May 18, 2002
MERRILL CALLS OFF HSBC DEAL
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amMerrill Lynch's joint venture with HSBC is kaput. In a lousy day, the firm also got hit with its first debt downgrade in 12 years and got dumped by one...
MART'S SPRINT WAS BEST IN MONTHS
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amStocks racked up modest gains yesterday, but a welcome week-long rally helped tech stocks and blue chips to their biggest gains in months. Investors waded into battered tech stocks and...
DAN RATHER IN A LATHER: HE'S WORRIED ABOUT 'PATRIOTISM RUN AMOK'
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amDAN Rather says post-Sept. 11 patriotism has stifled journalists from asking government officials "the toughest of the tough" questions. "It is an obscene comparison . . . but, you know,...
ROSIE GETS REAL ROUSING SENDOFF: RETIRING HOST WINS 2 EMMYS
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amRosie O'Donnell's colleagues gave her a heartwarming farewell last night by awarding the departing talk show host two Daytime Emmys. O'Donnell, who's giving up hosting "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" after...
11TH-HOUR PROM: THERE'S STILL TIME TO SHINE
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amDid you swear off prom months ago - only to decide, right about now, that it might be fun after all? Or maybe you knew you were going, but you...
VIVA GRANITAS
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amWarm weather calls for cold cuisine. Nothing in that category gives greater payback for the effort than Granita. This Italian-named ice is a breeze to make. No fancy ice cream-maker...
'GRAND' DAMES
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amWhat do the Bar Belles like more than a night of drinking? A night of drinking to tunes of our own choosing. Last Monday, we treated tipplers at the Soho...
DINNER PARTY CHEAT SHEET
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amDinner Party Cheat Sheet never believed that nude photos of Anna Kournikova surfaced in Penthouse. That's a lie. Well, the diameter just seemed right. SHOOT! The photographer who mistakenly took...
'OZZY'S AN IDIOT' REMARK SENDS THE OSBOURNES...OFF THEIR ROCKERS
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amNOW it's personal. Sharon Osbourne says she'll castrate Ted Nugent after the gonzo rocker called her husband, Ozzy Osbourne, "a blithering, hopeless idiot" in The Post earlier this week. Sharon...
LEVY: TIME RUNNING OUT FOR MIKE'S SCHOOL DEAL
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amSchools Chancellor Harold Levy said yesterday Mayor Bloomberg's quest for mayoral reform of the school system could be doomed if a deal isn't reached by Monday. Levy dropped his bombshell...
READ THEIR LIPS: YES, NEW TAXES!
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amTAX increases are a sure thing next year. Mayor Bloomberg has dug in his heels for his first budget, rebuffing all talk of tax hikes (except on cigarettes) to help...
NEW FIREFIGHT RAGES IN EAST AFGHANISTAN
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - British and Australian troops backed by U.S. air power are engaged in a fierce new battle with several hundred Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in eastern Afghanistan, officials...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amA sleepy Peruvian got trapped in Spider-Man's web when he nodded off watching the blockbuster - and got locked in the cinema. Luis Guardia, 44, went to watch "Spider-Man" on...
CHINATOWN'S GOOD FORTUNE - NEW MEDICAL CENTER
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amChinatown's fortune cookie is set to read: "You will have good health." A new state-of-the-art medical center opened at 268 Canal St. yesterday in the heart of the nation's largest...
SLIPPERY ARAFAT BACKS OUT OF VOTING PROMISE
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amJERUSALEM - Yasser Arafat reversed himself yesterday and said Palestinian elections will not be held until Israel pulls back its troops in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Arafat announced...
BUSH: WE DID ALL WE COULD FIRES BACK AT 9/11 SECOND-GUESSERS
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amPresident Bush spoke out yesterday on the uproar over the pre-Sept. 11 hijack warning, saying firmly that if he had any inkling of an attack, "I would have done everything...
DRIVE-BY KILLER STRIKES IN BRONX
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amCops yesterday were hunting for the drive-by killer who fatally gunned down one man and wounded another in The Bronx. Angel Ayala, of East 178th Street, was taken to Lincoln...
PAIN OF SUICIDE LOVERS' KIN EXTENDING BEYOND THE GRAVE
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amA real-life Romeo and Juliet were laid to rest yesterday in the same New Jersey cemetery, causing more heartache for the dead woman's grieving family. Doomed lovers Theresa LaMarca, 22,...
