January 22, 2004

STRONG EURO CAN BUY PLENTY HERE

IF the dollar remains as weak as it has been, there might soon be a whole new meaning for the phrase "Buy American." Folks on Wall Street believe that European...

A STORM OF SUITS AIMED AT BLACK

Lawyers at Hollinger International were preparing lawsuits yesterday aimed at blocking ousted CEO Conrad Black's plans to sell his controlling stake in the company, The Post has learned. The multiple...

ON THE SALE RACK - PEGASUS TO SHOP WOMEN'S SUITMAKER GM DESIGN

GM Design Group, a maker of women's suits and sportswear under the Garfield & Marks and Womyn labels, is dressing itself up for a sale, The Post has learned. GM's...

SEC SEEKS SOURCE OF NEWS LEAKS

The SEC inspector general is trying to find the sources of information about its investigations that have been appearing in the press, The Post has learned. The inquiry appears to...

LIBERTY OR DEATH, CRY DEVELOPERS

Downtown real estate developers are scrambling for a shrinking supply of Liberty Bonds to finance residential projects. Currently, there's a $1.6 billion allocation for the bonds, which provide cheaper financing...

AOL LIFTS THE CURTAIN ON MOVIE DOWNLOAD SERVICE

Innovators have promised "video on demand" since the dawn of the Internet. This year, they're starting to deliver. AOL said yesterday it was partnering with Movielink to provide movies such...

NINTENDO EYES 2-SCREEN HANDHELD

Nintendo hopes to maintain its tight grip on the handheld market with a new mystery product dubbed "DS," the company announced yesterday. The initials stand for dual-screen, and one of...

-BULLISH MERRILL LOOKS FOR TAKEOVERS (S, LCF)-BULLISH MERRILL LOOKING FOR ITS OWN ACQUISITIONS (M)

Top dogs at Merrill Lynch, who have been slashing costs for two years, are hinting the big brokerage may be ready to get back on the acquisition trail. Merrill Lynch...

MORGAN STANLEY TAKES TWO HITS

Despite robust profits and a soaring stock price, Morgan Stanley wound up with two black eyes yesterday. Authorities raided its offices in Italy, searching for smoking guns in the Parmalat...

CALVIN KLEIN CLOSE TO DEAL FOR UPSCALE CLOTHING LINE

Calvin Klein is close to a deal that would see G.A.V. Partners, a garment firm that counts the grandson of Diana Vreeland as one of its founders, produce a new...

O'NEAL TO HIRE BANKERS

After axing more than half of its investment banking group over the past three years, Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O'Neal told managers he is ready to hire 20 to 25...

GUCCIONE GETS $62M PENTHOUSE BAILOUT

Bob Guccione and his Penthouse empire dodged yet another fatal bullet when a German group stepped up with $62 million for a financial rescue. The magazine holding company, General Media,...

STARR REPORT

Bam Bam redux That Bam Bam really gets around. Bam Bam the orangutan, who's ignited controversy over his role on the NBC soap "Passions," is heading into the reality TV...

SOME SURE-FIRE STRATEGIES FOR 'IDOL' HANDS

IF you wanted to be a rock star in the old days, all you had to do, according to the Byrds song, was "get yourself an electric guitar and take...

SEE JANE ACT - FONDA NOW UNRETIRING TYPE

BARBARELLA is back. Jane Fonda - who had retired from acting after marrying her now ex-husband, media mogul Ted Turner - says she decided to resume her movie career after...

REELING & DEALING AT SUNDANCE

THERE hasn't been a drop of snow since the Sundance Film Festival started last Thursday, but there has been an unprecedented blizzard of deals as distributors rushed to snap up...

'FAT FIANCÉ' STAR FORCED OUT OF HER JOB

RANDI Coy, the star of "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé," was forced to resign yesterday from her teaching job at a Catholic school in Phoenix, Ariz. Coy, a first-year, first-grade...

