SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Prosecutors charged one police officer with murder and another with manslaughter Wednesday in the killing of an unarmed, mentally ill homeless man who was pummeled, shocked with a Taser and slammed with the butt of a stun gun in a beating that lasted nearly 10 minutes.
Fullerton Officer Manuel Ramos was charged with one count each of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the death of 37-year-old Kelly Thomas after a violent confrontation with officers on July 5, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said at a news conference.
Police Cpl. Jay Cicinelli was charged with one count each of involuntary manslaughter and excessive force.
A review of the evidence, including audio from the officers' body microphones and surveillance video, showed Thomas was acting "in self-defense, in pain and in a state of panic," Rackauckas said.
"His numerous pleas of 'I'm sorry,' 'I can't breathe,' 'Help Dad' (were) all to no avail. Screams, loud screams, didn't help," the prosecutor said.
Lorie Fridell, an associate professor of criminology at the University of South Florida, said it is highly unusual for a police officer to be charged with murder.
"It is quite appropriate in such cases to hold officers to account," Fridell said. "Often, however, prosecutors will give officers the benefit of the doubt."
Citing the video and audio recordings, Rackauckas said Thomas appeared to be cognitively impaired as officers approached him. He was shirtless and wearing just a backpack as Ramos made a show of putting on Latex gloves before ordering him to put his hands on his knees.
"He made two fists with his gloves on, two fists. He lifted his fists in front of Kelly Thomas so he could see them and he said, 'Now see my fists? They are getting ready to (expletive) you up,'" Rackauckas said. "That's when it went from a fairly routine investigation, a fairly routine police detention, to an impending beating by an angry police officer."
Ramos allegedly swung his baton at Thomas but it was unclear if he hit him. The prosecutor said Ramos then chased Thomas, eventually punching him in his ribs and tackling him before holding down his neck and laying on top of Thomas to pin him down.
The coroner listed the cause of death as mechanical compression of the thorax, which made it impossible for Thomas to breathe normally and deprived his brain of oxygen, Rackauckas said. Other injuries to the face and head contributed to the death, the prosecutor said.
Cicinelli, who arrived on the scene later, kneed Thomas twice in the head and used a Taser four times on him as he screamed and yelled in pain, Rackauckas said, adding that Cicinelli hit Thomas in the face eight times with the Taser, and Thomas didn't respond.
"When Kelly didn't scream in response to these blows it should have indicated to Cicinelli that Kelly was down and seriously hurt," he said.
Rackauckas, a longtime prosecutor known for his strong backing of law enforcement, said it was the first time he had filed charges against police officers for excessive force leading to death.
"Police officers have a right to use reasonable force in the performance of a lawful duty but citizens have a right to self-defense, even against the police," he said.
Ron Thomas, Kelly Thomas' father, cheered as he watched the prosecutor's news conference on TV with a group of supporters. He later said he was pleased with the charges.
"That's exactly what I hoped for," he said in a phone interview. "It makes me feel fantastic that this is happening, it's the justice we need."
Still, he said he suffers every day as a result of his son's death.
Ramos' attorney, John Barnett, said the charges were unfounded and disputed Rackauckas' accounts of events. Thomas violently resisted arrest by kicking and swinging at officers, he said, adding that he had seen the same video cited by the prosecutor.
In response to claims that Ramos put on latex gloves and told Thomas he was going to hurt him, Barnett characterized his client's attempt to get compliance as "the lowest type of force."
"It was an attempt by the officer to use words not force to get the suspect to do what he's supposed to do," Barnett said. "He sought to avoid physical confrontation with words. There was no compliance by Mr. Thomas."
Bill Hadden, an attorney representing Cicinelli, didn't immediately return a call for comment. A call to a home number for Ramos rang unanswered.
Arraignment was scheduled later Wednesday.
Six officers were placed on paid administrative leave after the incident that occurred while police were investigating reported vehicle break-ins at a transit hub. The other officers were not charged Wednesday and were not expected to be charged.
Thomas suffered severe head and neck injuries and was taken off life support five days after the incident.
Thomas suffered from schizophrenia and lived on the streets even though he received support from family and friends.
Police said Thomas ran when officers tried to search his bag and a struggle followed when they tried to arrest him for investigation of possession of stolen goods.
Video from a bystander's cell phone taken from a distance showed parts of the bloody encounter in which Thomas can be heard screaming for his father.
Surveillance video aboard a bus showed agitated passengers telling the driver that officers beat and repeatedly used a stun gun during the arrest.
After the incident, the police chief went on medical leave and the embattled City Council hired a law enforcement expert to investigate Police Department practices.
Incensed community members held demonstrations and started an effort to recall the mayor and two councilmembers over the incident.
Ron Thomas filed a claim seeking damages from the city.
He has previously released his son's medical records showing Thomas suffered broken bones in his face, choked on his own blood and was repeatedly shocked with two stun guns.
News reports indicate Cicinelli left the Los Angeles Police Department after losing an eye in 1996 while working as a probationary officer.
Cicinelli, who was 25 at the time, was shot during an on-duty gunfight during a traffic stop less than three weeks after graduating from the Police Academy, according to a 1997 article in the Los Angeles Times.
If convicted of all charges, Ramos could face a maximum sentence of 15 years to life in prison. Cicinelli could face a maximum sentence of four years if convicted.
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Associated Press Writers Gillian Flaccus in Orange County and Thomas Watkins and Jeff Wilson in Los Angeles contributed to this report
The economy is down but America's wealthiest are up, proving that it pays to be your own boss.
Despite the stalled economy, the nation's wealthiest are worth a combined $1.53 trillion, nearly equivalent to the GDP of our neighbor Canada. Their total wealth is up 12% in the year through August 26, when we took a snapshot of everyone's net worth, meaning these affluent folks did slightly better than the markets; the S&P 500, for instance, was up 10% in that time.
But it's not simply a case of the rich getting richer. The Forbes 400 grows more meritocratic over time. An all-time high 70% of this year's list are self-made, up from 55% in 1997.
Bill Gates was the richest person for the 18th straight year, worth $59 billion; the last time he didn't rank no. 1 was in 1993 when his good friend Warren Buffett was on top. Buffett, who's been spending a lot of time talking about raising taxes on the rich, is still no. 2 but the gap is widening. His fortune tumbled $6 billion in the past year, making him the biggest loser in terms of total dollars. He gave away $3.27 billion since last year's rankings but was also pinched by a 10% drop in Berkshire Hathaway's stock.
Rounding out the top 10 on The Forbes 400: Oracle founder Larry Ellison ($33 billion), industrialists Charles and David Koch ($25 billion apiece), Wal-Mart heirs Christy Walton ($24.5 billion), Jim C. Walton ($21.1 billion) and Alice Walton ($20.9 billion), hedge fund investor George Soros ($22 billion), and casino king Sheldon Adelson ($21.5 billion).
