April 29, 2003
MASTERCARD TO SETTLE CHARGES
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amMasterCard International agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by the nation's largest retailers, narrowly averting a trial that was scheduled to start yesterday. Visa, a co-defendant in the case, has...
SARS MAKES RAG TRADE 'VIRTUAL'
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amMiddle-of-the-night video conferences are replacing retail buying trips, as SARS-imposed travel restrictions continue to affect the industry, retailers said. Summer is typically the time apparel buyers for companies like Gap,...
IT'S NOT OVER YET - REGULATORS MAY FOCUS ON WALL STREET BOSSES
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amWall Street honchos shouldn't rest easy yet. Federal regulators made it clear that they'll be working their way up Wall Street's executive food chains, particularly at those firms hit with...
THIS WASN'T A SETTLEMENT; IT WAS BLACKMAIL
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amTHERE'S great irony in the timing of yesterday's official signing of the "global settlement" between regulators and 10 Wall Street brokerage firms. The $1.4 billion deal was forced upon the...
PROS WORRY ABUSES MAY COME BACK
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amThe mother of all settlements on Wall Street is likely to give birth to even more stock-picking scams, experts fear. At the heart of the new troubles is a section...
RIAA SAMPLES 3 GOP CANDIDATES
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amThe music industry has zeroed in on several Republicans as candidates to head its powerful lobbying group, the Recording Industry Association of America, The Post learned. Among the candidates being...
WEST SIDE BUILDING YANKED OFF MARKET
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amTHE mammoth office building at 450 W. 33rd St., which brought an unlikely media mecca to grungy Tenth Avenue, has been quietly taken off the sale market. Sources said the...
MASTERCARD WILL SETTLE CHARGES IN BIG PAYOUT
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amMasterCard International agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by the nation's largest retailers, narrowly averting a trial that was scheduled to start yesterday. Visa, a co-defendant in the case, has...
GLOBAL SUBTLEMENT: SEC PROMISES TO INVESTIGATE WALL STREET BOSSES
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amFederal regulators made it clear with the announcement of the global research settlement yesterday, that they are not done looking into the actions of top executives of the Wall Street...
BLATANT E-MAILS BROUGHT THEM DOWN
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amThe powers of Wall Street came undone after regulators followed a trail of embarrassing e-mails showing analysts were encouraged and rewarded for attracting banking deals rather research. Goldman Sachs: One...
PARR LANDS AT LAZARD
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amBruce Wasserstein has finally lured Morgan Stanley heavyweight Gary Parr to join his team. Lazard announced yesterday it had hired Parr as a deputy chairman, reuniting him with Wasserstein, his...
POMPOUS PUPPET SHOW IS ALL WET
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amSYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE Clark Studio Theater, The Rose Building, 165 Broadway, 7th floor. (212) 721-6500. Through May 4. ---- WORD of mouth can be a fork- tongued monster, raising expectation to...
MACY'S FIREWORKS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00am* MACY GRAY "The Trouble With Being Myself" [ 1/2] Epic Records Way back in the '60s, you could turn on your radio and, without switching stations, hear funk, rock,...
SHE SHOOTS, SHE SCORES! - SOCCER FLICK BEAUTY ON 'ER' TEAM
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amPARMINDER Nagra, who's starring in the movie "Bend It Like Beckham," will scrub into the "ER" cast as a regular beginning next season. Nagra will play a new medical student...
BANFIELD DODGES BOSS'S BULLET
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amNBC News chief Neal Shapiro has taken correspondent Ashleigh Banfield to task for ripping TV news networks - including NBC - for allegedly skewing their reporting during the Iraqi war....
THOMPSON STILL PACKS A WALLOP IN 'OLD KIT BAG'
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amDISTINCTIVE British folk- rocker Richard Thompson is back in New York, this time playing his own songs from "The Old Kit Bag," his new disc due out next week. Live,...
GALS' SEX WOES BOUND
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amCALL it the Joylessness of Sex. The second home edition of the Merck Manual of Medical Information is out today - and a section devoted to female sexual dysfunction is...
GERALDO LASHES AT 'NAZI,' 'PSYCHO' FOR HATE CAMPAIGN
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amGERALDO Rivera, who ripped his former network, NBC, during his "lines in the sand" controversy in Iraq, has now continued the attack on his website. And Rivera has alluded to...
