January 7, 2004
MICROSOFT SET TO UNVEIL NEW DIGITAL MOVIE PLAYER
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amMicrosoft will try to leapfrog archrival Apple today when it introduces the latest in media players - an iPod for movies. The Portable Media Center, which Bill Gates will unveil...
DEBT SOARS TO A RECORD
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amAmericans are carrying more debt then ever before, and are behind payments in record numbers, according to figures released yesterday. In October 2003, consumer debt hit a record $1.98 trillion,...
AS BLACK DAWDLED, 2 EXECS PAID IOUS
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amConrad Black didn't make good on his agreement to begin paying back non-compete fees to Hollinger International, but two other executives have paid. David Radler, the former president, and Peter...
STEINBRENNER FOULS OUT ON SPORTING NEWS POWER LIST
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amGeorge Steinbrenner's stock has fallen. The Yankees owner fell from No. 1 to No. 9 on the Sporting News' list of the most powerful people in sports in 2003, a...
ESTEE'S GRANDSON TO BE CEO
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amEstee Lauder said yesterday that William Lauder, the grandson of the company's founder, would become chief executive on July 1, earlier than some analysts had expected. Fred Langhammer, CEO since...
FERRARI TO PARK ITS NEW SHOWROOM ON PARK AVE.
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amVA-va-vrrooom. Ultimate boy-toy automaker Ferrari is apparently riding into its first-ever city showroom, just one Park Avenue block away from competitor Mercedes-Benz. The car company has chosen a luxe corner...
IT'S PAYBACK TIME: BIG BOARD WANTS $150M BACK FROM GRASSO
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amThe New York Stock Exchange is trying to separate its former boss, Dick Grasso, from a big chunk of the $190 million paycheck that led to his ouster. Exchange officials...
MUSIC BIGS ZIMMER, RIFKIN OUT OF HARMONY
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amAfter making beautiful music together for some of Hollywood's biggest hits, Tinseltown's two top music men are at war. The industry's most prolific movie composer, Hans Zimmer, is suing his...
NO TRUCE FOR BRUCE; WASSERSTEIN GETS NEW YORK FRIDAY, BUT STAFF HEADS FOR EXITS
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amTYCOON Bruce Was serstein, who heads Lazard, is expected to take over New York magazine Friday, when he hands over a $55 million check to Henry Kravis' Primedia. His arrival...
AG BLASTS REPORT ON FUND FEES
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amNew York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer yesterday blasted a report released by the powerful Investment Company Institute, and claimed it bolstered his crusade against excessively high mutual fund fees. The...
STAFF LOSSES ROCK ROLLING STONE
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amTwo key defections rattled Rolling Stone yesterday. Robert Gregory, the hard-working publisher once profiled in a page 1 story in the Wall Street Journal, resigned to join British publishing maverick...
BRUCE IS LOSING HIS JUICE ; WASSERSTEIN GETS N.Y. MAG FRIDAY, ANOTHER STAFFER EXITS
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amTYCOON Bruce Wasserstein, who heads Lazard, is expected to take over New York magazine on Friday, when he hands over a $55 million check to Henry Kravis' Primedia. His impending...
BLOW-UP OVER CASTRO VISIT
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amTOUGH-guy actor Rob ert Duvall is blasting "presumptuous" Steven Spielberg for meeting with Fidel Castro in Cuba over a year ago. "Spielberg went down there recently and said, 'The best...
END OF 'SEX' A MYSTERY TO DAVIS
January 7, 2004 | 5:00am'SEX and the City" star Kris tin Davis says producers are keeping her and her castmates in the dark about the HBO show's finale. "I don't know," Davis told reporters...
SOME ENCHANTED YVES IN TWO FILMS
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amYSL: HIS LIFE AND TIMES / YSL: 5, AVENUE MARCEAU, 75116 PARIS (three stars) All about Yves.In French, with English subtitles. Total running time: 162 minutes. Separate admission for each...
LOVE AT FIRST BITE: 'BOOTY FOOD' SHOWS NEW WAYS TO SPICE UP ROMANCE
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amFIRST dates reveal more than just a prospective mate's food likes. They also expose his sexual appetite. If he orders meat rare, he's voracious in bed. He requests extra spicy?...
