Russia

Swimming NBAC's Morris qualifies for U.S. team at worlds A strong U.S. nationals for North Baltimore Aquatic Club continued Saturday night, when 18-year-old Brennan Morris surprised everyone, including himself, by finishing second in the 1,500-meter freestyle, earning a spot on the United States team headed to the world championships in Rome in two weeks. Morris, who moved to Baltimore with his family three years ago from Lewisburg, Pa., lowered his career-best time by 20 seconds in the preliminaries Friday morning and then shaved an additional four seconds off that time in the final a day later, touching the wall in 15 minutes, 13.47 seconds.

WASHINGTON -- On his four previous foreign trips, President Barack Obama has been greeted by cheering crowds and smiling world leaders, a carefully crafted global introduction that emphasized listening, collaboration and cooperation. But expectations are rising for the president and, as he prepared to go abroad again on Sunday, the White House is resetting its goals. Now the idea is to cast Obama not just as a likable, inspirational figure but also as a tough-minded world leader. His first stop Monday will be a sure test.

The United States and allied powers threatened Monday to impose new penalties on North Korea after the defiant regime announced a second nuclear bomb test, but their leverage in derailing the weapons program appeared limited. The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, meeting in emergency session in New York, denounced the test as a "clear violation" of a 2006 resolution banning such actions. China and Russia, usually North Korea's defenders, joined with France, Britain and the United States in the statement.

President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed Wednesday to open negotiations on a treaty that could slash nuclear arsenals by one-third as part of what they said would be a new era in relations between the two countries. The agreement, the result of the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders and coming on the eve of Thursday's Group of 20 economic summit, included a promise by Obama to visit Moscow this summer to pursue the talks. "Over the last several years, the relationship between our two countries has been allowed to drift," Obama said.

MUNICH -Vice President Joe Biden held out an olive branch to Iran and Russia yesterday and reassured European allies that the Obama administration would treat them as equals but emphasized that "America will ask its partners to do more as well." In a major foreign policy address yesterday to an international security conference, Biden told an audience of world leaders that the White House was willing to engage the government in Tehran if it heeded calls to end its nuclear-weapons program and changed its policies in the Middle East.

Jack Kolb is a huge classical music fan. The retired research physicist is a regular listener to WBJC in Baltimore and joins the public radio station's semi-annual international music trek whenever he can. Recently, the Westminster resident was in classical heaven. Not only did he visit St. Petersburg, Russia, for its extraordinary opera and ballet, but he also spent 11 days on a Baltic classical music theme cruise aboard the Crystal Symphony, one of the most luxurious ships afloat. The featured performers, well known to concertgoers worldwide, were mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and violinist Leila Josefowicz.

MOSCOW - Shipments of Russian natural gas to Europe came to an abrupt halt yesterday in the middle of a winter cold spell. Russia accused neighboring Ukraine of shutting down pipelines that supply a fifth of the continent's gas, while Ukraine charged that Russia had halted all deliveries. The situation marked a sharp escalation of a politically charged fuel-price dispute that has renewed concern about Europe's dependence on Russian gas and Ukrainian pipelines. It followed a precipitous fall in shipments Tuesday, when more than a dozen countries reported a complete stop or major drops in supplies.

Senior military leaders took the exceptional step of briefing President George W. Bush this week on a severe and widespread electronic attack on Defense Department computers that might have originated in Russia, posing unusual concern among commanders and potential implications for national security. Defense officials would not describe the extent of damage inflicted on military networks. But they said the attack struck hard at networks within U.S. Central Command, the headquarters that oversees U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and affected computers in combat zones.

I might have to consider staying longer on the continent, especially after the discovery that they serve beer at McDonald's restaurants in some foreign countries. In particular, this revelation has given me a new appreciation for the French culture. If that isn't enough, I boarded an AirBerlin flight on Thursday and the flight attendants were handing out free copies of Playboy, which caused me to spontaneously blurt out, "What a country!" Unfortunately, it was the German language version of Playboy, so it was useless to me. ( For more, go to baltimoresun.