Soldier with new arms determined to be independent

BALTIMORE (AP) — After weeks of round-the-clock medical care, Brendan Marrocco insisted on rolling his own wheelchair into a news conference using his new transplanted arms. Then he brushed his hair to one side.Such simple tasks would go unnoticed in most patients. But for Marrocco, who lost all four limbs while serving in Iraq, these little actions demonstrate how far he's come only six weeks after...

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Asian shares rise, cautious before Fed, U.S. data

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares rose on Tuesday as recent selling drew bargain hunters, but investors were cautious ahead of more U.S. economic reports and a Federal Reserve policy decision later in the week that may offer clues to the Fed's stimulus plans. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> advanced 0.7 percent to snap a four-day losing...

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Protests Grow on Fifth Day of Unrest in Egypt

Tara Todras-Whitehill for The New York TimesEgyptians in Port Said mourned on Monday for people killed in clashes with the police a day earlier. PORT SAID, Egypt — The police fired indiscriminately into the streets outside their besieged station, a group of protesters arrived with a crate of gasoline bombs, and others cheered a masked man on a motorcycle who arrived with a Kalashnikov. The...

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His cat, his lunch and a high five: Harper’s day chronicled on Twitter

OTTAWA – One of the cardinal rules of social media: no one cares what you had for lunch. Unless, perhaps, you’re the prime minister.The people behind Stephen Harper‘s Twitter account are using the first day of Parliament’s winter sitting to provide an intimate look at how the prime minister spends his day.The posts include a video of Harper’s ride to work, photos of breakfast with his cat Stanley...

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Soldier who lost 4 limbs has double-arm transplant

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...

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Seoul pulls Asian shares down, solid economic data helps

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tech-heavy South Korean shares dragged down the broader Asian share index on Monday on fears of weaker earnings, but improving economic prospects in Europe and solid U.S. profit reports underpinned sentiment. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> inched down 0.2 percent, after seeing its biggest weekly loss in two months...

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Korean Artifact Bought Online Leads to Arrest

The video says it shows a man named Won Young Youn, in a dark polo shirt, sitting casually at a table in Flushing, Queens. In his left hand he holds a recent purchase from an online auction, a small metal tablet that, he explains, is a plate that was used for printing currency in Korea during the tumultuous period before that country became a colony of imperial Japan. As to how the century-old...

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Vine Has a Porn Problem Because Of Course It Does

It’s actually pretty surprising that it took everyone three days to figure out that Twitter’s new cell phone camera-powered video sharing app, Vine, is perfect for porn. Vine has it all. It can record reasonably high quality videos of anything you want, on-the-go, and post it publicly for all the Internet to see. You add hashtags so that people can easily find special interest content. There’s even...

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How SAG Stars Got Their Start: Sofia Vergara Credits Her 'Hooker Looks'

Today, she's one of the world's sexiest stars. But Sofia Vergara wasn't quite as celebrated for her curves early in her career. The Modern Family actress was among a handful of actors who kicked off Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards with personal stories about how they got started in the business. Vergara, 40, joked about her famous figure. "I grew up in Barranquilla, Colombia, in a very...

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CDC: Flu seems to level off except in the West

New government figures show that flu cases seem to be leveling off nationwide. Flu activity is declining in most regions although still rising in the West.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hospitalizations and deaths spiked again last week, especially among the elderly. The CDC says quick treatment with antiviral medicines is important, in particular for the very...

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