Moody's may cut New York Times into junk territory (Thu Oct 23, 2000 Reuters)

No surprises here but there is something chilling about reading it in someone else's words.

'The cost to insure the [NYT] company's debt with credit default swaps rose to 477.50 basis points on Thursday, or $477,500 per year for five years to insure $10 million in debt, from 460 basis points on Wednesday, according to Markit Intraday.'

Moody's may cut New York Times into junk territory
Thu Oct 23, 2008 1:42pm EDT

NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service said on Thursday it may cut its ratings on New York Times Co (NYT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) into junk territory, citing concerns about continuing revenue declines and risks associated with refinancing its debt.
The New York Times posted a quarterly loss from continuing operations on Thursday and said advertising revenue at its news media group dropped 16 percent for the quarter.
Newspaper advertising market conditions are likely to remain challenging in 2009 and continuing revenue declines will make it difficult for the company to bring its credit metrics in line with its investment grade rating, Moody's said in a statement.
It will also make it hard for the publisher to execute its plans to improve liquidity, Moody's added.
Moody's said it may cut the New York Times from "Baa3," the lowest investment grade. Downgrades into junk territory can significantly increase a company's borrowing costs.
Risks from refinancing maturing debt also prompted the review for downgrade, Moody's said.
The New York Times said it is looking for ways to reduce its debt, but said it is a difficult time to make asset sales.
The cost to insure the company's debt with credit default swaps rose to 477.50 basis points on Thursday, or $477,500 per year for five years to insure $10 million in debt, from 460 basis points on Wednesday, according to Markit Intraday. (Reporting by Karen Brettell; Editing by Dan Grebler)

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iht.com, information hierarchies, the wires versus the NYT conent and the daily article index

What I'm going to do now is try and kill multiple birds with one stone.

This post stems from the following:

a) My use of the daily article index on iht.com to look at a snapshot of the news from any given day - very useful and complimentary to my reading of the print edition (and something I use to compile an alternative daily IHT narrative at A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE) and my irritations with how it indexes incorrectly (e.g business stories in sports section or vice versa or the same story indexed multiple times. I've posted on this before, a few times.

b) A discussion I had with two senior IHT editors last week, one of whom had never heard of the daily article index on www.iht.com (he was an iht.com editor). The other editor explained the above irritations (brought to their attention via this blog) as being the result of the index being compiled automatically and that it simply reflected ANY iht.com story that an IHT editor, at some point in the day, had either uploaded or edited or both. (Here is an example of my irritation.)

c) I have blogged on whether the NYT can compete with the wires for news and I have blogged on the fact that the wires also do 'off the news' analysis and background reporting. Both the editors I spoke with did not speak highly of the wires, including reporters, one of them describing them as 'the bottom of the journalistic food chain', another as youthful and inexperienced and often wrong.

To which I replied, if that's the case, how come so much iht.com content and IHT newspaper content is wire content?

For the latter, they argued only for the briefs, and for www.iht.com they argued that most of it was NYT/IHT content to which I responded, no, not true. (Not actually sure if I was right in saying that, so hence this posting.)

We also discussed what counted as NYT/IHT content.

Was a reworked wire story by Alan Cowell for example - because he just loves to write - essentially what I would call glorified wire content (as opposed to get out there reporting ) - or was it IHT content? Clearly the editors I spoke with argued the latter as being the case.

So what I've done is to take one day from iht.com, using the unheard of daily article index, and checked it out properly.

Here are the results from Saturday, 11th October daily article index. (This link will only be relevant to explore until next Saturday when it will carry the content of 18th October 2008.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday


HOMEPAGE
In Somalia, a 'forgotten crisis' - NYT Nairobi based correspondent; reporting from Somalia

World leaders gather in Washington to discuss crisis; Dow ends down 1.5 percent IHT man in Frankfurt. David Jolly and Katrin Bennhold in Paris and Graham Bowley in New York contributed reporting. (All IHT people and all using, to what degree we don't know, wires.)

Nobel Peace Prize is quiet diplomat's latest reward Sarah Lyall (NYT), Alan Cowell (IHT) and Walter Gibbs (? but NYT/IHT); no geographical byline

McCain attacks Obama for supposed ties to '60s radical (2 NYT people - no geographical by line)

NATO allows strikes on Afghan drug sites (IHT's Judy Dempsey reporting from NATO meeting in Bucharest)

For Europe, the credit crunch is here IHT's Carter Dougherty reported from Frankfurt; Katrin Bennhold (IHT) from Paris. Matthew Saltmarsh (?) contributed reporting from Paris.

Asia, too, feels the pain Keith Bradsher (IHT HK) plus Choe Sang-Hun in Seoul, Carlos H. Conde in Manila, Thomas Fuller in Bangkok, Anand Giridharadas in Mumbai and Hilda Wang in Hong Kong also contributed reporting.

Oil price drop below $78 a barrel as energy agency cuts demand forecast David Jolly (IHT.com business editor currently in Paris but what happens to him next March, not clear) possibly using wires, plus say press release, plus some phone calls if he has time.

Inquiry into Madrid crash shows system failure REUTERS MADRID

Iceland banks face claims from depositors abroad IHT's Eric Pfanner in REYKJAVIK This is a fast moving story, so we'll follow how www.iht.com deals with it.

U.S. and India sign nuclear deal THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON

Christians fleeing Mosul after targeted killings NYT's Erica Goode and Suadad Al-Salhy in Baghdad

Connecticut overturns ban on same-sex marriage NYT's Sharon Otterman with no Connecticut byline.

U.S. closer to nuclear deal with North Korea NYT's Helene Cooper in Washington

U.K. reports new data loss for 100,000 military staff THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LONDON

Georgian refugees begin to return home NYT's Ellen Barry in Georgia

America's eco-kids keep a keen eye on their parents NYT's Lisa W. Foderaro with no geographical byline (these articles always seem to have a bit of a Cosmo feel to them - how do they find these people? Friends and acquaintances of writer? No.)

Ailing U.S. economy brings fears of a crime wave Letter from America: NYT's Christine Hauser and Al Baker from New York

From across the centuries, a different view of Picasso NYT's (?) Meg Mortin in Paris

As fears ease, Baghdad sees walls tumble This article was reported by Alissa J. Rubin, Stephen Farrell and Erica Goode, and written by Rubin and Farrell (are they all in Baghdad?) Sam Dagher (which reads a lot like danger and need for journalist to have a dagger - at least i.e out side the Green Zone) and Anwar J. Ali contributed reporting.

