U.S. President Barack Obama and senior officials in his administration on Friday announced an agreement on nuclear arms reductions. Obama, along with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates briefed reporters at the White House about the U.S.-Russian agreement on the replacement for the Cold War-era Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). The finalization followed a telephone call Friday morning between Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The treaty, which would replace a 1991 pact that expired in December, will be signed on April 8 in Prague, the White House said. The date is around the anniversary of Obama's speech in Prague last year that offered his vision for a nuclear weapon-free world, and is leading up to a security summit he will host in Washington on April 12 to 14.
