Scolds Apple in-app purchases
The Commission criticizes Apple for not offering “concrete and immediate” plans to stop users from being misled by “free” apps. Many popular apps in the company’s app store are free to download but are designed to tempt users to pay for upgrades or in-game enhancements to allow quicker progression. The Commission now forces the biggest vendors of apps, Apple and Google, to make the “true cost” of games clear, but singles out Apple for its failure to make a commitment to change. Apple, however, says it is doing “more than others’ to protect parents by giving the latter more control over what their kids can buy on its app store.
European Commission: CPC [consumer protection co-operation] authorities will continue to engage with Apple to ensure that it provides specific details of changes required and put its practices into line with the common position.
Liable over 300 Srebrenica deaths
The Hague district court finds the state liable for the death of more than 300 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995, but clears the state over the deaths of more than 7,000 other men killed in and around Srebrenica . The said deaths were among the 5,000 Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) sheltering with Dutch UN peacekeepers at that time. The case was launched by the “Mothers of Srebrenica”, a group of relatives of the victims of the Srebrenica massacre. The district court rules that the Dutchbat, the Dutch peacekeeping forces, did not do enough to protect more than 300 Bosniaks and should have been aware of the possibility of genocide to be committed when they handed the Bosniaks over from their UN compound.
It can be said with sufficient certainty that, had Dutchbat allowed them to stay at the compound, these men would have remained alive. By co-operating in the deportation of these men, Dutchbat acted unlawfully.
Plans crime book spree
In an interview by fellow crime author Val McDermid, the writer reveals her plan to write crime novels that will outnumber her Harry Potter books. She has already written two crime novels under her pseudonym Robert Galbraith, and is half-way through writing the third. The novels follow Cormoran Strike, a private detective and former military investigator in the Special Investigation Branch.
I love crime fiction. I’ve always loved it. I read a lot of it and I think, in many ways, that the Harry Potter books are whodunnits in disguise.
Hotels allow guests to ‘pay what you want’
Five hotels in Paris launch a scheme to allow guests to “pay what you want”. The participating three- and four-star hotels are located in the city’s 9th and 11th districts, a bit far from Paris’ tourist centers. The idea came from Aldric Duval, the head of the Tour d’Auvergne hotel, and it is intended to attract more tourists in their area. Guests are expected to pay based on the room, the hotel service, and their impressions of the hotel. The participating hotels are confident that guests will pay fairly. The scheme will run until August 10 and is available for online bookings made through the website www.payezcequevousvoulez.net (Pay what you want). The experiment may be extended if successful. Duval:
It’s a fair price operation, one of confidence in the client.
Most liked Facebook celebrity
Shakira is the first person to attract more than 100 million fans on Facebook and becomes the most “liked” celebrity on the social network, ahead of Eminem and Rihanna who have 91.9 million and 89 million fans respectively. During the World Cup, Shakira has been active in Facebook, and a photograph of her taken during the event received more than 3.5 million “likes”. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and chief executive of the social network, congratulated the singer in a comment on her page.
Social media and specifically Facebook has helped myself and other artists bridge the gap between the stage and the audience.
Monterey Festival
Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company perform Ball & Chain at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. She also meets Albert Grossman, Bob Dylan’s manager, who agrees to work with them for their first album. D.A. Pennebaker films the festival. In the video, “Mama” Cass Elliot is caught in awe of Janis’ performance.
Shoots Malala Yousafzai
The militant group shoots Yousafzai in a school bus in Swat Valley, Pakistan. According to the police, the bus was preparing to drive students home after their morning classes, when a member of the Taliban boarded the bus in search of Yousafzai. Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the Taliban, claims responsibility for the shooting on behalf of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an offshoot of the Taliban movement. The TTP is known for restricting women’s freedom and education. He defends,
She was pro-west, she was speaking against Taliban and she was calling President Obama her ideal leader. She was young but she was promoting western culture in Pashtun areas.
Djokovic, Ristic engagement
The player announces his engagement to his longtime girlfriend, Jelena Ristic, in his twitter account. Ristic, who has been with him for eight years now. His fiancée responds with the tweet by sharing a picture of them kissing and thanks all those who have been wishing them well.
Meet my fiancé and future wife 🙂 So happy! Thank you for wonderful wishes #NoleFam and friends! http://t.co/jEfo5fLu8i
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) September 25, 2013
Second Wimbledon title
The athlete wins his second Wimbledon title after beating Roger Federer in five sets: 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-4, which lasted for 3 hours and 55 minutes. The player wins in the last set with the help of four mistakes by his opponent, denying the Swiss player his eighth title in the said tournament. Novak’s victory in the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s singles final and his seventh Grand Slam title means that he also reclaims his no. 1 spot in the ATP. Federer claims the match is dramatic.
You know going into a match with Novak, it’s always going to be tough. It had everything for fans to like, the swing of momentum in the first set, him coming back in the second and third, all the back and forth in the fourth set and all the dramas in the fifth.
Allows women bishops
After a five-hour debate by the General Synod, the governing body of the Church of England, the church votes to allow women bishops. overturning centuries-old tradition. Since the approval of female priests in the church in 1992, the issue on women bishops has caused internal division in the Synod. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of Anglicans around the world says that the first female bishop could be named in early 2015. Welby:
Today marks the start of a great adventure of seeking mutual flourishing while still, in some cases disagreeing. The challenge for us will be for the church to model good disagreement and to continue to demonstrate love for those who disagree on theological grounds.
I am Malala
The schoolgirl releases her autobiography, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban. The book is co-written with Christina Lamb, a British journalist. It details the Taliban’s attack on the school bus she was riding where she was shot in the head. The book also describes the life in Swat valley, Pakistan under the rule of the Taliban. Other details about her life include her father briefly considering becoming a jihadist when he was young, and her culture shock and eventual adjustment in the way of life in England.
