His friends cite the Greek Cypriots' recent shelving of plans to put Russian anti-aircraft missiles on their bit of the island, after the Turks had threatened to bomb them, as yet more proof that it pays to hang tough.

ECONOMIST: CHARLEMAGNE

After Qom, Iran appeared to back off a bit by agreeing in principle to ship abroad much of its uranium stock (a bomb's worth or thereabouts if sufficiently re-enriched) for reworking to provide the needed reactor fuel.

ECONOMIST: Less than meets the eye so far