December 29, 2004
RENTAL BLOCK - BLOCKBUSTER VOWS HOSTILE $1B BID FOR RIVAL
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amBlockbuster is getting mad. The leading video rental chain vowed yesterday to streamroll over all its rivals with a hostile $1 billion bid in about two weeks to acquire the...
-YUKOS EX-BOSS SLAMS PUTIN FROM SLAMMER (M)-OIL TYCOON SLAMS PUTIN FROM SLAMMER (S, LCF)
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amA tale of oil billions, a politically-charged power struggle and a jailed tycoon is turning into a modern-day "The Count of Monte Cristo" - Russian-style. Russia's colorful oil baron, Mikhail...
SAY BUY, BUY - SOARING CONFIDENCE LIFTS HOPES FOR '05
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amConsumer confidence soared in December to its highest level in six months, amid signs of an economic recovery, including an improved labor market. The figures, released yesterday by the Conference...
RETAILER TO SHUTTER 150 STORES, CUT 2,000 JOBS
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amWet Seal said yesterday that it would close 150 stores, about one-third of its total, and eliminate 2,000 jobs, in a sweeping restructuring designed to keep the troubled retailer afloat....
US AIR: WORK FOR NOTHING
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amHoping to avoid more wrecked holiday travel, US Airways is urging its workers to come to work for free on their days off this New Year's weekend. The airline is...
WET SEAL TO FIRE 2,000
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amWet Seal said yesterday that it would close 150stores, about one-third of its total, and eliminate 2,000 jobs, in a sweeping restructuring designed to keep the troubled retailer afloat. The...
NO BULL ABOUT THIS BLDG.; BULL MAN DESIGNS BUILDING
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amARTIST Arturo Di Modica sculpted the Wall Street Bull, which he is now trying to sell for over $5 million with the provision it remain in Battery Park, where it...
US AIR MAY CUT DAYS OFF
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amHoping to avoid more wrecked holiday travel, US Airways is urging its workers to come to work for free on their days off this New Year's weekend. The airline is...
ADELPHIA OFFERS $300M TO SEC
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amBankrupt Adelphia Communications has offered $300 million to settle longrunning federal investigations, and it indicated that potential proceeds from a lawsuit against its founding family would fund a chunk of...
VINCE FEVER HITS KNICKS COUNTRY IN HUGE NIKE AD
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amVince Carter has landed -in New York. With just one game under his belt after being traded to the New Jersey Nets, the NBA superstar will loom large in a...
NEW YEAR'S BABIES - THE RACE TO REPLACE THE OLD GUARD OF TIMES SQ.
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amCALL it the new broad casting battle of New Year's Eve. With perennial ABC holiday host Dick Clark on the mend from a stroke, a new generation of broadcasters -...
'O'REILLY FACTOR' RULES CABLE NEWS
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amFOX News Channel dominated the cable news ratings in 2004. Of the most-watched cable news shows of the year, CNN's only entry to crack the top 10 was "Larry King...
'IDOL MAGAZINE' TO LAUNCH BEFORE SHOW
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amMOVE over Tiger Beat - "American Idol" the magazine is slated to launch next month. The first issue will offer in-depth coverage of the upcoming season's auditions, interviews and photography....
'EVERYBODY LOVES' POKER
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amRAY and Robert are going for the flop. Ray Romano and Brad Garrett, who play brothers on the sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond," have been tapped for Bravo's "Celebrity Poker." They...
PRAY FOR A SHORTER VERSION
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amThere's something about documentary filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond that causes people to come out of the closet. Maybe the cameras make the participants want to do something - anything...
GET YOUR NEW YEAR'S KICKS
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amTHE Two Boots Pioneer Theater will welcome the new year with a Bruce Lee festival. It kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday with "Bruce Lee: Fist of the Unicorn" (1972),...
EXIT THE STAGE - B'WAY LOST GREAT LIGHTS IN '04
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amTHE theater lost some pretty major figures this year. To commemorate these lives, I rifled through The Post's archives in search of reviews and profiles that were published at the...
YUMMY & CRUMMY - DISHING ON THE YEAR'S MOST MEMORABLE DINING
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amA RESTAURANT REVIEWER hates to whine as the days wind down on a year full of genuinely horrible news. But it's part of the job to make year-end judgments. With...
NEW CONTEXT, SAME IFFY PLOT
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amNOT even a compelling performance by Al Pacino as Shylock can make "The Merchant of Venice" work in its first major big-screen adaptation. One of Shakespeare's most problematic plays, "Merchant"...
