August 24, 2003
WATER, LIES & VIDEOTAPE: NEW VIVENDI BOOK: MESSIER'S HALF TRUTHS LED TO HIS OUSTER
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amFor Edgar Bronfman, Jr., a tricked-out Airbus that Jean-Marie Messier lied about buying for Vivendi was the last straw. "The big turning point for me, the final turning point, in...
A TURKISH BATH; BILLIONAIRE BROTHERS WANTED BY TRUMP, COURTS
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amCem and Hakan Uzan may not be recognizable names to most Americans, but lately their names have become familiar to rich New Yorkers, U.S. courts and enforcement agencies around the...
STARR REPORT
August 24, 2003 | 4:00am'Goomba' guy's got another one "Sopranos" co-star Steven Schirripa (Bobby Bacala) has inked a $325,000-plus deal for his third "Goomba" book, this one a "how-to" tome on how to plan...
WHERE TO EAT AFTER .... BARNEYS WAREHOUSE SALE
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amBarneys Warehouse Sale (255 W. 17th St., between Seventh and Eighth avenues; [212] 593-7800) is on through Sept. 1, with discounts of up to 80 percent. Expect to expend a...
I'M HOOKED ON 'THE O.C.' ; NEW SOAP ABOUT RICH KIDS HAS HIT POTENTIAL
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amHOW can a show this bad be so good? That's what's so perplexing about "The O.C.," Fox's new prime-time soap about a bunch of gorgeous, spoiled, rich teens. I know...
BACK IN BLACK ; JOHNNY CASH TAKES ON ALL COMERS AT THIS YEAR'S VMAS
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amAt age 71, Johnny Cash is the oldest musician ever to be nominated for an MTV Video Music Award - let alone six of them in one year. The country...
BLOODY GOOD
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amTAKASHI Miike isn't everybody's cup of sake or bucket of blood. The Japanese auteur's brand of ultra-violence, mixed with moments of sweetness and absurd humor, is hard to take. But...
LOVING TO HATE THE BRIT PACK
August 24, 2003 | 4:00am'I'm not going to that Soho House," a colleague snapped at me last week. "It's just a cliquey place for you Brits to hang out together because you think you're...
WE HAVE A RESERVATION ; WHY NEW YORK'S DINING SCENE IS APPALLING
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amNot long ago, the city's dining scene was in need of a Ritalin fix to tame its manic, self-indulgent ways. But today it could do with a dose of ephedra...
LOVIN' LIZARDS!
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amReptiles are cold- blooded creatures, but that doesn't mean they don't have a heart. Exhibit A: Jimmie, a bearded dragon who lives with Manhattanite Sue Akullian. "She's very sweet," says...
SHOPAHOLIC: I DARE YOU: CAN DESIGNER NICOLE ROMANO PUT TOGETHER A GREAT LOOK FOR ONLY $100?
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amHarlem designer Nicole Romano finds her neighborhood is a constant source of inspiration. "You can find amazing pieces of clothing with beautiful details and fabrics - [stuff] you could never...
FAD DIETS EXPOSED: HOW LOW CAN THESE GALS GO?
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amWhen Miranda squeezed into her "skinny jeans" on a recent episode of "Sex and the City," chocaholics far and wide cheered. Every woman has a pair of skinny jeans -...
LOW-DEFINITION TV: A GLOSSARY FROM A TO Z
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amAs the fall television season approaches, we should be increasingly aware that TV executives, and especially the heads of network entertainment divisions, have been forced to re-define words and expressions...
HER BATTLE OF BULGE IS FATAL FOR TEENAGER DOING ATKINS
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amIT was a "high- five" moment for Rachel Elizabeth Huskey as she stood in front of her class at Sturgeon High School in Sturgeon, Mo., that fateful day. Having aced...
N.Y. CATERS TO WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amTaking a bite out of the Big Apple used to mean munching on a bagel, a Nathan's hot dog or a New York-sized slice of pizza. Now the culinary craze...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amIt's a game of cricket - but it's not what you think. That's because contestants are spitting real crickets. The game was invented by a Purdue University professor who's hosted...
POL FUMES AT EPA'S 'LIES' OVER 9/11 AIR QUALITY
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amRep. Jerrold Nadler yesterday demanded a congressional investigation of the White House for its role in "misleading" the public about the air quality in New York in the wake of...