The headlines in this our 30th year of The Forbes 400 belong not to the old stalwarts but to a younger group of entrepreneurs marching their way up the ranks, particularly those who are profoundly impacting social behavior online. These entrepreneurs are using technology to unleash power and make fortunes, and it is these folks who will likely help jump-start the American economy again.
Leading the pack is Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, who added $10.6 billion to his fortune, making him the year's biggest gainer and pushing him into the top 20 for the first time — he ranks no. 14 with a net worth of $17.5 billion. That puts him ahead of Google rivals Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who added $1.7 billion apiece to their fortunes but slipped five spots in the rankings and are tied at no. 15.
The hoodie-clad 27-year-old Zuckerberg is one of 6 club members to get rich from Facebook. Others include newcomers Sean Parker and Jim Breyer, Facebook's venture capitalist, as well as Zuckerberg's former roommate Dustin Moskovitz, whose birthday is eight days after the Facebook chief's, making him America's youngest billionaire. Three other social media mavens made their debut including LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman, Groupon's Eric Lefkofsky and Zynga's Mark Pincus.
Other notable entrepreneurs among the 18 newcomers include Green Mountain Coffee's Bob Stiller, Go Daddy's Bob Parsons, and energy tycoons Farris and Dan Wilks. Six people, including Starbucks' Howard Schultz and Quicken's Dan Gilbert, returned to the list after a year or more absence.
Three members of last year's list have died: John Anderson, William Cook and Jess Jackson. Twenty-one missed the cut, including at least a dozen billionaires, like University of Phoenix's John Sperling, whose net worths were just shy of $1.05 billion, the price of admission in 2011. Bill Gates
Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Rank: 1 Net Worth: $59 Billion Age: 55 Source: Microsoft Residence: Medina, WA
The top mission for the world's most magnanimous human being Bill Gates (he's already given away $28 billion) is to end polio, which still exists in four countries and requires $1 billion a year for vaccinations; his foundation chips in $200 million. He's also tackling malaria by providing more bed nets and backing development of a low-cost vaccine. Slower progress on the education front: After delivering $2 billion-plus in grants to help high schools from 2000 to 2008, Gates admitted that efforts "fell short." Just one-fourth of his net worth is still held in Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - News); the rest is in private equity, global stocks, bonds and private companies. With help from billionaire buddy Warren Buffett, he's convinced nearly 70 of the world's wealthiest to sign his "Giving Pledge," promising to donate the majority of their wealth to charity either during their lifetime or after death. In April toured Amazon ruins and jungles with wife, Melinda, and their children. Warren Buffett
Olivier Douliery/ABACAUSA.COM/Newscom
Rank: 2 Net Worth: $39 Billion Source: Berkshire Hathaway Residence: Omaha, NE
Warren Buffett, the second richest man in America, thinks he and his fellow billionaires should be paying more money to Uncle Sam. In August Buffett penned an opinion piece in the New York Times arguing that tycoons need to pay more taxes: "While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks." That same month Buffett went bargain shopping and invested $5 billion in beleaguered Bank of America, a move similar to his backing of Goldman Sachs during the credit crisis. Buffett suffered a rare blemish this March after top executive and potential successor, David Sokol, resigned amidst allegations of self dealing; charges were never filed. Meanwhile shares of his conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A - News), have fallen 10% since last August, while the S&P 500 climbed 10% over the same span. Along with billionaire buddy, Bill Gates, Buffett continues to push the Giving Pledge, wrangling new tycoons to agree to ultimately give away 50% of their fortunes. The son of Nebraska stockbroker met value investor Benjamin Graham while studying economics at Columbia. Took over textile firm Berkshire Hathaway in 1965, company now holds vast investments including banks, insurance, railroads and restaurants.
Larry Ellison
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Rank: 3 Net Worth: $33 Billion Age: 67 Source: Oracle Residence: Redwood City, CA
Larry Ellison seems to be spending more time in court than on the water: Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL - News) has been battling German software firm SAP over alleged software theft and rival HP over Ellison's hiring of its former chief Mark Hurd. Oracle stock is unharmed — up 15% from a year ago. Ellison sold his half-share in 453-foot yacht Rising Sun to co-owner David Geffen in late 2010. After quietly donating millions to medicine and education, Ellison joined the Giving Pledge at Buffett's behest in 2010. Charles Koch
Bo Rader/Wichita Eagle/MCT/Newscom
Rank: 4 Net Worth: $25 Billion Age: 75
Source: Manufacturing Residence: Wichita, KS
Faulty absentee ballot applications in Wisconsin were just the latest political dirty tricks attributed to Charles and his brother David, thanks to their financial support for Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party-esque group that is fighting public-sector unions and tax increases nationwide. Liberals fear the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision of last year will give the billionaire brothers unlimited clout in next year's presidential election. But the Kochs, whose political contributions are down by more than half this year, seem more intent on building their business. Koch Industries revenues, which Charles heads from Wichita, are more than $100 billion, and the debt-averse company is rapidly eliminating the leverage on its $21 billion purchase of Georgia Pacific in 2005. Meanwhile the Kochs split with wealthy peer T. Boone Pickens over his plan to subsidize natural gas vehicles; the Kochs call it an unwarranted giveaway to big business. The brothers got their initial fortune from their father, Fred C. Koch (d. 1967), who invented the method of turning heavy oil into gasoline. Charles and David bought out other brothers William and Frederick for $1.1 billion in 1983. Today the company, in which they both have 42% stakes, has investments in pipelines, refineries, fertilizer, fibers and polymers, chemical technology and forest and consumer products. David Koch
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Rank: 5 Net Worth: $25 Billion Age: 71 Source: Manufacturing Residence: New York, NY
New York City's richest billionaire sits on many of its most prominent boards including that of the American Museum of Natural History. Still he and his brother Charles have a knack for stirring up controversy. Faulty absentee ballot applications in Wisconsin were just the latest political dirty tricks attributed to the pair, thanks to their financial support for Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party-esque group that is fighting public-sector unions and tax increases nationwide. Liberals fear the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision of last year will give the billionaire brothers unlimited clout in next year's presidential election. But the Kochs, whose political contributions are down by more than half this year, seem more intent on building their business. Koch Industries revenues are more than $100 billion, and the debt-averse company is rapidly eliminating the leverage on its $21 billion purchase of Georgia Pacific in 2005. Meanwhile the Kochs split with wealthy peer T. Boone Pickens over his plan to subsidize natural gas vehicles; the Kochs call it an unwarranted giveaway to big business. The brothers got their initial fortune from their father, Fred C. Koch (d. 1967), who invented method of turning heavy oil into gasoline. Charles and David bought out other brothers William and Frederick for $1.1 billion in 1983. Today the company, in which they both have 42% stakes, has investments in pipelines, refineries, fertilizer, fibers and polymers, chemical technology and forest and consumer products. Christy Walton
L. Matthew Bowler
Rank: 6 Net Worth: $24.5 Billion Age: 56 Source: Walmart Residence: Jackson, WY
The world's richest woman, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT - News) widow Christy Walton inherited her wealth when husband John Walton, a former Green Beret and Vietnam war medic, died in an airplane accident near his home in Wyoming in 2005. Her late husband's investment in First Solar also boosts her total net worth by nearly $2.7 billion. The bulk still comes from her holdings in Wal-Mart, the retailer founded by her father-in-law Sam Walton and his brother James in 1962. Walton received almost $300 million in Wal-Mart dividends since last year. The stock was up only 3% in the past year. George Soros
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
Rank: 7 Net Worth: $22 Billion Age: 81 Source: Hedge funds Residence: Katonah, NY
In July George Soros announced that he is turning his fund into a family office, returning just under $1 billion of his $25.5 billion assets to outside investors — dodging Dodd-Frank's registration mandate. In August his ex-girlfriend, 28, sued him for $50 million for an apartment she says he promised to buy her. Soros is best known for shorting England's currency, "breaking" the Bank of England in 1992 and reportedly making $1 billion in one day when Bank of England stopped fixing exchange rate. He has given away more than $8 billion since 1979 to human rights, public health and education groups. Last year he pledged $100 million to Human Rights Watch, in part to counteract America's loss of the "moral high ground." He's also given away $150 million to Roma Rights (Gypsies).