WE LIKE LUCY ; LIGHT A HOTTER FIRE UNDER THIS MEXICAN BARBECUE
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amLUCY MEXICAN BARBECUE (two stars) 35 E. 18TH ST. (212) 475-5829 TWO words guarantee crowds in any Manhattan restaurant: "Mexican" and "barbecue," no matter what slop is served in the...
WITH THE IN CROWD AT PER SE
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amTHE February opening of Per Se in the Time Warner Center, the sister restaurant to the famed French Laundry in Napa Valley, begs the question: Who will get in? In...
DIRECTORS THROW HATS INTO 'RINGS'
January 7, 2004 | 5:00am'THE Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" has pulled ahead in the Oscar horse races. Yesterday, the Directors Guild of America announced its Best Director nominees, and while...
DOLL'S LIFE: BARBIE'S EVOLUTION TAKES CENTER STAGE IN NEW TV MOVIE
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amBARBIE'S picture-perfect life is about to be laid bare - and Ken won't be spared, either. A&E will dramatize the remarkable story of Barbie creator Ruth Handler in "Forever Barbie:...
REEL-TO-REAL JUSTICE; 'FRIEDMANS' SON BIDS TO KO PERV VERDICT
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amTHE Long Islander who served 13 years on child-abuse charges and whose case was chronicled in last year's disturbing documentary "Capturing the Friedmans" will file a motion today to have...
COOK'S TOUR OF EATING RIGHT
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amRESOLUTIONS to eat better are particularly tough for cooks and cookbook lovers, since no one wants to give up the joys of cooking - and eating - for a scoop...
BEACH BOYS: SONG STYLINGS OF ROONEY NAB A PART IN 'THE O.C.'
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amAFTER a three week holiday, "The O.C." is finally back with a new episode tonight. When we last left Newport Beach, things seemed to have normalized a little. Ryan (Benjamin...
STARR REPORT
January 7, 2004 | 5:00am'Tis the season The rumor mill is beginning to churn regarding "Ricki Lake" and whispers that it's about to be cancelled after 11 seasons. "No decision has been made yet,"...
WES JUST 4 POINTS BEHIND HOWIE
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amDES MOINES - A new national poll shows retired Gen. Wesley Clark is gaining fast on Democratic front-runner Howard Dean - and now trails by just 4 points. The survey...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amManhattan Police are looking to question a suspect in a gunpoint robbery at an Upper East Side car wash. Yossi Ben-Sadon (above), 30, and a male accomplice posed as floral...
MORGY THE 'EXTREME'; DA VS. DEATH PENALTY
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amFROM the day George W. Bush took office, Capitol Hill Democrats and their allies have railed against his judicial nominees, calling them "extremists" who "can't be trusted to enforce laws...
PETTY CROOK GOES BIGTIME: COPS
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amA paroled Long Island convenience-store holdup man has graduated to serial bank robber, cops said yesterday. Paroled robber Eugene Duffy, 42, of Melville, was arrested Monday night by Suffolk County...
CAR KILLS HOSPITAL SCIENTIST
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amA Long Island scientist died after being struck by a car outside the hospital where she worked. Santosh Varma, 71, of Syosset, had left North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset...
I'M THE DEM BUSH FEARS MOST: LIEBERMAN AD
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush is most frightened of running against Joe Lieberman, a new ad for the Connecticut senator claims. The Democratic hopeful based his claim on an article in...
W.'S AMNESTY FOR MIGRANTS
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush is set to let some illegal immigrants stay in the United States and new immigrants enter the country as long as they have jobs lined up...
FERRER FILES KEY PAPERS ON ROAD TO 3RD MAYORAL RUN
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amIn the surest sign yet he will make a third run for City Hall, Fernando Ferrer has filed documents with the Campaign Finance Board making him eligible for public matching...
JUDGE RESIGNS OVER 'WIFE BEAT' TALK
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amALBANY - An upstate judge has resigned after allegations that he called domestic violence cases a "waste of the court's time" and said that women ask to be "smacked around,"...
OLD MAN WINTER BLOWS INTO TOWN
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amAfter spending the holidays in a warm slumber, Old Man Winter has decided to show his frigid face around town. For the next week, temperatures will dip below freezing, after...
TEACH HELD ON KID-LURE 'S&M' RAP
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amA city public-school teacher was nabbed in an Internet sex sting - trying to lure a 14-year-old girl into sexually torturing him, authorities said yesterday. But the "girl" he allegedly...