X2' MARKS WIDE SPOTLIGHT
April 29, 2003 | 4:00am'X2: X Men United" is apparently receiving a bigger screen debut than "Spider-Man" - but it isn't expected to spin the kind of massive box-office grosses Spidey did a year...
'X2' EXPLAINED: TO GET MOST OUT OF MOVIE, SEE IT LIKE A TRUE GEEK
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amWHEN summer 2003's first big blockbuster, "X2: X-Men United," debuts this weekend, most moviegoers will have heard of mutant stars like Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Storm (Halle Berry). But only...
LA LUCCI
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amEVERYONE knows her as the sexy, yet villainous Erica Kane on ABC's "All My Children." It's less known that the actress is a travel junkie. Where to next? "The Sandy...
KEY TO CATCHING THE BIG ONE - WITH THE HELP OF A FORMER HAIRDRESSER NAMED TINA BROWN, MARK ELLWOOD SNAGS FISH IN THE KEYS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amIT was catching the shark that converted me. I arrived in the Florida Keys with my equally citified friend Rob, and we planned to do little other than sit in...
FUTURE TRADING - FACING THE INEVITABLE, NEW YORKER MEGAN LEHMANN PREVIEWS HER GOLDEN YEARS IN ORLANDO
April 29, 2003 | 4:00am"MY parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned 60, and that's the law," Jerry Seinfeld once joked, except it isn't that funny, because I'll be 60 some...
IMPROVISING PEACE - THIS CAN'T LAST
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amBAGHDAD THE young soldiers who found themselves administering this city just days after conquering it have done a superb job despite limited resources, including the small numbers of troops. You...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amThere aren't enough hours in the day for a Pennsylvania lawyer who billed a client for one 81-hour day and three 25-hour days. Barry Van Rensler insists the bills were...
BROOKLYN'S JHS CHESS CHAMPS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amStudents from Brooklyn's IS 228 are the kings of the chess world. Eighth-graders Alex Lenderman and Aleksandr Pelekhaty tied for first place by beating more than 2,000 competitors from 164...
BUT CAN DEMS WIN?
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amONE favored gambit of the ugly antiwar left was to equate George W. Bush with Adolf Hitler - an all-too-familiar act of rhetorical overkill for New Yorkers who remember how...
GUIDES SHOW WAY TO SADDAM'S CRONIES
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amBAQUBAH - They made him no promises, other than to put in a good word for him. And, as for his safety, well, they couldn't really guarantee that either, though...
N. KOREA NUKE OFFER IS PRICEY
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell said North Korea has offered to scrap its nuclear weapons program - but wants something big in return. "The North Koreans acknowledged a...
SCHUMER RIPS IRS RULE AS UNFAIR TO POOR
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amSen. Charles Schumer yesterday denounced the Internal Revenue Service's plan to make working families prove their eligibility for a tax credit at the same time the agency scales back tax...
CHINATOWN'S BUSINESS LEADERS YESTERDAY WOOED TOURISTS WITH ASSURANCES
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amChinatown's business leaders yesterday wooed tourists with assurances that there is no SARS in the area - and suggested top politicians like President Bush, Gov. Pataki and Sen. Hillary Rodham...
REIN IN LAW$UIT MADNESS: NYERS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amALBANY - An overwhelming majority of New York voters support placing caps on runaway liability awards, a new poll shows. The poll, conducted for New Yorkers for Civil Justice Reform...
WALL ST. STOX 'SCAM' GIANTS TO PAY $1.4B
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amTen major Wall Street firms agreed yesterday to pay at least $1.4 billion for suckering their customers into buying overrated stocks by churning out undeserved glowing recommendations of companies they...
ISRAELI TIP HELPED GIS RESCUE POW JESSICA
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amJERUSALEM - Israeli intelligence tipped off U.S. forces to the location of American POWs at an Iraqi hospital, leading to the surprise Marine rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch, it was...
I KILLED YANKEL - LEMRICK'S 'DRUNK' DEFENSE
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amIn a courtroom bombshell, lawyers for accused Crown Heights stabber Lemrick Nelson Jr. yesterday admitted for the first time that he plunged a knife into a rabbinical scholar at the...
CRYBABY ADMITS KID-SEX HORROR
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amA Long Island sicko cried like a baby as he copped a guilty plea to 54 sex counts yesterday - including sodomizing a 6-year-old boy he drugged with sleeping pills....
