October 3, 2001

VIACOM SAYS THE ATTACKS COST $200M

Mel's got no ads. Viacom President Mel Karmazin said yesterday he expects about $200 million in costs in the third quarter directly related to the Sept. 11 attacks. The bullish-turned-bearish...

PLAZA'S PARENT TRADING ON NYSE

If you're not getting a room at The Plaza, at least you can get piece of the hotel when its parent starts trading today on the New York Stock Exchange....

BRILL-ROGERS FEUD - PRIMEDIA MAY BOOT CONTENT CHIEF

THERE'S bad blood between one-time friends Steve Brill - chief of Brill's Content and Inside.com - and Tom Rogers, CEO of Primedia, parent company of New York, Modern Bride and...

BODY SHOP CLAIMS SEVERAL SUITORS

Anita Roddick's Body Shop is on the block. The ethics- and eco-friendly retailer said it is in talks with a "number of interested parties" about being taken over. The announcement...

ALL-OUT EFFORT TO BUILD OFFICES

IN their race to re-create office space, the city and state are fast-tracking negotiations and asking developers to build offices instead of apartments. Previously slow talks between state officials overseeing...

WELCH JOINS LBO FIRM AS CONSULTANT

Jack Welch plunged fully into his retirement yesterday by going back to work at shaping up weakling companies. The 65-year-old ex-chairman of General Electric joined buyout firm Clayton, Dubilier &...

WAL-MART SURGES AS U.S. DOESN'T

What's bad for the economy seems to be good for the nation's biggest discount retailer. Wal-Mart is charging headlong into a massive expansion. The largest retailer announced it will open...

FEDS EYE BOND TRADES - WATCHDOGS PROBE INVESTMENTS FOR LINKS TO TERROR

The government's probe of securities transactions with possible ties to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 has been widened to include stock and bond trades. Market watchdogs have zeroed in...

YANKEENETS' CHAIR MAY TAKE THE $40M AND RUN

YankeeNets Chairman Harvey Schiller is planning to walk away from the new cable television network - but he stands to make a $40 million profit. The potential windfall is causing...

NYT SLATES AD-DRIVEN DOT-COM

As dot-coms bomb, advertising disappears and deals dry up, The New York Times is launching an online financial news site financed with ad revenues. In doing so, The Times is...

O'NEAL'S MERRILL - NEW PRESIDENT CONSOLIDATING POWER

Just two months after becoming president at Merrill Lynch & Co., E. Stanley O'Neal has started to consolidate his power at the nation's biggest brokerage firm. Among his first moves:...

$4B ORDERS FOR $1B IN NYC BONDS

The city's sale of $1 billion in short-term "recovery" notes was an instant sellout, Mayor Giuliani announced yesterday. "It was our most successful [sale] ever," said the mayor. "We were...

BON JOVI DELAYS 'ALLY' TO RAISE $

JERSEY rocker Jon Bon Jovi has postponsed shooting his nine-episode arc on Fox's "Ally McBeal" in order to play some benefit concerts for the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist...

STARR REPORT

FNC shows across-the-board increases Fox News Channel showed some big across-the-board ratings gains for the just-completed Third Quarter - with big winners including Shepard Smith, Neil Cavuto and "Hannity &...

A REAL FAMILY MAN

MAN RAY [ 1/2] 147 W. 15TH ST. (212) 929-5000 ------- SATURDAY night at boldface-heaven Man Ray, the glammest bod belonged to the bouncing baby.The tyke, hoisted aloft by daddy,...

TRY F&B, A LITTLE LAIR OF THE DOG

F&B [] 269 W. 23RD ST. (BETWEEN SEVENTH AND EIGHTH AVENUES) (646) 486-4441 ------- HERE'S a tip before chowing down at F&B Chelsea: Sit facing the wall. The 4-year-old in...

STRIPPER TRICIA IS MISS LINK

MEET Tricia Brown, a stripper from Warren, Mich., who won "The Weakest Link" last month and took home $58,000. "I had more than one reason for revealing my occupation on...

TOOL HARD AT WORK ON LONG NIGHT

TOOL THE traditional fist-pumping, butt-kicking assault of metal as it travels down the stairway to hell was subdued and redirected at the ballyhooed Tool concert. At the band's Monday gig,...