NIXON FICTION - WHY A SALESMAN WOULD KILL A PRESIDENT
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amDECADES before Sept. 11 - during the final days of the Nixon administration, to be exact - a distraught American man tried to hijack a jetliner and crash it into...
WITH 'GOOD' GRACE
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amA star is born in "In Good Company," which showcases Topher Grace in a consistently funny comedy about business ethics that cuts fairly deep for a mainstream Hollywood comedy. More...
TOO MANY VERSES IN 'LOVE SONG'
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amYOU know it's Oscar season when stars like John Travolta go gray, sport a potbelly and start playing disheveled characters who drink their breakfast out of a bottle. Welcome to...
GET DOWN FOR THE COUNT - PARTY ON AT THESE LATIN NEW YEAR'S EVE BASHES
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amSTILL haven't set up your New Year's Eve plans? What are you waiting for? If you don't get it together, you may end up spending it in your slippers, watching...
HOMELAND DEPT. FUNDS 'WASTED'
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Homeland Security Department money doled out to shore up the nation's ports has been flushed away on low-priority problems, the agency's departing watchdog says in a new report....
'STINGY' FUROR - COLIN REBUTS U.N. BIG'S COMPLAINT ON WESTERN AID
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amAn irate Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday fired back at a U.N. official who called the United States "stingy" when it comes to providing humanitarian aid to countries in...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amThree tablespoons of water from a cup once used by Elvis Presley fetched $455 on eBay. Wade Jones, 40, of Belmont, N.C., said he decided to sell the Elvis "memorabilia"...
MIA MIKE RETURNING TO WORK
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amAfter being absent from public view for nearly four days - possibly in the Bahamas for at least part of the time - Mayor Bloomberg returns to action today. The...
FEWER COPS SLAIN IN '04
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amThe number of police officers killed while on duty this year is less than the decade-long average. As of Dec. 24, 154 cops across the nation were killed in the...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amBROOKLYN * A woman and her son were arrested for attacking each other in their Sunset Park apartment, authorities said yesterday. At about 5:30 p.m. on Monday, José Villalobos, 16,...
TIMES SQ. SET TO SPARKLE
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amOne hundred years in the making, Friday's New Year's Eve bash in Times Square will include Olympic athletes, comedy, poetry, jukebox tunes and a live MTV performance. And, of course,...
JB STATION REBUILDS GET ON TRACK NEXT MONTH
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amPlans to rehab two transit hubs in lower Manhattan are rolling forward with construction slated to start next month on the Fulton Street Transit Center and the new South Ferry...
NEW SHOCKER IN VELELLA RELEASE
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amHe's back behind bars now, but Guy Velella got the sweetest deal of any felon freed from Rikers Island by the little-known Local Conditional Release Commission. Records obtained by The...
LAUTENBERG MAKES BID TO SACK STADIUM
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amThe federal government has for the first time been asked to jump into the debate over the proposed West Side stadium, as New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg yesterday raised questions...
POP.-UP NATION - COULD BE 1 BILLION IN U.S. BY 2100
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amBoom! Boosted by immigration and a new American being born every eight seconds, the nation's population grew by nearly 3 million in 2004, the Census Bureau said yesterday. Angst-filled experts...
HUNT FOR MOM-SLAY SUSPECT
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amA Queens woman shot in her apartment has died - and a 19-year-old with whom she had an ongoing dispute is the prime suspect, police said. Lisa Taylor, 35, was...
L.I. TEEN CHARGED IN PLOT TO KILL STEPDAD
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amA Long Island teenager whose boyfriend is charged with killing her abusive stepfather last year turned herself in to cops yesterday as they prepared to arrest her for her alleged...
BABY FACTORY - BROOKLYN HOSP TOPS IN BIRTHS
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amOh, baby! Maimonides Medical Center has delivered the most babies of any hospital in the city, according to newly released figures from the Department of Health. That's 6,233 bundles of...
THEIR 'MAIN' MAN - LANDLORD TAKES IN FAMILIES AFTER PIPE BREAK IN QUEENS
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amA kindhearted Queens landlord opened up his own home to several tenants yesterday after a water-main break flooded one of his buildings, depriving his renters of heat and water. Dozens...
LIZA CANS SHOWS AFTER SOUSED SPILL
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amLiza Minnelli's fall from bed has proven to be a real show-stopper. Injuries from what a police source said was a drunken fall in her Upper East Side apartment on...
CLUB SHOOT TWIST - VICTIM TIED TO RAP SLAY
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amA Queens man whose notorious brother was implicated in a massive rap-industry murder and drug probe was one of two ex-cons shot outside a Manhattan nightclub after a party for...