THE GREEN PARTY - VIPS TO KICK OFF BIRTHDAY BASH FOR CITY'S JEWEL
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amIt was supposed to be a place where the rich could ride their carriages, like the fancy folk in Paris and London - and where the poor could find release...
LYRIC'S LASTING LEGACY
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amActress-model Lyric Benson, gunned down by her ex-fiancé last week, is living on through others. Her organs and tissues were donated to help other people live, said Julia Rivera, spokeswoman...
COP-KILLING CASE TURNS ON ROBBERY
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amProsecutors say the last thing Officer Michael Buczek did - before he was gunned down on the streets of Washington Heights in 1988 - was grab hold of a fleeing...
HUGE PRINTING FOR HILLARY BOOK
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amSen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's memoir of her turbulent White House years will finally hit bookstores on June 9 - in a whopping 1 million first-edition printing. Clinton said the book,...
DYING VICTIM ASKED FOR A FINAL EMBRACE
April 29, 2003 | 4:00am'HE knew he was dying," Norman Rosenbaum told me yesterday. He was talking about his brother, who was stabbed to death at 11:10 p.m. on Aug. 19 - that terrible...
JUDGE DUMPS EAR-ITATING SUIT
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amWhat's that?! Who'll stop the drain?! A Manhattan judge has turned a deaf ear to a personal-injury lawyer who claimed he suffered hearing loss at a concert featuring rock legend...
DUNGEON MASTER - 1ST LOOK AT CREEPY SEX-SLAVE SUSPECT
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amThis is accused psycho dungeon-master John Jamelske, the retired millionaire handyman police claim kidnapped women and kept them as sex slaves in a subterranean cell attached to his suburban Syracuse...
JURY HEARS OF GROCERY SLAY HORROR
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amAn ex-cop yesterday described the horrifying scene of a blood-spattered grocery-store basement and the butchered bodies of two workers, as the trial of the man accused of fatally stabbing them...
'LICENSE' TO DIE IN MOB HIT
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amA mobster wannabe who took part in a Staten Island drive-by shooting got himself whacked when he unwittingly tipped off FBI agents by replacing his license plates with those of...
VICTIM: CAIRO SHOOTER STARED AT TARGETS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amAn American lawyer wounded in a terrorist attack at a Cairo hotel restaurant saw his attacker staring at him strangely only moments before the shooting, a Manhattan jury was told...
DIVERS TO SEARCH CITY I. WATERS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amHarbor police spent yesterday marking areas near City Island where they plan to search for bodies missing in a January boating tragedy. Police divers plan an underwater search today in...
GATOR GOTTEN IN QUEENS PARK
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amSun-worshippers needed a little gator aid in Queens yesterday. Several people strolling through Alley Pond Park stumbled on a hair-raising sight - a 4-foot-long alligator - prompting an emergency call...
OTB, CITY IN TALKS TO GIVE SLOTS A SHOT
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amOfficials of the Off-Track-Betting Corp. discussed video slot machines yesterday in a meeting yesterday with mayoral aides, The Post has learned. Sources said OTB President Ray Casey and Chairman David...
FDNY PROBIES ALL FIRED UP
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amThe FDNY bolstered its ranks yesterday, swearing in the largest probationary fire class in the city's history. A total of 361 probies took their oaths at the FDNY Training Academy...
VETO-VEXED POLS PUT BUDGET INTO TURMOIL
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amALBANY - Budget chaos reigned at the Capitol last night as Assembly Democrats voted to override Gov. Pataki's first spending-plan veto - and state Senate Republicans geared up to do...
NO-RULES MEMORIAL CONTEST
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amThe competition to design a Ground Zero memorial was thrown open to the world yesterday - and officials hinted the winning idea may be the one that breaks the rules....
THE CHINA SYNDROME - ONLY STRICKEN NATION WHERE VIRUS WORSENS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amIn welcome news, the World Health Organization said yesterday that the worst of the SARS outbreak seems to be over in Singapore, Hong Kong and Canada - even as our...
NEW PLAN TO TEACH TEACHERS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amSchools Chancellor Joel Klein wants teachers in low-performing schools to take after-class, weekend and summer training to help them teach math and reading - but only if the money is...