COP WIDOW: NIX PAROLE
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amWearing her late husband's police shield, the widow of slain Officer Joseph Piagentini led a rally yesterday to keep her husband's killer behind bars. Diane Piagentini, surrounded by supporters who...
VIDEO PERV PA OFFICER BLAMES 9/11
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amA Port Authority cop who admitted to videotaping an 11-year-old Queens girl while she showered blames the horrors of 9/11 for his candid-camera work, his lawyer said yesterday. Russell Bass,...
WHOLE LOTTO BULL ; REAL WINNER OF $162M EMERGES
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amOh no you don't! The woman who claimed she won the $162 million Mega Millions jackpot but lost her ticket was unmasked as a big bamboozler yesterday - when the...
JUST SAY DOUGH; ANTI-DRUG-AD BIGS RIPPED US OFF: FEDS
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amA $684 million government advertising campaign to stop kids from doing drugs turned into a bad trip for prestigious advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather yesterday when two Manhattan execs were...
NEW 'ODD' MEN IN; SIMON WOOS 'PRODUCERS' NAT AND MATT FOR B'WAY
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amFROM Max and Leo to Oscar and Felix. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, currently breaking Broadway box-office records in "The Producers," have been offered the starring roles in a revival...
BLAND PLAN IS JUST PLAIN DEPRESSING
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amThe first thing to understand about Ground Zero memorial planning is that it's entirely about politics, and an insidious politics at that - the embrace of victimization as a defining...
RIVALS TAKE TAX BITE OUT OF DEAN
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amDES MOINES - Rivals desperately seeking to stop Howard Dean painted the Democratic front-runner yesterday as a tax hiker who can't win the White House because he'd "take it out...
Tragic Diallo kin get record settlement from city
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amThe family of Amadou Diallo got $3 million yesterday in a settlement with the city, closing a chapter in the infamous police-shooting case. "This is not a substitute for human...
CHARLES WANTS ME DEAD: DIANA ; PARANOID PRINCESS PREDICTED CAR-CRASH DEMISE IN DESPERATE 'INSURANCE' LETTER
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amA DESPERATE and paranoid Prin cess Diana penned a chilling note accusing Prince Charles of plotting to kill her by tampering with her car brakes - 10 months before she...
AX LIKELY TO FALL ON ATTACK FIREFIGHTER
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amStaten Island firefighter Michael Silvestri will probably lose his job, whether or not he's convicted of the savage attack on fellow firefighter Robert Walsh, sources said yesterday. Silvestri, 41, faces...
FAMILIES OK USE OF 'HALLOWED GROUND'
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amFamily members of 9/11 victims offered cautious praise yesterday for the surprise choice for the World Trade Center memorial design. "My feeling from the beginning is that it should be...
COURT STARTS QUIZZING MARTHA JURY
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amPotential jurors in the high-profile Martha Stewart trial were asked to complete a weighty, 35-page questionnaire when they reported to court yesterday. As many as 500 people called to Manhattan...
S.I. DOC FORCED DYING GEORGE TO SIGN GUITAR: SUIT
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amAs Beatle George Harrison lay on his deathbed, his cancer doctor allegedly forced him to take hold of a pen and sign a guitar and two autographs, according to a...
LESSONS UNLEARNED; 8 BUSTS AT 3 WORST SCHOOLS ON DAY AFTER
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amThe day after Mayor Bloomberg named the city's 12 most dangerous schools, authorities busted eight students at three of them for assaults and other crimes. Five teens were arrested yesterday...
BRADLEY'S HOWARD HOOP-LA
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amDES MOINES - Basketball great Bill Bradley tried a slam dunk for Howard Dean yesterday, endorsing him for president and calling his Internet-fueled campaign "one of the best things to...
CHUCK & SONS SHOCKED BY SCOTLAND YARD PROBE
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amPrince Charles and his two sons were said to be shocked and devastated by news that Scotland Yard was being brought into the official probe into Princess Diana's fatal car...
BIZARRO BRITNEY; WACKY CONDUCT SPURS KIN CONCERN
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amFriends, loved ones and colleagues are worried about pop tart Britney Spears, questioning why the singer's behavior has gotten wackier throughout the year. Since the summer, the star has been...
