December 25, 2004

EURO PANIC OVER $ FALL

With the dollar weakened to its lowest level ever and European regulators in a frenzy, some Washington watchers welcomed the situation as a way for the U.S. to remedy its...

TV PLAYS GAMES TO WIN BACK YOUNG MEN'S HEARTS

Television is looking to mimic a fast-growing rival - the video-game industry - in an attempt to win back the eyeballs of millions of young men who have fled the...

BROOKLYN CATCHES THE WAVE - COOL NEW DEVELOPMENTS RISE UP ON THE HOT WATERFRONT

IF BROOKLYN IS EXPERIENCING A WAVE OF POPULARITY, IT MAY BE because waves are popular in Brooklyn. Not only does the borough offer low-key living and beautiful parks, there are...

RIVERFRONT BUILDING BLUES

BIG plans are afoot all along the Brooklyn waterfront, but none are quite so ambitious as the current proposals to rezone nearly 200 decaying blocks along the East River in...

PARIS AIR - GIRLS TAKE OFF FOR 'SIMPLE LIFE 3'

HERE'S ditzy debutants Paris Hilton, right, and Nicole Richie back on the "Simple Life 3: Interns" dressed as, ahem, sexy flight attendents at a small Pennsylvania airport. Fortunatly, the pair...

DID YOU RULE AT SCHOOL?

IF you really devote yourself to channel surfing this holiday weekend, you may find one or two TV shows that don't feature emotionally-alienated reindeer, news features about shoppers' rushing to...

TV'S BACK-TO-THE-BEGINNING BUTTON

A new technology in the works at Time Warner Cable could provide a quick fix for viewers who miss the beginning of their favorite TV shows. The service, is tentatively...

LET IT RIP! - FROM DORA TO ICE DRAGONS, THE BEST OF THE HOLIDAY BREAK; SCHOOL IS OUT, FUN IS IN - EIGHT DAYS OF HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS

THE presents have been unwrapped, dinner's over - now what? The kids have the entire week off from school, and once you pry them away from "Halo 2," they'll probably...

DESPERATE? RENT THESE!

SURE, it's great to pack the holidays with family outings. But some days, everybody wants to curl up at home with a movie. Here are a few recently released can't-miss...

HEAT'S ON THE GOTTI 'HIT KING'

Federal officials have launched a criminal probe of Gambino captain Nicholas "Little Nicky" Corozzo - targeting whether he played a role in two murders and the shooting of a radio...

N.Y. 'FLUNKS' ON TEACH STANDARD

New York state's plan to meet federal teaching standards by the end of next school year has received an "F" from a teacher advocacy group. A new report by the...

MERRY XMAS, GRACIE - SET FOR LIFESAVER OP THANKS TO GOOD WILL

Santa left little toy ponies and play lipstick under the Christmas tree for a delighted Gracie Harpham as the spunky 3-year-old is about to get the most precious present of...

'ADDICTED' TO CRIME

A desperate Long Island mom strapped for drug funds and Christmas-gift cash was arrested yesterday after pulling her third bank heist in less than a month, police said. Bernadette Mile,...

PRINCE IS NO PAUPER - ROCKER & DION TOP TOUR-$ LIST

Prince will be able to buy himself a fleet of little red Corvettes after crowning the list of the top 25 tours of 2004. This year's concert king raked in...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Police dug up Richard Fernicola's back yard in Allenhurst, N.J., after they were shown a sketch of the bottom of an old dresser drawer with the message, "Map of the...

TEARS FOR A HERO - BX. SOLDIER KILLED IN BAGHDAD 'A FIGHTER FOR ALL OF HUMANITY'

A 21-year-old soldier from The Bronx, killed by a sniper in Baghdad last week, was laid to rest yesterday, remembered as a reluctant warrior who left home for the dangers...

MIKE 'RAISES' RHETORIC IN COP-UNION $$ TALKS

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday chided the police union for failing to negotiate a new contract, especially since he has reached deals with other municipal unions. "It's disappointing that the police, the...

RUMMY PLAYS SANTA TO GIS - DEFENSE CHIEF, LETTERMAN SPREAD CHEER IN IRAQ

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday delivered a special gift during his surprise visit to U.S. troops serving in Iraq - a Purple Heart for a soldier wounded by...

HOSP XMAS FOR BOY HIT BY FEDEX TRUCK

The distraught parents of a "beautiful" 6-year-old boy struck by a FedEx delivery truck will spend Christmas alongside their critically injured son at a Manhattan hospital. Jordan Perrone was in...

COMFORT & JOY - TOURIST KIDS REUNITE WITH BELOVED DOORMAN

Christmas miracles still do happen - especially in the Big Apple. Just ask these two adorable Ohio kids who had a dramatic Christmas Eve reunion with the New York City...

SADDEST SIDE OF CHRISTMAS

A man in his 30s subjected commuters to a Christmas Eve horror yesterday, as he leaped to his death beneath a No. 1 train on the Upper West Side. Stunned...

FATAL STABBING AT QNS. CINEMA

Christmas was shattered for two lifelong friends early yesterday when they were stabbed outside a Queens movie theater - one fatally. Davey Adams, 20, and Yajdiel Collado, 20, pals since...

LOVE STORY BETWEEN IRAQ AND A HEART PLACE

Georgette Falbo couldn't see her soldier sweetheart this Christmas because he's in Iraq - but that didn't stop them from getting engaged! Spc. Shadd Hoffman, 23, made a surprise marriage...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

MANHATTAN * Two gunmen held up a West Village deli early yesterday, police sources said. The thieves walked into the Bleecker Mini-mart Delicatessen on Bleecker Street at 5:47 a.m. and...

