Regular readers of the NYT.com will have immediately noticed a difference on the homepage yesterday in the form of yellow band across the top of the page announcing that a ‘Global Edition’ was now available.

The Global Edition is, in fact, a folding in of sorts of the International Herald Tribune website, also owned by the Times Co., and by the sounds of it it may not be a total coincidence that the change happened directly on the heels of the Times’s cutbacks last week.

Says Global Edition editor Martin Gottlieb “Working together with The New York Times, we have been able to look at the overall balance and direction of our coverage afresh. By consolidating Web operations and improving design processes, we are freeing up editorial energies to focus on delivering the accurate reporting, thought-provoking writing and sharp analysis that our international readers need now more than ever.”