Sheldon Adelson
Mike Clark/AFP/Getty Images
Rank: 8 Net Worth: $21.5 Billion Age: 78 Source: Casinos Residence: Las Vegas, NV
Casino king Sheldon Adelson continues to enjoy a hot hand. His fortune is up $7 billion since last year, as his strong position in the casino-crazy Asian markets has pushed stock of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS - News) up roughly 50% to a recent $48. (Shares once traded as low as $1.50 in 2009.) Nearly 90% of its operating profit comes from Asia; the thriving Marina Bay Sands casino opened in Singapore last year. Through his majority-owned subsidiary Sands China, Adelson has 3 resorts in Macau. His goal is to push company shares back over $100, near their 2007 peak. Not that he'll spend the money on himself: "The richer I get, the more money goes to cancer research." The cabdriver's son created the computer industry's marquee event, Comdex, in the mid-1980s. He sold it to Japan's Softbank for $862 million 1995 and later built the $1.5 billion Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the 1.2-million-square-foot Sands Convention Center in 1997 in Las Vegas. He opened the $1.9 billion Palazzo resort in 2008. Jim Walton
Beth Hall/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Rank: 9 Net Worth: $21.1 Billion Age: 63 Source: Walmart Residence: Bentonville, AR
Wal-Mart heir Jim Walton is Chairman and CEO of his family's Arvest Bank, which has branches in Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. His father, Sam Walton (d. 1992), a former clerk, founded a Bentonville store with his brother James in 1962. Today, Wal-Mart has sales of $405 billion and employs more than 2.1 million people across 28 countries. The company's shares were up 3% in the past year. Jim Walton received over $300 million in dividend payouts. He also serves as chairman of Community Publishers, which operates newspapers in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Alice Walton
AP Photo/April L. Brown
Rank: 10 Net Worth: $20.9 Billion Age: 61 Source: Walmart Residence: Millsap, TX
Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton is set to open her Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas in November. Considered one of the world's preeminent collections of American art from colonial time to the present, the museum will include works donated by Walton herself and the Walton Family Foundation, with the possible additional gifts from other private collectors. Wal-Mart shares are up 3% over the past year. Walton graduated from Trinity College in San Antonio, Texas, and now runs a horse ranch in central Texas. S. Robson Walton
Donald Bowers/Getty Images
Rank: 11 Net Worth: $20.5 Billion Age: 67 Source: Walmart Residence: Bentonville, AR
Wal-Mart Chairman S. Robson Walton has served as the head of the giant retailer's board since 1992. His father, Sam Walton (d. 1992), a former clerk, founded a Bentonville store with his brother James in 1962. Today, Wal-Mart has sales of $405 billion and employs more than 2.1 million people across 28 countries. The company's stock was up 3% in the last year. Walton received over $300 million in dividend payouts. Before joining Wal-Mart, he was a partner with the law firm of Conner & Winters in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Michael Bloomberg
Richard Drew/AP Photo
Rank: 12 Net Worth: $19.5 Billion Age: 69 Source: Bloomberg Residence: New York, NY
As New York City mayor, his popularity goes up and down with the weather these days. He faced embarrassment in April when his controversial choice for schools chancellor, fellow media executive Cathie Black, resigned after three months on the job. Then in June he celebrated when New York legislators approved same-sex marriage. All the while, his media empire only goes up. Rivals may continue to shrink, but Bloomberg LP keeps adding office space and employees. The company installed its 300,000th data terminal this year. In February, it announced it had acquired 400,000 square feet of new office space in a midtown Manhattan building where it already had 700,000 square feet. Bloomberg LP is also expanding its European operations out of a new, larger London base. Bloomberg has given away at least $1.8 billion to charities to date, funding the arts and public health.