HEAR NO EVIL - SURPRISINGLY NICE LIFE OF MR. NASTY

THIS GUY IS MORE ELUSIVE THAN J.D. SALINGER. *"Biography: Simon Cowell" [ 1/2] (two and one-half stars) Tonight at 8 on A&E --- DO you worship false idols? Good. So...

BACHELOR'S GIANT STEP

LOS ANGELES - New York Giants quarterback Jesse Palmer wants to complete a pass at love, and score the woman of his dreams on ABC's "The Bachelor," according to a...

DONALD GIVES SAM THE SACK

IT WAS about time. Shifty-eyed Sam Solovey, whose shenanigans had earned him recognition as the most colorful of the contestants so far on NBC's "The Apprentice," was finally fired by...

FOX IS FIRST IN THE 'UNION'

FOX beat out the broadcast networks in covering a news event for the first time in its history. Fox's coverage Tuesday of President Bush's State of the Union Address, anchored...

ARCH ENEMY: HOW 30 DAYS OF BIG MACS GAVE THIS MAN SUPERSIZE HEALTH WOES

LAST February, Morgan Spurlock decided to become a gastronomical guinea pig. His mission: To eat three meals a day for 30 days at McDonald's and document the impact on his...

WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN: MUMMY'S THE WORD ON PARIS CATWALKS

Va-va-va voom! The haute couture spring/summer 2004 collections in Paris have never been about what you can wear to the office. That's exactly what makes them so much fun. They're...

FOX NEWS BEATS NETS ON SPEECH

FOX passed another milestone Tuesday night - outrating the broadcast networks in covering a news event, for the first time in its history. Fox's coverage of President Bush's State of...

RANGEL STICKS UP FOR HARLEM CHOIR BOSS

Powerful Harlem Congressman Charles Rangel yesterday urged the city to let scandal-scarred Walter Turnbull remain head of the world-famous Harlem Boys Choir. Turnbull and his brother, Horace, are under fire...

JENNINGS LOSES KEY COUNCIL POST AMID 'HARASS' PROBE

City Councilman Allan Jennings was stripped of his committee chairmanship yesterday amid an investigation of whether he sexually harassed several employees. Council leaders didn't reappoint Jennings (D-Queens) as head of...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Residents of Albuquerque thought Scrooge had moved into town when they heard a serious-sounding radio ad warning of stiff fines for folks who hadn't yet taken down their Christmas lights....

BIN LADEN'S IRAQ ATTACKS BACKFIRING

WASHINGTON - The large number of Muslim deaths caused by al Qaeda terrorist attacks in Iraq has created p.r. problems for Osama bin Laden, who now appears to be having...

A TEST OF VISION - WILL U.S. SELL OUT THE KURDS?

A BRITISH military maxim holds that "experience enables you to recognize a mistake the second time you make it." By that standard, the United States should have no difficulty recognizing...

SHHH! AMTRAK KEEPS IT QUIETER

Amtrak trains will get quieter starting this weekend. The passenger rail company will expand its "Quiet Cars" program on all weekend Acela Express trains on its Northeast Corridor, officials said...

GROUND ZERO DEUTSCHE DEAL CLOSER

Development officials hope to work out a deal to buy the damaged Deutsche Bank building next to Ground Zero in coming weeks, at the same time they resolve an insurance...

SMILING BABIES LEFT BEHIND BY EVIL BOMB MOM

These two adorable kids flash loving smiles - unaware their mom has dressed them in uniforms of hate and is planning an act of mass murder against Israel. They are...

CITY AGREES TO PAY ITSELF BACK

The city's consumer affairs agency has agreed to use special fees it collected to pay $2.1 million in outstanding fines to the city. The decision came after a recommendation by...

MORE POWER IS WATT CITY NEEDS

The city needs more energy - 2,600 megawatts, according to a report yesterday by a mayoral task force. The 16-member panel reported that's what the city would need by 2008...