BIG APPLE'S BRAVEST & FINEST ARE BATTLING FOR BEST ON GRID
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amSomebody call Sanitation - the trash talk between the Bravest and Finest has started. The FDNY takes on the reigning champs NYPD tomorrow at the 30th annual Fun City Bowl...
'I COULD HAVE DONE IT' SKAKEL TOLD OF SLAY AND JEALOUSY: REHAB PAL
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amMichael Skakel complained bitterly that his older brother had stolen his girlfriend, Martha Moxley - the girl he's accused of bludgeoning to death, a former classmate of the Kennedy cousin...
FOUL PLAY NIXED IN YONKERS POISONING
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amOfficials zeroed in on tainted food rather than foul play yesterday as they sought answers for why six people became sick at a Yonkers dinner party. "I'm leaning toward non-crime...
FAKE-VIAGRA BUST MORGENTHAU ZIPS UP BOGUS-IMPORT RING
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amThe little blue "Viagra" pills are all stamped "Pfizer." But they should have read, "Pfake." Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau showed off 25,000 counterfeit Viagra pills yesterday that their undercover investigators...
EATERY CHARGED IN FATAL COLLAPSE
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amThe ritzy restaurant firm that owns Serafina has been slapped with a safety violation and could face criminal charges following the death of a worker who was renovating an East...
'FRIENDS' BABY BOOM : TV FINALE 'DELIVERS' BIG RATINGS
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amA whopping 35 million people watched Rachel give birth to Baby Emma on "Friends" - the second-biggest audience in the show's history. Thursday night's hour-long season finale featured the unmarried...
BLOOMERG DEFENDS DATE FOR GROUND ZERO CEREMONY
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg yesterday defended his choice of May 30 - a weekday - for a ceremony honoring the end of recovery work at Ground Zero, saying he's trying to accommodate...
H'WOOD BIGS IN TRASH-TALK SUIT
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amSANTA MONICA, Calif. - Moviemaker Steven Bing says producer Kirk Kerkorian invaded his privacy by sending a gumshoe to go through Bing's garbage for DNA evidence to prove he fathered...
APPLE'S JOB RATE GETS A SHINE
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amPayrolls in the Big Apple are growing for the first time in two years - mostly in shops and food retailers, says a new city report. Although the city lost...
MAYOR COOLS ON BURNING TRASH INCINERATORS 'NOT LIKELY,' HE SAYS
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amThe possibility of building incinerators to solve the city's mounting garbage problem has just about gone up in smoke, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. "The [cleaner] technology is there, but the...
EGAN KNEW OF 'SPANKER': AWARE OF SUICIDE-PRIEST COMPLAINTS: REPORT
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amWhen Edward Cardinal Egan ran the Diocese of Bridgeport, he knew parents had complained about suicide-priest Alfred Bietighofer touching children, according to a new report. In 1996, Egan admitted in...
'CLONES' RECORDS FORCE-FUL FIR$T DAY
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amThe Force was with "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones" on its opening day at the box office, ringing up $30.1 million in box office returns. The...
ROOKIE 'OK' AFTER B'KLYN AMBUSH
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amA spunky Brooklyn cop on the job only seven weeks told her family, "I'm all right, I'm all right" yesterday after a routine night on patrol ended in every rookie's...
ABUSE PROMPTS SYMPATHY FOR THE BEDEVILED
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amKNOWING the predator who sexually abused you is alive, free and capable of attacking again is as painful as a rusty knife in the gut. It's the type of gnawing,...
PRECIOUS NEW LIFE FOR WTC WIDOW
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amFire Department Capt. Terence Hatton died in the World Trade Center attacks - never knowing he had fathered a baby girl. Terri Elizabeth Hatton, conceived weeks before Sept. 11, was...
QUEENS COPS HUNT TRIO IN LIVERY CARJACKING
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amThree people are sought for carjacking a livery cab, tying up its driver and dumping him in Queens yesterday, police said. The trio - a black man, a black woman...
DEMS DEMAND GOV'S INDEPENDENCE 'NAY'
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amBoth Democratic candidates for governor yesterday called on Gov. Pataki to disavow Lenora Fulani - a controversial Independence Party leader who is expected to back him today. "Ms. Fulani's history...
DYNAMITE: FEDERAL REPORT WARNED OF OSAMA'S DEADLY PLANS
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - A government report warned two years before Sept. 11 that Osama bin Laden's henchmen might attempt a kamikaze attack with an explosives-laden hijacked airliner, it was revealed yesterday....