Jeff Bezos
Mike Segar/Reuters
Rank: 13 Net Worth: $19.1 Billion Age: 47 Source: Amazon Residence: Medina, WA
The mastermind of the world's largest online retailer Jeff Bezos got his start selling books. Now, thanks to the Kindle, he sells more e-books than the paper variety. Even Apple diehards are talking about the launch of Amazon's (Nasdaq: AMZN - News) "iPad killer" tablet later this year. He continues to fund secretive aerospace company Blue Origin, which shot into the news in August when an unmanned spacecraft blew up during a test flight. But Amazon shares have defied gravity, jumping 55% year-to-year and adding $6.5 billion to his net worth. Mark Zuckerberg
Tony Avelar/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Rank: 14 Net Worth: $17.5 Billion Age: 27 Source: Facebook Residence: Palo Alto, CA
These days everything Mark Zuckerberg does grabs headlines, whether he's dining with President Obama, donating $100 million to Newark schools or vowing to eat only meat he's killed himself. In August a sale of Facebook shares by Interpublic placed a $66.5 billion valuation on the social network, helping to make him the year's biggest dollar gainer. Despite the jump, he spent a relatively modest $7 million for a Palo Alto house, where he and his longtime girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, now live. The long-anticipated IPO is likely to hit sometime in 2012. Sergey Brin
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Rank: 15 Net Worth: $16.7 Billion Age: 38 Source: Google Residence: Los Altos, CA
Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG - News) Sergey Brin saw his cofounder Larry Page take back the reins at the search giant this year, replacing Eric Schmidt as CEO. Now the two are overseeing an effort to recoup some market share from much-hyped rivals, including Facebook. In June, the engine launched its social media project, Google+. Its Groupon killer, Google Offers, is now live in a handful of big city markets. The firm's Google Chrome browser now commands 20% market share, according to StatCounter, showing Google's increasing dominance outside of search alone. According to Alexa, Google.com is the most visited website in the world. Brin focuses on raising margins and directing special projects at the Mountain View, Calif.-based company. He emigrated from Russia at age 6. The son and grandson of mathematicians on his father's side, his mother was a research scientist at NASA. He met co-founder Page in a computer science Ph.D. program at Stanford and dropped out in 1998 to start Google from a friend's garage. The two share a 767 jet. Brin is also an investor in Airship Ventures and private space travel company Space Adventures. He has become a benefactor for research into Parkinson's disease, after finding out he has a genetic mutation increasing the odds he'll get it. (His wife Anne Wojcicki is the cofounder of personal genetics company 23andMe, through which he learned of his condition.) Brin practices diving, yoga and acrobatics to lower odds he'll develop the disease. Larry Page
Reuters/Mario Anzuoni
Rank: 15 Net Worth: $16.7 Billion Age: 38 Source: Google Residence: Palo Alto, CA
Larry Page is back in the driver's seat at Google: he took over as CEO in April after ceding the role to Eric Schmidt a decade ago. Now the company must wait to see whether Page's return will boost Google's fortune in the long term. Since his appointment in April, stock price is down 10%. Page and co-founder Sergey Brin have already launched a host of new products this year, aimed at taking on Google's younger rivals. In June, the engine launched its social media project, Google+, a Facebook competitor. Its Groupon killer, Google Offers, is now live in a handful of big city markets. When he's not running the show, Page's personal passions include buying up chunks of residential Palo Alto for a network of houses that use new types of fuel cells, geothermal energy, and rainwater capture. He also rides a Zero X electric dirt bike and an electric sports car from Tesla Motors, in which he and Brin are investors. John Paulson
Rick Maiman/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Rank: 17 Net Worth: $15.5 Billion Age: 55 Source: Hedge funds Residence: New York, NY
Call it the Paulson paradox. While his flagship fund has tanked 30% so far this year, as bets on Bank of America, Citigroup and China's Sino Forest went south, his personal fortune is up 25%, year over year. Reason? The gold-denominated versions of his firm's funds, where he is said to have most of his personal stash, have gained steadily. Last year his take-home pay was $4.9 billion, a record for the hedge fund industry. He is donating $15 million to a new maternity hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where his father was born. Paulson became a billionaire in 2007 shorting subprime securities and earning a $3.5 billion payout. He got his start at Odyssey Partners, a private equity and hedge fund and later became managing director of M&A at Bear Stearns. He founded Paulson & Co in 1994.
Michael Dell
Matthew Staver/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Rank: 18 Net Worth: $15 B Age: 46 Source: Dell Residence: Austin, TX
The Texas computer mogul is $500 million richer as Dell stock is up 15% year on year. The PC firm has come a long way since Michael started selling computers from his college dorm room in 1984 (he took Dell public in 1988). Dell (Nasdaq: DELL - News) hasn't been able to reach its 2005 peak, when Michael was worth $18 billion, but the company is exploring new ways to make money. Dell's enterprise business — servers, storage and services — now comprises a third of $60 billion annual sales. Dell won't abandon its computing heritage, however. As Michael tweeted in August, "the reports of the PC's death have been greatly exaggerated." Most of his fortune is now tied up in his investment firm MSD Capital, with around $12 billion from past share sales under management. He and wife Susan support anti-childhood-obesity campaigns. Steve Ballmer
Bloomberg/Getty Images
Rank: 19 Net Worth: $13.9 B Age: 55 Source: Microsoft Residence: Bellevue, WA
Microsoft's embattled chief dumped 18% of his shares in November 2010, his biggest sale ever and first in seven years. Bill Gates' college mate dismisses the suggestion that it's a move to the exits, saying he's "fully committed" to Microsoft, where he's been boss since 2000. In that time Microsoft has lost half of its value while profits have doubled. Analysts put the breakup value of the company up to three times current stock price. The software sales juggernaut has sold 350 million copies of Office and 400 million copies of Windows 7. Search engine Bing has had modest market share gains and Ballmer has a big consumer hit with the Kinect motion control system for the Xbox. Kinect is one of fastest selling gadgets of all time. Xbox is also now the top-selling console in the U.S. In May Ballmer went deep and spent $8.7 billion (32 times ebitda) on Skype, the cheapo calling service that still loses money. Microsoft wanted Skype for its new mobile operating system, Windows Phone, which is getting positive reviews. Detroit native dropped out of Stanford M.B.A. program to join Harvard classmate Bill Gates in 1980 as employee number 30. Keeps his philanthropy quiet. Mostly works, goes to the gym and hangs out with his family. Forrest Mars
Zuma Press/Newscom
Rank: 20 Net Worth: $13.8 B Age: 80 Source: Mars Candy Residence: Big Horn, WY
Forrest Mars Jr. and his siblings, John and Jacqueline, own $31.6 billion (sales) Mars, the world's largest candy company thanks in part to its $23 billion acquisition of gum maker Wrigley's in 2008. The candy maker's most famous brands include Milky Way, M&M's, 3 Musketeers, Twix, Skittles, and Snickers, reportedly named for the Mars family's favorite horse. Forrest's grandfather, Frank Mars, began making chocolates in 1911 in his Tacoma, WA kitchen. It was his father Forrest Sr. who invented malt-flavored nougat and M&M's, over 400 million of which are produced in the United States each day. Mars has even branched out into consumer and pet foods with the well known brands Uncle Ben's Rice and Whiskas under the Mars umbrella. Forrest recently made headlines for protesting the construction of a Montana railroad that would facilitate coal extraction from the state because the proposed route passed through his ranch. When his attempts to block it via legal action failed, Forrest simply bought a stake in the railroad and adjusted the route accordingly. A noted history buff and preservationist, the $23 million Mars Education Center opened at Fort Ticonderoga this summer. Forrest's former wife, Deborah, is a Ticonderoga native. Jacqueline Mars
Photo provided by Washington Life Magazine
Rank: 20 Net Worth: $13.8 B Age: 71 Source: Mars Candy Residence: The Plains, VA
Jacqueline Mars and her two brothers, John and Forrest Jr, own $31.6 billion (sales) Mars, the world's largest candy company thanks in part to its $23 billion acquisition of gum maker Wrigley's in 2008. The candy maker's most famous brands include Milky Way, M&M's, 3 Musketeers, Twix, Skittles, and Snickers, reportedly named for the Mars family's favorite horse. Jacqueline's grandfather, Frank Mars, began making chocolates in 1911 in his Tacoma, WA kitchen. It was her father Forrest Sr. who invented malt-flavored nougat and M&M's, over 400 million of which are produced in the United States each day. Mars has since branched out into consumer and pet foods with the well known brands Uncle Ben's Rice and Whiskas under the Mars umbrella. Jacqueline is a trustee of the United States Equestrian team and sits on the board of the Washington National Opera, which recently completed a merger with the Kennedy Center. John Mars Rank: 20 Net Worth: $13.8 B Age: 75 Source: Mars Candy Residence: Jackson, WY
John Mars and his siblings, Forrest Jr. and Jacqueline, own $31.6 billion (sales) Mars, the world's largest candy company thanks in part to its $23 billion acquisition of gum maker Wrigley's in 2008. The candy maker's most famous brands include Milky Way, M&M's, 3 Musketeers, Twix, Skittles, and Snickers, reportedly named for the Mars family's favorite horse. John's grandfather, Frank Mars, began making chocolates in 1911 in his Tacoma, WA kitchen. It was his father Forrest Sr. who invented malt-flavored nougat and M&M's, over 400 million of which are produced in the United States each day. Mars has even branched out into consumer and pet foods with the well known brands Uncle Ben's Rice and Whiskas under the Mars umbrella. Mars is a noted supporter of Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington.