PLENTY OF ENEMIES WILL CHEER FABLED CRIME FAMILY'S FALL
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amANALYSIS He's about to sing like a canary, and the applause could be deafening when Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo completes his aria of betrayal and ends the Gotti family's control...
CITY PRISON BIG IN BUDGET SLIP ON BRIT TRIP
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amFIVE months before re signing, former Correction Commissioner William Fraser jetted off to London for a weeklong junket that violated city guidelines and cost taxpayers nearly $4,500. The trip was...
GRAND HYATT STRIKERS BACK ON JOB
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amIt was back to work as normal yesterday for Grand Hyatt Hotel employees - after a daylong strike prompted by worker complaints that a rooftop air conditioner was leaking chemicals...
CASH FLAP OVER AALIYAH FUNERAL
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amTwo years and one posthumous album after Aaliyah was killed in a Bahamas plane crash, the songbird's record company still has not paid the funeral company that shipped her body...
BUBBA'S 9/11 SHRINE FLAP
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amBill Clinton has jumped into an angry controversy in his posh adopted hometown of Chappaqua by supporting a Sept. 11 memorial some residents oppose. The ex-president donated a pile of...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amBronx An off-duty cop working a security detail shot and wounded two men early yesterday in the Hunts Point section, police said. The 42-year-old cop, a 13-year NYPD veteran, was...
SEAN HAD A LICENSE TO THRILL
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amA Scottish school teacher was shaken and stirred when she unearthed 50-year- old drawings in her attic of then-unknown Sean Connery, his "spectacular" body clad in a loincloth and nothing...
SICKO STRANGLED ; NAZI CON SLAYS INFAMOUS PRIEST
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amPedophile ex-priest John Geoghan - the convicted Boston child-molester and a central figure in the Roman Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandal - was murdered by another inmate in a prison fight...
NEW YORKERS MAKE ANIMALS PET CAUSE
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amBarks of joy and the flutter of wagging tails rang through Manhattan's public animal shelter yesterday, as animal-loving New Yorkers responded to a plea for help by adopting an influx...
DYING TO LOSE WEIGHT
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amModerately overweight people who lose 20 pounds or so on diets often report a sense of inadequacy instead of elation, studies show. "Some don't feel successful. They feel they have...
'NET VIRUS 'SEXUAL' DISEASE
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amCall it a bad case of cyberclap. The "Sobig" computer virus that infected millions of Internet users last week may have come from a porn Web site, cybersleuths now believe....
BAD BOBBY GETS BUSTED AGAIN
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amR&B bad boy Bobby Brown has been arrested yet again The troubled singer and hubby of Whitney Houston was busted in Atlanta for violating his parole, police said yesterday. Brown,...
KOBE 'CRIME' SCENE THE INN PLACE TO BE
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amThe resort town of Edwards, Colo., has a new tourist attraction: the hotel room where Kobe Bryant is alleged to have raped a 19-year-old concierge. The first-floor suite at the...
HOPE RUNS OUT FOR L.I. BOATER
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amThe Coast Guard has abandoned its search for the Pennsylvania man lost at sea after a horrific boat crash. Timothy Sixtus, 41, of Langhorne, Pa., disappeared early Friday after a...
OUSTED VIVENDI BIG'S BOSS SANG HAIL TO THE CHIEF EXEC
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amJean-Marie Messier for president? Messier, the ousted former chief executive officer of Vivendi, so impressed the company's part-owners, the Bronfman family, at a meeting in 2000 that Edgar Bronfman Sr....
2 WOUNDED IN HOOPS GUNPLAY
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amA gunman opened fire near a crowded Bronx basketball court yesterday after he and some pals got into a fight with players in a local tournament, leaving a teenage boy...
HOPEFUL HUNDREDS IDOL-ING AWAY THEIR TIME
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amThey're hungry, tired and sun-scorched - and finding a bathroom has been an adventure. But the hundreds of diehards camped out in front of the Javits Center on 11th Avenue...
SICKO STRANGLED
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amThe neo-Nazi inmate accused of murdering John Geoghan is a regular Boston strangler. John Druce, 37, is already serving a life sentence for beating, choking to death and mutilating George...