$75 LOFT TOO GOOD TO BE LEGAL : THE WOMAN WHO BLEW THE SWEETEST RENT DEAL IN NEW YORK CITY
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amTime may be running out on the best deal in town - Blossom Esainko's $75-a-month SoHo apartment. An appeals court has ruled that the state Department of Housing and Community...
CARDINAL DID RIGHT THING WITH 'PERV': ARCHDIOCESE
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amEdward Cardinal Egan's handling of a pedophile priest in his former Bridgeport diocese was a "textbook example" of how such cases should be handled, New York Archdiocese officials said last...
BRA REMOVAL NO SNAP FOR LUMMOX LOTHARIOS
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amHey guys - when the going gets hot and heavy, here's something to remember: Removing her bra can cause you painful injury. It can cramp your style by fracturing a...
MIDDLE JEWEL SHOULD TURN INTO A WILD RIDE FASTER PACE EXPECTED TO TEST 'EMBLEM'
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amBALTIMORE - Fasten your seat belts, racing fans. You're in for a wild ride. The action will be fast and furious at 6:09 p.m. today when a field of 13...
ESPY-DAY COLLABORATION COULD DETERMINE OUTCOME
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amBALTIMORE - A top trainer offered the startling suggestion yesterday that jockeys Victor Espinoza and Pat Day should work out a mutual strategy to clobber the competition in today's Preakness...
IF IT RAINS, ALL BETS ARE 'OFF'
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amBALTIMORE - With heavy thunderstorms expected to pelt Pimlico from last night to early this morning, followed by showers predicted to end about noon, there's the chance of an off-track...
FAVORED CHAMROUSSE TAKES BLACK-EYED SUSAN
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amBALTIMORE - Getting a front-running rail trip under Jerry Bailey, odds-on favorite Chamrousse shook off the pesky longshot Shop Till You Drop in the stretch and drew off to win...
LAYDEN: NO CLEAR NO. 1
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amKnicks GM Scott Layden said he doesn't see a consensus No. 1 pick among his league brethren. That's fine for the Knicks, allowing them a shot to trade up for...
NET ROOKIE NOT COWED BY CELTICS
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amWhen the Eastern Conference Finals tip off tomorrow in the swamps of Jersey, Richard Jefferson will not be on the court. Not immediately, anyway. Soon enough, though, the poised rookie...
SCOTT SEES RIVALRY BUILDING
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amNET NOTES The way Byron Scott sees it, the Eastern Conference Finals featuring his Nets and the Celtics could be the first of many battles between the two young, talented...
REDEMPTION JUST GRAND GIAMBI'S SLAM ATONES FOR GAFFE
May 18, 2002 | 4:00am14 INNINGSYankees13Twins12 Welcome to Yankee lore, Jason Giambi. Signed to add muscle to the Yankees' lineup the cleanup hitter delivered a grand slam early this morning that carried the Yankees...
LEITER EXPECTS WORK STOPPAGE
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amSAN DIEGO - Mets player representative Al Leiter has a gut feeling there will be a work stoppage this season, and argued former Major League Baseball labor negotiator Paul Beeston...
THREE YANKS TOLD TO PULL PANTS UP OR FACE FINE
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amJason Giambi, Rondell White and Enrique Wilson received letters from Bob Watson yesterday informing them they faced fines if they didn't hike up their pants, The Post has learned. Watson,...
METS' AMAZIN' NIGHT - POUND PODS, TURN TRIPLE PLAY
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amSAN DIEGO - In the span of four games, the Mets' fortunes have turned on a dime. Actually, their fate has turned like a triple play. The club has gone...
FOR ONE NIGHT, LEITER PLAYS BAT MAN
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amMET NOTES SAN DIEGO - Al Leiter often likes to joke about his hitting ability, or lack thereof. Leiter says his long-time buddies tell him he couldn't hit in high...
CEDENO TIME IS HERE
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amSAN DIEGO - From the sounds of it, Steve Phillips knew Roger Cedeno was going to get hot. After all, it's May. Of all the new acquisitions the Met GM...
WELLS ENCORE BOON TO BOSS
May 18, 2002 | 4:00amGeorge Steinbrenner's Christmas gift to himself is turning into a bonanza for the Yankees. Seated in a Clearwater, Fla., restaurant with David Wells last December, The Boss knew Wells had...