QUAKE LIKE A MILLION A-BOMBS: EXPERTS
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amThe gargantuan earthquake that unleashed deadly tsunami waves in Asia was so powerful that it was nearly equal to the force of 1 million atomic bombs, scientists estimate. The quake,...
ROBBER CUTS HIS VICTIM A BREAK
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amA gun-toting mugger apparently had a soft spot for a hard-luck story when he let his pleading victim keep two sentimental rings and gave him $20 for cab fare home....
APOCALYPSE DEATHS NEAR 60,000 - AND ILLNESS MIGHT DOUBLE HORROR
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amThousands of additional bodies were found in Indonesia yesterday, raising the death toll from the killer Asian tsunamis to up to 60,000 as health officials warned that an equal number...
RELIEF & GRIEF FOR NEW YORK FAMILIES
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amEd Kennedy of Naugatuck, Conn., is still waiting for news of his brother Brian, a retired teacher who was vacationing on a Thai beach when a tsunami hit. Darsha Nikanhanda...
GOTTI JAIL BREAK - PETER OUT OF SOLITARY
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amPeter Gotti is going back to the hoods. The goodfella who's had a very bad year finally got a break yesterday when a judge sprung him from solitary confinement and...
ANGUISH OF THE BABIES WHO'VE EMERGED ALIVE
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amAMID the destruction that has ravaged Southeast Asia, miracles have given weary victims hope. A dazed 2-year-old boy was found wandering alone along a roadside near the wasteland of a...
AUTHOR SONTAG DIES
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amSusan Sontag, whose essays on everything from photography to genocide to politics made her a leading leftist intellectual of the 20th century, died yesterday of leukemia. She was 71. She...
MODEL CAN'T STOP CRYING FOR BEAU
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amJet-setting supermodel Petra Nemcova "can't be consoled" about boyfriend Simon Atlee, who was swept away when the tsunami struck their Thailand bungalow. Nemcova, 25, who suffered a broken pelvis, just...
INVADERS STAB, ROB B'KLYN REV.
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amA Brooklyn clergyman was stabbed and critically wounded by three or four men who attacked him in the Flatbush home from which he runs his church. Lloyd Rodney, 40, was...
RELIEF AND GRIEF FOR N.Y.-AREA FAMILIES
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amThe tsunami was "worse than anything you see on the news." That's what Brian Kennedy, a 59 year-old survivor from Connecticut, told his family and friends in e-mails from Thailand....
CROOK WITH A HEART - LETS VICTIM KEEP RINGS
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amA gun-toting Brooklyn mugger apparently had a soft spot for a hard-luck story when he broke down and let his pleading victim keep two sentimental rings - then gave him...
GUARD'S KIN FACE FUNERAL STRIFE
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amThe family of a Queens security guard who was burned to death on Christmas Day is struggling to pay for the father-of-four's funeral. "I don't know what I'm going to...
MA SLAIN AS GIRL CRIES, 'MOMMY, WAKE UP'
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amA Queens woman was shot and killed in front of her horrified child in her apartment, and police want to question a 19-year-old with whom she had an ongoing dispute,...
MIRACLE OF THE LITTLE BOY LOST & FOUND
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amAMID the destruction that has ravaged Southeast Asia, miracles have given weary victims hope. A dazed 2-year-old boy was found wandering alone along a roadside near the wasteland of a...
APOCALYPSE GETS WORSE AS EPIDEMIC MAY DOUBLE DEATH COUNT
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amThousands of additional bodies were found in Indonesia yesterday, raising the death toll from the killer Asian tsunamis to about 68,000, as health officials warned that an equal number could...
GOV. RELL SET TO LEAVE HOSP
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amConnecticut Gov. Jodi Rell was resting comfortably yesterday, a day after breast-cancer surgery. Rell, 58, underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery at Danbury Hospital on Monday, a week after the...
B'KLYN MAN KILLS BOOZE BUDDY: COPS
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amA few drinks among friends turned deadly when a 38-year-old man was viciously stabbed inside his Brooklyn apartment yesterday by a neighbor who admitted to his family that he did...
LIGHTS GO OUT ON VERRAZANO
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amA malfunctioning feeder cable last night caused a power outage on Staten Island that knocked out the lights on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, officials said. The faulty cable blew at...
MAN, 41, DIES IN S.I. CRASH
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amA 41-year-old man was killed in a car crash near the Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island last night, cops said. The man, whose name was withheld, hit another...
DARING EXODUS TO ISRAEL DARING EXODUS TO ISRAEL - 250 LEAVE JFK FOR A NEW LIFE
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amMore than 250 U.S. and Canadian citizens shared tears, laughter and hugs withloved ones at Kennedy Airport yesterday as they left them behind to start their lives fresh in Israel....