SICKO STRANGLED; INMATE DOES IN INFAMOUS PRIEST
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amPedophile ex-priest John Geoghan, the convicted Boston child-molester and a central figure in the Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandal, was murdered by another inmate in a prison fight yesterday, officials said....
HAMAS RANTS AT PREZ AFTER ASSET-KICKING
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amJERUSALEM - President Bush was branded Islam's greatest enemy by a Hamas leader yesterday after the United States froze the assets of the Palestinian terror group's honchos in response to...
FEDS EYE LAST OF THE GOTTIS ; TURNCOAT'S SONG COULD END THEIR GAMBINO REIGN
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amEXCLUSIVE The Gotti family's control of the Gambino crime mob is on the verge of being rubbed out - thanks to the turncoat evidence of an outsider they mistakenly trusted....
BIG BAD WEEK - FROM MAYOR TO CELEBS' HAIR
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amThis was the week that was, as I saw it: * Mayor Bloomberg announced that he's heading to Israel to ride the buses and be one with the common man...
CHEATERS GET PASS; CHINESE EXAM-SCAM STUDENTS SLIP INTO IVY: DA
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amHundreds of Chinese immigrants who paid for imposters to take their graduate school admission tests may have already been admitted to some of the nation's top Ivy League schools, according...
TRANSPARENT DESIRE; 'COUNTERFEIT' BAGS CLEARLY IN FASHION
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amA translucent rubber satchel that comes in three sizes, varying neon colors and retails for between $120 and $240 has launched the most heated scandal of the summer. Dangling from...
BAD SEED DOOMS MEN; GENE EXPERT PREDICTS A FEMALE-ONLY WORLD
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amBad news, guys. Your kind has just 125,000 years to live. That's the dire prediction of a British academic who argues a female-only world is a distinct possibility. While urban...
CITIZEN GOT NYERS OUT OF A JAM
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amMichael Martinez, his wife and three children were strolling home after the lights fizzled 10 days ago and he heard the helpless honking at a gridlocked Queens intersection. There was...
FEDS EYE LAST OF THE GOTTIS: CAGED RAT CAUGHT IN DEADLY TRAP
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amMichael DiLeonardo is a dead man - in every way. The wiseguy's decision to rat out his fellow Gambino family members puts the gangster known as "Mikey Scars" on the...
CHEATERS GET PASS: CHINESE EXAM-SCAM STUDENTS SLIP INTO IVY: DA
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amHundreds of Chinese immigrants who paid for imposters to take their graduate school admission tests may have already been admitted to some of the nation's top Ivy League schools, according...
IDOL-ING AWAY THEIR TIME: HUNDREDS LINE UP FOR SHOT AT FAME
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amThey're hungry, tired and sun-scorched - and finding a bathroom has been an adventure. But the legions of diehards camped out in front of the Javits Center on 11th Avenue...
KANSAS STATE AT HEAD OF CLASS: SNYDER TURNS WILDCATS INTO NATIONAL POWER
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amI was told by colleagues who cover the Big XII that it's almost impossible to get Kansas State coach Bill Snyder on the phone, and it's definitely impossible to get...
KANSAS STATE AT HEAD OF CLASS
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amLENN ROBBINS' TOP 25 1. Kansas State Last year: 11-2 For openers: Played Cal yesterday Skinny: See Darren Sproles run. See Marvin Simmons hit. See no Oklahoma on the sked....
RODDICK'S CHIC PICK TO TAKE IT
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amOPEN NOTES Andy Roddick has never lacked flamboyance, only titles. Roddick has always been able to play to the crowd and titillate it with 135-mph serves. But now the 20-year-old...
NYRA IN RACE FOR ITS SURVIVAL
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amSARATOGA SPRINGS - As tens of thousands of fans, bathed in sunshine and euphoria, streamed through the turnstiles yesterday for the 134th running of the Travers, few could have been...
WALKER'S PROVING HIS NET WORTH
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amOnce goaltender Tim Howard bolted to England for the chance of a lifetime, many thought the MetroStars' promising season would turn to ruin. But after losing their defensive backbone to...
STYLISH TAKES BALLSTON
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amSARATOGA SPRINGS - It was just like old times yesterday at the Old Spa in the Grade 3, $200,000 Ballston Spa Breeders' Cup for fillies and mares on turf, as...