Paul Krugman: Moment of truth NYT columnist

Africa's expensive borders OPINION Rod Hunter, a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute and a Washington lawyer, served as senior director at the National Security Council. Commissioned by Serge S (editorial page editor of IHT in Paris) or by NYT op-ed page. Will the IHT retain its own editorial page editor. Some say YES, emphatically, other rumours doubt it.

Pius XII and the Holocaust OPINION John Berwick is the religious affairs correspondent of DW-TV, Germany's international state broadcaster. Commissioned by Serge S (editorial page editor of IHT in Paris) or by NYT op-ed page. Will the IHT retain its own editorial page editor. Some say YES, emphatically, other rumours doubt it.

An economy you can bank on OPINION Casey B. Mulligan is a professor of economics at the University of Chicago. Commissioned by Serge S (editorial page editor of IHT in Paris) or by NYT op-ed page. Will the IHT retain its own editorial page editor. Some say YES, emphatically, other rumours doubt it.


BUSINESS WITH REUTERS

World leaders gather in Washington to discuss crisis; Dow ends down 1.5 percent ALREADY INDEXED ON HOME PAGE - SEE ABOVE.

For Europe, the credit crunch is here ALREADY INDEXED ON HOME PAGE - SEE ABOVE.

Asia, too, feels the pain ALREADY INDEXED ON HOME PAGE - SEE ABOVE.

Crisis began with Lehman's collapse, Europeans say Nelson D. Schwartz in Paris (IHT or NYT, I don't know because I haven't the time to check all these guys out but not wire content). As this isn't already indexed on home page, why not move this to top of business index? It's NEW(S).

Russia taps oil money for use in stock market NYT's Andrew E. Kramer in Moscow. As this isn't already indexed on home page, why not move this to top of business index? It's NEW(S).

Oil price drop below $78 a barrel as energy agency cuts demand forecast ALREADY INDEXED ON HOME PAGE - SEE ABOVE.

Morgan Stanley under pressure as deal date approaches NYT Ben White in New York. As this isn't already indexed on home page, why not move this to top of business index? It's NEW(S).

Iceland banks face claims from depositors abroad ALREADY INDEXED ON HOME PAGE - SEE ABOVE.

Scarred by past woes, Japan sees U.S. bailout as a first step MEMO FROM TOKYO by NYT's Martin Fackler in Tokyo. As this isn't already indexed on home page, why not move this to top of business index? It's NEW(S).

Insurance industry joins banks on the hot seat NYT's Mary Williams Walsh; no geographical byline. As this isn't already indexed on home page, why not move this to top of business index? It's NEW(S).

Designing the extraordinary SPOTLIGHT by NYT's Elisabetta Povoledo in Italy. As this isn't already indexed on home page, why not move this to top of business index? It's NEW(S).

U.S. plans to buy equity in institutions REUTERS WASHINGTON

Inquiry into Madrid crash shows system failure ALREADY INDEXED ON HOME PAGE - SEE ABOVE. REUTERS MADRID

U.S. stocks end mostly lower after wild session REUTERS - No geographical byline i.e London.

Dow pares heavy losses to close down 1.5 percent in chaotic trading IHT's Bowley and Jolly but compare and contrast the Reuters story above with theirs to see what the IHT editors call 'bringing a wire story up to IHT standards'. This story and the one above basically cover the same ground, but are different.

G7 pledges united crisis response REUTERS No geographical byline i.e London

Germany working on UK-style bank rescue plan REUTERS No geographical byline i.e London

Santander completes Alliance & Leicester purchase REUTERS MADRID

As GE profit falls, company sees itself weathering the storm NYT'S Steve Lohr in New York. As this isn't already indexed on home page, why not move this to top of business index? It's NEW(S).

Shares of Wall Street firms slump REUTERS NEW YORK

Barclays plans 3,000 job cuts after Lehman deal REUTERS No geographical byline i.e London

Morgan Stanley and Goldman shares tumble REUTERS No geographical byline i.e London

Iceland's Straumur says cancels Landsbanki deal REUTERS STOCKHOLM (I thought Pfanner was in Iceland to cover this story - why not make him update his piece with this info and not publish this Reuters piece)


Finance arm weighs on GE results This has already been run and indexed under another headline - see above As GE profit falls, company sees itself weathering the storm . The reason it appears twice is, I am told, because the original article has been touched in someway by www.iht.com editors; either by way of an undate or simply a new headline. Either way. it's irritating to be searching on two posts.

Germany working on UK-style rescue plan This REUTERS story has already been run and indexed under another headline - see above Germany working on UK-style bank rescue plan . The reason it appears twice is, I am told, because the original article has been touched in someway by www.iht.com editors; either by way of an undate or simply a new headline. Either way. it's irritating to be searching on two posts.

U.S. reviewing UK interbank guarantee idea This REUTERS WASHINGTON story has already been run and indexed under another headline - see above U.S. plans to buy equity in institutions. The reason it appears twice is, I am told, because the original article has been touched in someway by www.iht.com editors; either by way of an undate or simply a new headline. Either way. it's irritating to be searching on two posts.

IMF chief cites 'crisis of confidence' BLOOMBERG WASHINGTON

Berlusconi floats idea of suspending markets BLOOMBERG NAPLES

Russia approves loan plan to ease credit crunch This NYT MOSCOW story has already been run and indexed under another headline - see above Russia taps oil money for use in stock market The reason it appears twice is, I am told, because the original article has been touched in someway by www.iht.com editors; either by way of an undate or simply a new headline. Either way. it's irritating to be searching on two posts.

Wall St. swings wildly after global selloff This is now IHT.com Paris' third run at this story. has already been run and indexed under another headline - see above Dow pares heavy losses to close down 1.5 percent in chaotic trading. IF AN ARTICLE IS UPDATED DURING THE DAY, PULL THE PREVIOUS ONES OF THE SITE - THAT'S HOW YOU GET A SIMPLE SNAP SHOT AT THE END OF THE DAY. The reason it appears twice is, I am told, because the original article has been touched in someway by www.iht.com editors; either by way of an undate or simply a new headline. Either way. it's irritating to be searching on two posts.

