November 22, 2003

FREDDIE FUDGED EARNINGS BY $5B

Congressional critics were livid yesterday after government-sponsored mortgage company Freddie Mac admitted it had understated earnings by $5 billion during the past five years. The long-delayed numbers indicated that Freddie,...

GETTING BLACKER: OLD SCANDAL MAY BOOST CONRAD CASE TO CRIMINAL

Conrad Black's past misdeeds in high finance are coming back to haunt him - and could even land him behind bars. The embattled media baron, already under investigation for pocketing...

U.S. ATTORNEY PROBES BEAR STEARNS' FUND TRADING

Bear Stearns' mutual fund trading practices are being probed by the U.S. Attorney's office - and just about every regulatory agency under the sun - the firm disclosed in an...

G+J EXEC QUITS IN ROSIE FALLOUT

The top circulation executive at Gruner + Jahr USA stepped down yesterday, as the company moves to quell outrage on Madison Avenue over inflated circulation numbers. The resignation of Diane...

FIRMS MAY GO BUST: SPITZER

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer expects firms to go out of business as a result of the mutual fund investigation he launched in September, he told The Post late...

STARVING TO BE IN MANHATTAN: WHY SOME RENTERS WILL PAY ANY PRICE FOR THE RIGHT ZIP CODE

Some people will do anything to live in Manhattan. Take Robin Narvaez, 40, who works three jobs to make her $2,900 rent on a one-bedroom in Sutton Place. Or Courtney...

SPRING IS IN THE AIR

GIMME SHELTER There's plenty of buzz about Spring, the condominium in the Cass Gilbert-designed, former East River Savings Bank building at 60 Spring St. So far, several high-profile tire-kickers have...

FIND ME & MY FAMILY A HOME!

Karen Schade, 36, has lived in her Jersey City apartment for 14 years. Her $1,000-a-month pad, next to a noisy bar, was fine for a SWF. But now she's a...

FUNNY FRIENDS

Ever hear the one about the poetic cockroach and the alley cat who loves him? If you did, you're probably either very well-read or very old, because the adventures of...

HATS OFF TO COPPOLA

In 1963, an unknown Francis Ford Coppola, working for Roger Corman, directed "Dementia 13," a spooky little black-and-white flick about an ax murderer. Coppola, of course, went on to direct...

FRESH PRINCE OF BALLET

Hip-hop, break-dancing and gymnastics may not sound like the usual way to ballet - but they got Jerimy Rivera to the barre all the same. Now the 10-year-old isn't only...

LABOR LEADER SLAMS GIFFIE

A top labor leader launched a harsh attack yesterday on City Council Speaker Gifford Miller for failing to block explosive hearings on union work rules in city schools. "Those hearings...

'GOT AWAY WITH MURDER'; WIDOW'S RAGE AS DUI KILLER GOES FREE

Family and friends of a Whitestone man killed by a drunken driver were outraged yesterday when his killer "legally got away with murder" and walked out of Queens Criminal Court...

FOE GETS ASS KICKED; DONKEY-CART ROCKETS FLOP IN BAGHDAD

WASHINGTON - Pro-Saddam guerrillas fired rockets from disguised donkey carts at Iraq's oil ministry and two hotels used by Westerners in Baghdad yesterday in the latest brazen assault on high-profile...

DEMS RIP GOP 'AD' NAUSEAM

WASHINGTON - The Democratic presidential candidates yesterday blasted the Republican Party's first TV ad for President Bush, charging the president with playing politics with the war on terror. The GOP...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Cops in Susquehanna Township, Pa., arrested a pregnant 18-year-old woman after she barged into a neighbor's home brandishing a putty knife and demanded money. After a brief scuffle, the pregnant...

HANDS OFF 9/11 CASH: N.Y. SENS.

WASHINGTON - Sens. Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer are warning congressional budget writers to keep their hands off the money sent to New York City after the 9/11 attacks. In...

SCAMS TAKE SUBWAY FOR RIDE

Transit cops have nabbed subway scammers selling discounted rides in the shadow of a recently shuttered Brooklyn token booth. In the past two weeks, cops have collared three men for...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

Manhattan Police are searching for a man they say sexually assaulted a 19-year-old mother as she was pushing her baby in a stroller on the Lower East Side. The brazen...

BUSH OPENS TURK 'FRONT' ; ENDS BRIT VISIT WITH VOW TO AID THUG HUNT

LONDON - President Bush yesterday said Turkey is a new front in the war on terror and called Turkey's prime minister to reaffirm solidarity in that battle a day after...

TEEN 'PAL' COMES TO PERVY POPSTER'S DEFENSE

A former member of Michael Jackson's kiddie crew at Neverland Ranch says there's "100 percent no way" Jacko molested a boy. Ahmad Elatab, now 17, says he's sure he knows...

