara wanted to save Scott, but Simon and Randy did not.[52] Since the judges must be unanimous for the save to be used, the save was not used on Scott.
Top 7 (first week) - Songs of the Cinema

Mentor: Quentin Tarantino

* Allison Iraheta - “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (Aerosmith) from Armageddon
* Anoop Desai - “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” (Bryan Adams) from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
* Adam Lambert - “Born to Be Wild” (Steppenwolf) from Easy Rider
* Matt Giraud - “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” (Bryan Adams) from Don Juan DeMarco
* Danny Gokey - “Endless Love” (Lionel Richie and Diana Ross) from Endless Love
* Kris Allen - “Falling Slowly” (Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová) from Once
* Lil Rounds - “The Rose” (Bette Midler) from The Rose

Bottom 3: Anoop Desai, Lil Rounds, and Matt Giraud

Bottom 2: Matt Giraud and Lil Rounds

*Saved from elimination: Matt Giraud

*Matt received the lowest number of votes but the judges decided to use their save on him and was not eliminated.
Top 7 (second week) - Disco

* Lil Rounds - “I’m Every Woman” (Chaka Khan)
* Kris Allen - “She Works Hard for the Money” (Donna Summer)
* Danny Gokey - “September” (Earth, Wind & Fire)
* Allison Iraheta - “Hot Stuff” (Donna Summer)
* Adam Lambert - “If I Can’t Have You” (Yvonne Elliman)
* Matt Giraud - “Stayin’ Alive” (Bee Gees)
* Anoop Desai - “Dim All the Lights” (Donna Summer)

Bottom 3: Anoop Desai, Allison Iraheta, and Lil Rounds

Eliminated: Lil Rounds and Anoop Desai

With no elimination the previous week, there was a second “Top 7″ week and two people were eliminated. It was never revealed who, out of Anoop Desai and Lil Rounds, received the lowest amount of votes however Lil Rounds was announced as the first to be eliminated and Anoop Desai and Allison Iraheta were called to centre-stage to form the rest of the lowest three vote getters.
Top 5 - Rat Pack Standards

Mentor: Jamie Foxx

* Kris Allen - “The Way You Look Tonight”
* Allison Iraheta - “Someone to Watch Over Me ”
* Matt Giraud - “My Funny Valentine”
* Danny Gokey - “Come Rain or Come Shine”
* Adam Lambert - “Feeling Good”

Top 2: Allison Iraheta, Danny Gokey

Bottom 3: Adam Lambert, Kris Allen, and Matt Giraud

Bottom 2: Adam Lambert and Matt Giraud

Eliminated: Matt Giraud
Top 4 - Rock music

Mentor: Slash
Each contestant sang one solo and one duet with a fellow contestant.

* Adam Lambert - “Whole Lotta Love” (Led Zeppelin)
* Allison Iraheta - “Cry Baby” (Janis Joplin)
* Kris Allen & Danny Gokey - “Renegade” (Styx)
* Kris Allen - “Come Together” (The Beatles)
* Danny Gokey - “Dream On” (Aerosmith)
* Allison Iraheta & Adam Lambert - “Slow Ride” (Foghat)

Eliminated: Allison Iraheta
Top 3 - Judge’s choice / Contestant’s choice

Each contestant sang two songs.[53]

* Danny Gokey - “Dance Little Sister” (Terence Trent D’Arby) (Paula Abdul’s choice)
* Kris Allen - “Apologize” (OneRepublic) (Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi’s choice)
* Adam Lambert - “One” (U2) (Simon Cowell’s choice)
* Danny Gokey - “You Are So Beautiful” (Joe Cocker)
* Kris Allen - “Heartless” (Kanye West)
* Adam Lambert - “Cryin’” (Aerosmith)

Eliminated: Danny Gokey
Top 2 - The contestant’s favorite / Simon Fuller’s choice / The winner’s single

Each contestant sang three songs. Allen won a coin toss to decide who performed first and who performed last, and he chose to perform last.