Iceland says will meet obligations despite meltdown REIUTERS with no geographical byline but an Icelandic reporter at least somewhere. Written by By Omar Valdimarsson and Brett Young(Additional reporting by Michael Kahn, Adrian Croft, David Clarke and Carolyn Kohn in London, Boris Groendahl in Vienna; Writing by Dominic Evans) WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WRITTEN BY AND WRITING BY? THIS IS NOT A CRITICISM, JUST SOMETHING AS A NON-JOURNALIST I AM YET TO LEARN. You can criticise the wires as much as you like, but thus far, by my count, the NYT/IHT has one journalist on this ENORMOUS story - Pfanner reporting from Iceland - but Reuters has AT LEAST 9 journalists on the job, from Iceland to Stockholm to Vienna and London. It may well be that Reuters have PAID to be in the IHT under the BUSINESS WITH REUTERS label, but its hard to reconcile the IHT editors criticism of Reuters if a) they agreed to the deal - someone somewhere at the NYT/IHT think's they are good enough and b) they have c 2,200 correspondents to the NYT's 26 or 28.

Merrill Lynch hires advisers from Lehman and UBS REUTERS no geographical byline. By Bob Margolis (Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Carphone and Best Buy to unveil Europe expansion plan REUTERS no geographical byline. By Mark Potter (Editing by Paul Bolding)

Thomson Reuters and CME to close FXMarketSpace REUTERS LONDON. (Reporting by Kate Holton and Paul Hoskins; Editing by Andrew Callus) I've posted before about conflict of interest in allowing Reuters to cover Thomson Reuters. This should be a NYT/IHT media story which it could be if the IHT's media writer wasn't in Iceland trying to learn, on the spot, all about Icelandic banking, something the Reuters people in Iceland probably had something of a head start on.

Brown says OPEC output cut would be wrong REUTERS LONDON (Editing by Anthony Barker)

Iceland expected to ask IMF for help This IHT PFANNER PARACHUTE JOURNALISM STORY is now run for the second time - previously under Iceland banks face claims from depositors abroad We've also had TWO other Iceland stories - could they not at least all be indexed together so that we can get at the particular story in question more efficiently. (The reason it appears twice is, as ever...... ) I understand that news evolves during the day, but the use of the same photo, and most of the previous text to my mind means it would be better to pull the previous story and have someone in Paris/NY/HK edit together the full Iceland story (or whatever story) so that it is complete and timely at any given stage in the news cycle).

GE profit falls for 3rd straight quarter BLOOMBERG WASHINGTON but let's not be forgeting that www.iht.com has already run two versions of this evolving story by the NYT's Steve Lohr, under the headlines As GE profit falls, company sees itself weathering the storm and Finance arm weighs on GE results.

Government wants constructive Iceland relationships IHTs Pfanner in Iceland. This is now the third version and a new headline, but same basic article just updated - kill those earlier posts. Before we had - leaving aside the wire headlines and stories on this - Iceland banks face claims from depositors abroad and Iceland expected to ask IMF for help. My point made before stands. This may not be practical - merging and posting at any given time just one article but if you want to know how people waste time on the Internet, this is a pretty good example, if I was to come to www.iht.com and look for the Iceland story, either during the day or after it. A resource problem, a technical problem, I don't know.

Brit Energy expects 2 reactor restarts delay to '09 REUTERS - no geographical byline. By Daniel Fineren. Additional reporting by Nao Nakanishi and Sue Thomas; editing by James Jukwey. viz is to say, more people on Brit Energy than the NYT can muster for www.iht.com's coverage of a 'European' country going bankcrupt.

Woolworths sells up to 9 store leases to Tesco REUTERS LONDON - Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Paul Bolding and Hans Peters. See point above about resources.

Barclays says may raise capital to boost ratios REUTERS LONDON - (Reporting by Steve Slater; Editing by Paul Bolding)

Oil futures slide below $80 a barrel on economic woes IHT's David Jolly. Again and again (See above Oil price drop below $78 a barrel as energy agency cuts demand forecast posted and indexed twice already.)

Millionaire Sugar buys Woolworths stake REUTERS LONDON (Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Erica Billingham)

European shares tumble 7.8 percent REUTERS FRANKFURT -another markets story (see David Jolly above) this time by Peter Starck)

I'M GOING OUT FOR LUNCH NOW BUT I AIM TO COMPLETE THIS ANALYSIS OF CONTENT DURING THE COMING DAYS.

WHAT I WON'T DO IS RE-POST THIS POST EACH TIME I UPDATE IT - WHICH IS THE WWW.IHT.COM METHOD; RATHER I WILL COME BACK AND EDIT THIS POST AS I CONTINUE.

Philip Green denies Sainsbury stake report
John Lewis weekly dept store sales down 0.5 pct
Darling appeals for new ideas on crisis
Renishaw says first-quarter pretax profit up 75 pct
Watchdog says retail payment protection needs improving
Admiral's confused.com margins squeezed and shares down
FTSE seen opening more than 6 pct lower
FTSE slumps 8.9 pct
Stocks plunge, pressure on G7 to act on crisis
G7 pledges urgent action as markets reel
Wells Fargo wins the war for Wachovia
Citi ends talks with Wells Fargo on Wachovia
Asian shares plunge after U.S. sell-off
Germany's Mr. DAX is face of market crisis
Oil drops 10 percent on demand concerns
Selling frenzy persists as global stocks dive
IMF readies emergency bailouts

CULTURE
From across the centuries, a different view of Picasso
Financial turmoil reshapes a corner of the art market
'Happy-Go-Lucky': A charming romp on the complicated quest for happiness
Britney Spears, Brad Pitt, The Beatles
'Bombay Anna': A governess continues to charm
A new art: On fringes of Frieze, design slips in side door
Morandini's art: Playful, geometric design
Korean art emerges from China's shadow
Moscow catches new art bug
Kim Chan, actor in diverse Asian roles
Excerpts from Le Clézio's work

HEALTH AND SCIENCE
America's eco-kids keep a keen eye on their parents
Indonesian officials unveil a deal to protect forests
Maritime organization seeks to cut air pollution from oceangoing ships