TORRE, STOTTLEMYRE EXCITED BY CONTRERAS' RETURN
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES When Yankee fans last saw Jose Contreras they were in the early stage of getting excited over the $32 million Cuban refugee. That was on June 5 in...
JOBS ON THE LINE YOUNGSTERS HOPE TO IMPRESS JETS
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amFor the hopefuls trying to earn one of the final five or six open spots on the Jets' roster, last night's game against the Giants was more about survival than...
METS LOOKING FOR HELP OFF THE BENCH
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amMET NOTES LOS ANGELES - While Pedro Feliciano and Jaime Cerda sit inactively in the bullpen, the Mets continue to lose games due to a short bench. Just don't try...
JAX, JOE MOURN EX-YANK
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amNews of Bobby Bonds' passing yesterday was met with sadness from Yankees past and present. Bonds, who played in The Bronx for one of his 13 years in the major...
GUIDRY, YANKS CAUGHT LIGHTNING IN BOTTLE
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amIn 1976, all Ron Guidry had was idle time. He spent the early parts of his baseball career wilting in the Yankee Stadium bullpen, passing the time as best he...
RICKEY STILL RUNNING STEP AHEAD OF FATHER TIME
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amLOS ANGELES - On Friday afternoon, Rickey Henderson was asked, "What's it going to take for you to decide and figure you've had enough?" "Figure I've got enough?" the 44-year-old...
A QUIET BRILLIANCE
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amALL the legends returned to the Stadium yesterday to honor Ron Guidry on the day his No. 49 was retired; Reggie, Donnie, Yogi, Whitey and all the rest. On a...
ACT NOW TO SAVE PRESERVES
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amTHERE is a bill on Gov. Pataki's desk that would prohibit certain kinds of hunts on preserves, but the way it reads it could open the door for all kinds...
BACK IN BUSINESS ; BOOMER FEELS GOOD DESPITE LOSS TO O'S
August 24, 2003 | 4:00am"It's nice to feel good instead of struggling with control."DAVID WELLS What bothered David Wells more Friday night, his balky back or umpire Terry Craft's postage- stamp-sized strike zone? "It...
JINT ROOKIE GETS POSTGAME SHOCK
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amGIANTS-JETS NOTES This is a most exciting time for David Diehl, a rookie guard from Illinois who has moved into the starting lineup on the Giants offensive line and is...
'WANTED' TAKES TRAVERS ; DAY TAKES ADVANTAGE OF SPEED DUEL
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amSARATOGA SPRINGS - Under a textbook ride by "Patient Pat" Day, California invader Ten Most Wanted swept from off the pace on the far turn, then wore down a gutsy...
JETS OUT OF LUCK ; PENNINGTON INJURY PUTS PLAYOFFS IN QUESTION
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amThe Jets' 2003 season of promise took a horrific turn last night when Chad Pennington suffered a fractured dislocation of his left wrist in the second quarter of last night's...
SUBS SINK BIG BLUE ; PALMER, BACKUPS FAIL AFTER STARTERS SHINE
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amJets 15Giants 14 Play well and stay healthy, not necessarily in that order. Those are the priorities for every team in every preseason game. The Giants last night accomplished both....
NEW STAR RISES TO TAKE STAGE
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amSARATOGA SPRINGS - A new star was born yesterday; and wouldn't you know, he came from the environs of Hollywood. Ten Most Wanted flew in from the coast, and fulfilling...
FOR O'S, THE STORY IS LOPEZ
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amOrioles catcher Brook Fordyce, who has been hotter than the sun lately, helped the Orioles to a second straight win over the Yankees with a two-run triple yesterday afternoon. But...
'WANTED' WINS TRAVERS ; RECORD CROWD, HANDLE AT SARATOGA
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amSARATOGA SPRINGS - Under a textbook ride by "Patient" Pat Day, California invader Ten Most Wanted swept from off the pace on the far turn, then wore down gutsy Peace...
CARTER: I'M BETTER THAN EVER
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amSAN JUAN - The question was put to Vince Carter. Did he feel like he was getting back to being Vince Carter? "I'm Vince Carter now. I believe I belong...