TRAIN-STAB KILLER CLEARED

An eccentric homeless street performer is off the hook for murder after a Manhattan grand jury cleared him in the West 14th Street subway station stabbing of a brutal street...

'SECRET' SPEED CAMS IN BUDGET

ALBANY - Big Brother will soon be watching drivers with "spy in the sky" cameras along the New York State Thruway or other major state highways, if Gov. Pataki gets...

'BEDLESS' HOMELESS GET $10M FROM CITY

Thousands of homeless families who were forced to spend the night without beds at the Bronx Emergency Assistance Unit will be receiving as much as $10 million from the city,...

DON'T BET ON CASINO PLAN

ALBANY - A plan to place five big gambling casinos in New York City appeared to be on life support yesterday - just a day after Gov. Pataki announced the...

SHE WENT TO PRISON A YOUNG PUNK AND CAME OUT A SLIGHTLY OLDER PUNK

PRISON has not changed her. Daphne Abdela twirled on her heel and glared, as if right through me. The expression in her eyes was as cold and dead as the...

EATERIES CAN SUE COLUMBIA

In a mixed victory for 240 top city restaurants, an appeals panel has upheld their right to sue Columbia University over a bizarre research project that sought to tally their...

WEIGHING IN ON SCHOOLKIDS' DIET

The Subway sandwich-shop chain's poster boy had a message for city school students yesterday: It's no fun being fat. "A lot of kids made fun of me," said Jared Fogle,...

POLICE DEPT. GETS MORE 'CLASS'

In a policy shift, 730 recruits took the oath yesterday to enter the NYPD - the first of two classes scheduled to graduate the Police Academy this year. "Having two...

MIKE'S 'FAT' JAB INSULTS ATKINS' WIDOW

The distraught widow of Dr. Robert Atkins is "extremely upset and hurt" after Mayor Bloomberg was caught on camera saying the diet guru was "fat" and questioning how he died,...

DEAN'S BALLOT-BOX CONSPIRACY THEORY

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Howard Dean unleashed a new line of attack yesterday by hinting at Republican corporate conspiracies to steal elections. Discarding his old stump speech, slipping-in-the-polls Dean took an...

N.J. GETTING NET-TLESOME

New Jersey may lose the Nets to Brooklyn, but state officials vow they'll fight to keep the team's name in the Garden State. If Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner is successful...

ANGRY PARK ROW OVER COMPTROLLER'S AUDIT

An audit due out today accuses private businesses in city parks of failing to complete $10 million in capital improvements. The audit - issued by city Comptroller Bill Thompson -...

VICTIM'S KIN 'SICK' OVER DAPHNE'S SIX SHORT YEARS IN STIR

THE McMorrow family, more than understandably, is outraged. "I just get sick over it," said Joanie McMorrow. She was responding to the fact that Daphne Abdela, "the Baby-faced Butcher," is...

DINER-SHOOT BUST

A parolee was charged yesterday with being one of the two robbers who burst into a Brooklyn diner Saturday and rained bullets on the terrified patrons, hitting eight people. The...

MAYOR CONNECTS WITH UTILITY

Mayor Bloomberg and Con Ed chief Eugene McGrath finally met in person yesterday to discuss progress in the probe of the death of a woman who stepped on an electrified...

FATTY DEPO$ITS - OBESITY EPIDEMIC COSTS $75B A YEAR: STUDY

Americans are getting fatter and fatter and, as a result, taxpayers' wallets are slimming dramatically - with a jaw-dropping $75 billion spent on obesity-related medical costs last year, a new...

SPOUSE IN EVIL 'KILLER' GLOAT - 'I WANT TO SEE MY DIRTY WORK'

After celebrating his wife's murder at a Queens strip club, Billy Cooper drove the man who shot her and another friend back to the crime scene, saying, "I want to...