'GRILL' NOT HOT, BUT SWEET

THE SPITFIRE GRILLThe Duke, 229 W. 42nd St. Through Oct. 14. Telecharge: (212) 239-6200. MUSICALS can teach us lessons about life 'n' stuff, darnit.Take "The Spitfire Grill," now being staged...

WHAT A CAPITAL IDEA . . .

EVEN though Washington suffered its own terrorist attack, one of its trendiest eateries is in a New York state of mind.Cafe Milano was never known as a daytime destination until...

JUST ANOTHER FAT GUY WITH A GORGEOUS WIFE

"According to Jim" Tonight at 8:30 on Ch. 7 ACCORDING to Jim, the world hasn't changed since 1964. According to Jim, a regular family consists of three small children (up...

BU-UEL FANS SHOULD JUMP INTO THIS SWAMP

LA CIENEGA At Film Forum, Houston Street, between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street. THE title of this Argentinian black comedy translates as "The Swamp" and refers to a fetid, leaf-filled...

A 'ROYAL' FLUSH AT NEW YORK FILM FEST

THE hottest ticket at this year's New York Film Festival - Wes Anderson's "The Royal Tenenbaums" - was unveiled yesterday and it exceeds even the very high advance expectations. This...

'WEST WING' PUTS TERROR ON PARADE

IF President Bartlet thought God was an SOB when Mrs. Landingham was killed in a car crash last season, what do you suppose the fictional president of "The West Wing"...

A WRONG NUMBER ; TUNE SET IN MORGUE YANKED FROM SHOW

A song set in a morgue and featuring intimations of necrophilia has been yanked from the musical "Thou Shalt Not" after it elicited gasps, awkward laughter and hisses from a...

EATERIES WORLDWIDE OPEN WINDOWS OF HOPE

TO help families of food-service workers lost in the World Trade Center disaster, go out to eat on Oct. 11. Restaurants all over the world will donate at least 10...

17 FRIENDS & $50 - GUESTS ARE HAPPY AT DINNER PARTY ON A BUDGET

IN keeping with the city's current mood - and financial state - I was assigned to host a dinner party in my Midtown apartment. The catch: I could spend only...

IMAGINE: SHOW FLOPS - TRIBUTE TO BEATLE LENNON FALLS SHORT

COME TOGETHER A night for John Lennon's Words and Music ------ PEOPLE say John Lennon was a dreamer. But at last night's "Come Together" tribute to the man, dedicated to...

A 'ROYAL' FLUSH: HOTTEST N.Y. FILM FEST FLICK STARS THREE OSCAR WINNERS

THE hottest ticket at this year's New York Film Festival - Wes Anderson's "The Royal Tenenbaums" - was unveiled yesterday, and it exceeds even the very high advance expectations. This...

'DADDY WILL BE YOUR ANGEL' - 9 MORE HEROES MEMORIALIZED

Calling him a hero firefighter who is now "an angel in heaven," thousands gathered yesterday to remember Lt. Christopher Sullivan, a decorated 15-year FDNY veteran who died in the World...

OSAMA GANG COULD BE MOVING TO SOMALIA

WASHINGTON - Terror master Osama bin Laden is trying to move his operations out of Afghanistan before U.S. military strikes, and may be establishing a new base for his al...

LEAVING TRAUMA BEHIND

Two hundred miles from home, Vivian Cohen and her children are finding the peace that had been ripped from their lives when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center just blocks...

NEO-NAZI AMERICANS HAIL THE BUTCHERS

American neo-Nazis are praising Osama bin Laden in the wake of the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. On Web sites and in interviews with The Post,...

DEALS WITH THE DEVIL

AMONG those listening to Mayor Giuliani's historic United Nations speech this week were members of the U.N. Security Council, which just made another sordid deal with the devil. Days before...

CRYBABIES HAVE 'LEFT' COMMON SENSE BEHIND

KATHA POLLITT, the lefty columnist, was talking gravely about outrage. "My cousin was absolutely outraged when she went to Bloomingdale's to make a purchase with her credit card and some...

'COVERED IN BALL OF FIRE' - WTC BURN SURVIVOR RELIVES HELLISH TALE

Manu Dhingra is one of the few miracles to emerge from the World Trade Center disaster. Dhingra, 27, who suffered burns over one-third of his body, dramatically recounted how he...

CHEM DETECTORS SELL LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW

Sales of chemical and biological weapon detectors have spiked sharply in the wake of Sept. 11 - as everyone from private building managers and national theme-park operators to local fire...