DARING EXODUS TO ISRAEL - FAMILIES LEAVE JFK FOR A NEW LIFE
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amMore than 250 U.S. and Canadian citizens shared tears, laughter and hugs with loved ones at Kennedy Airport yesterday as they left them behind to start their lives fresh in...
HACKETT'S TRYING TO AVOID AX
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amTHE TIME has finally come for Paul Hackett's last stand. After nearly four seasons of frustration, curiosity and angst associated with the Jets' often confounding offense, it's going to take...
PLAYOFFS - OR ELSE - FOR JETS - DON'T WASTE THIS CHANCE!
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amTHE JETS like to remind us of the small progresses they make, the way the culture in Hempstead is so much better than it used to be. They seem proud...
MOISO MAY BE BIG HELP
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amNET NOTES CHICAGO - The search goes on for more size but for now, the Nets have settled on 6-10 Jerome Moiso. "Jerome is very athletic. He's got good skills,...
JEFF'S WINNING RAVES - NETS STAR IMPRESSES BROWN
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amCHICAGO - Larry Brown, coach of the world champion Pistons, was talking about the Nets' talented, slasher-with-a-jumper athletic star. "He can post up. He's got strength and he can go...
NO LONGER DOUBTIN' THOMAS
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES Under-appreciated Kurt Thomas is quietly having an excellent season, perhaps becoming the most consistent Knick and taking himself off the trading block. Back in August, when The Post...
SPREE'S FINISHED 'DOLAN' OUT TRASH
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amLatrell Sprewell plans to be on his best behavior tonight. A-hem. A-hem. Sprewell is downplaying tonight's Timberwolves game at the Garden. He's ready to beat the Knicks again and get...
COMIN' AT YA? - RANDY COULD BE YANK TODAY AS TALKS RESUME
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amThe Yankees remain infuriated that the Dodgers last week backed out of an oral agreement to participate in a three-way trade that would have put Randy Johnson in pinstripes. However,...
MAYBE AMAZIN'S CAN SWIPE CARLOS FROM BOSS' GRASP
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amGEORGE Steinbrenner loves Randy Johnson. He likes Carlos Beltran. Is there a big enough gulf between that fixation and fondness for the Mets to exploit it and steal Beltran? The...
ROBERTS LIVES HIS DREAM - STORM COACH GETS FIRST GARDEN PARTY
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amHOLIDAY FESTIVAL In the days leading up to April 13, when he was hired as St. John's coach, Norm Roberts found himself doing something he rarely does. He mused about...
KIDD RIPS SKILES AS 'BACKSTABBER'
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amNET NOTES CHICAGO - Time heals all wounds. Yeah, right. Net All-Star Jason Kidd last night blasted his former coach Scott Skiles, whom he still blames for having him traded...
ANCHORS STAND OUT AT ARMORY
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amWith over 5,000 athletes from more than 150 tri-state-area high schools participating in the Marine Corps Holiday Classic at the Armory Track and Field Center, it's pretty hard to stand...
COMIN' AT YA? - RANDY-TO-YANKS LOOKS CLOSE AS TALKS RESUME
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amA new year is near, with the Yankees in an old position - again on the brink of obtaining Randy Johnson. In a series of intensified phone calls, Yankee President...
LIONS ROAR BEFORE FALLING TO WOLFPACK
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amN.C. State 84 - Columbia 74 Julius Hodge returned to New York last night believing that he and North Carolina State would be able to overwhelm Columbia. But the former...
ROBERTS LIVING THE DREAM - STORM WIN COACH'S DEBUT AT GARDEN
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amSt. John's 71 - Canisius 51 In the days leading up to April 13, when he was hired as St. John's coach, Norm Roberts found himself doing something he rarely...
NETS RUN BY BULLS - 4TH-QUARTER BURST KEYS VICTORY
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amNets 84 - Bulls 80 CHICAGO - It doesn't have to be pretty, just effective. Like last night. The Nets still are working out the kinks of blending together Jason...
CAP CONTROL - GIANTS MAY HAVE SOME SURPRISE CASUALTIES IN 2006
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amWith no first-hand evidence, with only the grim results on the field and the unyielding reality of the tape machine, Tom Coughlin a year ago marched in and saw fit...
THE POST'S TOP 25
December 29, 2004 | 5:00amRank (prev) TEAM RESULT NEXT 1 Kansas (8-0) beat Wis.-Milw. 73-62 vs. Ga. Tech (1) A Final Four preview? 2 Illinois (12-0) beat Longwood 105-79 vs. N'wstrn St. (2) Longwood...