Russian

The union president at the Sparrows Point steel plant warned that as many as 1,200 workers could be laid off as the historic Baltimore County mill continues one of the longest shutdowns in recent memory. Not only are the primary steel-making operations idled through December, but the plant's owner, Severstal, intends to sell all of the raw material on hand, according to John Cirri, president of United Steelworkers Local 9477. He told members in an e-mail that 1,000 to 1,200 hourly employees — nearly half the work force — could be affected by the Russian owner's latest business plan.

Move over, Single Carrot Theatre — there's another edgy ensemble in town. The six-year-old Generous Company, previously based in New York and a few other places, recently relocated to Baltimore, where it is making its local debut with an intriguing production of a 2008 Russian play at Theatre Project . Yury Klavdiev's "I Am the Machine Gunner" (translated by John Freedman) takes the audience into the conflicted mind of a gang member, identified only as Young Man, the play's sole character.

Russian steel company Severstal is looking for a buyer for the Sparrows Point steel mill in Baltimore County and its other financially strapped U.S. plants, according to union officials. The news comes as Sparrows Point plans its second shutdown this summer — leaving three-quarters of the plant idle starting next week, said John Cirri, president of United Steelworkers Local 9477. The shutdown could result in more layoffs at the facility. Cirri said he learned this week from higher-level union executives that Sparrows Point was among several steel mills that Severstal was shopping around.

News item: A judge on Thursday denied bail to suspected Russian spies Richard and Cindy Murphy, whose arrests shocked neighbors in suburban Montclair, N.J. Cindy Murphy, who commuted to her financial job in New York, was admired for her gardening and baking, while her husband was a stay-at-home dad known for making his two daughters' lunches and walking them to the school bus. They are two of the 10 alleged spies arrested this week who...

The recent arrest of 10 Russian citizens in America on charges of espionage at first blush appears to be a typical Cold War scenario. But it clearly is not. Human intelligence operations are uniquely equipped to ascertain an enemy's intentions. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union ran extensive intelligence operations against the United States. They targeted just about any American they could, many of whom were insignificant employees of the U.S. Government and members of the armed forces.

Anthony Steven "Tony" Zyna, a retired National Brewing Co. mechanic and member of the merchant marine who was sent to a Soviet concentration camp during World War II, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease June 18 at Gilchrist Hospice Care. He was 88 and lived in Cockeysville. Born Anthony Zinowski in New Britain, Conn., and raised in New Haven, he left his home at 14 and later joined the Navy. A medical disability — a punctured eardrum — forced him to leave the service and he then joined the merchant marine during World War II. He served aboard the Liberty Ship Barbara Frietchie, as well as the Glenpool and the Paoli.

President Barack Obama flew Wednesday to Prague to join Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in signing a treaty they both have hailed as a major step forward on both arms control and U.S.-Russian relations. The formal signing of the pact, called the New Start treaty, was scheduled to take place at the medieval Prague Castle early today and is designed to bring U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals to their smallest sizes since the early 1960s. The White House said the treaty will lower the number of long-range deployed nuclear warheads by 30 percent, although some private analysts insist the actual reduction will be much smaller.

President Barack Obama is set to sign a historic nuclear arms control agreement Thursday with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, marking another step in the decades-long effort to reduce the world-destroying arsenals developed during the Cold War. Though the accord is far from perfect, it has the virtue of sending a signal to the world that the two countries that control 95 percent of the global stockpiles are committed to making nuclear nonproliferation...