MONUMENT OF REMEMBRANCE 'POWERFUL, SIMPLE' POOL DESIGN PICKED AS 9/11 TRIBUTE
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amA minimalist design that marks the World Trade Center footprints with two cascading pools of water is the surprise winner for the Ground Zero memorial, officials announced yesterday. The design,...
CONTEST WIN 'REFLECTS' WELL ON CITY WORKER
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amLife is sure to change dramatically for newly minted star architect Michael Arad - who won the competition for a Ground Zero memorial while holding down his day job with...
S.I. 'GUN' TEACHER HAS SCHOOL RECORD
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amA Staten Island teacher busted for gun and drug possession has a checkered history of school infractions, but never got more than a wrist slap, it was learned yesterday. Dennis...
WHOLE LOTTO BULL; REAL WINNER OF $162M EMERGES
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amOh no you don't! The woman who claimed she won the $162 million Mega Millions jackpot but lost her ticket was unmasked as a big bamboozler yesterday - when the...
JACKO'S ACCUSER A KOBE PAL
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amMichael Jackson may not be the only sex-troubled superstar that his boy accuser had palled around with. The young cancer patient was reportedly befriended by accused rapist Kobe Bryant before...
MONUMENT OF REMEMBRANCE ; 'POWERFUL, SIMPLE' POOL DESIGN PICKED AS 9/11 TRIBUTE
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amA minimalist design that marks the World Trade Center footprints with two cascading pools of water is the surprise winner for the Ground Zero memorial, officials announced yesterday. The design,...
VAN KILLS WOMAN IN MIDTOWN
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amA 34-year-old Westchester woman was struck and killed by a delivery van while crossing Sixth Avenue on a "walk" signal yesterday. The woman, whose name was not released, took two...
N.Y. DIOCESE LAGS ON ABUSE
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amMost U.S. bishops have quickly implemented a mandatory new church policy to try to help prevent the sexual abuse of children by priests - except New York's Edward Cardinal Egan...
COPS TRACK QAEDA JET-BOMB PLOTTERS
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amPolice in England and Europe are seeking al Qaeda terrorists planning to bomb trans-Atlantic jets departing Paris and London, security sources said yesterday. Two al Qaeda terrorists with American passports...
RUSSIAN ROULETTE 'KILLER' SURRENDERS
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amThe Brooklyn man wanted for killing his pregnant girlfriend during a bizarre Christmas Eve game of Russian roulette turned himself in, cops said yesterday. Allan Murphy, 28, had been on...
2ND VICTIM OF QNS. FIRE DIES
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amA 20-year-old Queens man who suffered third-degree burns in a suspicious fire in his building last week died yesterday, cops said. Adrian Katwaroo died in the burn unit at New...
BEAU MAY FACE DEATH IN GAL PAL, BOY SLAYS
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amA man accused of killing his girlfriend, then strangling her 11-year-old son to silence him as a witness, has been charged with first-degree capital murder. The slain boy's dad sobbed...
EURO COPS ON TRAIL OF QAEDA JET-BOMB PLOTTERS
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amPolice in England and Europe are seeking al Qaeda terrorists planning to bomb trans-Atlantic jets departing Paris and London, security sources said yesterday. Two al Qaeda terrorists with American passports...
STORM'S JUICED FOR ORANGEMEN
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amSYRACUSE - The sixth man was thrown off the team after his arrest for marijuana possession. The coach was fired six games into the season. The starting point guard, who...
9-YEAR-OLD KID'S DREAM COMES TRUE
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amCLEVELAND - His first view came early on, through the prism of a 9-year-old's wide, searching eyes. Young Stephon Marbury had taken the subway in from Coney Island to watch...
LOOPER: I'M NO BENITEZ
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amMET NOTES PORT ST. LUCIE - Over the years when Braden Looper would visit Shea Stadium with the Marlins, he'd hear the boos rain down on Armando Benitez. "I definitely...
GOING FOR GUERRERO ; DUQUETTE HOPES VLAD TAKES SHORT-TERM BAIT
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amPORT ST. LUCIE - For the first time this offseason, the Mets publicly admitted that they are considering offering a short-term contract to Vladimir Guerrero. "I think with a guy...
HALL OF AN HONOR FOR MOLITOR, ECK
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amThe week began with Pete Rose's confession that he gambled on baseball games, but yesterday two of the Hit King's contemporaries, Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley, gained admission to the...
