Danny Puff

On Facebook, he describes himself as a "wounded warrior...very wounded."

Brendan Marrocco was the first soldier to survive losing all four limbs in the Iraq War, and doctors revealed Monday that he's received a double-arm transplant.

Those new arms "already move a little," he tweeted a month after the operation.

Marrocco, a 26-year-old New Yorker, was injured by a roadside bomb in 2009. He had the transplant Dec. 18 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, his father said Monday.

Alex Marrocco said his son does not want to talk with reporters until a news conference Tuesday at the hospital, but the younger Marrocco has repeatedly mentioned the transplant on Twitter and posted photos.

"Ohh yeah today has been one month since my surgery and they already move a little," Brendan Marrocco tweeted Jan. 18.

Responding to a tweet from NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski, he wrote: "dude I can't tell you how exciting this is for me. I feel like I finally get to start over."

The infantryman also received bone marrow from the same dead donor who supplied his new arms. That novel approach is aimed at helping his body accept the new limbs with minimal medication to prevent rejection.

The military sponsors operations like these to help wounded troops. About 300 have lost arms or hands in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Unlike a life-saving heart or liver transplant, limb transplants are aimed at improving quality of life, not extending it. Quality of life is a key concern for people missing arms and hands prosthetics for those limbs are not as advanced as those for feet and legs.

"He was the first quad amputee to survive," and there have been four others since then, Alex Marrocco said.

The Marroccos want to thank the donor's family for "making a selfless decision ... making a difference in Brendan's life," the father said.

Brendan Marrocco has been in public many times. During a July 4 visit last year to the Sept. 11 Memorial with other disabled soldiers, he said he had no regrets about his military service.

"I wouldn't change it in any way. ... I feel great. I'm still the same person," he said.

The 13-hour operation was led by Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, plastic surgery chief at Johns Hopkins. It was the seventh double-hand or double-arm transplant done in the United States.

Lee led three of those earlier operations when he worked at the University of Pittsburgh, including the only above-elbow transplant that had been done at the time, in 2010.

Marrocco's "was the most complicated one" so far, Lee said in an interview Monday. It will take more than a year to know how fully Marrocco will be able to use the new arms.

"The maximum speed is an inch a month for nerve regeneration," he explained. "We're easily looking at a couple years" until the full extent of recovery is known.

While at Pittsburgh, Lee pioneered the immune-suppression approach used for Marrocco. The surgeon led hand-transplant operations on five patients, giving them marrow from their donors in addition to the new limbs. All five recipients have done well, and four have been able to take just one anti-rejection drug instead of combination treatments most transplant patients receive.

Minimizing anti-rejection drugs is important because they have side effects and raise the risk of cancer over the long term. Those risks have limited the willingness of surgeons and patients to do more hand, arm and even face transplants.

Lee has received funding for his work from AFIRM, the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, a cooperative research network of top hospitals and universities around the country that the government formed about five years ago. With government money, he and several other plastic surgeons around the country are preparing to do more face transplants, possibly using the new immune-suppression approach.

Marrocco expects to spend three to four months at Hopkins, then return to a military hospital to continue physical therapy, his father said. Before the operation, he had been fitted with prosthetic legs and had learned to walk on his own.

He had been living with his older brother in a specially equipped home on New York's Staten Island that had been built with the help of several charities. Shortly after moving in, he said it was "a relief to not have to rely on other people so much."

The home was heavily damaged by Superstorm Sandy last fall.

Despite being in a lot of pain for some time after the operation, Marrocco showed a sense of humor, his father said. He had a hoarse voice from the tube that was in his throat during the long surgery and decided he sounded like Al Pacino. He soon started doing movie lines.

"He was making the nurses laugh," Alex Marrocco said.

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Associated Press Writer Stephanie Nano in New York contributed to this report.

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Online:

Army regenerative medicine:

http://www.afirm.mil/index.cfm?pageid=home

and http://www.afirm.mil/assets/documents/annual_report_2011.pdf

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Follow Marilynn Marchione at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP .

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LOS ANGELES (AP) The force isn't with the 3-D versions of the "Star Wars" prequels.

Lucasfilm said in a statement Monday that it's postponing the scheduled 3-D releases of "Star Wars: Episode II Attack Of The Clones" and "Episode III Revenge of the Sith" this fall to instead focus its efforts on "Star Wars: Episode VII."

