LONDON: In a significant diplomatic breakthrough, U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev agreed here on Wednesday to reopen talks on reducing their nuclear warheads. They met on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

These will be the first major arms control negotiations in more than a decade and could lead to the replacement of the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) which expires on December 5.

In a joint statement, the two leaders said they would be in a much stronger position to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation regime if they led the world by example by reducing their own nuclear arsenal.

Indicating a sense of urgency, they said the negotiators had been told to report first results in July when the two leaders were expected to meet for a summit in Russia.

Mr. Obama declared that his administration wanted to “press the reset button”; using a phrase that has become a shorthand in Washington for pushing for closer relations with Moscow.

Coming April, India's student community will get a big morale booster when the country's first student-made satellite will ride into space on the PSLV, (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) along with ISRO's (Indian Space Research Organization) Risat Satellite.

The "Anusat" has been designed by 37 aerospace engineering students with the help of 10 teachers from the Madras Institute of Technology. ISRO, which has been promoting the development of satellites (microsatellites), is finally seeing its efforts bearing fruit with the imminent launch of the Anusat.

The idea behind the promotion was to make the students aware of the various factors involved in the design and launch of a satellite. These involved taking in to consideration the thermal management of the satellite, controls, the guidance system, power delivery, and not to mention, the communications part wherein the two-way communication between the satellite and the command centre will be managed.

The satellite will orbit the earth in a low altitude orbit between 600 and 800km. Data from the satellite will be received at the Chennai Tech University and the Pune University. Anusat has been designed to cater the basic communication purposes. However, the main purpose behind the initiative, apart from the obvious scientific intent, was to give the students a "hands-on" experience in handling complex projects like the design, development and execution of a project of this nature.

The program was initiated in 2002 and was ideated by R. Vasagam, the former vice chancellor of Anna University. Other universities and educational institutions are already in the midst of developing micro satellites. These include the IIT Mumbaui and IIT Kanpur and not to mention, Anna University to which the Madras Institute of Technology is affiliated with.