MONROE, Mich. (AP) — A car bomb caused a powerful explosion on a Michigan street that seriously injured a father and his two sons, who are "very fortunate" to have survived the attack, which turned their vehicle into a blackened hunk of metal, a federal official said Wednesday.
Investigators were poring over what remained of the vehicle after the Tuesday evening blast, looking for clues about how the bomb was made and who might have planted it, said Donald Dawkins, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
"There was a lot of power behind it. The victims are very fortunate, very blessed, to be alive," Dawkins said.
Among the things investigators are trying to determine is whether one of the victims was targeted or whether the attack was random, Dawkins said. The vehicle exploded on a tree-lined street under a highway in Monroe, which is about 35 miles southwest of Detroit.
Authorities declined to publicly identify the victims, but said they were in serious condition at St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio, about 20 miles south of Monroe.
The victims were lucky to survive, said Dawkins, who described the attack as a "heinous crime."
"When you have children involved, it really hits home," he said.
Shawn Remington, 33, said he was working outside his home when he heard what sounded like a heavy, metal Dumpster lid being slammed shut and then saw a big column of smoke.
He said when he got to the scene, firefighters were extinguishing the blaze and rescue workers were loading the victims into ambulances. He said the vehicle was "totally melted."
"By the time I got there, there was nothing left of the vehicle," he said. "It was down to bare metal."
Monroe is a city of more than 20,000 that is one of Michigan's oldest communities. It has a historic downtown and is home to furniture maker La-Z-Boy Inc.
The ATF has offered a reward of up to $10,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
Duncan Graham-Rowe, contributor
It might not seem like it but, beyond the screech of tyres, this video shows an attempt by Google to prove just how safe its driverless cars really are.
In a rare demo at last week's TED 2011 conference, Danny Sullivan from the website Search Engine Land was treated to a fast paced ride in Google's self-driving car in a nearby parking lot. Despite the close confines of the course and the speed of the vehicle, the car appears to have no problem weaving its way through the cones and sticking to the course
It's not just your computer that's at risk of malware - dodgy MP3s can now take over your car.
Last year, a team of researchers at the US Center for Automotive Embedded Systems Security revealed how automobile computer systems could be hacked via the On-Board Diagnostics (OBD-II) port, an access point typically used by engineers to download data on the vehicle's health.
Through this, they were able to hijack the car, allowing the researchers to disable the brakes, turn the engine on and off, and control electrical systems such as the odometer, lights, climate control, radio and locks.
Building on this, a team of security experts from the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Washington, led by Professor Stefan Savage, have now identified a variety of weak points through which hackers can gain access to a vehicle's computer systems remotely.
After paying around £5 billion each in the UK auction for 3G frequencies in 2000, Britain's cellphone companies are gearing up to bid for the next round of over-the-air bandwidth after the telecomms regulator Ofcom announced that two chunks of 4G frequencies will be auctioned off to cellphone firms in early 2012.
It will doubtless mean a re-run of the bizarre, high-rolling year 2000 auction which has become known as the biggest auction ever - famously raising £22.5 billion for "selling air", as the economists who organised the event put it. What's on offer is a 72 megahertz (MHz) chunk of the soon-to-be-cleared UHF analogue TV band (near 800 MHz) and a much larger chunk in the microwave band near 2.6 GHz, a tad above the Wi-Fi band. The UHF frequencies will be good for expanding wireless internet coverage into rural areas, while the microwave addition will fuel better urban services.
Together, the buyers of these frequencies are expected to pave the way for the evolution of 3G services to much faster 4G services, probably adhering to a variant of the emerging Long Term Evolution (LTE) format proposed by the likes of the folks behind 3G, the Third Generation Project Partnership (3GPP), and NTT Docomo of Japan.
Ultimately, the 4G standard settled upon by the UN's International Telecommunications Union in the next year or so aims to allow downloads-to-your-device at a blistering 100 megabits per second. What's worth bearing in mind is that any firm offering "4G" service right now is not adhering to any agreed global standard - see this review for a spot of proof.
Helen Knight, technology reporter
The humble hairbrush could hold the answer to building fast-charging electric car batteries.
Existing batteries used to power electric cars take up to eight hours to charge, compared to the few minutes it takes to fill a tank with petrol. While fast-charging units that can fill up a car in around 30 minutes are available, Amy Prieto and colleagues at Colorado State University in Fort Collins have now built a prototype battery with hairbrush-like electrodes that can be charged in just a few minutes.
Lithium-ion batteries are the most popular devices for powering electric cars and portable electronic gadgets thanks to their high energy density and low weight. The batteries consist of a graphite anode and lithium cathode, with an electrolyte sandwiched between them. Lithium ions travel through the electrolyte from the anode to the cathode and back again during discharging and recharging. But this design limits the speed at which batteries can re-charge.
Prieto's battery contains nanowire anodes made of copper antimonide. The large surface area of the nanowires means they can store twice as many lithium ions as the same amount of graphite, says Prieto. The nanowires are bunched together like the bristles of a hair brush, coated in electrolyte, and finally surrounded with a lithium cathode.
The team have built a prototype the size of a cellphone, which takes 12 minutes to recharge, compared to two hours for a conventional battery of the same size, Prieto announced at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, California this week. She has founded a company, Prieto Battery, to commercialise the technology.