* Adam Lambert - “Mad World” (Tears for Fears) - Contestant’s favorite
* Kris Allen - “Ain’t No Sunshine” (Bill Withers) - Contestant’s favorite
* Adam Lambert - “A Change Is Gonna Come” (Sam Cooke) - Simon Fuller’s choice
* Kris Allen - “What’s Going On” (Marvin Gaye) - Simon Fuller’s choice
* Adam Lambert - “No Boundaries” - Winner’s single
* Kris Allen - “No Boundaries” - Winner’s single

Winner: Kris Allen

Runner-Up: Adam Lambert
Other performances
Group song

* Top 36/Group 1: “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz
* Top 36/Group 2: “Closer” by Ne-Yo
* Top 36/Group 3: “Hot N Cold” by Katy Perry
* Top 13: “I Want You Back/ABC Medley” by The Jackson 5
* Top 11: “T-R-O-U-B-L-E” by Travis Tritt
* Top 10: “Motown” Medley: “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by The Supremes/”You’re All I Need to Get By” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell/”Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
* Top 9: “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey
* Top 8: “Can’t Get You out of My Head” by Kylie Minogue
* Top 7 (week 1): “Maniac” by Michael Sembello from Flashdance
* Top 7 (week 2): “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)” by The Jacksons; choreographed by Paula Abdul
* Top 5: “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” and “I Got Rhythm”
* Top 4: “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper
* Top 3: The Top 3 did not perform a group routine.
* Top 2: Top 13 performed “So What” by Pink and Top 2 performed Queen’s “We Are The Champions” who were guest performers

Guest performances

In addition, songs are played during the elimination night to promote an artist, single, album, or the show itself. Included is a list of those songs with their Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Digital Songs reactions.

Finale
Main article: Grand Finale (American Idol

The finale took place at the Nokia Theatre on May 20, 2009.

Controversies

Joanna Pacitti

Joanna Pacitti, who was originally selected as a semi-finalist, created controversy due to her being previously signed to A&M and Geffen Records. Later, she was found to have been having a “private relationship” with 19 Management. She was later disqualified, and replaced by Felicia Barton.

Telephone number

In the Top 13, the expected phone number for contestant Alexis Grace, 1-866-IDOLS-13, was not owned by American Idol, but by a company called Intimate Encounters, who used it as a phone sex line.[60] Although host Ryan Seacrest mentioned the replacement phone number, 1-866-IDOLS-36, several times, some commentators feared that the phone number confusion could lead to Grace being inadvertently voted off the show.[61][62] However, Grace was not voted off that week.

Overtime broadcast

On the April 7 (Top performance episode, Idol ran nearly eight minutes past its set ending time, such that viewers who recorded the program on digital video recorders completely missed the final performance, Adam Lambert’s performance of Mad World which received a standing ovation from judge Simon Cowell. The show attempted to prevent running over time the following week by having only two judges, either Randy and Kara or Paula and Simon, critique each performance; however, the episode still ended two minutes over the timeslot.

Lip-syncing

After the Top 11 program, Justin Guarini, while hosting Idol Wrap on TV Guide channel, asserted that the show’s group performances were being lip-synced.[63] Soon after Guarini’s assertion was aired, a spokesperson for the producers of American Idol said, “The Idols don’t lip-sync, period.”[63] The following day, the same spokesperson said that “due to extensive choreography and to balance their voices with open mics against a screaming audience, the Idols do sing along to their own prerecorded vocal track during the group performances only.”[63][64] The spokesperson maintained that the performers sing their solo songs live, but their performances available to download through iTunes are recorded prior to airing.

Finale vote

Kris Allen’s win over Adam Lambert resulted in speculation about voter manipulation, a Christian voting bloc, and as many as “38 million” votes coming from Arkansas, Kris’s home state[65][66], a state with only 2.8 million people. There were also allegations that AT&T may have influenced the results.[67] Fox had previously denied these claims as baseless stating that the network has no preference on who the winner might be.[68] AT&T meanwhile said in a statement that the vote tally above was based on incorrect information and apologized by saying that “AT&T does not divulge or confirm how many votes were cast in any state.”[69] On May 27, 2009, the producers of the show stated that they “stand by the outcome” and are “absolutely certain” that “without a doubt Kris Allen is the American Idol”.

The 67th Golden Globe Awards was telecast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, January 17, 2010 by NBC, from 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM (PST) and 8:00PM - 11:00 PM (EST) (01:00-04:00 Monday January 18 UTC). The ceremonies were hosted by Ricky Gervais,and were broadcast live for the first time.