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST
In Somalia, a 'forgotten crisis'
As fears ease, Baghdad sees walls tumble
Christians fleeing Mosul after targeted killings
Nuclear aid by Russian to Iranians suspected
100 migrants feared drowned off Yemen, UN says
2 Americans released after detention in Syria
Libya to withdraw $7 billion of assets from Swiss banks
Zimbabwe's inflation rate spirals higher still
Iranian boy gets cancer treatment in Israel
Livni urges calm after Arabs and Jews clash in Israel
Malawi bans Chinese milk product imports
Global crisis may worsen Africa's hunger
Sadr blames U.S. for Iraqi lawmaker death
Hundreds mourn slain Sadr MP in Baghdad slum
Zimbabwe's rivals agree to seek Mbeki mediation
Turkish warplanes hit suspected PKK in N.Iraq
South Africa's ANC likely to split says dissident
Pirates reportedly seize another ship off Somalia
Roadside bomb in Baghdad kills Shiite legislator
Jews and Arabs clash in northern Israeli city

AMERICAS
America's eco-kids keep a keen eye on their parents
Connecticut high court rules same-sex couples can marry
McCain attacks Obama for supposed ties to '60s radical
Ailing U.S. economy brings fears of a crime wave
Kim Chan, actor in diverse Asian roles
2 endorsements of nuclear power, but sharp differences on details
Colorado to review how it purges voters' names
U.S. Senate panel to study military eavesdropping
Peru's prime minister quits in cabinet shakeup
Bush vows to maintain Cuba embargo
Connecticut overturns ban on same-sex marriage
U.N. warns hungry Haitians could cause more unrest
Connecticut court allows gay marriage
Stronger Hurricane Norbert heads for Mexico's Baja
Drug hitmen kill 11 in bar in Mexico
Nicaragua's Ortega says crisis is God punishing U.S.
Peruvian guerrillas kill 12 soldiers
Palin and aides pressed for trooper's removal
Obama, purse swelling, plans half-hour tv ad
Fictitious donors found in campaign finance records
Native American tribes see profit in wind power
Obama and McCain clash over economy
In dozens of calls, Palins and aides pressed for trooper's removal
Chavez says Russia's Medvedev to visit Venezuela

ASIA PACIFIC
Scarred by past woes, Japan sees U.S. bailout as a first step
NATO allows strikes on Afghan drug sites
U.S. and India sign nuclear deal
Suicide attack on Pakistani tribal council kills 20
Thai protest leaders freed from jail
Indonesian officials unveil a deal to protect forests
U.S. closer to nuclear deal with North Korea
U.S. and India sign civil nuclear cooperation agreement
U.S. seen likely to remove NKorea from blacklist
Suicide bomber kills Afghan provincial official
Five Chinese children killed by falling crane
NATO allies reach deal on attacking Taliban drug trade
China threatens to "out" milk offenders
U.S. may soon remove NKorea from blacklist
Brother of Afghan president to give up seat in Parliament
Thai protest leaders get bail as campaign rolls on
Afghanistan violence seen to be worsening


EUROPE
Nobel Peace Prize is quiet diplomat's latest reward
U.K. reports new data loss for 100,000 military staff
Europe confirms Russian pullback
Georgian refugees begin to return home
Nuclear aid by Russian to Iranians suspected
Libya to withdraw $7 billion of assets from Swiss banks
Ukraine will hold snap elections
Punishment for a prisoner in Russia
Pope defends Pius's efforts during World War II
France withdraws contaminated Chinese sweets
U.S. says Russia would not cut off gas to Europe
Experts say Brazil-France defence pact wrong choice
U.N. warns Congo fighting could spark wider conflict
EU's Solana confirms Russia withdrawal in Georgia
Russia approves loan plan to ease credit crunch
Global mediator Ahtisaari wins Nobel Peace Prize
France says Russia partly meets Georgia ceasefire
CORRECTED - Report blames faulty flaps for Madrid crash
Montenegro recognises Kosovo
Europeans get creative in credit crisis

OPINION
Building a better bailout through ownership
David Brooks: The class war before Palin
Paul Krugman: Moment of truth
An economy you can bank on
Africa's expensive borders
Pius XII and the Holocaust
$700,000,000,000: (That's a lot of zeroes)
Campaign jousting; Blame big government
Here's where the money is

SPORTS
Phillies top Dodgers in Game 1
Facing Boston in Game 1, it's finally Tampa Bay's time
In hard times, who's in the mood for Volvo's high seas adventure?
Hussey century helps Australia expand lead over India
2 Japanese car makers pursue F1 success their own way
Many nations at Beijing Games failed to give data on athletes for drug testing
Tim Montgomery gets 5-year prison term
Ospreys suspend Henson for two matches
Jankovic and Dementieva to meet in Moscow semi
Troubled France coach says not worried by own fate
Cipriani likely beneficiary of Wilkinson injury
Capello left in the dark by new-look Kazakhstan
Injured Schwartzel battles on to share Madrid lead
McLaren withdraws from South African squad
Terry out of England game
Hussey century helps Australia score 430
Reuters resumes Australia tour coverage
Loeb takes early lead in Corsica and Sordo crashes out
Ecclestone says Indian GP will be in 2011
Sebastian Vettel's bright future is now
Safety first can also mean last
Silencing skeptics, Phillies rally to top Dodgers
Hamilton sets early pace in Japan practice
Africa's qualifying race down to 20 by Sunday
England flyhalf Wilkinson ruled out for five months
Stanford Twenty20 match to go ahead
Motor neurone worry hangs over Italian game
ANC to consult before decision on Springbok emblem
Croatia moves to rid sport of violence
Basketball ready for lift-off in Britain
English Premier League chief says game is sustainable
Rooney says he was at his best in Croatia

Your Money



I always say this, but particularly in the context of this posting, read a more thematic, paradox searching, connecting the dots, story based narrative of Friday 10th October, based on the above material, at A Place in the Auvergne (Friday, 1oth October 2008).


Plus it has pretty pictures if you're stuck in an office on a glorious autumnal day.

READ AN ALTERNATIVE IHT DAILY NARRATIVE AT
A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE

International Herald Tribune
IHT
New York Times
NYT

Vacation /Business Trip Furnished Apartment in Paris

Thomson Reuters "challenged" but reaffirms outlook

I'm interested in Thomson Reuters so this is for me, but I'm also interested in how the IHT allows Reuters to cover Thomson Reuters. They must have some outstanding Chinese Walls and quite an ethics book.



