Typhoon Jelawat jumps Japan's island of Okinawa

At least 50 people were injured and 271,400 households rendered without power after Typhoon Jelawat struck Okinawa island of Japan, disaster officials there said Saturday.

As the storm roared toward other Japanese islands, three people were injured in the southernmost part of Kyushu, the Disaster Management Office of the Kagoshima prefectural government said.

The typhoon is expected to strike the Japanese mainland Sunday.

The latest typhoon to hit the region in recent weeks, Jelawat is a "very strong" storm with maximum sustained winds near the center of just over 100 mph (165 km/h), the Japan Meteorological Agency said. A NASA advisory said the cyclone was comparable to a category 3 hurricane.

The cyclone has lost some of its might and should continue weakening while moving into colder waters, said CNN meteorologist Karen Maginnis. Wind troughs out of China could divert Jelawat away from land and into the open Pacific Ocean.

This has not kept Okinawa from feeling the might of Jelawat's gusts, although there have been no reports of major damage.

"The winds are screaming through the streets," storm chaser James Reynolds said from Okinawa before the typhoon strike. "I've seen at least one window blow out."

He explained that buildings on the island are constructed to withstand the frequent Pacific typhoons. Just two weeks ago, Sanba, a Category 3 storm with slightly stronger winds than the current typhoon, passed over Okinawa on its way to South Korea.

Local media reported Jelawat's gusts had overturned motor vehicles.

A U.S. Air Force base on the island recorded a gust of 180 mph, Maginnis said.

Kadena Air Base posted comments, photos and videos from the storm on its Facebook page.

"Jumpin' Jelawat!" a comment read. "OK, this is the back side of Jelawat. Impressive. Scary impressive."

The base lost its American Forces Network television signal, according to one photo post with a descriptive caption saying the storm "decided to make a taco out of one of our satellite dish."

The page held a contest for the best storm picture. Potential winning images -- containing the worst damage -- displayed a single car that the wind had overturned and roof damage to a home.

By Ben Brumfield, CNN September 29, 2012

Apple seems to have gotten a little bit lost

Apple CEO Tim Cook had to apologize for the buggy new Maps app in the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 on Friday, saying that his company "fell short" of making a "world-class product." It was a gracious and humble admission of a major mistake -- a sign that Apple takes its customers seriously and conducts itself with integrity.

"We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused," Cook said in a letter posted on the company's website. "We are doing everything we can to make Maps better." That relentless focus on treating customers right is why Apple has been the undisputed leader of the technology business for the past decade. But while the apology is commendable, the maps mistake was entirely Apple's fault.

Previous versions of the iPhone and iOS used Google Maps, which are the industry standard. No one was complaining about Google Maps. Sure, they're not perfect, but we're all used to their errors and gaps. But Apple broke its contract to use Google Maps a year earlier than expected because of corporate politics. Google is a competitor, and Apple wanted to break ties and control its own maps. That's an extra year in which Apple could have improved its own maps — an extra year which was apparently sorely needed.

The timing of the move surprised even Google, which is scrambling to build its own maps app for the iPhone and iPad. It reportedly won't be ready until the end of the year. Until then, Apple is stuck telling unhappy customers that they can visit Google Maps in the iPhone's Web browser or download other map apps like MapQuest or Bing. Needless to say, it's more than a little strange for Apple to suggest customers to try a Microsoft product.

To be fair, Apple's new maps add important features Google wasn't willing to share. The iPhone 5 has built-in, turn-by-turn directions, and the maps are faster and prettier. But for most people, the drawbacks far outweigh the benefits.

What good is voice navigation if it gets you lost? Who cares if the 3-D map is prettier when it thinks the Brooklyn Bridge has been demolished and the Statue of Liberty destroyed? These aren't questions anyone is used to asking about Apple products, because Apple doesn't usually ship broken products. Apple's failures are magnified by the company's track record of perfectionism — perfectionism that comes from putting customers first.

It's understandable why Apple felt it needed to switch away from Google. Being dependent on a competitor isn't great for any company. Apple likes to control its own destiny. Cook has said the company needs to "own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make."

Maps are without question a critical feature for smartphones and tablets, and it makes sense for Apple to build its own. But it doesn't make sense to switch away from Google before Apple's own product is ready, and it's doubtful iPhone 5 sales would have been even slightly affected because the Google Maps app on Android is slightly better. Now it's fair to wonder if potential upgraders and switchers aren't holding back because they don't want to be forced into using inferior maps.