NEW GUY: FEUD WITH VAN HORN IS HISTORY
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amCLEVELAND - Stephon Marbury apologized yesterday for making remarks in September that Keith Van Horn would never make it in New York. Marbury vowed that his reunion with Van Horn,...
KNICKS TAKE GIANT STEPH FORWARD ECSTATIC MARBURY MAKES DEBUT
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amCLEVELAND - Stephon Marbury has come to his hometown Knicks to do two things - win an NBA championship and restore the buzz to the Garden. Saying he's always bled...
PAL: PETE BET FROM CLUBHOUSE
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amPORT ST. LUCIE - Tommy Gioiosa, one of Pete Rose's former gambling buddies, says the Hit King's claim he never made bets from the Reds clubhouse is untrue. "Of course...
CASE OF ROSE RAGE ; VETERANS' VENOM AIMED AT 'LIAR' PETE
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amOutraged former baseball legends slid hard into Pete Rose yesterday in the wake of the former Red's admission that he has lied for the past 14 seasons and indeed did...
GIANTS ADMIT IT'S TOM FOR CHANGE ; HARD-LINE COACH INKS 4-YEAR DEAL
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amThere's a new sheriff in town and his name is Tom Coughlin. Let the Giants be forewarned. Life as you knew it is over. Coughlin yesterday signed a four-year contract...
HEALTHY PENNY SET TO SHINE
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES Penny Hardaway said the Knicks don't have to worry about his health. Hardaway, who's had multiple knee surgeries, said he feels as limber as he's been in years...
NETS AWAIT GRIFF, MIGHT SIGN WARD
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amThe bench is roughly as strong as Atlanta's playoff hopes. But help is coming for the Nets. And it could be coming soon. Eddie Griffin, the talented but troubled 6-10...
GROIN KEEPS AARON ON BENCH . . . AGAIN
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amNET NOTES Stop us if you've heard this before. Net backup center Aaron Williams sat last night with his groin injury but is expected to play in the next game....
ISLES' PIPELINE PAYING BIG DIVIDENDS
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amEven when the Islanders were one of the worst teams in the NHL, the future always seemed bright. With so many poor finishes and missed playoffs came a steady stream...
RANGERS LOOKING FOR A RUN
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amWhen Rangers' assistant coach Tom Renney got his first look at the team's schedule back in the summer, he believed the season's first three months would be easy on his...
PLAYERS READY TO BE RULED
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amPlayers who heard for weeks that Tom Coughlin likely was headed to Giants Stadium now know for sure that immense changes are in store for them. Gone is the comfort...
SORRY, CUZ, NO RECORD FOR TELFAIR
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amSteve Karmiol wasn't as fast or as talented as Sebastian Telfair, but one day more than 40 years ago, he did score more points than Lincoln's star point guard. "I...
CAVS BURY KNICKS ; IN STEPH'S DEBUT ; NEWCOMER SCORES 8; NOT ENOUGH
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amCavs 107 Knicks 96 CLEVELAND - Stephon Marbury is a super point guard but he's not Superman. Facing a slew of obstacles from a whirlwind 33 hours, including little sleep,...
ISLES' LATE PARADOX CONTINUES
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amFlames 3Islanders 2 It has become a most puzzling trait, that the Islanders, the best third-period team in the NHL, have never been able to win a game they've trailed...
STAR POINT GUARD HOMECOMING KING
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amCLEVELAND - When the word finally came that he could play, Stephon Marbury felt his hands tremble as he slipped into his sacred basketball vestments for the first time. He...
KENYON'S BLOWUP CAN'T STOP NETS
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amNets 92Clippers 75 In related sports news, the Nets and Clippers played in the Meadowlands. Now on a day when Stephon Marbury debuts with the Knicks, the Giants name Tom...
PENNY PUTRID IN DEBUT
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES CLEVELAND - After multiple knee surgeries, Penny Hardaway says he's as limber as he's been in years, and that the Suns under-used him before his trade to the...
WARD MAY CROSS OVER HUDSON
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amNETS NOTES The Nets are interested in Charlie Ward, waived yesterday by the Suns. Ward's friend and business associate Terrie Williams said last night that the Nets loom as a...
STORM GOIN' AGAIN WITH HIGH HOPES
January 7, 2004 | 5:00amSYRACUSE - The sixth man was thrown off the team after his arrest for marijuana possession. The coach was fired six games into the season. The starting point guard, who...