The Paris-based Liberation has a picture of the now famous military tent beneath the simple headline: "They have signed".

Lisbon's Jornal de Noticias proclaims: "Peace in Europe at last" and the Italian La Stampa has an equally relieved "Peace is signed, stop the bombings".

Madrid's El Mundo says Nato is reducing air strikes and will synchronise its entry into Kosovo with the withdrawal of President Milosevic's troops to avoid reprisals by the Kosovo Liberation Army.

And Spain's El Pais says although a window of opportunity has been created there cannot be real peace in the Balkans as long as an indicted war criminal is allowed to remain as Yugoslavia's head of state.

US heralds end to bombing

Most US publications predicted that the bombing would stop in a matter of days, perhaps hours. The New York Times was the first publication to point out that the Kosovo signing was the end of the Western alliance's first war.

"The peace plan effectively strips administration of the province from Slobodan Milosevic and opens the way for the safe resettlement of the ethnic Albanian refugees," read the New York Times editorial.

The International Herald Tribune quotes Nato commander General Michael Jackson as saying it was tragic that it took Nato air strikes to bring about a settlement.

The Washington Post says that Nato now has a new mission: governing Kosovo. The Nato peacekeepers will be deployed as the international war crimes tribunal sends teams of investigators and forensic specialists into Kosovo.