Apple deserves praise for being forthright and direct in its apology, but no company wants to be praised for its apologies. It's more important for Apple to understand its mistake and try to prevent it from happening again. Apple is the most valuable company in the world because it has always fought battles for the consumer, not for the company. But in its race to win a corporate victory over Google, Apple seems to have gotten a little bit lost.

By Nilay Patel, Special to CNN September 29, 2012

'Li-Fi' provides a light bulb moment for wireless web

The light bulb figuratively suspended above a human head has long been symbolic of the eureka moment that every inventor craves.

But for German physicist Herald Haas, it's the bulb itself that provides the inspiration for his bright idea.

Haas and his team at the UK's University of Edinburgh, are the brains behind a new patented technology that uses beams of flickering light to transmit digital information wirelessly, a process known as Visible Light Communication (VLC).

"My big idea is to turn light bulbs into broadband communication devices ... so that they not only provide illumination, but an essential utility," he says.

Haas claims that data can be sent by adding a microchip to any humble LED bulb, making it blink on and off at a phenomenal speed, millions of times per second.

It's this capability that allows LEDs to transmit data in a rapid stream of binary code that, although invisible to the naked eye, can then be detected by a light-sensitive receiver.

"It's a bit like sending a Morse code signal with a torch, but at a much faster rate and using the alphabet that computers understand," explains Haas.

The implication is that wherever you have a light bulb -- and there are an estimated 14 billion of them worldwide -- you have the potential for a wireless Internet connection. In practice, it means that any street lamp could double up as a web hotspot.

But VLC, or "Li-Fi" as it has been nicknamed, does more than just increase Internet accessibility.

The dominant technology used for wireless data transfer, Wi-Fi, is transmitted through radio wave signals. However, radio waves represent only a small fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum and so, as demand for wireless connectivity grows, the supply of available bandwidth diminishes.

The problem is epitomized by the frustrating experience of sitting in an Internet coffee shop, helplessly watching on as more and more people connect their device to the network, causing your browser speed to wither to a snail's pace.

The same is true for 3G mobile networks, which rely on an increasingly congested system of around 1.4 million cellular radio masts worldwide.

Meanwhile, the number of bytes we transmit through mobile devices is doubling every year, according to a report from networking equipment giant Cisco Systems.

However, Haas claims his technology should be a big part of the solution.

"The visible light spectrum is 10,000 times larger than the radio frequency spectrum," he explains.

Less congestion means greater bandwidth and Haas says transmission rates using "Li-Fi" could be as high as one gigabit a second -- meaning that downloads of high-definition films could take less time than sending a text.

For Haas, the beauty of his technology is that -- unlike radio wave signals that are generated from large energy-intensive cell masts -- VLC requires almost no new infrastructure.

"We use what is already there," he says. "The visible light spectrum is unused, it's not regulated, and we can communicate at very high speeds."

But the technology has its limitations.

Thomas Kamalakis, a lecturer at the Department of Informatics and Telematics at the Harokopio University of Athens, commends Haas on his work but warns against overstating its potential just yet.

"Of course one problem is that light can't pass through objects, so if the receiver is inadvertently blocked in any way, then the signal will immediately cut out," Kamalakis says.

Mark Leeson, associate professor at Warwick University's School of Engineering also foresees challenges.

"The question is how will my mobile phone communicate back with the light source?" Leeson asks.

Both are valid issues, Haas says, but he has a simple workaround.

"If the light signal is blocked, or when you need to use your device to send information -- you can seamlessly switch back over to radio waves."

VLC is not in competition with WiFi, he says, it is a complimentary technology that should eventually help free up much needed space within the radio wave spectrum.

"We still need Wi-Fi, we still need radio frequency cellular systems. You can't have a light bulb that provides data to a high-speed moving object or to provide data in a remote area where there are trees and walls and obstacles behind," he says.

Although the widespread use of "Li-Fi" is still some way off, it could have some useful, small scale, applications in the short term.

For instance, Haas says it could transform air travel by allowing overhead cabin lights to connect mobiles and laptops in-flight; it could also improve conditions for those working underwater -- such as people on oil rigs -- where radio waves cannot penetrate; LED car lights could even alert drivers when other vehicles are too close.