Jacob Aron, technology reporter
Ever been distracted and missed your satnav's instructions? It's all very well having a clever box to tell you when to turn, but it's very easy to watch a junction pass by if the radio is blasting or the kids are screaming in the back. Now, a team of engineers is offering a solution: the vibrating steering wheel. Cagatay Basdogan and colleagues at Koç University in Istanbul, Turkey, say that equipping a steering wheel with a pair of vibrating motors similar to those found in mobile phones makes it easier for drivers to navigate. Their system augments existing GPS devices by vibrating on the left or right side of the wheel when you need to make a turn, and vibrating on both sides when approaching a roundabout.
The researchers tested the idea with a driving simulator, asking 12 volunteers to navigate a virtual city while hearing loud noises or distracted by a passenger attempting to strike up a conversation. On average the participants made three-and-a-half navigation errors when using a non-vibrating steering wheel, but this dropped to just one error when the motors were switched on.
Basdogan and his team have embedded the motors into a leather cover that can be placed over the steering wheel of any car, but future cars could also have motors built into the wheel. He plans to test their system in a real car soon, and his team is also experimenting with adding extra motors to convey even more navigational information. They will present the system at the World Haptics conference in Istanbul later this month.
Paul Marks, senior technology correspondent Smarter than the average car (Image: Melanie Gonick)
An experiment at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology has highlighted some of the hidden risks inherent in (supposedly) smart cars that will depend on radio-based Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) for extra safety on the road.
In an ITS system, in-car computers communicate with each other over vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) microwave radio links, while the cars also communicate with traffic lights and roadside speed sensors over a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) radio signalling system (the infrastructure transmits information about cars that are too old to have ITS systems fitted). When two cars are approaching a junction and the V2V/V2I speed signals suggest they are going to crash, a warning can be sounded or a software algorithm can choose to make one of the cars brake, for instance.
I tried this out on the Millbrook test track in Bedfordshire, UK, in 2007: speeding towards a junction in a Saab my brakes were automatically applied to allow a speeding Opel to pass in front of me. It was by turns scary and impressive. But if it hadn't worked I'd have been toast.
But MIT engineer Domitilla Del Vecchio says such systems can be over-protective, taking braking action when there is no real threat. "It's tempting to treat every vehicle on the road as an agent that's playing against you," she says in an MIT research brief issued today.
Paul Marks, senior technology correspondent (Image: Sipa Press/Rex Features)
The success of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), the battery-assisted speed booster introduced to Formula One cars this season, has motorsport executives believing that an all-electric version of the F1 competition could spur development of longer range electric road cars.
"We'll definitely see an electric F1 one day," says Nick Fry, the influential chief executive of the Mercedes grand prix team, and who previously ran Brawn, the 2009 F1 championship winner. "To start with it'd be in parallel with regular F1, like the electric version of the Isle of Man TT motorbike race runs alongside the TT. Everyone thought an electric TT a bit of a joke to start with but now it's being taken very seriously."
KERS comprises a combined motor/generator fixed to an engine's drive shaft and a tray of lithium-ion batteries slung beneath the car. During braking, the generator converts kinetic energy to electricity to charge the batteries. Once a lap, the driver can get a 6.6 second speed boost by dumping that charge into the motor, gaining a power boost of 60 kilowatts (80 horsepower in old money).
Paul Marks, senior technology correspondent (Image: Scaled Composites)
When Burt Rutan, the doyen of aircraft and spacecraft designers takes an outlandish aviation idea seriously it's probably time to sit up and take notice. The founder of Scaled Composites, the Mojave, California-based maker of record breaking planes, has designed and built his own "roadable aircraft" - a car that can be converted into a plane. His involvement in this nascent - and oft-derided - field adds considerable credibility to the notion that personal flight will one day become a reality.
Called the BiPod, the twin fuselage vehicle has two half-litre internal combustion engines that charge lithium-ion batteries in each nose. On the road, the BiPod's wings are stowed between the fuselages and the batteries power a 15-kilowatt electric motor to drive the rear wheels.
Thought your shiny new car looked pretty impregnable? Think again. Two researchers have shown that they can unlock a car - and even start the engine - using a simple text message.
Don Bailey and Matthew Solnik, researchers at iSEC Partners presented their work at the Black Hat 2011 security conference in Las Vegas, explaining how they can use an Android phone to carry out a technique they've dubbed "war-texting". The new technique relies on intercepting text messages, which many devices use to send commands or even firmware (permanent software programmed into a read-only memory) updates.
By setting up a local GSM network in the vicinity of a Subaru Outback, the team were able to intercept password authentication messages sent between the electronic key fob and the vehicle. What happens next is not exactly known, because the researchers haven't divulged all their secrets as a courtesy to the manufacturer.
However, what we do know is that intercepting those authentication messages allowed the team to understand the basic commands required to communicate with the security system of the car. Once they knew those details, they were able to send their own messages to the system in order to reverse-engineer the firmware - effectively learning how the entire device works.
Ever wondered how long it's going to be until you have to change the tyres on your car? Wanted to calculate how far around the world one set of treads could take you? Or even just felt like spending a long weekend doing some complex math?
The solution could well be here. A team of researchers from the School of Automobile Studies at Tongji University, China, have developed a new equation that predicts the rate at which tyres wear. The results could help save the haulage industry millions of dollars - and they might even ease the strain on your pocket, too.
As you'd expect, their results, published in Journal of Vibration and Control, show that wear is related to the contact area on the road, the physical properties of the rubber, the friction between the road and tyre, any skidding that occurs, and the weight of the vehicle.
More interesting than the equation, though, is the analysis that the team performed to find out which parameters affect tyre wear the most - not least because it might mean you don't need to shell out for new tyres so often.
You won't be surprised to find out that the biggest factors contributing to wear are side slip, speed, and the mass of the car itself. That means that if you want your tread to last longer, you should cut down on the skids and speeding, and kick out any unwanted passengers while you're at it. Other big offenders are low tyre pressures - so keep them pumped up - and ambient temperature.
But maybe the biggest shock is that the car's suspension and the road surface that's driven on make hardly any difference to tyre wear at all. So boy racers whose cars feature suspension lowered so far they have to drive slowly down rough streets to avoid damage have one saving grace - they're caring the planet, four tyres at a time.
Going hands-free with your phone normally involves using voice control, but that could soon change thanks to researchers who have another interpretation: kick gestures.
Sriram Subramanian and colleagues at the University of Bristol, UK and the University of Manitoba, Canada say there are many situations where your feet are the best choice of input. "For example, a mother holding a baby or a shopper carrying bags may not be able to answer their call or skip to the next song on their phone without putting down the baby or the shopping bags," he says, adding that people with dirty or gloved hands could also benefit.
