US and Russia sign historic nuclear arms pact

CASTING aside years of rancour, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday signed the biggest nuclear arms pact in a generation, and issued new warnings of sanctions for an intransigent Iran.

The treaty, sealed after months of halting negotiation, is significant not just for what it does but for what it symbolises: a fresh start for the US and Russia, and evidence to a watching world that nuclear disarmament is more than a goal.

The pact commits their nations to slash the number of strategic nuclear warheads by one-third and more than halve the number of missiles, submarines and bombers carrying them.