Haas also turns one of the technology's perceived weaknesses -- the inability of light to penetrate through objects -- into a strength.

"LiFi offers a far more secure form of data transfer because it can only be intercepted by those within a line of sight of the light source," he explains.

"It's a very simple electromagnetic spectrum we can see, and if that is an engine that also provides some of the fundamental needs of modern societies [like] high-speed data communication, wouldn't that be brilliant?"

By George Webster, CNN September 28, 2012

Syrian army, rebels fight for control of Aleppo; marketplace burns

Syrian government forces and rebels engaged Saturday in fierce clashes throughout the vital and culturally rich city of Aleppo, with portions of a storied marketplace going up in flames.

Abu Abdallah, an opposition activist in Aleppo, told CNN that rebel forces had liberated at least four neighborhoods by the third day of an offensive against President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

But the government trumpeted its actions against the opposition.

"The armed forces on Saturday continued to target hideouts and gatherings of terrorists in Aleppo city and its countryside, killing and injuring dozens of terrorists and destroying their vehicles," according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

The see-saw fight for Aleppo, once considered an al-Assad stronghold, has continued nearly unabated since July, though the number of casualties has steadily increased.

Syrian forces targeted "terrorists" at several sites, including part of the city's medieval souk, a historic market, and killed and wounded several of them, SANA reported.

Video posted on YouTube showed a fire that had been initially set off on Saturday night continued to spread through the souk Sunday amid the sound of gunfire. The description on the video said it was recorded Saturday after "Assad gangs" burned the market.

CNN is unable to independently verify the veracity of the video.

The marketplace, once popular with tourists, is a labyrinth of covered alleys.

The opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said, "the (rebel) Free Syrian Army and the families of the city were unable to extinguish the fire due to the spread of regime snipers."

Aleppo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, dominated by an ancient citadel. The city also is a center for the art and was named Islamic capital of culture six years ago.

"No part of the ancient treasure of humanity shall be destroyed," Sok An, chair of the group's world heritage committee, said in August. "It is the collective responsibility of all humanity to urgently ensure the safeguarding and protection of Aleppo's cultural properties."

Opposition groups reported clashes near al-Nayrab Military Airport in the south of the city, where initial information indicate that the rebels damaged at least two helicopters and a main runway after firing mortars. Several districts of the city came under artillery shelling, the opposition said.

Government forces hammered rebels in several locations, inflicting substantial casualties, according to SANA. It said troops assumed control of the al-Amiriyeh area and much of Tal al-Zarazir in Aleppo.

Al-Assad has severely limited the access of international journalists to the country, so CNN is unable to verify opposition and government claims of violence.

At least 126 people were killed in fighting across the country Saturday, according to the LCC. Among those killed were 64 people in Damascus and its suburbs.

In the Damascus neighborhood of Barzeh, 43 people were killed over three days after government forces came through. The LCC linked to an online video, purportedly shot in Barzeh on Saturday, showing columns of armed, camouflaged soldiers walking down a busy street as two tanks rolled by.

SANA reported a military unit killed "many terrorists" in Barzeh.

Neighborhood residents in Homs held a friendship march Saturday, according to SANA. Homs Gov. Ahmad Munir Mohammad said, "no matter how hard the enemies try, the Syrian people will remain strong and steadfast in the face of the conspiracies."

U.S. to Iran: Stop shipping arms to Syria

The United States warned Iran to stop providing arms to al-Assad even as it announced millions of dollars in non-lethal support for the opposition attempting to oust the government.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Syria's neighbors to take steps to prevent Iran from using their land and airspace to transport weapons to al-Assad's forces.

Clinton's warning followed an admission, according to Iranian state-run media reports, by the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard that its elite Quds Force was operating inside Syria but not involved directly in military action.

Clinton announced the United States is donating $15 million to unarmed Syrian opposition groups, bringing the total U.S. aid for the opposition to nearly $45 million.

The latest donation "translates into more than 1,100 sets of communications equipment, including satellite-linked computers, telephones, and cameras, as well as training for more than 1,000 activists, students, and independent journalists," she said.

The United States also is donating an additional $30 million in humanitarian assistance, primarily in the form of food, water and medical supplies, Clinton said.

Syria's chemical weapons a target?

A former senior officer in the Syrian Army said Friday that Iranian technicians are helping with the Syrian government's research into chemical weapons.

