Obama's word breaks ice in Geneva arms talks

A single word from Barack Obama has put new life into the stale old disarmament talks in Geneva, where diplomats are hailing a "remarkable shift" by the Americans in favor of a treaty clamping down on production of the stuff of nuclear bombs.

The U.S. president's word _ "verifiable" _ has set the 65-nation Conference on Disarmament on a possible course toward negotiating a treaty after years of deadlock, most recently because the Bush administration argued that a pact couldn't be verified by inspections and monitoring.

In his speech April 5 in the Czech Republic, Obama detailed a packed agenda of goals in nuclear arms control, including …