The Walt Disney Co. confirmed Friday that J.J. Abrams, creator of the TV series "Lost" and director of 2009's "Star Trek" movie, will direct the seventh installment of the franchise, set for a 2014 release.

Disney bought "Star Wars" maker Lucasfilm last month for $4.06 billion.

"Episode I The Phantom Menace" was released in 3-D last February and earned $22.4 million domestically its opening weekend.

The original prequels were released from 1999 to 2005.

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SEATTLE (AP) Seattle police worked with Army officials Monday to track down the history of a nonfunctional missile launcher that showed up at a weapons buyback program and determine whether it was legal or possibly stolen from the military.

A man standing outside the event Saturday bought the military weapon for $100 from another person there, according to Detective Mark Jamieson.

The single-use device is a launch tube assembly for a Stinger portable surface-to-air missile and already had been used. As a controlled military item, it is not available to civilians through any surplus or disposal program offered by the government, according to Jamieson.

Seattle police have contacted Army officials at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma to deputy chief Nick Metz said Monday.

"Once it's brought on base and investigators have a chance to look at it, they'll see what they can determine," Army spokesman Joe Kubistek said Monday. "It's too early to give any information on it until we have hands-on access to see it and take a look at it."

Police witnessed the private exchange of the military launch tube near the gun buyback event, where gun buyers tempted those standing in long lines to turn in their weapons with cash.

"It was absolutely crazy what we saw out there," Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said at a news conference Monday where officials announced they had collected a total of 716 weapons, including four confirmed as stolen.

Officers saw guns changing private hands without knowing whether the person buying the gun had the legal right to buy it, and those transactions are occurring all the time, McGinn said.

He added that the private sales of the missile launch tube and other weapons illustrate the need for comprehensive background checks as proposed by President Barack Obama, as well as other regulations at the state level.

While there were private gun buyers at the periphery of Saturday's event, Metz said a large majority of people chose to wait in line and get less money because they wanted to make sure they got the weapons off the streets.

"These are very dangerous weapons," Metz said. "They may not have looked very pretty, but (they're) definitely operable."

The firearms collected included 348 pistols, 364 rifles and three so-called street sweepers, or shotguns that include a high capacity magazine capable of holding twelve 12-gauge shotgun shells.

The program allowed people to anonymously turn in their weapons for a shopping gift card worth up to $200 -- $100 for each handgun, rifle or shotgun turned in, and $200 for each gun classified as an assault weapon under state law. Officials distributed about $70,000 in gift cards at Saturday's event.

McGinn said he wanted to plan another buyback event soon and urged more donations to the program.

Meanwhile, police said people who wanted to turn in guns could do so at any time outside a buyback program, though they wouldn't be compensated for it.

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NEW YORK (AP) Barbara Walters would probably like to hit the reset button on 2013.

She's got the chickenpox and remains hospitalized more than a week after going in after falling and hitting her head at a pre-inaugural party in Washington on Jan. 19. A fellow host on the "The View," Whoopi Goldberg, said Monday that Walters has been transferred to a New York hospital and hopes to go home soon.

"She's been told to rest. She's not allowed any visitors," Goldberg said. "And we're telling you, Barbara, no scratching!"

The 83-year-old news veteran, who underwent heart surgery in May 2010, apparently avoided a disease that hits most people when they are children. It can be serious in older people because of the possibility of complications like pneumonia.

Even after concern about her fall had subsided, Walters had been kept hospitalized last week because of a lingering fever, and doctors found the unexpected cause.

"We love you, we miss you," Goldberg said on "The View," in a message to the show's inventor. "We just don't want to hug you."

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Celebrity newswoman Barbara Walters, who was hospitalized earlier this month after falling and injuring her head, is recovering from chicken pox, her co-host Whoopi Goldberg said Monday on "The View" talk show.

Goldberg said Walters, 83, who is in a New York hospital, has been told to rest and is not receiving visitors.

"You all know that she fell and cut her head 10 days ago and then was running a temperature," Goldberg said on the show.

"But it turns out it is all the result of a delayed childhood. Barbara has the chicken pox," Goldberg adding, saying Walters had never had the illness as a child.

Walters, 83, had been admitted to a Washington hospital during President Barack Obama's inauguration weekend after she fell and cut her head at the British ambassador's residence, her network ABC said.

Goldberg joked: "She's been told to rest, she's not allowed any visitors, and we're telling you, Barbara, no scratching."