Adnan Sillu, a former major general who says he was chief of staff of chemical warfare, also said Syria can easily transfer the weapons to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia organization that fought a border conflict with Israel in 2006.

Syrian opposition posted a series of videos on YouTube suggesting rebels are beginning to focus on where al-Assad's government stores its chemical weapons.

The videos were first uploaded in July. Narrators using Google Earth satellite imagery describe in detail several sites where they allege that chemical weapons and missiles are stored or manufactured.

There is no way for CNN to independently verify what the videos purport to show.

Sillu said moving the weapons would be easy for the government should they be at risk of falling into the rebels' hands.

His comments follow word from U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta that the Syrian government has moved chemical weapons at various sites for security reasons.

U.S. officials have said they believe that the stashes remain secured by the Syrian military.

Background on the conflict

The Syrian conflict broke out in March 2011 after unarmed protesters, inspired by the success of popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, took to the streets demanding political reform and an end to four decades of rule by the Assad family.

The movement quickly devolved into an armed conflict after a brutal and continuing crackdown by government forces.

Since the unrest began, more than 30,000 people have been killed, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

By the CNN Wire Staff September 30, 2012

Iran's news agency portrays satirical Onion story as its own

Add Iran's news agency to the long list of those hoodwinked by the satire of The Onion.

Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency published a story Friday claiming that a Gallup poll found that rural white Americans prefer Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over President Barack Obama.

Such a poll would indeed be big news in Iran (and the United States) -- if it were true.

But the source was The Onion, the publication that presents the outlandish as real news.

Its serious tone fools many who are new to the lampoons. Onion yarns have tricked news outlets in the U.S. and overseas.

What sets Fars apart from others, however, is that the agency published the Onion story as if it were its own.

Fars News Agency used the story verbatim, giving the same headline: "Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad To Obama"

Fars also took all the credit at the get-go:

"TEHRAN (FNA) -- According to the results of a Gallup poll released Monday, the overwhelming majority of rural white Americans said they would rather vote for Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than US President Barack Obama."

(The Onion story used a Charleston, West Virginia, dateline.)

The article went on to quote a West Virginia resident as saying he would rather grab a ballgame or a drink with the Iranian leader than with Obama.

The phony resident then lauded Ahmadinejad: "He takes national defense seriously, and he'd never let some gay protesters tell him how to run his country like Obama does."

If that weren't enough, Fars continued, "According to the same Gallup poll, 60 percent of rural whites said they at least respected that Ahmadinejad doesn't try to hide the fact that he's Muslim."

A Fars news editor said Friday that the outlet took the item off its English-language website once editors realized that The Onion wasn't a legitimate news organization.

Without breaking from its farce, Onion Editor Will Tracy wrote in an e-mail that Fars is a subsidiary and has been "our Middle Eastern bureau since the mid 1980s, when the Onion's publisher, T. Herman Zweibel, founded Fars with the government approval of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

"The Onion freely shares content with Fars and commends the journalists at Iran's Finest News Source on their superb reportage," Tracy wrote in his statement.

There's no word on whether either president is laughing.

By Michael Martinez, CNN September 29, 2012

Bullied Michigan teen shines as homecoming princess

Whitney Kropp, the teen thrust into the spotlight after her peers nominated her for the school homecoming court as a prank, attended coronation Friday night surrounded by cheering fans.

Donning a red dress, she beamed as she clutched a bouquet of flowers.

"I had thoughts about not coming [still tonight]," the 16-year-old told reporters after halftime of the homecoming game.

"I just thought maybe I won't have fun, but ... I'm having actually a lot of fun right now."

"I'm so happy -- this is so much right now for me," she added.

Speaking to reporters after the halftime ceremonies, Kropp had nothing but praise for her school — in spite of what a select few students did.

"The school is fantastic. They treated me so well here and I couldn't ask for more."

Her mother, Bernice Kropp, was all smiles.

I am so proud right now, wow," she said standing alongside her daughter.

When asked whether she had a message for other kids who deal with bullying, the teen said it's important to "not let them bring you down."

"Stand up for what you believe in and go with your heart and go with your gut. That's what I did, and look at me now. I'm just as happy as can be!"

Earlier this month, when she realized the whole thing was a prank, Kropp, a sophomore at Ogemaw Heights High School near West Branch, Michigan, said she became suicidal and felt "like trash."

But thanks to a push from her family and friends, she decided to embrace what happened and turn the tables.

