An editorial in Munich's Suddeutsche Zeitung describes the tests as "A Race In Madness".

When it comes to a nuclear arms race, it says, there are no winners, just countries who sign their own death sentence.

The French paper Liberation calls it a worrying escalation which the major world powers had hoped to prevent by ending the cold war.

The view from Pakistan is, of course, very different.

The Nation newspaper, published in Lahore, claims the tests have "restored the fragile balance of power between India and Pakistan, and lightened the clouds of war that were looming".

One of the views from India is rather surprising.

In its main editorial entitled "Ironic Solidarity", the Times of India says that "Pakistan deserves to be congratulated for following India's example, and challenging the nuclear apartheid and diktat of the big powers".

The paper adds: "It's much better for India to face an open Pakistani nuclear weapon, instead of an undeclared one".

The Frankfurter Allgemeine headlines its editorial on the matter: "Nuclear strongmen in the Asian Poor House".

It points to the fact that when it comes to relations between the two countries the has only been one constant - the arms race.

The Spanish paper El Mundo has a front-page photo of a group of Pakistanis celebrating outside the Karachi Stock Exchange, making a victory signs in apparent defiance of the threat of international sanctions.

The International Herald Tribune predicts that Japan may announce sanctions against Pakistan, which, the paper says, would have a dramatic impact, as Islamabad stands to lose nearly $500m in aid and subsidised loans.

The Madrid paper El Pais says there is no enthusiasm anywhere in Europe for the idea of imposing sanctions.

La Repubblica in Rome refers to the test as Islam's first atomic bomb, a sign of what the paper calls the new world "disorder".

Likewise, the Corriere Della Sera in Milan says the emergence of two new nuclear powers has effectively destroyed the post cold war order - and warns of a crowd of aspiring powers, led by Iran, knocking at the door of the nuclear club.