Nominations were announced on December 15, 2009. Among films, Up in the Air led with six nominations, followed by Nine with five and Avatar and Inglourious Basterds with four each.Matt Damon, Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep, and Anna Paquin were each nominated twice, Damon as Best Actor in the comedy category and as Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, Bullock as Best Actress in both the comedy and drama categories, Streep competing against herself as Best Actress in the comedy category, and Paquin as Best Actress in a TV Drama Series and as Best Actress in a Television Film or Miniseries.

Television programs receiving multiple nominations include Glee, Dexter, Damages, Mad Men, House, and 30 Rock.

Martin Scorsese was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.

Schedule

As of January 17 2009:

Nominations and winners

Winners in bold.

Cecil B. DeMille Award

Martin Scorsese

Film

^[6]

Television

Awards breakdown

Number of nominations

Actors

• 2: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side, The Proposal)
• 2: Matt Damon (The Informant!, Invictus)
• 2: Anna Paquin (The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, True Blood)
• 2: Meryl Streep (It’s Complicated, Julie & Julia)

Films

• 6: Up in the Air
• 5: Nine
• 4: Avatar, Inglourious Basterds
• 3: The Hurt Locker, It’s Complicated, Invictus, Precious, A Single Man
• 2: (500) Days of Summer, Brothers, Crazy Heart, The Informant!, Julie & Julia, The Last Station, Up

Television

• 4: Glee
• 3: 30 Rock, Big Love, Lost, Damages, Dexter, Georgia O’Keeffe, Grey Gardens, Into the Storm, Mad Men
• 2: Entourage, House, Hung, The Office, Taking Chance, True Blood

Number of wins

Films

• 2: Avatar, Up, Crazy Heart

• 1: Up In The Air, The Hangover, Precious, Julie & Julia, The Blind Side, Inglourious Basterds, Sherlock Holmes, The White Ribbon

Television

• 2: Dexter, Grey Gardens
• 1: Big Love, Taking Chance, 30 Rock, Glee, Mad Men, The Good Wife, The United States of Tara

Presenters

• Amy Adams
• Christina Aguilera
• Jennifer Aniston
• Justin Bartha
• Kristen Bell
• Halle Berry
• Josh Brolin
• Gerard Butler
• Cher
• Bradley Cooper
• Chace Crawford
• Robert De Niro
• Cameron Diaz
• Leonardo DiCaprio
• Colin Farrell
• Harrison Ford
• Jodie Foster
• Matthew Fox
• Jennifer Garner
• Mel Gibson
• Lauren Graham
• Tom Hanks
• Neil Patrick Harris
• Sally Hawkins
• Ed Helms
• Kate Hudson
• Felicity Huffman
• Samuel L. Jackson
• Nicole Kidman
• Jane Krakowski
• Ashton Kutcher
• Taylor Lautner
• Zachary Levi
• Sophia Loren
• Paul McCartney
• Helen Mirren
• Jim Parsons
• Amy Poehler
• Julia Roberts
• Mickey Rourke
• Zoe Saldana
• Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Steven Spielberg
• Kiefer Sutherland
• Mike Tyson
• Sofia Vergara
• Olivia Wilde
• Kate Winslet
• Reese Witherspoon
• Sam Worthington

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Hendrick Motorsports has loaned an airplane and two flight crews to an organization that is participating in the Haitian earthquake relief efforts.

The NASCAR team loaned a 45-passenger plane to Missionary Flights International, which will send support teams in and out of Port-au-Prince. The first flight is scheduled to leave Fort Pierce, Fla., on Saturday morning and will take 30 passengers and medical supplies into Haiti.

The HMS aviation team is planning to fly at least one roundtrip per day, with no timeline set on how long the plane and personnel will be on loan. The eight-team crew consists of HMS aviation director Dave Dudley, four captain-level pilots, one mechanic and one flight attendant. All volunteered to participate.

HMS officials have a second plane on standby, and team owner Rick Hendrick is covering all costs associated with the flights.

Hendrick officials said Friday they received a special exemption from the FAA to fly the plane into Port-au-Prince.

The international Red Cross estimates 45,000 to 50,000 people were killed in the earthquake, which devastated the Caribbean nation on Tuesday.