BUSH VOWS IT'LL BE NEW DEMOCRACY
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday pledged that the new Iraq will be a democracy and America will be its "steady friend" in a speech to cheering Iraqi-Americans that was broadcast...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amQUEENS * Police say this is the fiend responsible for attacking three women in Jamaica this month - sexually assaulting two, and attempting to rob another. They say he has...
BIRTHDAY BUTCHER SURVIVED, AZIZ SAYS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - The U.S. military is investigating new reports that Saddam Hussein lived to see his 66th birthday yesterday, having survived two airstrikes aimed at him. Pentagon officials revealed that...
GIRL TELLS COPS OF SCHOOL RAPE
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amA 14-year old student at an East New York junior high school told police two other students raped her yesterday inside a school bathroom, cops said. The girl said two...
BUST IN 'MUSIC' MURDERS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amNow he'll have to face the music. A Brooklyn ex-con who became enraged that the family upstairs was blasting their music has been busted for critically wounding the mom and...
SHARPTON TANGLED IN FED TAPE
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - The Rev. Al Sharpton was having a tough time last night meeting his deadline to file a presidential campaign finance report. Sharpton's campaign claimed a computer glitch made...
'HAWK' KERRY DISSES DEAN
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Now that America is on the brink of declaring victory in Iraq, Democratic presidential wannabe John Kerry has suddenly launched a slashing attack on anti-war rival Howard Dean,...
ISRAEL BLAMES IRAN FOR BLAST
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amJERUSALEM - Israel yesterday arrested two Palestinian militants accused of last week's deadly bombing - and said that attack was financed and directed by Iran. Sources said Iran is putting...
'HAWK' KERRY GETS MEAN WITH DEAN
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Now that America is on the brink of declaring victory in Iraq, Democratic presidential wannabe John Kerry has suddenly launched a slashing attack on anti-war rival Howard Dean,...
PRESIDENT PLEDGES DEMOCRACY FOR IRAQ
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday vowed that the new Iraq will be a democracy and America will be its "steady friend," in a speech to cheering Iraqi-Americans that was broadcast...
THE CHINA SYNDROME: ONLY STRICKEN NATION WHERE VIRUS WORSENS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amIn welcome news, the World Health Organization said yesterday that the worst of the SARS outbreak seems to be over in Singapore, Hong Kong and Canada - even as our...
THE CHINA SYNDROME
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amChinatown's business leaders yesterday wooed tourists with assurances that there is no SARS in the area - and suggested top politicians like President Bush, Gov. Pataki and Sen. Hillary Rodham...
CITY PLANS CHEAP-HOUSING BOO$T
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amThe city plans to raise nearly $9 million for affordable-housing programs from two developers who want to use tax-free Liberty Bonds to build luxury apartments downtown, an official said yesterday....
NYERS: REIN IN LAW$UIT MADNESS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amALBANY - An overwhelming majority of New Yorker voters support placing caps on runaway liability awards, a new poll shows. The poll, done for New Yorkers for Civil Justice Reform...
OTB, CITY IN TALK TO GIVE SLOTS A SHOT
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amOfficials of the Off-Track Betting Corp. discussed whether to add video slot machines in a meeting yesterday with top mayoral aides, The Post has learned. Sources said OTB president Ray...
CLASSROOM EXTRA - BACK TO LIFE IN IRAQ
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amABSTRACT: (HOW WE CAME TO WAR PART 7) With Saddam Hussein's oppressive rule ended, the Iraqi people will be given the chance to thrive anew. Read on to learn about...
METS NEED TO GET AWAY - HOPE CARD GAMES CURE HOME SICKNESS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amThe St. Louis Gateway Arch never looked so inviting. Make no mistake - while most teams normally dread leaving town, the Mets need to get away. On Sunday, they committed...
ROBBY TO RANGERS: NOT NOW
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amTAMPA - Informed by Lou Lamoriello of the Rangers' request for permission to speak to him about their head-coaching position, Larry Robinson told The Post yesterday that he will defer...
ONE MO REASON TO SMILE
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amThe team with the best talent level in baseball gets upgraded tonight when Joe Torre has Mariano Rivera in the bullpen for the first time this season. Rivera's return from...
FRANKEL 'LOSER' TO STEP ASIDE
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amLOUISVILLE - Dr. John Chandler, president of Saudi Arabian prince Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farm, which bred and owns Derby favorite Empire Maker, and the colt's trainer, Bobby Frankel, said there...