"I can just prove all these kids wrong ... I'm not the joke everyone thinks I am," she said Thursday.

The West Branch-Rose City Area Schools superintendent, Dan Cwayna, declined CNN's request for comment.

Opting to stay on the homecoming court was a tough decision, Kropp said. That bold move prompted local businesses to donate her homecoming gown and shoes, and a local hairstylist to give her a new 'do' for the big event.

"Every girl looks forward to being on that homecoming court and for her name to be called," said hairstylist Shannon Champagne, who did her hair. "For her to be so excited about that and then just to find out that it was all just a joke, it just — it really touched me."

A Facebook support page created for her has more than 96,000 "likes."

Sitting on her front porch in rural Michigan, the teen held her head high with what her mom described as a new and overwhelming sense of confidence.

"It is absolutely awesome to see her stand up," Bernice Kropp said. "And it's so cool to see e-mails ... we're getting from parents and other students from all over the place telling her stories and how it helped them and it touched them. My daughter is out there as an inspiration to a lot of people, and it's a really cool thing."

The teen says the outpouring of support caught her off guard.

"I thought before, 'Oh, no one cares about me,''' she said. "I thought not even my own brother and sister care. But they're proving me they do care. The world is proving they do, well not really care about me, but they care about the situation. So I'm happy. I'm really honored."

In fact, her sister, Alivia Kropp, was the first person to spread the word and encourage her to speak out.

"I told her ... you've got the courage, you've got the strength to go do it, so go do it and have fun," she said.

She said the night her sister spent crying was horrible.

"It's very hard to see someone hurt and upset, and you want to do everything in your power to make sure they're not that way," Alivia Kropp said.

Homecoming coronation was at halftime of the football game Friday night. The dance, something she and her boyfriend have been looking forward to all year, is Saturday.

By Chris Welch, CNN September 29, 2012

Tycoon offers HK$500 million to wed 'married' daughter

The daughter of the tycoon who on Tuesday offered HK$500 million (US$64 million) to any man who would marry her found the proposal "quite entertaining," she told CNN.

Gigi Chao said her father, property developer Cecil Chao Sze-tsung, "loves her very much" and was aware of the cash offer before it was first reported Tuesday by local Hong Kong media.

The tycoon's offer came after Chinese media reports last week that she married another woman, her long-time companion Sean Eav, in a civil ceremony in Paris last week. Asked by CNN to confirm her civil union, Chao said she was "not in a position to verify that."

Her father, however, was unequivocal, telling CNN "reports of Gigi being married is not true, it's a rumor." However, he did confirm that he is offering the multi-million dollar bounty for a future son-in-law: Any nationality or wealth of the suitor is fine, the only requirement is that the man "loves my daughter, and she loves him."

Asked if she would consider her father's offer, Chao said, "we will see."

The 76-year-old tycoon himself has never married, and has long earned a reputation on the pages of local newspapers and magazines in the arms of beautiful women, having once bragged of having had 10,000 girlfriends, the South China Morning Post reported.

Gigi Chao is an executive director of Cheuk Nang Holdings, a luxury property development company run by her father.

By Vivian Kam and Kevin Voigt, CNN September 27, 2012

U.S. delegation will not attend Ahmadinejad's U.N speech, spokeswoman says

The U.S. delegation "has decided not to attend" the speech to be delivered by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before the United Nations General Assembly, Erin Pelton, spokeswoman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, said in a statement Wednesday.

"Over the past couple of days, we've seen Mr. Ahmadinejad once again use his trip to the U.N. not to address the legitimate aspirations of the Iranian people but to instead spout paranoid theories and repulsive slurs against Israel," Pelton said.

The Iranian leader's addresses to the assembly have often generated controversy in the past. The tensions over Tehran's disputed nuclear program and speculation over a possible attack on Iran by Israel offer ample material for drama this time around.

In previous years, several delegations have walked out during Ahmadinejad's speeches, which have assailed the United States and criticized countries that he said used the Holocaust as an "excuse to pay ransom to Zionists."

He will be taking to the podium Wednesday, a day after President Barack Obama told the assembly that while Washington remains committed to a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear program, the United States "will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and to fill energy shortages, but Western leaders believe Tehran is an aspiring armed nuclear power. U.N. inspectors have also expressed doubts about the program's aims.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com, September 26th, 2012