FATHER, SON BUSTED IN ATTACK

A Long Island father and son were arrested and charged with savagely beating a 19-year-old man with a baseball bat - because a companion of the victim urinated on their...

OYSTER BAR A HARD SHELL FOR UNION

Contract negotiations between union employees of the Grand Central Oyster Bar and management broke down yesterday. "It looks like a strike is imminent," said Local 100 Hotel Employees and Restaurant...

INSIDE BUCKINGHAM: ROYAL TREATMENT WOWS FIRST LADY

LONDON NOTEBOOK LONDON - President Bush's state visit to Britain was a chance to peek behind the scenes at Buckingham Palace, where even First Lady Laura Bush 'fessed up to...

TRASH TRUCK HORROR

A homeless man sleeping under a pile of plastic crates was killed yesterday when a city garbage truck's jaws crushed him as it tried to cart away trash, police said...

BOMB THREAT TURNS BACK JFK-LONDON FLIGHT

Some 200 passengers aboard a midnight flight to London returned to Kennedy early yesterday after a flight attendant found a threatening note saying a bomb was on board. The threat...

CLASS ACTION VS. SOCIAL PROMOTION

Mayor Koch and prominent educators are joining forces to attack the city's practice of "social promotion" - passing along students who flunk standardized exams. Koch will be a keynote speaker...

ARRESTS CURE MEDICAID-CARD SCAM

Authorities have arrested 16 people, including three city employees, for running a Medicaid "cards for sale" scam that cost taxpayers more than $2 million, the state attorney general's office said...

SHARON MAY MOVE SETTLERS

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to remove some Jewish settlements from the West Bank and Gaza Strip next summer to pave the way for a Palestinian state,...

MY SLEEPOVER WITH MICHAEL ; *JACKO'S 'SECRET' BEDROOM ; * FREE-FOR-ALL FOR THE KIDS

HERE'S a look inside Michael Jackson's super-secretive Neverland Ranch from a boy who was a member of the King of Pop's inner circle of underage pals. Ahmad Elatab, 17, told...

CANCER KID'S LIFE OF TURMOIL ; FILES BARE TEEN'S HOME ABUSE WOE

The young tragic life of Michael Jackson's teen sex accuser has been filled with one painful court battle after another, including a previous criminal case in which his own father...

'BREAST-KISSING' DOC ACQUITTED

A jury yesterday acquitted a cardiologist of charges he opened a patient's gown and kissed her breasts in his Upper East Side office. Dr. Benjamin Zola showed no emotion as...

MEPHAM SADISTS 'SORRY'; GRIDDERS PLEAD GUILTY & APOLOGIZE

Two Mepham HS football players accused of sexually abusing three junior varsity players at a summer training camp tearfully apologized to their victims during a closed-door hearing yesterday, sources said....

MAD MICHAEL HIDES AMID CUSTODY FURY

Accused child molester Michael Jackson remained out of sight in Las Vegas yesterday as pressure mounted on authorities to take away the bizarro pop star's three kids in the wake...

$81M POLICE-BRUTALITY SLAP

Seven men were awarded $81 million in compensatory damages yesterday from a Bronx jury in a case over a 1992 police-brutality incident caught on videotape. The men sued the city...

MY SLEEPOVER WITH MICHAEL ; * JACKO'S 'SECRET' BEDROOM ; * FREE-FOR-ALL FOR THE KIDS

TEENAGER Ahmad Elatab stayed at Michael Jackson's super-secretive Neverland Ranch a half-dozen times as part of the King of Pop's kiddie crew, and came away with stunning revelations about Jacko's...

BOMB THREAT ON JFK-LONDON FLIGHT

Some 200 passengers aboard a midnight flight to London returned to Kennedy early yesterday after a flight attendant found a threatening note saying a bomb was on board. The note...

POISON GAS KILLS 3 IN BX. HOME

Carbon monoxide poisoning killed two adults and a 2-month-old baby girl yesterday inside their Bronx home, authorities said. The victims, who were not identified, were found on the top floor...

ARRESTS CURE MEDICAID SCAM

Authorities have arrested 16 people, including three city employees, for running a Medicaid "cards for sale" scam that cost taxpayers more than $2 million, the attorney general's office said yesterday....

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: BUSTED IN ATTACK

A Long Island father and son were arrested and charged with savagely beating a 19-year-old youth with a baseball bat - because a companion of the victim urinated on their...

OHIO ST., MICHIGAN RENEW RIVALRY

ANN ARBOR - There are college football rivalries that are more competitive (Army-Navy). There are rivalries that generate more bad blood (Auburn-Alabama). There are rivalries in which the schools are...

TRADE WINDS BLOWING AROUND THE ISLES

COLUMBUS - Not only has the Islanders' blue line been crowded the last two games after the injury-related recall of Mattias Timander, but so have the press boxes, filled with...