A blue moon is a Full Moon that is not timed to the regular monthly pattern. Most years have twelve full moons which occur approximately monthly, but in addition to those twelve full lunar cycles, each solar calendar year contains an excess of roughly eleven days compared to the lunar year. The extra days accumulate, so that every two or three years (7 times in the 19-year Metonic cycle), there is an extra full moon. The extra moon is called a “blue moon.” Different definitions place the “extra” moon at different times.

* In calculating the dates for Lent and Easter, the Clergy identify the Lent Moon. It is thought that historically when the moon’s timing was too early, they named an earlier moon as a “betrayer moon” (belewe moon), thus the Lent moon came at its expected time.
* Folklore gave each moon a name according to its time of year. A moon which came too early had no folk name - and was called a blue moon - bringing the correct seasonal timings for future moons.
* The Farmers’ Almanac defined blue moon as an extra full moon that occurred in a season; one season was normally three full moons. If a season had four full moons, then the third full moon was named a blue moon.
* Recent popular usage defined a blue moon as the second full moon in a calendar month, stemming from an interpretation error made in 1946 that was discovered in 1999.For example, December 31, 2009 was a blue moon according to this usage.

Early English and Christian usage

The earliest recorded English usage of the term “blue moon” was in a 1528 pamphlet violently attacking the English clergy,entitled “Rede Me and Be Not Wrothe” (Read me and be not angry): “Yf they say the mone is belewe / We must believe that it is true” [If they say the moon is blue, we must believe that it is true].

Some interpret this “blue moon” as relating to absurdities and impossibilities,and a similar moon-related adage was first recorded in the following year: “They would make men beleue … that þe Moone is made of grene chese” [They would make men believe … that the moon is made of green cheese].

An alternative interpretation uses the other Old English meaning of belewe (which can mean “blue” or “betrayer”).The church was responsible for the calendar and used the complex computus to calculate the important date of Easter, which is based on the full moon. Lent falls before Easter, starting at the beginning of the Lent moon cycle (late winter moon). The next moon is the egg moon (early spring moon), and Easter usually falls on the first Sunday after the full egg moon. Every one to three years, the Lent and egg moons would come too early. The clergy would have to tell people whether the moon was the Lent moon or a false one, which they may have called a “betrayer moon”.
Visibly blue moon

The most literal meaning of blue moon is when the moon (not necessarily a full moon) appears to a casual observer to be unusually bluish, which is a rare event. The effect can be caused by smoke or dust particles in the atmosphere, as has happened after forest fires in Sweden and Canada in 1950 and, notably, after the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, which caused the moon to appear blue for nearly two years. The particles in the atmosphere have to be about one micrometer in diameter; under these circumstances, long-wavelength light, which appears red to a viewer, is scattered out of the line of sight and short-wavelength light, which appears blue to a viewer, is selectively transmitted into a viewer’s eyes.

Folklore

Historically, moons were given folk names, twelve each year, to help people to prepare for different times of the year and the related weather and crop needs. Names varied with locality and culture, often with descriptive names such as harvest moon, growing moon, snow moon, and egg moon. Most years have 12 moons (giving 12 names), but in the years with thirteen full moons the monthly “seasons” would be expected to come too early - for example, hens would not recommence laying their eggs by the fourth full moon since it was still too cold - so the early moon was named a “blue moon”. This then re-aligned the rest of the year’s moons and “seasons”.

The origin of the term “blue moon” is steeped in folklore, and its meaning has changed and acquired new nuances over time. Some folktales say that when there is a full blue moon, the moon had a face and talked to those in its light.
Farmers’ Almanac blue moons

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Maine Farmers’ Almanac listed blue moon dates for farmers. These correspond to the third full moon in a quarter of the year when there were four full moons (normally a quarter year has three full moons). Names are given to each moon in a season: For example, the first moon of summer is called the early summer moon, the second is called the midsummer moon, and the last is called the late summer moon. When a season has four moons the third is called the blue moon so that the last can continue to be called the late moon.

The division of the year into quarters starts with the nominal vernal equinox on or around March 21.[6] This is close to the astronomical season but follows the Christian computus used for calculations of Easter, which places each equinox evenly between the summer and winter solstices to calculate seasons rather than using the actual equinox.