ARIEL FACING CALLS TO QUIT IN BRIBE SCANDAL

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was battling for his political life yesterday and could face indictment in a growing corruption scandal after an Israeli businessman was charged with trying...

DEMS MAY BE IN FOR BROKERED CONVENTION

NASHUA, N.H. - The Dean Debacle - Howard Dean's post-Iowa primal shriek meltdown - has Democrats buzzing that there's now a real prospect of a long bitter fight for the...

TEACH BUSTED IN BAT ATTACK

A petite Long Island teacher was arrested and charged with smacking another motorist with a baseball bat and hitting him with her car in a "road rage" incident that began...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

BROOKLYN * An NYPD school safety agent was arrested for interfering with cops who tried to break up a fight between his wife and a neighbor, authorities said yesterday. William...

TYCO ANALYST DOESN'T TOY WITH WORDS

"Bull- - - -." That was disgraced stock analyst Phua Young's response yesterday to Manhattan prosecutors' allegations that he was in bed - figuratively and financially - with former Tyco...

RANGEL BACKS BESIEGED HARLEM CHOIR BOSS

Powerful Harlem Congressman Charles Rangel yesterday urged the city to agree to allow scandal-scarred Walter Turnbull to remain head of the world-famous Harlem Boys Choir. Turnbull and his brother Horace...

HIT-RUN MOM 'NOT A TARGET'

Police yesterday discounted assertions by friends and family of a young Queens mom who was run down in the street that she was marked for death after being in a...

FLOP MAKES N.Y. A PRIMARY COLOR

ALBANY - A leading Howard Dean backer said yesterday there's growing concern among his New York supporters that his campaign is in trouble. "I think people are disappointed in the...

CON ED ZAPPED IN SUITS

Two former Con Ed workers have filed suits against the power giant, accusing the utility of giving them the ax - because they blew the whistle on shoddy and possibly...

JAYSON JURY SELECTION DRAGS ON

Jayson Williams' manslaughter trial sputtered to a crawl yesterday as both sides haggled over jury selection for a fifth day. Out of 17 potential jurors interviewed in the first round...

JUROR FUROR FOR MARTHA JUDGE HAS HARD TIME FILLING PANEL

Potential Martha Stewart jurors are already split - some say she's their hero, others say she can't be trusted, court transcripts released yesterday show. The potential jurors in the explosive...

ABC BETS THE RAUNCH ON STERN TV SPECIAL

Move over Barbara Walters, here comes Howard Stern. ABC has just inked a deal with the shaggy-haired shock jock to do a prime-time interview special this spring, The Post has...

SEX-TAPE BLACKMAIL; N.J. DOC EYED WIFE'S LOVER IN PLOT BEFORE SLAYING HER: COPS

The New Jersey doctor charged with killing his wife and faking a car accident to cover it up says he was the victim of a $500,000 blackmail attempt by her...

1,800 KIDS FLEE UNSAFE SCHOOLS

Almost 2,000 Big Apple students have fled their public schools because they think they're unsafe, The Post has learned. City data says 1,837 students have applied for - and gotten...

KILLER'S PARK BENCH APOLOGY ; LEAVES NOTE: 'I TRIED TO SAVE YOU'

Just two days after getting out of prison, "Baby-faced Butcher" Daphne Abdela trudged through the snow to Central Park, where she helped slice and gut a drinking buddy seven years...

L.I. FIEND BOTCHES SLAY AND SUICIDE

A Long Island man who tried and failed to murder his wife with a plastic bag attempted to kill himself - but again failed miserably, sources told The Post yesterday....

KERRY: CATCH ME; LEADS HOWARDBY 10 IN N.H. POLL

NASHUA, N.H. - John Kerry has opened up a stunning 10-point lead over imploding Howard Dean in New Hampshire, according to a new poll last night. The survey by the...