To find out what kick gestures can do the researchers connected a Kinect sensor to a tablet computer held by the user. The Kinect tracked the user's foot motion and turned it into an on-screen kick, moving a virtual football in the desired direction.
Subramanian found that people could accurately distinguish between five different kick zones separated by an angle of 24 degrees - any more and it became difficult to aim in the right zone. He also found people could kick at two distinct speeds. These results, presented at the Mobile HCI conference in Stockholm, Sweden last week, suggest a number of useful kick gestures could work, such as kicking to flick through different screens or to navigate a menu with multiple options.
The current Kinect setup isn't very portable, but Subramanian expects that future phones will be paired to accelerometers in your shoes - the technology is already used by Nike and Apple to let iPhone owners track their running stats. "We have made some progress with our implementations and we can now detect many of the foot gestures with just accelerometers placed on both the feet," he says.
Garlic (Allium Sativum) is a plant with a very strong and bitter flavor which has been used for both culinary and medical purposes for hundreds of years. The key medicinal ingredient in garlic is allicin, which is known to have wonderful anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-oxidant properties.
Uses of Garlic
Allergies Garlic is known to have antiviral properties, which helps the body fight against allergies. Simply take one tablet of garlic supplement each day 2 or 3 weeks before the usual allergy season begins.
Coughing Garlic's antibacterial properties make it a wonderful treatment for coughs and other throat irritations. Garlic may also reduce the severity of upper respiratory tract infections.
Diabetes Garlic is considered to regulate blood sugar levels by increasing the release of insulin in diabetics. Therefore an effective remedy is to take one capsule or tablet of garlic everyday.
High Blood Pressure Clinical studies have shown that people with high blood pressure who took garlic capsules daily for up to five months lowered their blood pressure levels as effectively as patients taking prescription blood pressure drugs. A suggested dosage is 600-900mg garlic capsules once daily.
High Cholesterol Studies have shown that taking 600-900mg of garlic everyday lowers cholesterol levels and reduces arterial plaque formation by 5–18%. Therefore, an effective natural remedy is to take one garlic tablet or capsule (600-900mg) once per day.
Toothaches Garlic's antibacterial, analgesic, and anesthetizing properties can help cure toothaches. Simply put some garlic oil or a piece of crushed garlic clove directly onto the affected tooth and the gum for instant relief.
Warts Garlic's ability to fight infections and bacteria makes it an effective cure for warts and other skin problems.
* Take a fresh clove of garlic and cut its tip off. * Rub the cut area of the clove directly onto the wart for a few seconds. * Repeat this each night before going to bed until the wart disappears.
If you feel any kind of irritation or strong burning sensation, simply rinse the area with water.
7 kinds of garlic, 7 judges, but, amazingly, a certain amount of consensus and a couple clear favorites. To browse through the different garlic we tasted, click on the play button in the frame below, or use your arrow keys.
The Panel (from left to right):
* Jess (who’s in Italy right now, probably eating garlic) * Melanie (younger sister of Beryl) * Julie (being sniffed by Rico, the most svelte golden retriever ever to have graced this planet) * Talley (future brother-in-law of Melanie) * Beryl (older sister of Melanie) * Angela (assisting Little Bear the dog, who has a spotted tongue) * Patrick (wine drinker extraordinaire. We used him shamelessly for his superior sensory abilities)
The Physiological Effects of Eating Garlic
Studies by competent multi-degreed scientists have shown beyond any reasonable doubt that consuming garlic generally has the following physical effects:
* Garlic lowers blood pressure a little. (9% to 15 % with one or two medium cloves per day.) * Garlic lowers LDL Cholesterol a little. (9% to 15 % with one or two medium cloves per day.) * Garlic helps reduce atherosclerotic buildup (plaque) within the arterial system. One recent study shows this effect to be greater in women than men. * Garlic lowers or helps to regulate blood sugar. * Garlic helps to prevent blood clots from forming, thus reducing the possibility of strokes and thromboses (Hemophiliacs shouldn't use garlic.) * Garlic helps to prevent cancer, especially of the digestive system, prevents certain tumors from growing larger and reduces the size of certain tumors. * Garlic may help to remove heavy metals such as lead and mercury from the body. * Raw Garlic is a potent natural antibiotic that works differently than modern antibiotics and kills some strains of bacteria, like staph, that have become immune or resistant to modern antibiotics. * Garlic has anti-fungal and anti-viral properties. * Garlic dramatically reduces yeast infections due to Candida species. * Garlic has anti-oxidant properties and is a source of selenium. * Eating garlic gives the consumer an enhanced sense of well being - it makes you feel good just eating it. * Garlic probably has other benefits as well.
What are the Side Effects of Garlic?
For most individuals, garlic does not cause any serious side effects. However people who are allergic to garlic or who consume it in large quantities may suffer from stomach irritation, heartburn, or flatulence. Garlic appears to be safe during pregnancy and breast-feeding. In fact, two studies have shown that babies prefer breast milk better from mothers who regularly eat garlic.
Note that due to garlic's anti-clotting and blood thinning properties, people taking anti-coagulant drugs or who are scheduled for surgery should check with their doctor before taking garlic supplements.
Where and How to Buy Garlic Fresh garlic and garlic powder can be bought at regular grocery stores. Garlic supplements are available in the form of tablets, capsules, extracts, and oils and can be purchased at most health food stores.
Play VideoAP – Raw Video: Earthquake triggers tsunami in Japan
TOKYO – A ferocious tsunami unleashed by Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds of people as it carried away ships, cars and homes, and triggered widespread fires that burned out of control. Hours later, the waves washed ashore on Hawaii and the U.S. West coast, where evacuations were ordered from California to Washington but little damage was reported. The entire Pacific had been put on alert — including coastal areas of South America, Canada and Alaska — but waves were not as bad as expected. In northeastern Japan, the area around a nuclear power plant was evacuated after the reactor's cooling system failed and pressure began building inside. Police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai, the city in Miyagi prefecture, or state, closest to the epicenter. Another 178 were confirmed killed, with 584 missing. Police also said 947 people were injured..
The magnitude-8.9 offshore quake triggered a 23-foot (seven-meter) tsunami and was followed for hours by more than 50 aftershocks, many of them more than magnitude 6.0. In the early hours of Saturday, a magnitude-6.6 earthquake struck the central, mountainous part of the country — far from the original quake's epicenter. It was not immediately clear if this latest quake was related to the others Friday's massive quake shook dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coast, including Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the epicenter. A large section of Kesennuma, a town of 70,000 people in Miyagi, burned furiously into the night with no apparent hope of being extinguished, public broadcaster NHK said.