Some naming conventions keep the moon’s seasonal name for its entire cycle, from its appearance as a new moon through the full moon to the next new moon. In this convention a blue moon starts with a new moon and continues until the next new moon starts the late season moon.

To calculate the moon names for the seasons using the appearance of the new moon:

1. Locate the new moons that are nearest to the solstices and equinoxes. These are the early season moons. Mark the new moons as follows: nearest December 21 - the early winter moon; nearest March 20 - the early spring moon; nearest June 20 - the early summer moon; nearest September 22 - the early fall moon. Note: This makes the full moon of that season about two weeks later, always after the 20th or 21st of the month.
2. Locate the new moons following the early season moons marked above. Mark them as the mid season moons. For example, the new moon that follows the early winter moon is marked as the midwinter moon.
3. Locate the new moons before the early season moons marked in step 1. Mark them as the late season moons of the previous season. For example, the new moon that precedes the early winter moon is the late fall moon.
4. Locate all new moons that have not been marked either early, mid, or late moons. These are the blue moons.

Seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere. Adjust the above instructions for your location.

For the year 2010, these are the dates of the moons in the northern hemisphere using UTC calculations. These dates use the actual solstices and not the artificial solstices that give each season an equal number of days.

1. 2009 December 16 - January 14 = Early Winter moon
2. January 15 - February 13 = Mid Winter moon
3. February 14 - March 14 = Late Winter moon
4. March 15 - April 13 = Early Spring moon
5. April 14 - May 13 = Mid Spring moon
6. May 14 - June 11 = Late Spring moon
7. June 12 - July 10 = Early Summer moon
8. July 11 - August 9 = Mid Summer moon
9. August 10 - September 7 = Late Summer moon
10. September 8 - October 6 = Early Fall moon
11. October 7 - November 5 = Mid Fall moon
12. November 6 - December 4 = Blue moon
13. December 5 - 2011 January 3 = Late Fall moon

Sky and Telescope calendrical misinterpretation

The March 1946 Sky and Telescope article “Once in a Blue Moon” by James Hugh Pruett misinterpreted the 1937 Maine Farmers’ Almanac. “Seven times in 19 years there were - and still are - 13 full moons in a year. This gives 11 months with one full moon each and one with two. This second in a month, so I interpret it, was called Blue Moon.” Widespread adoption of the definition of a “blue moon” as the second full moon in a month followed its use on the popular radio program StarDate on January 31, 1980.

Blue moons between 2009 and 2016

The following blue moons will occur between 2009 and 2016. These dates use UTC as the timezone; months will vary with different timezones.
Seasonal

Using the Farmers’ Almanac definition of blue moon (meaning the third full moon in a season of four full moons), blue moons occur:

* November 21, 2010
* August 21, 2013
* May 21, 2016

Calendar

Two full moons in one month:

* 2009: December 2; December 31 (combined with a partial lunar eclipse in some parts of the world)
* 2012: August 2, August 31
* 2015: July 2, July 31

Note that, unlike the astronomical seasonal definition, these dates are dependent on the Gregorian calendar and time zones. The full moon at 2009-12-31 19:13 UTC occurs early the next day in eastern countries (Australia and most of Asia), where the calendar blue moon will not occur until late January 2010.

ISLAMABAD: Various cultural organisations have got together to organise a festival ‘Umeed-e-Nau’ due to start from today (Friday), Lok Virsa Executive Director Khalid Javaid told Daily Times on Thursday.

Lok Virsa, National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage, National Institute of Cultural Studies (NICS), National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), Nomad Art Gallery and Society of Asian Civilizations Pakistan are moving spirits behind the event being staged to welcome the New Year, he elaborated.

He said major activities included four-day ‘Swat Cultural Festival’ at Lok Virsa Heritage Museum. “The festival is meant for finding ways to speed up rehabilitation of the internally displaced people (IDPs) particularly craftsmen, folk singers and musicians from Swat, Malakand and Mansehra,” Lok Virsa ED informed DT.

Javaid said that ‘Artisans at Work Exhibition’, folkloric performances, traditional cuisines, a ‘Children Art Exhibition’ and other attractions are highlights of the festival.

