Sources: General warns of perils of Afghan corruption

Sources: General warns of perils of Afghan corruption

WASHINGTON — Rampant government corruption may derail the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan even if as many as 80,000 additional U.S. troops are sent to the war, the top military commander there has concluded, according to U.S. officials briefed on his recommendations.

The conclusion by Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal is part of a still-secret document that requests more troops even as he warns that they ultimately may not prevent terrorists from turning Afghanistan back into a haven.

First lady ‘action figure’

CHICAGO — Coming soon: a 6-inch plastic doll of Michelle Obama for $12.99, being billed as an “action figure.”

Sculptor Jason Feinberg of Brooklyn, N.Y., who’s behind the dolls, acknowledges the term “action figure” is used loosely. The first lady, after all, sports nothing more lethal than her trademark sleeveless dresses (and enviable biceps).

Buyers may choose from among the purple dress she had on when the Obamas shared their campaign “fist bump,” the red-and-black number from election-night festivities in Grant Park, or the black-and-white floral frock she favored for television’s “The View.”

Michelle Obama’s office had no comment on the action figure, which is scheduled to go on sale Nov. 20.

5 teens charged with setting boy, 15, on fire

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. — Authorities say five Florida teenagers have been charged after they doused a 15-year-old with rubbing alcohol and set him on fire because he stopped someone from stealing his father’s bicycle a day earlier.

Michael Brewer was hospitalized with burns on more than three-quarters of his body after the attack at a Deerfield Beach apartment complex Monday.

The Broward County sheriff’s office said in a news release Tuesday that 15-year-olds Matthew Bent, Denver Jarvis, Steven Shelton and Jesus Mendez and 13-year-old Jeremy Jarvis were charged with aggravated battery. Mendez also is charged with attempted second- degree murder because authorities say he flicked the lighter.

Russia fails to back US in tough stance on Iran

MOSCOW — Russia publicly pushed back Tuesday against U.S. efforts to threaten tough new sanctions if Iran fails to prove its nuclear program is peaceful.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow believed such threats were “counterproductive” and that only negotiations should be pursued now. Just last month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had said that sanctions are rarely productive but “in some cases they are inevitable.”

Lavrov, at a news conference Tuesday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, said diplomacy “still has chances to succeed.”

Site shows Shriver with cell phone while driving

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is calling out his wife, Maria Shriver, for apparently violating a state law he signed — holding her cell phone while driving.

The celebrity Web site TMZ.com posted two photographs Tuesday showing Shriver holding a phone to her ear while she’s behind the wheel. It says one was snapped Sunday and the other in July.

The Web site later added a video it said was shot Tuesday in Brentwood, where the family lives. It shows Shriver holding a cell phone to her ear while driving a large SUV. She then puts the phone down while the camera is rolling.

On his Twitter feed, Schwarzenegger wrote to TMZ.com founder Harvey Levin: “Thanks for bringing her violations to my attention. There’s going to be swift action.”

Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear says that by “swift action,” the governor means he’ll ask his wife not to hold the phone while driving.

Unification mass wedding

ASAN, South Korea — Brides in white gowns and Japanese kimonos joined grooms in black suits and red ties today for the Unification Church’s biggest mass wedding in a decade — a spectacle church officials said would involve 40,000 people in cities around the world.

The “blessing ceremony” is the church’s largest since 1999, and may well be the last on such a grand scale officiated by the 89-year-old Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the controversial founder of the Unification Church.

There was no sign of Moon as the festivities got under way at the university he founded in Asan. He was expected to offer the blessings and vows to 21,000 people in South Korea and the estimated 20,000 taking part by video in simultaneous ceremonies from Sweden to Brazil.

Combined dispatches