Pakistan and India have agreed to try to ease fears about their nuclear arsenals, in unexpectedly positive talks between the two countries' top diplomats. Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir agreed to expand confidence-building measures in both their nuclear and conventional weapons.

For months now, a fight over sovereign-debt restructuring has been raging between those who insist that Greece must continue to honour its signature and those for whom the country's debt should be partly cancelled. As is often the case in Europe, the crossfire of contradictory official and non-official statements has been throwing markets into turmoil. Confusion abounds; clarity is needed.