CHENEY ATTENDS N.Y. FUND-RAISER

Vice President Dick Cheney quietly jetted up to New York yesterday for an unannounced fund-raiser. The event - with proceeds going to the Bush/Cheney re-election campaign - was held at...

MILLIONAIRE LOOMS AS KEY WITNESS

Italian millionaire Jean Pigozzi, who once turned up at a Sam Waksal party with rocker Mick Jagger, has emerged as a possible witness at the Martha Stewart trial. Pigozzi hosted...

JUROR FUROR FOR MARTHA; JUDGE HAS HARD TIME FILLING PANEL

Potential Martha Stewart jurors are already split - some say she's their hero, others say she can't be trusted, court transcripts released yesterday show. The potential jurors in the explosive...

DYING COP RIPPED OFF: DA

A "heartless" Long Island travel agent stole more than $20,000 from a terminally ill retired detective who wanted to treat his sick wife and her family to a final cruise...

DEUTSCHE DEAL NEAR AT GROUND ZERO

Development officials hope to work out a deal to buy the damaged Deutsche Bank building next to Ground Zero in coming weeks, at the same time they resolve an insurance...

NETS APPROVE RATNER DEAL

The owners of the Nets agreed to sell the NBA team to real-estate developer Bruce Ratner, a team official said last night. The team may be moved to Brooklyn as...

KERRY: CATCH ME; LEADS HOWARD BY 10 IN N.H. POLL

NASHUA, N.H. - John Kerry has opened up a stunning 10-point lead over imploding Howard Dean in New Hampshire, according to a new poll last night. The survey by the...

10 STUDENTS BUSTED IN SCUFFLES AT BRONX HS

Ten students were arrested at Theodore Roosevelt HS in The Bronx yesterday after two separate fights in the building, authorities said yesterday. Two victims were hospitalized in the incidents. Eight...

10 BUSTED AT BRONX HS

Ten students were arrested at Theodore Roosevelt HS in The Bronx yesterday after two separate fights in the building, authorities said yesterday. Two victims were treated at a hospital after...

DOUBLE BUNGLE ON SLAY-SUICIDE

A Long Island man who tried unsuccessfully to murder his wife with a plastic bag yesterday later attempted to kill himself - but again failed miserably, police said. Fitzgerald Harvey,...

GOV'S NO-BID SCHOOL DEAL NIXED

ALBANY- State Comptroller Alan Hevesi yesterday rejected a $1.2 million no-bid contract that Gov. Pataki's education-reform commission awarded to Wall Street powerhouse Standard & Poor's. Hevesi said his office determined...

'SUBWAY' GUY WEIGHS IN ON SCHOOL DIET

The Subway sandwich-shop chain's poster boy had a message for city public school students yesterday: It's no fun being fat. "A lot of kids made fun of me," said Jared...

PAROLEE NABBED IN WILD DINER SHOOTING

A parolee was charged yesterday with being one of the two robbers who burst into a Brooklyn diner Saturday and rained bullets on the terrified patrons, hitting eight people. The...

BUSH PUSH FOR JOB TRAINING

WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday went to Ohio and Arizona - key re-election states - to push the new job-training program that he announced in his State of the Union...

CLASSROOM EXTRA: EVERYTHING UNDER ONE ROOF

Manhattan has always been small on space and big on population. New York rose to the challenge, turning apartment living into the housing of choice and changing urban life forever....

SLAM-DUNC-ED AGAIN - SPURS SPANK NETS IN ALAMO REMATCH

SAN ANTONIO - June or January, it doesn't seem to matter. The Nets walked off the court here last night the same way they walked off seven months ago. In...

SKIING CAN BE FOR EVERYONE

BEING physically chal- lenged is no excuse for not being on the slopes, especially when we have teachers who have offered their years of knowledge to help instruct those who...

SATHER WILL 'DUAL' TO END - BLUESHIRTS' GM WON'T GIVE UP ON COACH JOB

'A lot of guys say the pressure's there and they hand the job over to someone else, but that's not me.' -Glen Sather on prospect of stepping down as Rangers...