THE LEFT IN DENIAL - BONFIRE OF THE PIETIES

THE voice on my answering machine belonged to a respected reporter for one of the nation's glossiest monthlies. She was working on an article on the difficulties some people are...

FRAUD TEAM WILL PROBE WTC INSURANCE CLAIMS

ALBANY - The state is developing a special anti-fraud unit to deal specifically with the flood of insurance claims from the World Trade Center tragedy. "We are concerned about fraud...

COPS NAB 81 UPSTATERS FOR INSURE FRAUD

ALBANY - The state Insurance Department yesterday announced the arrest of dozens of upstaters accused of a wide range of fraud. It marked the first time the department participated in...

FERRER TOOK 'DIRTY' $$

The owner of a Queens company that was barred from school-construction work has raised $20,000 for Fernando Ferrer's mayoral campaign, The Post has learned. Andrew Catapano - who runs AFC...

ONCE-PROUD CAMPUS A BREEDING GROUND FOR IDIOTS

SO this is what passes for academic freedom these days. If you visited City College at lunchtime yesterday, you would have heard professors explaining that the murder of 6,000 innocents...

NO DEATH CALL IN SEX SLAY

Nassau County DA Denis Dillon said he will not seek the death penalty for Hofstra University student Shaun Alexander - the spoiled frat boy who allegedly murdered and mutilated a...

BRIDE-KILL WITNESS TESTIFIES

The jilted lover with the .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver said just three words before killing lovely Gladys Ricart as she posed for pictures in her wedding gown and veil....

REUNITED: RESCUER FINDS WOMAN HE SAVED

He carried her from the blazing towers, not sure if she would survive. He spent two weeks searching for her, just to make sure she's OK. And she is. Deputy...

TINY COUNTRY IS BIG-HEARTED

Amid all the suspicion that has been focused on Mideast countries in the wake of World Trade Center attack, a tiny Arab state has emerged to donate $1 million to...

TWO SIDES ADD THEIR SPIN

JERUSALEM - Palestinians buoyed by President Bush backing their statehood push yesterday called for deeper U.S. involvement in the Mideast conflict - while Israeli officials tried to downplay America's stance....

FED CUTS RATES AGAIN - SPURS STOCKS TO A LATE-DAY BOUNCE

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan did his part to prop up the ailing U.S. economy yesterday by cutting short-term interest rates a half-point to the lowest level since John F....

ED'S IN FRED'S CORNER - BUT HEVESI SAYS: GREEN'S MY MAN

The two Democratic mayoral candidates yesterday each reeled in a big-name endorsement - with former Mayor Ed Koch backing Fernando Ferrer and Alan Hevesi getting behind his former arch rival,...

RUDY, SPITZER HEAL CHARITY RIFT

ALBANY - State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has made up with Mayor Giuliani, and the two sides are working together to coordinate charities raising money for World Trade Center victims....

COURT UPHOLDS GRACIE RULING BARRING JUDI

He may be a winner in the court of public opinion, but Mayor Giuliani was a loser in a court of law yesterday, when an appeals court ruled he doesn't...

CONDIT TAKES DC PAD OFF MARKET

It looked as if Gary Condit was going to run - from Washington. The beleaguered California Democratic congressman put his one-bedroom, one-and-a-half bath D.C. love nest on the market -...

BUSH BACKS A NEW PALESTINE - SAYS IT'S NO PLOY TO HUMOR ARABS

WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday backed the creation of a Palestinian state as part of his "vision" for Mideast peace as he tried to rally Arab and Muslim nations for...

CCNY BASHES AMERICA - STUDENTS, PROFS BLAME ATTACKS ON U.S.

Anti-Americanism and anti-war sentiment raged yesterday during a "teach-in" at City College. The vast majority of the students and professors who spoke at the session, attended by about 200 people,...

BLAIR'S SPEECH SHOWS BULLDOG SPIRIT

WASHINGTON - The White House hailed British Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday for a stirring speech in which he suggested military strikes against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban are...

FAITHFUL FEEL BETRAYED

Jews in Borough Park paused in their celebration of the joyous holiday of Sukkot yesterday to complain they felt "betrayed" by President Bush's support of a Palestinian state. "It's not...

'TOUGH' TALK FROM TRUMP ON REPLACING WTC

Donald Trump says whatever is built at the World Trade Center site should be "tougher" and "more beautiful" than the Twin Towers. "I do think you can build a building,...