Thomson Reuters "challenged" but reaffirms outlook
Reuters
Thursday, October 2, 2008
By Georgina Prodhan
News and information publisher Thomson Reuters reaffirmed its 2008 outlook on Thursday, although it said the financial crisis hitting many customer banks would hurt the company in the short term.
Chief Executive Tom Glocer said that while the credit crunch gripping world financial markets would affect the company in the short to medium term, it represented a long-term opportunity as banks would need the company's products as they consolidated.
Thomson Reuters, whose markets division is exposed to financial services and brings in 59 percent of group sales, said it expected 2008 revenue growth of 6 to 8 percent, almost all organic, and an underlying profit margin of 19 to 21 percent.
The company reiterated its target to generate free cash flow of 11 to 12 percent of sales and its plan for capital expenditure of 8 to 9 percent of revenue.
"You've got to say this is a negative short to middle term," Glocer said of the financial crisis at a London investor day, but added that banking consolidation would present a chance.
"There's a lot of compensating work that needs to be done now to stitch together all these trading operations," he said, adding that the company's legal and health professional product businesses would help the company weather the storm.
Thomson Reuters shares fell 1.7 percent in London by 4:08 British time, underperforming a 3.2 percent rise in the DJ European media index. They rose 0.6 percent to $27.26 in New York.
The stock trades at similar multiples as fellow professional publishers Reed Elsevier and Pearson and is more expensive than Wolters Kluwer, despite its greater exposure to financial services customers.
"We continue to view Thomson Reuters as a world-class group, though we recognise that sentiment will remain challenging given current uncertainty in financial markets," Numis analysts wrote in a note, reiterating their "add" recommendation.
CHALLENGED
The company said it had completed its refinancing needs for Thomson's acquisition of Reuters earlier this year through long-term debt offerings in June, and said it had a $2.5 billion (1.4 billion pound) credit facility on which it had not drawn.
Thomson Reuters said it targeted a ratio of 2 for net debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, down from a trailing ratio of 2.4 as of June.
Devin Wenig, CEO of the markets division, said the company's foreign exchange business had its best month ever in September but admitted he could not predict how long it would take until conditions for the division as a whole would improve.
"We certainly are not viewing this through rose-coloured glasses. We've never seen a market like this," he said. "There are parts of our business that are really challenged right now."
But Glocer said Thomson Reuters was diversified enough, even in the markets division, to have a chance to grow in hard times, and Chief Financial Officer Bob Daleo said sales at the division would not necessarily decline next year.
Jim Smith, CEO of the professional division which brings in 41 percent of group sales, said most clients were now on contracts of at least two years and added that a heavy bias towards North America left scope for geographical expansion.
"We are not immune to economic cycles but we have traditionally been far less cyclical," he said of the division, which sells products to help lawyers, accountants, scientists and healthcare professionals run their businesses.
"We don't see anything that changes that underlying dynamic," he added.
Glocer said: "We're not in a raging bull market." But he added: "You can't look at the London sell-side dealing room and extrapolate. I do believe (2009) will be better than the market is fearing."


http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/10/02/business/OUKBS-UK-THOMSONREUTERS-MARKETS.php


A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE

International Herald Tribune
IHT
New York Times
NYT

Vacation /Business Trip Furnished Apartment in Paris

Another example of good off the news reporting from the wires

When the front page of www.iht.com can't be filled by NYT/IHT correspondents, and has to rely on the wires, even for ahead of the news curve, off the news, stories, you know you have a problem.

Don't you?

And you need to re-tool how you allocate foreign correspondents?

Example from today (and again, I could quote examples for nearly any day of the year) this front page iht.com story, from the NYT?

No, from Reuters.......once more.

(It used to be, I think, that any Reuters story was cleary sourced as such in the online url link but not on this one. Is anyone trying to hide something here?)

Lack of medical workers causes new health crisis in developing countries
By Kavita Chandran and Tan Ee Lyn
Reuters
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/01/asia/medical.php


And today also, ANOTHER iht.com front page story, also from Reuters, indexed on iht.com not as a Reuters story, not even a medical story, but a business story?

HIV infection up eightfold among gays in southern China
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/01/business/01hiv.php




A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE


International Herald Tribune
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Dexter Filkins and Iraq

I can't remember when, but I think about 10 days ago there was a "I can't believe how much Bagdad has changed for the better since I was here in 2006" piece in the IHT, nicely timed to help promote NYT correspondent Dexter Filkins' book. (Isn't that covered off in the ethics book somewhere?)

The same day Reuters were running bomb stories.

Anyway, this one's for Dexter (from Reuters)

Resigned, bitter, Iraqis shop after Baghdad bomb

Reuters
Monday, September 29, 2008
By Aseel Kami

Baghdad shopkeepers washed away blood and shoppers buying gifts returned to the streets on Monday after bombers struck ahead of a major holiday marking the end of Ramadan.

Four bombs in busy districts of Baghdad on Sunday evening killed at least 32 people and wounded scores as Iraqis shopped and broke their fast for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

"Yes, there was an explosion yesterday, but I still came today: I have stuff to buy, clothes for my children, sweets," said Um Mays, 45, shrugging off a bombing close to where she was browsing for gifts.

"Explosions have become part of our daily life. The lucky survive, the unlucky die," she added.

In the worst incident, a car bomb was quickly followed by a suicide bombing in central Baghdad's Karrada district on Sunday evening. The area was packed with shoppers buying clothes and gifts before the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The six-day public holiday begins on Tuesday to celebrate the end of the fasting month.

U.S. military officials say violence in Iraq is at four-year lows but some militant groups have stepped up attacks for the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims observe a daytime fast.

"They should have prevented this disaster before it took place," said Leith Naji, a medical doctor, shopping with his 2-year-old son. "They should make the situation more secure. But what can we do? life goes on."

The spokesman for Iraqi security forces in Baghdad, Major-General Qassim Moussawi, vowed on Monday to hunt down the planners of the bombing and to prevent future attacks.

Abu Jassim, the owner of a clothes shop, was visibly upset, as he spoke: "We were expecting this would happen. People were crowded together, buying stuff for Eid. What shall I say? The subject has almost become boring. So many people I know have been killed in explosions."

http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/09/29/america/OUKWD-UK-IRAQ-VIOLENCE.php



A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE


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Reuters and the news cycle

I was having an interesting chat the other day in Paris about how many correspondents (foreign) the NYT have (28) and how many Reuters have (c2,200)and as a result how Reuters did a pretty stand up job of reporting what happened yesterday, but also have the resources to go off the news and break out from the news cycle.

I told the same thing to a senior IHT editor who wasn't very complimentary about Reuters journalists (too young, too inexperienced was the general point made), but I did point out that if Reuters were so crap how come about two thirds of the content on www.iht.com - a global news site - is coming from Reuters? Clearly someone at the NYT Company rates their content, if not, why dish it up?