BOSS PUTS FOCUS ON CONTRERAS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES How much interest does George Steinbrenner have in Jose Contreras being straightened out? So much that The Boss had VP of baseball operations Gordon Blakeley, organizational pitching coordinator...
OSI'S NOT YOUR AVERAGE JOE
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amA tall, good-looking, well-built teenager walked out of the classroom at Auburn (Ala.) High School and approached Tracy Rocker during a recruiting visit for Troy State. Rocker, a former Outland...
FRUSTRATED MUTOMBO WAITING FOR BYRON'S CALL
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amThere's Dikembe Mutombo playfully shoving Rodney Rogers before practice yesterday. There's the goofiest and gentlest of giants, busting out his signature cackle after a one-liner from Nets assistant coach Eddie...
BATTLE OF JAPAN - MATSUI AND ICHIRO SQUARE OFF AT THE STADIUM
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amIchiro and Matsui. Matsui and Ichiro. Together they are linked as superstars. And tonight at Yankee Stadium, where a big crowd is expected, Japan's two greatest stars are matched as...
FUTURE IS NOW - KIDD FOCUSED ON NET PLAYOFF PUSH, NOT FREE-AGENCY
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amJason Kidd was getting angry at the line of questioning that revolved around his free-agent future. For Kidd, the future is now. When finally asked if the Nets were the...
ERRATIC KUKOC KEY TO BUCKS' GAME 5 PLAN
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amHistory tells us tonight's Game 5 at the Meadowlands is the pivotal tilt in the Nets-Bucks series. Fortunately for Milwaukee, the Bucks are convinced they've split the first four games...
DAY EXPECTS 'PERFECT 10' IN 1ST JEWEL
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amLOUISVILLE - By general consent, the horse deemed most likely to upend hot favorite Empire Maker in Saturday's Kentucky Derby is Ten Most Wanted, the explosive winner of the Illinois...
'WANTED,' BUDDY GIL STAY SHARP
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amLOUISVILLE - The racetrack at Churchill Downs has been lightning-fast the past few days (which might or might not have contributed to five morning breakdowns in the last five days,...
SMART TO GET TRYOUT WITH JETS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amThere will be a particularly compelling story racing up and down the practice fields at Jets' minicamp this weekend at Weeb Ewbank Hall - that of Ian Smart. Smart, the...
GANG GREEN'S PICK SPECIAL OFF FIELD, TOO
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amBased on the widely consistent reports out on Jets first-round draft pick Dewayne Robertson, it looks as if he has potential to be a special football player. The prospect alone...
KITTLES MUST KERRY LOAD
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amKERRY Kittles has been a Net longer than anyone else on the team, longer than every prominent member of the organization, so tonight has to be about him as much...
'ATS' STAR QUALITY - OWNERS HOPE FOR H'WOOD ENDING
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amLOUISVILLE - Those looking to beat heavy favorite Empire Maker in Saturday's Kentucky Derby - and why not, given that a single chalk has won in the past 23 years...
KG BECOMES NG AT CRUNCH TIME
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amLOS ANGELES - When Kevin Garnett flopped on the free throw line of life with 15.7 seconds remaining in Sunday's 102-97 power outage - Timberwolves down three - were you...
LOTTERY TIEBREAKER GOES TO THE KNICKS
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amThe Knicks won last night's tiebreak drawing vs. Washington, meaning they will have one more ping-pong ball in the drum than the Wizards for the May 22 NBA Draft Lottery....
ONE-TWO PUNCH FLOORS DEVILS - STEVENS INJURY, REF'S CALL TOO MUCH
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amGAME 3: Lightning 4 Devils 3 TAMPA - Playoffs turn on such pivotal moments. There were two of them last night, transforming this seeming mismatch into a real series. Jerry...
INJURY INSANITY
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amTAMPA - Seeing Scott Stevens leave last night's game for good after being hit in the left side of the head with a scalding Pavel Kubina slap shot apparently drove...
LIGHT YEARS BEHIND
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amTAMPA - So let's see. The Mighty Ducks, who had never done a thing except steal the name of a Disney movie, were not content to rest on their first-round...
TAMPA'S ON THIN ICE : SURFACE MAY PLAY ROLE IN SERIES
April 29, 2003 | 4:00amTAMPA - Around here, they've never needed ice this late except in Mai-Tais. The novelty has Devils coach Pat Burns concerned. "The ice could be a factor," Burns said. "Shooting...