ABC-TV said Walters, who created the long-running talk show after working decades as one of television news' best-known journalists, was transferred to a New York hospital late last week from Washington and was expected to be discharged soon.

Despite Goldberg's light-hearted remarks about the illness, usually associated with children, chicken pox can be serious for adults and the elderly, accompanied by more severe itching from hundreds of blisters.

Headaches, fever and chills, sometimes leading to pneumonia, can follow if the illness is not properly treated and precautions are not taken, or if the patient has a compromised immune system.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Patricia Reaney and Philip Barbara)

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(Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd has gathered a number of big-name music and video partners for its BlackBerry 10 storefront, ranging from Walt Disney Studios and Sony Pictures to Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group.

RIM announced the partners on Monday, ahead of Wednesday's launch of its first phones based on its much-delayed BlackBerry 10 smartphone platform, which may be the company's last chance to regain ground it has lost to Apple Inc's iPhone.

Content partnerships are a crucial part of this effort as analysts have largely attributed the success of iPhone and devices running Google Inc's Android software to the selection of applications and media content they offer.

However, the company's shares were down more than 4 percent in morning trading. Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley said the partnerships were not a surprise and that RIM shareholders were probably selling to take a profit ahead of the phone launch.

"Until we start to see the devices sell to consumers, the stock will remain quite volatile," Walkley said.

RIM said its BlackBerry World content store would include an extensive catalog of songs, movies and television shows. Most movies will be available the same day they are released on DVD, with next-day availability for many TV series.

RIM's offerings will also include Matador Records, Rough Trade Records and Sony Music Entertainment music that will be initially be available in 18 countries.

The video downloads and rentals will initially be available just in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada and will include TV shows from providers such as ABC Studios, BBC Worldwide and CBS Corp.

RIM's shares were down 4.8 percent at $16.70 in morning trading on Nasdaq and were down 4.4 percent at C$16.84 in Canada.

Walt Disney Co owns ABC as well as Walt Disney Studios, and Vivendi SA owns Universal Music Group. Sony Corp owns Sony Pictures. Warner Music Group is privately owned.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Lisa Von Ahn)

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SANTA MARIA, Brazil (AP) Brazilian police say they've made three arrests and are seeking a fourth person in connection with a nightclub fire that killed more than 230 people.

Inspector Ranolfo Vieira Junior said at a Monday press conference that the arrests are for investigative purposes. He says the detentions have five-day limits.

He declined to identify those arrested or the fourth person sought.

More than 230 people died early Sunday during the fire at a university party in southern Brazil. Police have said they think a band's pyrotechnics show ignited sound insulation on the ceiling, causing the blaze.

The Zero Hora newspaper quotes lawyer Jader Marques as saying his client Elissandro Spohr, a co-owner of the club, was arrested. The paper also says two band members were arrested.

Funerals began Monday in the city of Santa Maria, Brazil, where the blaze took place.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) He's acted, danced and sang his way through movies, television and the stage, making Dick Van Dyke an entertainment triple-threat long before Hollywood used such hyphenates.

The 87-year-old actor, best known for the 1960s hit comedy "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and Disney's big-screen musical "Mary Poppins," can now add lifetime achievement honoree. He picked up that honor at Sunday night's 19th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

"I've knocked around in this business for 70 years and I still haven't quite figured out exactly what it is I do," Van Dyke said after accepting his trophy from presenter Alec Baldwin.

"The years have been full of surprises for me and a lot of fun. Aren't we lucky to have found a line of work that doesn't require growing up?"

Van Dyke's career has spanned eight decades, starting with work as a disc jockey and a standup comic in the late '40s. He even worked as a national television morning-show host, with no less than Walter Cronkite serving as his news anchor.

But perhaps Van Dyke's most critical career break came in 1960, when director Gower Champion hired him as the male lead opposite Chita Rivera in the new Broadway-bound stage musical "Bye Bye Birdie."

Van Dyke had no professional dance experience, and out-of-town tryouts did not go well. Nevertheless, Champion refused to fire the actor, who would go on to New York with Rivera and win a Tony award for his performance.

About a year later, Van Dyke was starring in his own sitcom, in the role of TV comedy writer Rob Petrie on "The Dick Van Dyke Show." Three prime-time Emmys for Van Dyke and more than 50 years later, the series remains revered by many critics as one of the earliest models of great workplace comedy.

"'The 'Dick Van Dyke Show' was the most fun I ever had and the most creative period of my life," he said on the red carpet.

