We've been hearing about the Time Europe layoffs for a couple of weeks now — they are part of the larger bloodbath going on at Time Inc. that's being overseen by MPA lifetime achievement recipient Ann Moore. Today Keith Kelly is reporting that they were part of a larger (previously rumored) plan to consolidate the international editions of Time so that they will be primarily edited out of New York.

When it's over, the various overseas editions of Time will be edited largely out of New York, and to a lesser extent, out of Hong Kong, insiders said. The move effectively ends a decades-old tradition of major editing taking place in London. The South Pacific edition that's edited out of Sydney, Australia, will cease at year-end, and will get the same editorial content as the Asian edition. The edition that goes to Europe, the Middle East and Africa — called Time Atlo — will begin looking a lot more like the Time Asia edition, sources said... Tsunami survivor Michael Elliott, already editor of Time International, will continue to oversee the international editions from New York