DEVS PLANNING HALL OF FAME

A Devils Hall of Fame is long overdue for a team that has done so much and honored so few. The Devils, who have long made a policy of refusing...

IT'S THE THOMAS FROWN AFFAIR BULLS REBUFF ISIAH'S ATTEMPT TO UNLOAD LAYDEN LEFTOVERS

HOUSTON - The Knicks didn't get Jamal Crawford yesterday. They got Bruno Sundov. With the Bulls rejecting two Isiah Thomas offers that had guard Frank Williams as the centerpiece, Thomas...

EWING'S INTERESTED IN LEAD GIG

KNICK NOTES HOUSTON - While Patrick Ewing is hoping to at least get a head-coaching interview this summer, Jeff Van Gundy's top assistant, Tom Thibodeau, may finally land a job....

METS RAISE TOAST TO PIAZZA'S HEALTH

There are position changes and new players, aging veterans and unproven youngsters. But perhaps more than anything else, the Mets' 2004 fortunes may hinge on a simple question: Can they...

WARD SHRUGS OFF STEPHON'S SLIGHT

NET NOTES SAN ANTONIO - There was a certain irony in the deal: Charlie Ward left New York as the new guy, Stephon Marbury, came into town. And it was...

STEROID CLOUDS HAUNTING USTAF

It spoke volumes about U.S. track & field that a dozen potential Olympic medallists could be trotted out for a Garden press conference to hype the track Hall of Fame,...

BERNARD: HOOPS WOULD BE KING IN FLATBUSH

HE used to walk these same avenues and boulevards all the time, bouncing a basketball, harboring a boundless ambition. The streets still look the same to Bernard King. Atlantic Avenue...

BULLS REBUFF ISIAH'S OFFER FOR CRAWFORD

HOUSTON - The Knicks didn't get Jamal Crawford yesterday. Or Darius Miles. They got Bruno Sundov. With the Bulls rejecting two Isiah Thomas offers that had Frank Williams as the...

MOVE NO BIG DEAL TO PLAYERS

SAN ANTONIO - Well, you can take 3 East to the Lincoln Tunnel and then head downtown . . . As word of the Nets' impending sale to Brooklyn investors...

GRIFF'S RETURN SHAPING UP

NET NOTES SAN ANTONIO - The arms and legs are starting to get definition. Eddie Griffin is looking more like he is about ready to play and contribute. "He's getting...

BRODEUR HAS NO MARGIN FOR ERROR - DEVILS' OFFENSE FIZZLES AGAIN

Hurricanes 2 - Devils 1 These are scary days in Stanley Cupville. First Scott Stevens, their Man of Steel, leaves the Devil lineup, perhaps for a long time. Now Martin...

IT'S A FOUR-GONE CONCLUSION - KNICK STREAK FIZZLES AS ROCKETS ROLL AGAIN

Rockets 86 - Knicks 71 HOUSTON - It didn't matter if it was Don Chaney or Lenny Wilkens on the Knick bench. Jeff Van Gundy posted his second victory in...

EWING INTERESTED IN LEAD GIG

KNICK NOTES HOUSTON - While Patrick Ewing is hoping to at least get a head-coaching interview this summer, Jeff Van Gundy's top assistant, Tom Thibodeau, may finally land a job....

IT'S A FOUR-GONE: KNICK STREAK FIZZLES AS ROCKETS ROLL AGAIN

Rockets 86 Knicks 71 HOUSTON - It didn't matter if it was Don Chaney or Lenny Wilkens. Jeff Van Gundy posted another easy win over the Knicks last night. But...

READY FOR EDDIE: NETS HOPING GRIFF CAN BOLSTER BENCH

SAN ANTONIO - A Nets' strength for the past two seasons suddenly has become a liability. The bench, once stockpiled with reliable bodies, is staggering from game to game with...