During the series' run, Van Dyke also enjoyed big-screen hits, including the 1963 "Birdie" movie and the 1964 all-star comedy, "What a Way to Go!" But biggest of all was "Mary Poppins," in which he introduced the Oscar-winning song "Chim Chim Cher-ee."

"I'm world-famous for my Cockney accent," Van Dyke kidded in his acceptance speech. He has said his British-born co-star, Julie Andrews, told him he never got the accent right.

Van Dyke also saluted the room full of actors who gave him a standing ovation.

"I'm looking at the greatest generation of actors in the history of acting. You've all lifted the art to another place now," he said. "Besides that you're everywhere. You're in Darfur, Somalia, Haiti. You're all over the place trying to do what's right.

"This very heavy object here means that I can refer to you as my peers. I'm a happy man, God bless."

Last year, Van Dyke presented the same lifetime achievement honor to his former TV co-star, Mary Tyler Moore.

These days, Van Dyke sings with his vocal group, The Vantasix, and enjoys life with his wife of one year, makeup artist Arlene Silver. The couple met seven years ago at the SAG Awards.

"They tell me you never work again once you get this award," Van Dyke said on the red carpet. "I'll have to let them know I'm available."

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WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) Grammy-winning singer Chris Brown is under investigation for an alleged assault in a West Hollywood parking lot, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said early Monday.

Deputies responding to a report of six men fighting Sunday night found the scene clear, but were told by witnesses there had been a brief fight over a parking space.

"The altercation allegedly led to Chris Brown punching the victim," the department said in a statement released early Monday morning.

The "victim" wasn't identified, but the celebrity website TMZ, which first reported the fight outside the Westlake Recording Studio, said it also involved Frank Ocean, one of the top nominees at the Grammy Awards next month.

In a Twitter posting later, Ocean said he "got jumped by (Brown) and a couple guys" and suffered a finger cut.

It wasn't Brown's first problem in the run-up to the Grammys. His attack on singer Rihanna on the eve of the 2009 awards event overshadowed the show.

Last June, he was injured in a brawl with members of hip-hop star Drake's entourage at a New York nightclub.

No arrests were made. Brown was gone by the time deputies arrived but the department said the investigation is ongoing and Brown would be contacted later.

Email messages to Ocean's publicist and Brown's lawyer and representative were not immediately returned. A man answering the phone at the recording studio declined to comment.

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BERLIN (AP) New movies from directors Steven Soderbergh and Gus Van Sant and a trio of films starring French divas will be competing this year at the Berlin International Film Festival.

A diverse selection of 19 movies, including films from Kazakhstan and Iran, will vie for the main Golden Bear prize at Europe's first major film festival of the year. The event runs from Feb. 7-17.

Van Sant's film about the shale gas industry, "Promised Land," starring Matt Damon, and Soderbergh's thriller "Side Effects," featuring Jude Law and Catherine Zeta-Jones, are the most prominent U.S. offerings.

There's a strong contingent from eastern Europe, including Oscar-winning Bosnian director Danis Tanovic's "An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker," about a poor Gypsy family; Calin Peter Netzer's "Child's Pose," which highlights corruption in Romania; and Malgoska Szumowska's "In the name of," a film about a gay priest in Poland.

French actresses Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert all star in separate competition entries this year Binoche in "Camille Claudel 1915," about the French sculptor's later years; Deneuve in "On My Way;" and Huppert in "The Nun," a movie about a convent.

From Iran comes "Closed Curtain," directed by dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi and fellow Iranian Kamboziya Partovi. Panahi was sentenced to house arrest in Iran and banned from filmmaking after being convicted in 2011 of "making propaganda" against Iran's ruling system. Festival director Dieter Kosslick said Panahi's no longer confined to his home but still isn't supposed to make films.

Kosslick said Monday that organizers "tried to bring new people who are making films for the first or second time into the program," continuing a tradition of having less-heralded directors rub shoulders with established names. This year, there's an entry from Kazakhstan "Harmony Lessons," directed by Emir Baigazin.

The top prize will be awarded by a seven-member jury under Chinese director Wong Kar-wai, whose members include actor-director Tim Robbins. Wong's new movie about two kung fu masters, "The Grandmaster," is screening out of competition and will open the festival.

Last year's Golden Bear went to "Caesar Must Die," by Italy's Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, which showed inmates of a high-security prison staging Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar."

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