“Besides this, a book titled ‘Pariyoun Ka Des - Uzbekistan’ authored by Dr Syed Akhtar Jaffri from Lahore would also be launched to mark beginning of the New Year,” he added.

“The launching ceremony will be held today (Friday) at Lok Virsa. National Language Authority Chairman Iftikhar Arif and Ambassador of Uzbekistan H E Oybek Arif Usman will grace the ceremony,” he explained.

“The festival will continue till Sunday January 3, 2010 at the Lok Virsa Complex,” he said.

The football player and TV personality were eliminated Tuesday from “Dancing with the Stars.” Irvin failed to capture enough viewer votes to keep him in the competition, while Dacascos lost his spot during a last-ditch dance-off.

Former Dallas Cowboys receiver Irwin finished his run on the hit ABC show with his highest score of the season: He earned 23 points out of 30 for his fox-trot with professional partner Anna Demidova on Monday’s episode.

Judges’ scores are combined with viewer votes to determine which contestants are eliminated each week.

“Last night was a great night, and to see the audience here standing up, it’s their way of saying they appreciate the hard work,” Irwin said after learning his fate.

Dacascos collected a paltry 19 points for his misguided samba on Monday with a substitute partner after his usual pro, Lacey Schwimmer, fell to the flu. She was back for Tuesday’s episode, when the couple danced-off against Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff.

The “Iron Chef America” host’s trick-filled cha-cha earned praise from the judges, but Carter’s jive was more impressive.

Dacascos said being on the show was “one of the greatest experiences of my life.”

“It’s certainly much harder than it looks on television,” he said. “The bond you create with the pro dancers, my dancer, the other celebrities, it’s really special.”

Tuesday’s results show also featured performances by Rod Stewart, country singer Colbie Caillat and Ballas Hough, the rock band created by pro dancers Mark Ballas and Derek Hough. Ballas and his partner, actress Melissa Joan Hart, were eliminated from the competition last week.

Hough is still in the running for the mirrorball trophy with his partner, model Joanna Krupa.

Besides Carter and Krupa, remaining contestants include reality TV star Kelly Osbourne, singer Mya and entertainer Donny Osmond. Each will perform two dances on Monday’s episode.

NEW YORK - Irving Penn, whose photographs revealed a taste for stark simplicity whether he was shooting celebrity portraits, fashion, still life or remote places of the world, died Wednesday at his Manhattan home. He was 92.

The death was announced by his photo assistant, Roger Krueger.

“He never stopped working,” said Peter MacGill, a longtime friend whose Pace-MacGill Galleries in Manhattan represented Penn’s work. “He would go back to similar subjects and never see them the same way twice.”

Penn, who constantly explored the photographic medium and its boundaries, typically preferred to isolate his subjects _ from fashion models to Aborigine tribesmen _ from their natural settings to photograph them in a studio against a stark background. He believed the studio could most closely capture their true natures.

Between 1964 and 1971, he completed seven such projects, his subjects ranging from New Guinea mud men to San Francisco hippies.

Penn also had a fascination with still life and produced a dramatic range of images that challenged the traditional idea of beauty, giving dignity to such subjects as cigarette butts, decaying fruit and discarded clothing. A 1977 show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art presented prints of trash rescued from Manhattan streets and photographed, lovingly, against plain backgrounds.

“Photographing a cake can be art,” he said at the 1953 opening of his studio, where he continued to produce commercial and gallery work into the 21st century.

Penn’s most recent work was a series of still-life photos made of ceramics that he and his wife had collected in Europe. “They were as dynamic and as powerful as anything he had done in his 70-year career,” MacGill said.

Thirteen of Penn’s photographs are being auctioned Thursday at Christie’s, including “Guedras in the Wind,” a 1971 image of two Moroccan women, with an estimated pre-sale price of $40,000 to $60,000. A Penn photo, “Cuzco Children,” sold for $529,000 last year, including an auction house premium of 20 percent.

Penn’s career began in the 1940s as a fashion photographer for Vogue, and he continued to contribute to the magazine for decades thereafter.

He stumbled into the job almost by accident, when he abandoned his early ambition to become a painter and took a position as a designer in the magazine’s art department in 1943. Staff photographers balked at his unorthodox layout ideas, and a supervisor asked him to photograph a cover design.