HONEYMOON NOT OVER FOR K-MARTINS
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amSAN JUAN - Years from now, when they're reminiscing about their honeymoon, Kenyon Martin and his wife Heather will take out some photos of the first few days. What great...
DUNCAN CHOOSES TO SIT THIS ONE OUT
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amUSA 113Virg. Isles 55 SAN JUAN - When it came right down to it, Tim Duncan simply couldn't do it. He could not go up against friends and memories. He...
BENCH NOW A BIGGER RELIEF
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amMET NOTES LOS ANGELES - With the way Steve Trachsel pitched last night, the last thing the Mets needed was a long reliever. Wisely, the club optioned reliever Jaime Cerda...
LOOKING TO THE PAST
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amAFTER spending four days in the belly of the Boston beast and listening to the Red Sox whine that they are so far behind the Yankees they can't even see...
BATS ALL, FOLKS ; YANK HITTERS GO COLD IN SECOND STRAIGHT LOSS
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amOrioles 7Yankees 2 Rodrigo Lopez located his pitches well. Rodrigo Lopez changed speeds. Rodrigo Lopez's fastball had late movement. By the time the Yankees were done talking about the Orioles'...
ESPN HITS ANOTHER NEW LOW
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amAS Howard Cosell said upon the passing of Chicago Bears patriarch George Halas, "It was inevitable." Given the current conditions of TV and mass commercial culture, it was inevitable, too,...
LASORDA: PIAZZA SHOULD REMAIN BEHIND PLATE
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amMets 4Dodgers 0 LOS ANGELES - For the last two days, Mike Piazza has heard vociferous booing from the Dodger Stadium fans who once cheered his every move. But Piazza...
BACKUPS FAIL AFTER STARTERS SHINE ; SUBS SINK BIG BLUE
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amJets 15Giants 14 Play well and stay healthy, not necessarily in that order. Those are the priorities for every team in every preseason game. The Giants last night accomplished both....
JINTS' KICKING CONTEST CLOSE
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amGIANTS-JETS NOTES Jim Fassel last night wanted to get a good look at both his kickers as the Giants faced the Jets in the annual preseason clash at Giants Stadium,...
'SUGAR' BAGS YONKERS TROT
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amThe $449,637 Yonkers Trot was won by 1-2 favorite Sugar Trader and driver Cat Manzi in 1:58 3/5 last night at Yonkers Raceway. Manzi followed early cover before tipping three...
DOWN THE LINE
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amRoger Clemens' gold medal fantasy is beholden to a bunch of prospects and Quadruple-A players. For the U.S. baseball team to qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympics, it must finish...
TIME TO ROOT FOR RED SOX ; BOSTON WINNING WILD CARD BETTERS YANKEES' CHANCES
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amYANKEES fans should cheer for the Red Sox. It sounds crazy, but not nearly as loopy as the playoff system that will cause the equivalent of dogs rooting for cats....
OPEN'S LITE ON GLITTER ; BIG-NAME WITHDRAWALS DIM TOURNEY
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amWelcome to U.S. Open Lite. On the women's side, the Williams sisters' withdrawals have left the Belgian girls, No. 1 seed Kim Clijsters and second-seeded Justin Henin-Hardenne, as the two...
THE INSIDERS: THE POST TAKES YOU BEHIND THE LOCKER-ROOM DOORS
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amSite for sore fans : Knicks GM caught in Web Some Web-oriented Knicks fans have had enough of Scott Layden, that mastermind of a GM. Firelayden.com is up and running...
METS GET SPEED, HELP OFF THE BENCH
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amMET NOTES LOS ANGELES - While long relievers Pedro Feliciano and Jaime Cerda again sat inactive in the bullpen on Friday night, the Mets lost 2-1 due to a short...
MENDED CARTER: I'M BETTER NOW THAN EVER
August 24, 2003 | 4:00am"In all aspects of the game I'm smarter. I'm stronger in the mind and the body, I think my shot's better." VINCE CARTER SAN JUAN -The question was put to...
TOOMER'S TIME IS NOW: RECEIVER KEY PART OF GIANTS OFFENSE
August 24, 2003 | 4:00amLast season, Amani Toomer became the first player in Giants history to catch at least 70 passes and have at least 1,000 receiving yards in four consecutive years. He was...