I also posted yesterday about the nascent Global News Enterprise - which aims to field c70 foreign correspondents.

Anway, two points:

Here's a nice example from the IHT with a Reuters correspondent going off the news (see below).

The other great thing about their people, largely, is that you know what?

They're not white, they're not American, they don't have names like Dexter and Steven and they actually come from the communities they report on.

Which I guess is kind of handy.

If you'd like a sense of how much IHT content comes from Reuters check out my own version of the IHT at www.aplaceintheauvergne.blogspot.com

There you will see something called narrative and story, but you'll also see by looking at the article links provided, how many of the articles come from Reuters. A lot more than NYT/IHT.




Little holiday joy in Gaza but tunnellers thrive
Reuters
Monday, September 29, 2008
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
There was little joy in the Gaza Strip on Monday as the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan drew to a close and 1.5 million Palestinians scraped together their meagre resources to celebrate the feast of Eid al-Fitr.
Sealed off by Israel since it pulled out troops and Jewish settlers three years ago, and now run by the Islamist group Hamas, Gaza displays classic symptoms of a land under siege.
Border crossings to Israel and Egypt are as good as closed. No freighters anchor off the Mediterranean shore. Israel controls, and has shut down, air and sea approaches. Goods are scarce, prices high, and smuggling thrives no matter the danger.
At least 43 people have been killed this year in the collapse of secret tunnels to Egypt that provide a precarious lifeline for traders and intrepid travellers with cash to spare.
"The crossings have been closed and the siege has been tightened and there is no other way," said Sami Bashir, foreman of a tunnelling crew.
"Without the tunnels we would have been strangled by the Israeli siege," said clothing merchant Khaled Adna.
Tunnelling has flourished since Hamas took over in Gaza in a week-long Palestinian civil war last year and the Israeli blockade hardened. There are hundreds of makeshift earthworks barely concealed behind tents along the border.
A six-month cease-fire agreed in June by Hamas and Israel permits limited trade of mostly food and tiny amounts of construction materials. Hamas and its allies have largely held off firing rockets into Israel. Israel has held off its raids.
Gaza markets were crowded ahead of Eid but demand was weak and choice very limited, merchants and buyers agreed.
"Faced with a choice between buying new clothes or food for their children, people buy food," said Ehab Qassem, a 25-year-old university student selling clothes in Palestine Square. "The mood is not joyful, it is sad and tragic."
As with other dates in the Muslim lunar calendar, the end of the Ramadan fast and start of the Eid feast is timed according to sightings of the moon. It may be as early as Monday evening.
DIVIDED HOUSE
Residents of Gaza blame their predicament in part on the deep split in Palestinian ranks, between Hamas and the secular Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He runs the Israeli-occupied West Bank, about an hour's drive to the west of Gaza -- if such a drive were possible for local people.
"The two sides should be ashamed of themselves," said Ibrahim Abu Amra, an employee of the Health Ministry.
"They should sit together and form a unity government. Unless they do that, we will get lost, the Palestinian people will get lost," said Abu Amra, a father of seven.
Israel tightened the blockade after Hamas, which wants to destroy the Jewish state and had led a government after winning an election in 2006, routed Fatah forces in June 2007. Political and social divisions have since worsened. Failing a breakthrough in unity talks sponsored by Cairo there may be further violence.
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman conducted separate talks with the two sides throughout September. He met Fatah last week and will see Hamas officials on October 8. A Fatah official said on Monday that all factions may convene in Cairo on November 4.
"Either Hamas and Fatah are reconciled this time or we may be going to hell," commented Gaza taxi driver Ali Hassan.
Meanwhile, the tunnellers get rich. It costs about $250 (139 pounds) to traverse approximately 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) underground from Gaza to the Sinai border zone, or $1,000 for the VIP tunnel fare which includes electric lighting and a mobile phone signal.
"The typical caller is probably saying: 'I'm half-way through and I'm still alive'" joked one Gaza resident.
Gaza's border with Egypt is only 14 km long (9 miles), coming inland from the sea, and the tunnel builders make no great effort to conceal their diggings. Gazans say Egyptian officials take their cut of the underground trade in bribes.
As with its conventional border crossing at Rafah, Egypt has come under pressure from Israel also to close the tunnels down, and Hamas has accused Egypt of causing the deaths of several Palestinians by pumping gas into the tunnels or blowing them up.
Bashir, supervising diggings at a tunnel, said his crew knows the risks: "They have no choice," he said.
"There is no work in Gaza and death is a destiny and it will not happen until someone's time is up."
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/09/29/europe/OUKWD-UK-PALESTINIANS-HOLIDAY.php




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Petraeus's comments to the Financial Times newspaper

Two points:

a) This is a pretty big news story, given to the FT, not the IHT, nor the NYT. Doesn't say much for the IHT's stature in the minds of Pentagon handlers when wanting to speak to the world.

b) The current exec. editor of the IHT is known for his anti blogger comments, calling them people who riff of the MSM.

In this case (see below) the IHT relied on Reuters to pick it up, and used their piece.

That's called riffing off (by the IHT) those who riff (in this case Reuters) off the MSM (in this case the FT).


U.S. troops may quit Baghdad "by July"
LONDON: U.S. combat troops could be pulled out of Baghdad within 10 months because of declining violence in the Iraqi capital, General David Petraeus, U.S. commander in Iraq, said in an interview published on Thursday.
Petraeus's comments to the Financial Times newspaper came as the United States and Iraq seek to finalise a security pact that will govern the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires at the end of the year.
There are about 145,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and Petraeus was referring in his interview to the roughly 16,000 stationed in Baghdad, the paper said.
Asked whether it was feasible that U.S. combat forces could leave Baghdad by July, Petraeus said: "Conditions permitting, yeah.
"The number of attacks in Baghdad lately has been ... I think it's probably less than five (a day) on average, and that's a city of seven million people," he added.
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/09/04/africa/OUKWD-UK-IRAQ-PETRAEUS.php

Another judgement call on news priorities.

Again, as per, the previous post, compare and contrast the amount of coverage given to these two topics published on the same day.

Balance? Allocation of reporting resources?

While the NYT's correspondent in Israel is giving herself time to a story to do with Hebrew and text messaging, where's the story on the EU (quite important, er actually) speaking out against settlements (for which they relied on a wire report.)