3 STUDENT WITNESSES IN COURT

Three San Diego students were brought before a Manhattan federal judge yesterday as witnesses in the sweeping terror probe, sources told The Post. The lawyer for Osama Awadallah, Mohdar Abdullah...

POLS: LIQUID LUNCH AN ECONOMY PICK-ME-UP

WASHINGTON - Top congressional lawmakers want to bring back the businessman's "three-martini lunch" - and dramatically boost spending - as part of an economic stimulus plan to jolt the slumping...

2 AIRLINES ADD STEEL BARS TO COCKPIT DOORS

The country's two biggest airlines announced yesterday they're strengthening cockpit doors to keep hijackers out - as curbside check-in returned to New York airports. American and United airlines are installing...

CANTOR KIN: BOSS BROKE BOND TO US

Some of the surviving families of Cantor Fitzgerald employees lost in the World Trade Center attacks are still struggling to believe that the company's controversial chairman, Howard Lutnick, will do...

'MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL' SACKED IN RATINGS

Football has taken a hit in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. While NFL ratings for the first two weeks of this season are a mixed bag - CBS...

ASH-HOLES: LOWLIFES ARE SELLING 'WTC' ASHES TO VICTIMS' FAMILIES

Heartless, greedy ghouls are peddling phony soil and ash from the World Trade Center to families mourning loved ones still buried in he rubble, Mayor Giuliani warned yesterday. He assured...

NATO: BIN LADEN LINK 'CLEAR & COMPELLING'

The United States showed its NATO allies proof yesterday of Osama bin Laden's involvement in the skyjack attacks on America, including evidence linking the strike to other atrocities allegedly sponsored...

INSIDE THE LAST WILL OF A KAMIKAZE FIEND

Kamikaze pilot Mohamed Atta, who crashed the first jetliner into the World Trade Center, left behind a will barring women from his funeral and asking mourners to "pray for my...

FAMILIES AT PEACE AS BODIES ARE FOUND

Firefighter Mike Heffernan toiled on "the hill" - a massive mound of smoldering World Trade Center wreckage - for days, looking for the body of his Bravest brother, John. Their...

GUNMEN KILL JEWISH SETTLERS

JERUSALEM - A pair of heavily armed Palestinian gunmen stormed a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip yesterday, killing a young couple and wounding 15 others, including a baby, Israeli...

STRAIN ON COP FAMILIES REACHING A CRISIS POINT

Their complaints, compared to others', may seem small - but then so are their children. Many cops, stretched to the limit at work with 12-hour shifts that often run much...

FERRER ADWATCH

TITLE: Leaders LENGTH: 30 seconds PRODUCER: David Axelrod SCRIPT: Peter Vallone: "I think that the city needs to be brought together. Needs to be healed, both physically, structurally, spiritually -...

CURBSIDE CHECK-INS RESUME AT AIRPORTS

Curbside check-in returned to the three major New York-area airports yesterday for the first time the World Trade Center disaster, but the price is tougher security by airlines. And not...

FEAR AND DUST HAUNTING DOWNTOWN RESIDENTS

Liz Abramson and her 8-year-old son Alex won't go back to their Battery Park City home, so close to ground zero and memories of the World Trade Center terrorist attack....

OSAMA TIED TO PLOT ON PARIS EMBASSY

A man suspected of plotting to blow up the American Embassy in Paris told authorities he signed a "pact" with a top aide to Osama bin Laden, promising to carry...

TERROR GANG PACKING UP AND MOVING TO SOMALIA

WASHINGTON - Terror master Osama bin Laden is trying to move his operations out of Afghanistan before U.S. military strikes, and may be establishing a new base for his alQaeda...

BARRY STALLED AT 69

Giants 4Astros 1 HOUSTON - Barry Bonds said before last night's game that he thought the Astros would go right after him. They went after him, all right. Bonds was...

PLENTY OF TROUT TO GO AROUND

THE New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife will stock more than 50,000 trout in the state's major trout waters during the next two weeks. "The fish being distributed are...

STANDING PAT'S NO ANSWER ; DEVILS ARE NO LONGER BEST IN EAST

It was an unproductive offseason for Lou Lamoriello. The new boss of the Nets stood nearly pat with the Devils while almost everyone else improved. The temptation is to believe...

BLUESHIRTS' ROSTER STILL NOT FINALIZED

Just because the Rangers have reduced their roster to the NHL-maximum 23 players doesn't mean that list is set in stone before the puck drops in the season opener Friday...