I was spared for a reason — to use my life for helping people.
UN declares Malala Day
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declares July 12 as ‘Malala Day’ in honor of the Pakistani schoolgirl’s stand to ensure education for all. Malala celebrates her 16th birthday by giving her address in the UN Youth Assembly, attended by nearly 1,000 youth leaders. In the gathering, the schoolgirl says that the attack on her by the Taliban nine months ago made her stronger and braver. She urges worldwide action against illiteracy, terrorism, and poverty.
The extremists were, and they are, afraid of books and pens. The power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women. Let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One teacher, one book, one pen, can change the world.
Meets with Nigerian President
The Pakistani schoolgirl meets with President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria in the country’s capital, Abuja. Her visit is in support of the more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram from a school in Chibok, Nigeria on a few months ago. Over the weekend, Malala met some of the schoolgirls who were able to escape Boko Haram and the families of the missing girls, and promised to take their messages to President Jonathan. She urges President Jonathan to meet with the parents of the victims. The president says he will do so before they leave Abuja to reassure the family of the victims that the government is doing everything it can to rescue the girls. Jonathan:
Terror is relatively new here and dealing with it has its challenges. The great challenge in rescuing the Chibok girls is the need to ensure that they are rescued alive.
Djokovic, Ristic marry
The Serbian-born athlete marries his pregnant girlfriend Jelena Ristic, just four days after winning the Wimbledon. The wedding takes place in the grounds of Aman Sveti Stefan resort in Montenegro. The wedding was originally scheduled on June 14 but Novak made a last minute decision to postpone it to concentrate for Wimbledon.
I was trying to be present in that moment and memorise it. I was focused on her, and her smile and our baby. It really was a perfect moment.
Janis Joplin dies at 27
Just 16 days after Jimi Hendrix was found dead at 27, Joplin dies at the same age due to accidental heroin overdose. She planned to meet her fiancee Seth Morgan and Peggy Caserta, but instead, she is found face down in her room at Hollywood’s Landmark Hotel with fresh puncture marks in her arm. Her father, Seth Joplin, however, disagrees with the reports that the cause of her death is drug overdose. Seth Joplin:
Since her death, there has been so much speculation-and that’s all it is. The coroner’s report won’t be issued for two weeks yet. The newspapers said it was an overdose. They don’t know that it was. We were out there in Los Angeles and there were no drugs found in the room. There were some sleeping pills. There might have been an accidental overdose of those. No one knows yet.
Piece of my Heart
The singer and Big Brother and the Holding Company release their blues rock version of Piece of My Heart from the album Cheap Thrills. The song was written by Bert Berns and Jerry Ragovoy, and was first recorded in 1967 by soul artist Erma Franklin. The song makes it to no. 12 in the U.S. pop chart. While performing the song on stage, she gets a wild reception to her rendition of the song.
But I remember I was singing ‘Piece of My Heart,’ you know that ‘Come on, well, come on’ line — well, you know the guitar solo that leads into that part? I came in early, and I walked all the way to the front of the stage and shouted [in a hoarse whisper], ‘Come on, come on!’ and just f-cking stamping my foot, and saying, ‘I’m not going to sing anymore unless you do something,’ you know, and they’re going, ‘Whoo-ooo-ooo, yes ma’am! Yes ma’am, yes ma’am!’ A riot. Groovy. All they want is a little kick in the ass.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee
About 25 years after her death, the singer becomes an inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She is presented by Melissa Etheridge. Other inductees this year are Neil Young, The Allman Brothers, Band, Led Zeppelin, Al Green, Frank Zappa, and Martha and the Vandellas. Etheridge:
I wish she would have survived; then maybe I could tell her thank you. Thank you for traveling that road, for carrying that ball and chain, for giving a piece of her heart. I wish I could congratulate her personally – tell her she will always be a part of rock and roll history; that she helped create it, lived by it, and died by it. I wish I could say to her now, welcome. Welcome to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – a place you so definitely deserve to be.
Forms Kozmic Blues Band
Taking Andrew with her, Joplin leaves Big Brother and The Holding Company to form the Kozmic Blues Band, which includes a full horn section. Andrew recalls the reasons why he and Joplin left the Big Brother.
I’m blaming that on her, because she’s not here and can’t defend herself. [laughs] It was a really stupid decision, but she talked me into it. I wish I had been stronger and said no. She felt like some of the people in Big Brother weren’t working as hard as we were – and that was the truth. She was getting impatient. Plus, she wanted to have a soul band – she was getting into that phase. So I went with her. I was curious to see what would happen. And I liked her, too. I related to her probably better than to anyone else in the band.
Joins Big Brother & The Holding Company
After hearing from Chet Helms that a band in San Francisco, Big Brother & The Holding Company, is looking for a lead singer, Joplin goes for an audition. Sam Andrew, a member of the band, remembers how they were impressed with her voice and starts to do gigs with her. She also learns to adjust her voice with the band and develops the singing style she is known for. Andrews:
At first, she had a coffeehouse kind of voice – real big and wide and open, like an acoustic instrument almost. As she got to play with us, she learned how to be an electric singer. We played so loud that she had to compete, so that’s when she started screaming. But she was always very musical.
Janis Joplin born in Port Arthur, Texas
Janis Lyn Joplin is born in St. Mary’s Hospital in Port Arthur, Texas to a middle-class family. She is the first child of Seth Ward and Dorothy Joplin. Her father works as an engineer at a refinery, while her mother is a Sunday school teacher. She is a pretty, bright, and artistic little girl. In high school, she has shown signs of rebellion against the racial, sexual, and religious conservatism in her place; longing to leave her hometown.
I was a misfit. I read, I painted, I didn’t hate niggers.