The resulting image, on the Oct. 1, 1943, cover of Vogue, was a striking still-life showing a brown leather bag, a beige scarf, gloves, oranges and lemons arranged in the shape of a pyramid.

In subsequent photographs for the magazine, Penn further developed his austere style that placed models and fashion accessories against clean backdrops. It was a radical departure at a time when most fashion photographers posed their subjects with props and in busy settings that tended to draw attention from the clothes themselves.

The approach made him a star at the magazine, where his work eventually appeared on as many as 300 pages annually. Penn believed his success depended on keeping the reader _ rather than the model _ in mind.

“Many photographers feel their client is the subject,” he explained in a 1991 interview in The New York Times. “My client is a woman in Kansas who reads Vogue. I’m trying to intrigue, stimulate, feed her. … The severe portrait that is not the greatest joy in the world to the subject may be enormously interesting to the reader.”

He left the magazine in 1944 to join the military _ serving with the American Field Service in Italy and then as a photographer in India _ but returned to Vogue in 1946, taking travel assignments in addition to his fashion work.

Penn relished the chance to work in foreign locales, recalling in his 1974 book, “Worlds in a Small Room,” that he had often daydreamed “of being mysteriously deposited (with my ideal north-light studio) among the Aborigines in remote parts of the earth.”

In the 1950s, Penn moved into portraiture. He photographed not only the famous _ actors, musicians and politicians _ but also ordinary people. He published a series of pictures in 1950-1951 featuring plumbers, salesmen and cleaning women in New York City, Paris and London. The Getty Center in Los Angeles currently is exhibiting some of the photos.

His celebrity portraits included closely cropped images of Miles Davis, Spencer Tracy, Georgia O’Keeffe and Pablo Picasso, the last peering apprehensively from beneath a wide-brimmed hat. He once said that his formula for capturing meaningful portraits was to photograph his subjects relentlessly, often over a period of several hours, until they were forced to let down their guard.

A 2000 exhibit organized by the Art Institute of Chicago on his portraiture work said, “Penn’s manipulation of formal design elements such as light and shadow, and his ability to capture a significant gesture, expression, or mood, ultimately reveal something intriguing about his subjects.”

An exhibit of 14 large prints of cigarette and cigar butts at the Museum of Modern Art in 1975 was more controversial. It was lauded by some critics as a powerful elevation of the banal to the monumental, but criticized by others as self-indulgent.

“A beautiful print is a thing in itself, not just a halfway house on the way to the page,” he once said.

Accordingly, he spent countless hours in his studio creating prints with costly platinum salts _ a process that had been mostly abandoned at the turn of the 20th century, but favored by Penn because of its glowing results. (Most photographic prints use a solution of silver on the paper rather than platinum.) He would paint the platinum solution on the paper himself to create the effects he sought.

“Over the years I must have spent thousands of hours silently brushing on the liquid coatings, preparing each sheet in anticipation of reaching the perfect print,” Penn wrote in his 1991 book “Passage: A Work Record.”

Penn donated photographs to the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of American Art in Washington, and his archives are at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Born in Plainfield, N.J., in 1917, Penn studied at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art from 1934 to 1938, and worked as an assistant at Harper’s Bazaar in 1939.

Penn married fashion model Lisa Fonssagrives in 1950, and for decades afterward she remained one of his favorite subjects. She died in 1992. One of his 1950 photos of her sold at auction in 2004 for more than $57,000.

Penn was the older brother of filmmaker Arthur Penn, who directed “The Miracle Worker,” “Bonnie and Clyde” and “Night Moves.”

He had a son, Tom, with Fonssagrives. His wife also had a daughter, Mia, from a previous marriage.

NEW YORK - President Barack Obama says he expects unemployment will be a “big problem” for at least another year.

Speaking during taping of “The Late Show” with David Letterman, Obama called the $787 billion economic stimulus program that Congress enacted earlier this year a “tourniquet” that stopped the economic bleeding. Without that spending, he said another 1.5 million jobs, or more, would have been lost.

But Obama said it’s going to take time for the economy to become whole again. As he put it, “Unemployment is going to be a big problem for at least another year.” The nation’s unemployment rate hit 9.7 percent in August. Most economists expect it to top 10 percent next year.

Obama said he’s confident the economy will come back stronger than ever.