Koto Fujikawa, 28, was riding a monorail when the quake hit and had to pick her way along narrow, elevated tracks to the nearest station. "I thought I was going to die," Fujikawa, who works for a marketing company, said. "It felt like the whole structure was collapsing."
Scientists said the quake ranked as the fifth-largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and was nearly 8,000 times stronger than one that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, last month. "The energy radiated by this quake is nearly equal to one month's worth of energy consumption" in the United States, U.S. Geological Survey Scientist Brian Atwater told The Associated Press. President Barack Obama pledged U.S. assistance following what he called a potentially "catastrophic" disaster. He said one U.S. aircraft carrier is already in Japan, and a second is on its way. A U.S. ship was also heading to the Marianas Islands to assist as needed, he added.
An American man working at one of the nuclear plants near the coast when the quake hit said the whole building shook and debris fell from the ceiling. Danny Eudy, 52, a technician employed by Pasedena, Texas-based Atlantic Plant Maintenance, and his colleagues escaped the building just as the tsunami hit, his wife told The Associated Press.
"He walked through so much glass that his feet were cut. It slowed him down," said Pineville, Louisiana, resident Janie Eudy, who spoke to her husband by phone after the quake. The group watched homes and vehicles be carried away in the wave and found their hotel mostly swept away when they finally reached it.
The government later ordered about 3,000 residents near that plant — in the city of Onahama — to move back at least two miles (three kilometers) from the plant. The reactor was not leaking radiation but its core remained hot even after a shutdown. The plant is 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. Japan's nuclear safety agency said pressure inside the reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant has risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal, and slightly radioactive vapor may be released to reduce the pressure.
The Defense Ministry said it had sent dozens of troops trained to deal with chemical disasters to the plant in case of a radiation leak. Trouble was reported at two other nuclear plants, but there was no radiation leak at either of them. Japan's coast guard said it was searching for 80 dock workers on a ship that was swept away from a shipyard in Miyagi.
Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific proportions because of the tsunami that crashed ashore, swallowing everything in its path as it surged several miles (kilometers) inland before retreating. The apocalyptic images on Japanese TV of powerful, debris-filled waves, uncontrolled fires and a ship caught in a massive whirlpool resembled scenes from a Hollywood disaster movie. Large fishing boats and other vessels rode high waves ashore, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them and snapping power lines along the way. Upturned and partially submerged cars bobbed in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against each other.
The tsunami roared over embankments, washing anything in its path inland before reversing directions and carrying the cars, homes and other debris out to sea. Flames shot from some of the homes, probably because of burst gas pipes.
Waves of muddy waters flowed over farmland near Sendai, carrying buildings, some of them ablaze. Drivers attempted to flee. Sendai airport was inundated with thick, muddy debris that included cars, trucks, buses and even light planes.
Highways to the worst-hit coastal areas buckled. Telephone lines snapped. Train service in northeastern Japan and in Tokyo, which normally serve 10 million people a day, were suspended, leaving untold numbers stranded in stations or roaming the streets. Tokyo's Narita airport was closed indefinitely. In one town alone on the northeastern coast, Minami-soma, some 1,800 houses were destroyed or badly ravaged, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman said.
As night fell and temperatures hovered just above freezing, tens of thousands of people remained stranded in Tokyo, where the rail network was still down. The streets were jammed with cars, buses and trucks trying to get out of the city.
The city set up 33 shelters in city hall, on university campuses and in government offices, but many planned to spend the night at 24-hour cafes, hotels and offices. Japanese automakers Toyota, Nissan and Honda halted production at some assembly plants in areas hit by the quake. One worker was killed and more than 30 injured after being crushed by a collapsing wall at a Honda Motor Co. research facility in northeastern Tochigi prefecture, the company said. Jesse Johnson, a native of the U.S. state of Nevada who lives in Chiba, north of Tokyo, was eating at a sushi restaurant with his wife when the quake hit.
"At first it didn't feel unusual, but then it went on and on. So I got myself and my wife under the table," he told The Associated Press. "I've lived in Japan for 10 years, and I've never felt anything like this before. The aftershocks keep coming. It's gotten to the point where I don't know whether it's me shaking or an earthquake."
NHK said more than 4 million buildings were without power in Tokyo and its suburbs. A large fire erupted at the Cosmo oil refinery in the city of Ichihara and burned out of control with 100-foot (30-meter) flames whipping into the sky. "Our initial assessment indicates that there has already been enormous damage," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said. "We will make maximum relief effort based on that assessment." He said the Defense Ministry was sending troops to the hardest-hit region. A utility aircraft and several helicopters were on the way.
Also in Miyagi prefecture, a fire broke out in a turbine building of a nuclear power plant, but it was later extinguished, said Tohoku Electric Power Co. A reactor area of a nearby plant was leaking water, the company said. But it was unclear if the leak was caused by the tsunami or something else. There were no reports of radioactive leaks at any of Japan's nuclear plants.
Jefferies International Ltd., a global investment banking group, estimated overall losses of about $10 billion. Hiroshi Sato, a disaster management official in northern Iwate prefecture, said officials were having trouble getting an overall picture of the destruction. "We don't even know the extent of damage. Roads were badly damaged and cut off as tsunami washed away debris, cars and many other things," he said.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 2:46 p.m. quake was magnitude 8.9, the biggest to hit Japan since record-keeping began in the late 1800s and one of the biggest ever recorded in the world. The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), about 80 miles (125 kilometers) off the eastern coast, the agency said. The area is 240 miles (380 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. Several quakes hit the same region in recent days, including one measured at magnitude 7.3 on Wednesday that caused no damage. A tsunami warning was extended to a number of areas in the Pacific, Southeast Asia and Latin America, including Japan, Russia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Chile. In the Philippines, authorities ordered an evacuation of coastal communities, but no unusual waves were reported.
Thousands fled homes in Indonesia after officials warned of a tsunami up to 6 feet (2 meters) high, but waves of only 4 inches (10 centimeters) were measured. No big waves came to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, either. The first waves hit Hawaii about 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT). A tsunami about 7 feet (2.1 meters) high was recorded on Maui and a wave at least 3 feet (a meter) high was recorded on Oahu and Kauai. Officials warned that the waves would continue and could get larger.
Japan's worst previous quake was a magnitude 8.3 temblor in 1923 in Kanto that killed 143,000 people, according to USGS. A 7.2-magnitude quake in Kobe in 1995 killed 6,400 people. Japan lies on the "Ring of Fire" — an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching around the Pacific where about 90 percent of the world's quakes occur, including the one that triggered the Dec. 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami that killed an estimated 230,000 people in 12 nations. A magnitude-8.8 temblor that shook central Chile in February 2010 also generated a tsunami and killed 524 people.
