Here is an item from the "World Briefing" column in today's New York Times: "Palestinians in the Gaza Strip lobbed a large-caliber mortar shell at a border crossing into Israel and fired antitank grenades at Israeli troops near the border with Egypt, lightly wounding a soldier, the army said." The Times item goes on to report that in the West Bank, "Palestinians reported that Jewish settlers burned cars, wheat fields and an olive grove in an area where a settler was shot dead on Wednesday." What's classic is the boldfaced headline that introduces the item: "Gaza Strip: Cease-Fire Holds." Mortars, anti-tank grenades -- by the definition of the Times, if these weapons are used by Palestinian Arabs, then the cease-fire is holding.
Household Name: An article in the national section of today's New York Times identifies Bill Clinton as "former president." It identifies Roger Clinton as "the president's half-brother." But Larry King, as in "Roger Clinton told Larry King last night," is just a household name, with no further description apparently thought necessary by the Times. Is Larry King really so famous that it's not worth spending the money on ink to include a two-word identification of him as "CNN host" or "television host"?