This post should be seen in the context of a previous post on a NYT reader survey which focused specifically on whether readers found their coverage of the Israel/Palestine conflict biased or not. Surely they can just have a look at their own articles?



EU says Israel settlements undermine peace process
BRUSSELS: Israel's decision to approve the building of hundreds of new housing units in the Jerusalem area undermines the credibility of the Middle East peace process, the European Union said on Friday.
A statement from the French EU Presidency said it was deeply concerned by the Israeli move.
"This decision serves to undermine the credibility of the ongoing peace process," it said, adding that the building of such settlements was illegal under international law.
"Settlement activities prejudge the outcome of final status negotiations and compromise the viability of a concerted two-state solution," the EU statement said, calling on Israel to freeze settlement activities.
Israel issued a tender for the construction of 447 housing units in settlements in the Jerusalem area on Thursday, drawing criticism from Palestinians who accused the Jewish state of sabotaging chances of peace.
A U.S.-sponsored "road map" for peace calls for Israel to freeze all settlement activity. The World Court has branded settlements as illegal.
Several similar tenders have been issued since Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas launched U.S.-sponsored peace talks last November.
The talks, bogged down from the start by violence and disputes over settlements, have shown little sign of progress.
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/08/08/africa/OUKWD-UK-PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL-EU.php

******************
Will text messaging be the death of Hebrew?
JERUSALEM: Some Israelis have described being moved almost to tears by a rare viewing of the Great Isaiah Scroll, the best preserved and most complete Dead Sea biblical scroll, on special exhibit this summer at the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum for the first time in 40 years.
The familiar, unfulfilled prophecy of the 2,100-year-old scroll - "and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" - undoubtedly arouses emotion here. But there is also a thrill born of ordinary people being able to read, and at least partly understand, an ancient Hebrew text.
Two centuries after it was written, Jewish history became one of dispersal and exile, and Hebrew ceased to be widely spoken for the next 1,700 years.
Its revival is often hailed as one of the greatest feats of the Zionist enterprise; today, Hebrew is the first language of millions of Israelis, a loquacious and literary nation that is said to publish an average of 5,500 books a year.
But in a country where self-doubt and insecurity run deep, even a linguistic triumph can be a cause for concern. After such a meteoric comeback, some worry that the common language may already be in decline, popularized to the point where many Israelis can no longer cope with the rich complexities of traditional Hebrew prose.
"There is a feeling of anxiety," said Ruvik Rosenthal, a popular Israeli language guru and author of a best-selling dictionary of Hebrew slang.
There is the creeping foreign influence, as urban sophisticates pepper their Hebrew speech with accented English affectations like "please," "sorry" and "whatever," along with a noticeable loss of nuance and relative paucity of vocabulary in regular use.
Israelis can obsess about language. "We speak with mistakes," Rosenthal said. "Everyone does, and everyone corrects everyone else."
But he and other Hebrew watchers point to a potentially more disturbing trend: living Hebrew has moved at a fast pace, and in the process, it has become increasingly estranged from its loftier ancient form.
"We used to understand the biblical language better, and our language was closer to it," said Ronit Gadish, academic secretary of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, the state's supreme guardian of the national tongue. "Now, what can we do to keep up the continuity?"
In a country suffused with religious and historical symbolism, the linguistic link to the past has always evoked feelings of national identity, vindication and pride. Any erosion is bound to stir unease.
"The Bible," said Rosenthal, "is first of all our connection to the land."
Hebrew was never actually dead. It was more like an unborn child, said Ariel Hirschfeld, a Hebrew literature lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, slowly developing over the centuries as the language of Jewish letters and prayer. Educated Jews would read the weekly Torah portion in Hebrew, while sages from Prague to Baghdad would correspond on religious questions in their only common tongue.
But the linguistic reincarnation came with the birth of modern Zionism and was largely driven by one man, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, who was born in a Lithuanian village 150 years ago and immigrated to Palestine in 1881.
The classical Scriptures provided words for concepts like justice, mercy, love and hate, but not for more mundane things like "office" or "socks." So Ben-Yehuda started inventing new words, mostly drawn from ancient biblical patterns and roots.
Authors and poets like the Nobel laureate Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Chaim Nachman Bialik and Uri Zvi Greenberg, Hebrew revivalists from Eastern Europe, also drew on the ancient sources to create texts rich in biblical allusions yet conceptually avant-garde.
"They managed to tie the ancient language with the modern world in all its depth," said Hirschfeld, who compares them in importance to James Joyce.
The Hebrew-speaking project took off rapidly in pre-state Palestine, and was adopted zealously by the Zionist pioneers. By 1914, a decision was made to teach only in Hebrew in Jewish schools, and by the time the state of Israel was founded in 1948 there was already a generation of Israelis for whom Hebrew was their native tongue.
Now the academy continues the quest for new words, trying, with partial success, to introduce authentic Hebrew equivalents for foreign terms before they stick. In the country that invented instant messaging, that can often mean a race against time. So a text message is now officially called a "misron," from "meser," the word for message. The proper Hebrew for talk-back, commonly pronounced "tokbek," is "tguvit," a diminutive of "tguva," response.
"When there was no word for tickle, nobody wrote about tickling," said Gabriel Birnbaum, a language expert at the academy. "Today, we have everything."
Birnbaum is now helping preserve the link with the past as part of a team writing entries for a historical Hebrew dictionary. The academy has been compiling material for it since 1959. Asked about a particular example of Hebrew shorthand often used in laconic online chat, Birnbaum was able with a click of his mouse to locate the earliest use of it - in a Dead Sea scroll.
Birnbaum, like most of the experts, views what is apparently the deterioration of Hebrew as a natural process, if it can be considered degeneration at all. The reality, they say, is not as bad as it sounds. Rather, the anxiety may stem less from the state of Hebrew and more from the Israeli state of mind.
"It comes from a lack of security," said Rosenthal, who was born in 1948, and explained the linguistic qualms as part of the collective summing up of the past 60 years. "The state of Israel has no confidence in its continued existence."
The language may have moved on since the days of the prophets, but perhaps the sense of doom has not.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/08/mideast/journal.php


Will text messaging be the end of Hebrew? Who gives a toss in the context of other problems confronting Israel.

How about she sit down and write an equally detailed report on whether settlements in the illegally occupied territories will be the end of any peace process?

How about doing the sort of reporting that Reuters increasingly does better and better. The NYT need to seriously lift their game or shutter their own foreign bureaus (a cost cut I've recommended) if Reuters can publish this on the same day as the above two articles, and which happily www.iht.com ran.