POLY PREP STAR LINEMAN TOOK UNEXPECTED ROUTE

Lav Batau thought he had it all figured out. He grew up playing basketball and became a pretty good player, good enough that many people thought he would get a...

FOX: WE WEREN'T PLAYING PREVENT

ANY good coach can anticipate what might be coming his way, which is why John Fox was expecting to hear what he did following the 21-13 victory over the Saints....

SPREE NO STRANGER TO AIR SUPREMACY

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Latrell Sprewell is not ashamed to admit that with Golden State he never had much success in clamping down Michael Jordan. Sprewell believes he is a better...

JETS AWFULLY CONCERNED ; SLOPPY LOSS RAISES PLENTY OF QUESTIONS

Late Monday night in the minutes following the Jets' embarrassing loss to San Francisco, Mo Lewis, as is his usual post-game M-O, was scurrying out of the locker room with...

METS NEED A MIRACLE - EVERY DAY: VS. LONG ODDS, SHEA STILL A HOPE DIAMOND

The Mets entered last night trying to still believe, but it was difficult. In the pregame meeting before Sunday's win in Atlanta, manager Bobby Valentine told his team that if...

CAPT. KIDD IN CONTROL ; JASON HAS GOOD READ ON MATES ALREADY

On the playgrounds, there was a status in the selection for pickup games. Jason Kidd never wanted to be a low choice for those contests back in Oakland. So even...

NETS DIAL FOR HELP AT POINT

NET NOTES While St. John's product Omar Cook remains a darkhorse candidate to emerge with the Nets as the backup point guard, former Spur Derrick Dial entered the competition yesterday...

HOPKINS WORE OUT GARDEN WELCOME

SATURDAY night, Bernard Hopkins electrified 19,000 Madison Square Garden boxing fans with his mastery of previously unbeaten Felix (Tito) Trinidad. Today, his services are no longer welcome in the building....

METS GO MEEKLY INTO NIGHT: ARMANDO BUOYED BY GM BOOST

Having been traded once before, Armando Benitez knows anything can happen. But, he still found Steve Phillips' vow not to deal him reassuring. "It makes you feel comfortable," Benitez said...

METS GO MEEKLY INTO NIGHT: LATE PUSH MEANS NOTHING FOR '02

THE Mets are playing October baseball. But so are the Devil Rays and Pirates, tragedy pulling a bunch of undeserving clubs into a month normally reserved for elites. With expectations...

JORDAN HITS THE COURT AT FULL SPEED

WILMINGTON, N.C. - This wasn't Game 6 of the NBA Finals, merely the first intrasquad scrimmage of training camp. Michael Jordan wasn't wearing the now famous red, No. 23 Chicago...

METS GO MEEKLY INTO NIGHT: EMBARRASSING LOSS TO BUCS ENDS DREAM

Pirates 10 Mets 1 The official end was more like the beginning. Last night, the Mets reverted to their early-season form, losing in embarrassing fashion, 10-1, to the lowly Pirates...

JORGE, CHUCK AND MARIANO KEY YANK WIN

Yankees 6White Sox 4 Jorge Posada hated watching Yankee games on television. His auspicious return last night - and the returns of Chuck Knoblauch and Mariano Rivera - raised hopes...

O'NEILL, EL DUQUE ON TARGET

YANKEE NOTES Paul O'Neill and Orlando Hernandez were on the playoff bubble Monday. Yesterday, both players made strides in a bid for a quick return and spots on the 25-man...

AILING O'NEILL PUSHING HARD FOR PLAYOFFS

Paul O'Neill will lay his own body on the line the next few days in an effort to make the postseason roster. The 38-year-old Yankee right fielder, suffering a stress...

ARMANDO IS BUOYED BY PHILLIPS

MET NOTES Having been traded once before, Armando Benitez knows anything can happen. Still, he found GM Steve Phillips' vow not to deal him reassuring. "It makes you feel comfortable,"...

DON'T BET AGAINST BOMBERS IF BARRY SAMPLES FREE AGENCY

HOUSTON - The Yankees someday may again have a link to the home run record _ if Barry Bonds signs with them as a free agent next season. Nothing is...

POSADA EAGER TO RETURN

YANKEE NOTES Jorge Posada, whose suspension ends today, doesn't enjoy watching baseball on television. The Yankee catcher spent the last five games at home with his family, trying to get...