LI'L ANDRE PACKS BIG WALLOP FOR HALL

Maybe good things do come in small packages. Like 5-foot, 10-inches small. Or, more specifically, Andre Barrett small. This past week, Seton Hall's Barrett joined 29 other preseason candidates for...

BOSOX MAY BATTLE YANKS FOR CURT

George Steinbrenner is scheduled to gather the major Yankee executives in Tampa on Monday with the idea of taking all the information culled by Brian Cashman at the GM meetings...

SECOND PERIOD: DEVS' DOMINION ; LINE-CHANGE QUICKNESS KEEPS FOES OFF BALANCE

When they look inside their status as the last unbeaten road team in the NHL, and inside the league's longest unbeaten streak this season, the Devils need look no further...

FRIARS' POTENT 'O' IS FULLY CHARGED

RICH Reichert has coached St. Anthony's for 17 years and has presided over his share of great teams. But even he was amazed by what he saw last week. "That...

CALL 'EM COLD-TIMERS ; OUTDOOR CONTEST HONORS NHL'S HERITAGE

EDMONTON - This is the kind of type of event that would have made Vince Lombardi and NFL Films voice John Facenda proud. "This is what every Canadian kid dreams...

MULLIGAN'S AT HOME WITH JASPERS

LOCAL HOOP PREVIEW This November, Peter Mulligan is running with the starters, not the subs. He's got teammates who share his goals and the family who loves him a short...

A SHOCK-ING RETURN ; JEREMY TRYING TO PLAY ON MONDAY

Turns out Jeremy Shockey might be back sooner than later. Shockey, who suffered a partially torn posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, made an unexpected return to Giants practice...

KNEE COULD K.O. KIDD

A 5-6 record looks positively sparkling. Getting slaughtered off the backboards in nine of 11 games seems like a good way to build character. The defense that hasn't been able...

SECONDARY GOES TO BACKUP PLAN

GIANT NOTES The Giants' injury-riddled secondary likely will face the defending champion Buccaneers Monday night without three of its top five players. Starting safety Shaun Williams is on injured reserve,...

NETS DECLARE PEACE

Noticeably lacking were aroma-therapy candles, doves flying overhead and some muted humming of "Kumbaya." That's how chummy and cheerful the atmosphere was around the Nets yesterday, one day after heavyweights...

BROWN:WAIT TILL DICE ROLLS

KNICK NOTES AUBURN HILLS - Larry Brown said discount the Knicks' 3-8 record and the gloom-and-doom prospects. The Hall-of-Fame Pistons coach thinks fortunes can turn very quickly in New York....

DON'S 'FOUL' MOOD CHANEY BALKS OVERFREE-THROW DEFICITAGAINST LAKERS

Don Chaney was so concerned by the lopsided free-throw discrepancy in Wednesday's 104-83 loss to the Lakers that he called the league about it. The Lakers had 47 free-throw attempts...

CORNER'S BACK ; ABRAHAM REJOINS JETS' DEFENSE

The Jets' defense needs all the help it can get these days, so the return of cornerback Donnie Abraham should improve the secondary. But Abraham doesn't expect his presence will...

CHANEY CRIES FOUL TO LEAGUE

KNICK NOTES AUBURN HILLS - Don Chaney was so concerned by the lopsided free-throw discrepancy in Wednesday night's 104-83 loss to the Lakers he called the NBA offices for a...

AGENT: MO PLANS TO STAY MET

If the Mets plan to move Mike Piazza to first base next spring, they could have a 275-pound obstacle in their way: Mo Vaughn. Vaughn's agent, Jeff Moorad, last night...

GO-TO GUY ELIAS FILLS HERO ROLE

OVERTIMEDevils 2Penguins 1 They are going from strength to strength, these Devils who are now going west. Their balanced scoring, the stuff that helped build the longest unbeaten streak in...

GLARING DEFICIENCY ; THOMAS' NEAR-FIGHT HIGHLIGHT OF DEFEAT

Pistons 94Knicks 85 AUBURN HILLS - Kurt Thomas and Ben Wallace glared at each other in the lane and began jawing early in the fourth quarter. As tough as Thomas...

THUMB GOOD NEWS : DEREK WON'T NEED SURGERY

The feeling within the Yankee organization when Derek Jeter sprained a left thumb ligament in the ALCS opener against the Red Sox was that the team would be fortunate if...

DONNIE ON THE SPOT: ABRAHAM COMES BACK TO HELP JETS' DEFENSE

The Jets' defense needs all the help it can get these days, so the return of cornerback Donnie Abraham should improve the secondary. But Abraham doesn't expect his presence will...

FOULKE COULD STILL BE MET

MET NOTES Keith Foulke's agent yesterday disputed the rumblings around baseball that Oakland's free-agent closer does not want to leave the West Coast. "Not true at all," Dan Horwits said....