*********************

Israeli-Palestinian hatreds envenom West Bank city
By Alistair Lyon, Special CorrespondentReuters
Friday, August 8, 2008
HEBRON, West Bank: The Palestinian juice vendor cursed after an Israeli soldier stopped him from trundling his barrow into Hebron's ancient covered market.
"Twenty barrows a day pass this checkpoint, that soldier just wants to make a problem for me," 42-year-old Nabil Taha fumed, rounding on two uniformed European observers who had asked the soldier to explain his decision.
"It's forbidden," the Israeli said in Arabic. "He can carry his stuff into the souk (market), but he must leave the barrow."
The exchange occurred near the Cave of the Patriarchs, whose links to Abraham make it holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians.
However trivial, it illustrated the tensions seething around the 650 or so settlers living in fortified enclaves guarded by Israeli troops in the heart of this West Bank city of 180,000.
This friction often explodes into violence, making Hebron a crucible of hatred in the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The white trailer homes of one settler enclave are planted atop buildings in the Old City's warren of alleys, immediately overlooking a narrow street in the once-bustling market.
Protective steel netting spanning the street is littered with bricks, bottles and rubbish hurled down at Palestinians by settlers -- who in turn complain they are constantly harassed.
Israel rarely acts when Palestinians complain of settler violence, said Vincent Pasquier, a research officer for the European mission, known as the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), which has monitored Hebron since 1994.
"What is totally lacking is a determined will to act against the settlers in terms of arrest and prosecution," Pasquier said.
The Israelis have closed Hebron roads at 120 points, according the latest count by the 63-strong observer mission.
"It's a ghost town," Pasquier said, pointing down a desolate street where gold sellers once plied their trade. Now weeds grow a metre (3 feet) high between rows of shops with rusty shutters.
DISRUPTED LIVES
"Gas the Arabs," reads a slogan sprayed in English on the metal door of a home in the Old City, where 30,000 Palestinians are subject to Israeli army checkpoints, lookout posts and blocked streets that disrupt daily life, causing many to leave.
In 2007, Israel's B'Tselem human rights group said more than 1,000 Palestinian homes had been vacated and 1,829 shops closed in the roughly 20 percent of Hebron under full Israeli control.
The rest of Hebron is formally under Palestinian Authority rule, like other West Bank cities. But Israeli forces stormed into this zone while crushing an uprising after peace talks collapsed in 2000. They still conduct almost daily raids there.
That's a problem for the Palestinian security chief in the Hebron area, who is seeking to advance President Mahmoud Abbas's Western-backed campaign to impose order in the West Bank and meet Palestinian "road map" commitments to rein in militants.
"The Israelis just called now to say they have an operation and I must take my men off the streets," Brigadier-General Samih al-Saifi told Reuters at his headquarters. Half an hour later, the telephone rings again. The Israeli raid is over.
"It's a cat-and-mouse game," said Saifi, who has overall command of about 3,000 security men and intelligence agents.
He said drug dealers, car thieves or criminals often flee to the Israeli-held zone, where his men cannot pursue them.
"It's like working in a mine field. Despite that, we still cooperate with the Israelis," Saifi said, listing tank shells, an explosives belt and stolen cars among confiscated items his men had recently handed over to Israeli counterparts.
Saifi wants to bring in more than 600 security men, now completing training in Jordan and Jericho, to bolster Palestinian Authority control in Hebron -- whose citizens mostly support Hamas, the Islamist rivals to Abbas's Fatah faction.
"So far there is no approval from the Israeli side, but yes, the plan is to bring them to Hebron," Saifi said.
Abbas, whose forces have received extra U.S. and European support since Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in June 2007, has launched security crackdowns in Nablus, Jenin and other West Bank towns in the past year, with some success.
Extending the drive to the southern city of Hebron, where half a dozen big clans exert a powerful sway, could be tough, even if Israel gave the green light. And that seems unlikely.
Asked if a Palestinian deployment in Hebron was being discussed, an Israeli military source said: "Not currently."
Jewish settlers would oppose any such move, even though Palestinian forces would only operate in their own sector.
"Allowing them weapons, with a possible withdrawal of Israeli forces from that side of the city, is a recipe for disaster," said David Wilder, a Hebron settler spokesman.
"Israel has to understand that our security has to be in Israeli hands. They cannot put the security of Israelis living in Hebron or anywhere else into the hands of our enemies."
BLOODY EPISODES
The settlers created four enclaves in Hebron from 1979 to 1984 to fulfil what they saw as a divine mission to restore a presence in a city whose old Jewish community was removed by British forces after a 1929 riot in which Arabs killed 67 Jews.
In 1994, Baruch Goldstein, a U.S.-born doctor and settler, shot dead 29 Palestinians in the mosque built over the Cave of the Patriarchs, before survivors beat him to death.
Such bloody episodes fuel the raw hostility between the religiously driven settlers and their deeply conservative Muslim neighbours feeling the sting of Israeli occupation.
Palestinians are also divided among themselves. Rivalry between Fatah and Hamas injects a political element into security efforts by Abbas's forces in Hebron and elsewhere.
Israeli incursions to hunt for militants have continued, notably in Nablus, undermining the credibility of Palestinian forces that began cracking down there last year.
"People say, 'You ran the campaign (in Nablus) and the Israelis finished it'," said a Palestinian security source in Hebron. "Israel wants to embarrass us before the people."
Hamas, which won all of Hebron's nine parliamentary seats in 2006 elections, accuses Abbas's Palestinian Authority of working with Israel in a U.S.-approved drive against its Islamist foes.
Abbas should coordinate with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other factions before launching any security plan in Hebron, said Bassem Zarir, a local MP for Hamas's Reform and Change bloc.
"If the aim is law enforcement, we are with it 100 percent. But if it is to eliminate the resistance or factions opposed to the Palestinian Authority, we are against it," he said.
Few Palestinians in Hebron seemed satisfied with security in a city bedevilled by a plethora of competing authorities.
"There's the Israelis, the police and the clans," said Ziad al-Jaberi, 22, a waiter. "The clans are stronger than the police, who hide in their bases whenever the Israelis enter Hebron. This doesn't provide security for anyone."
(Additional reporting by Haitham Tamimi in Hebron and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Editing by Clar Ni Chonghaile)
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/08/08/africa/OUKWD-UK-PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL-HEBRON.php








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