MARTHA'S BROKER GETS JUST 'DESERTS'

Martha Stewart's stockbroker Peter Bacanovic is expected to report to a desert prison camp just outside of Las Vegas on Jan. 18. Following the diva of domesticity's lead, Bacanovic has...

NUT SLAYS GRANNY, 88: COPS

A man - convinced his 88-year-old grandmother was trying to poison his Christmas Eve dinner - went into a mad frenzy in her Brooklyn apartment last night and stabbed her...

W. PUTS OUT 'CALL' TO ARMS

WASHINGTON - A Christmas Eve phone call from President Bush was a surprise gift for 10 U.S. military members serving around the globe, including six troops stationed in Iraq. Bush...

EX-B'KLYN GI AMONG TENT BLAST VICTIMS

A one-time Brooklyn resident - who relatives said never took off his Yankees cap - was among the 13 GIs killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq this week, the...

BOY'S SUPERGIFT FROM REEVE KIN

Call it Superman's supervan. The family of Christopher Reeve has donated his specially modified vehicle to a quadriplegic boy to help him get around town. Tyler Howard, 14, of Charlestown,...

DEADLY GANG-STAB AT QUEENS THEATER

Two lifelong friends were stabbed - one fatally - outside a Queens movie theater early yesterday. Davey Adams, and Yajdiel Collado, both 20, were knifed during a fight with six...

LAW'S A BIG JOKE! - REAL KRAMER'S $$ BATTLE

Just in time for Festivus, the real-life Kramer is embroiled in a nasty little legal imbroglio that sounds like a missing episode from "Seinfeld." Kenny Kramer - the inspiration for...

BOY, 14, SHOT DEAD ON BROOKLYN STREET

A Brooklyn teen was shot dead in a hail of gunfire on his way home from buying himself a Christmas present last night, police said. Anderson Bercy, 14, was walking...

HOLIDAY EVE SUBWAY SUICIDE

A terminally ill man leapt to his death beneath a subway train on the Upper West Side yesterday, police sources said. Harvey Weans, 51, stunned commuters when he jumped onto...

KNIFE NUT SLAYS HIS GRANNY: COPS

A man - convinced his grandmother was trying to poison his Christmas Eve dinner - went into a mad frenzy in her Brooklyn apartment last night and fatally stabbed her...

SPITZER LETS WALL ST. REST

ALBANY - State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer - who made a national reputation by nailing Wall Street brokers, insurance firms and the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange -...

'LITTLE NICKY' IS EYED IN GOTTI HITS

Federal officials have launched a criminal probe of Gambino captain Nicholas "Little Nicky" Corozzo - targeting whether he played a role in two murders and the shooting of a popular...

ARAFAT BLOC LEADING IN ELECTIONS

JERUSALEM - Hamas finished a strong second - to Yasser Arafat's more moderate Fatah faction - in the terrorist group's debut in Palestinian elections, officials said yesterday. Incomplete returns showed...

NAUGHTY & NICE

Christmas is here. Santa has made his list, checked it twice and decided who's been naughty and who's been nice. At The Post, here's who we think is on Santa's...

BIG PLANS IN STORE FOR MOISO

NET NOTES So he's not a brute. But Jerome Moiso is 6-10, 260 pounds, and the Nets are looking for both size and bodies. Moiso is expected to be added...

BETTER JUMPER FOR LESS-JUMPY BUFORD

Consistency. That's what Lawrence Frank seeks from Rodney Buford. No caffeine. That's what Rodney Buford now seeks in his pre-game drink. Buford, it's no secret, disappointed big time in his...

BELICHICK IMPRESSED WITH THOMAS

JET NOTES Bryan Thomas got some attention when the Jets made the defensive end out of UAB their first-round selection (No. 22 overall) in the 2002 NFL Draft. Then he...

JETS' WISH LIST: WRAP UP DILLON - PATS' BIG BACK CAN'T RUN WILD

Tomorrow's clash between the Jets and the arch-enemy Patriots at the Meadowlands is going to be a dress rehearsal for the playoffs, an epic battle on so many levels that,...

REACHING DEEP INTO THE ROSTER

GIANT NOTES Players who weren't on the roster at the start of the season - or midway through the season, for that matter - and were not supposed to be...

FRANKLY SPEAKING - WALKER LIKELY TO START AT CORNER FOR JINTS

When Frank Walker heard that Bengals receiver Chad Johnson earlier this season sent Pepto-Bismol to the Browns defensive backfield as a way of stating in advance that he was about...

VINSANITY TO BEGIN

The new year is coming. But for the Nets, it's more like a new era. The era with Vince Carter playing next to Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson will officially...

COME IN, HOUSTON - ALLAN FORCED TO STEP UP

Allan Houston wanted this to happen, but not this way. With Jamal Crawford on the shelf for three to six weeks with turf toe, Houston will be thrust into the...

WILKENS HAS HAD HIS PHIL

KNICK NOTES It has been simmering inside him for a couple of months now, and Lenny Wilkens finally let Phil Jackson have it. In October, The Post quoted Jackson saying...

VAZ: DON'T TRADE ME

According to Javier Vazquez, the Yankees would be wrong to deal him to Arizona for Randy Johnson. Talking in Ponce, Puerto Rico, soft-spoken Vazquez questioned the Yankees' intelligence if they...

YANKS WON'T PAY BIG PRICE FOR UNIT

If the Diamondbacks insist on the Yankees sending $19.5 million from The Bronx to The Desert as part of the Randy Johnson transaction, the Yankees have a message for Arizona....