May 7, 2005

HOME DEPOT BOWS OUT ON 6TH

Home Depot is back to the drawing board in lower Manhattan. Sources tell The Post the home improvement store had been working for many months on a deal with Rudin...

REVLON SHARES PLUNGE ON UGLY SALES NUMBERS

Revlon Inc., the cosmetics company controlled by financier Ronald Perelman, yesterday reported a wider-than-expected first quarter loss, and said it lost market share to rivals. The news sent Revlon's shares...

LABOR REPORT SHOWS STRENGTH

Optimism over surprisingly strong jobs growth was tempered yesterday on the expectation that the uptick in the economy would bring higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve. Employers added 274,000...

AD EXEC LASHES OUT AT SAATCHI

Former Saatchi & Saatchi executive Mike Burns, who has kept a low profile since his old ad agency accused him of violating his contract, is back and ready to do...

NO SALE NICOLE

IT didn't take long for fashion icon Nicole Miller and her husband, Kim Taipale, to realize how special their TriBeCa loft really was after they listed it for sale last...

ANTIQUES AND ARTISTS

AIX Interiors 462 Broome St., between Greene and Mercer streets (212) 941-7919 Sale: through May 29 Open: Sun., noon-6 p.m./Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Antique French furnishings are on sale. An...

MY MOM, MY LANDLORD - RENTING FROM YOUR PARENTS OFFERS BIG PERKS ALONG WITH THE HASSLES

IMAGINE coming in from a night out and finding your landlord sound asleep in your bed. How about getting a phone call one evening to ask if you'd taken care...

PAULA FIRES BACK

EMBATTLED "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul broke her silence yesterday - describing charges that she slept with a former contestant as "character assassination." "All my life, I have been taught...

IT DOESN'T TAKE A BRAIN SURGEON

A HOLE IN ONE [ 1/2] (One and one-half stars)DESCRIBED alternately as a "screwball noir" and "romantic drama," Richard Ledes' "A Hole in One" is a grim - and not...

HAPPY HOST - ELLEN DEGENERES SWEEPS INTO MAY WITH MOMENTUM

CRITICS and viewers alike have said from the outset of Ellen DeGeneres' talk show career that she makes it look so, well, easy. It's a sentiment DeGeneres appreciates even as...

EVERYTHING'S IN FINE ORDER

WITH 28 years of wear on their synths, British dance-pop trailblazers New Order had no business putting on as good a show as they delivered at the Hammerstein Ballroom Thursday....

MA-VELOUS, DARLING! - DON'T BE DULL ON MOM'S BIG DAY

SO, tomorrow is Mother's Day. What do you have planned? French toast in bed? Flowers? A Hallmark card? Yawn. This year, you really ought to show dear, old mom -...

HOOFING IT ALONG THE HUDSON

LADIES and gentlemen, get ready to . . . saunter. This morning at 7:30 - when the rest of the city is asleep or nursing hangovers - a band of...

JEST A MINUTE, MOM - STAND-UP MOTHERS - NO KIDDING

COMEDIAN Jill Shely plays for some pretty tough crowds. When she does her stand-up routine, some members of the audience toss bottles or stagger up to the stage. They talk...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Carjack or "carjerk" - you be the judge. Two weeks ago, a man in Baltimore stole a car at gunpoint from two women. This week, one of the women called...

DEADLY DRAG RACERS GET 3 YEARS EACH

Two Long Island men whose 139-mph drag racing killed an engaged couple three years ago were each sentenced yesterday to three years in prison at a hearing that left even...

COKE SLAY GUILT - DAD, SON FACE DEATH

A father-son duo was convicted of murder yesterday for executing three men while running a New York-to- Pittsburgh cocaine ring in the 1990s - and now face a possible death...

RUDY STILL LEADS PACK OF GOP PREZ HOPEFULS

ALBANY - Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani continues to lead the pack of Republican presidential hopefuls, topping Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, his closest rivals, a...

KNIGHT CLUBBING - HISTORIANS' JIHAD VS. 'HEAVEN'

"Kingdom of Heaven," the epic film account of the Third Crusade that premiered yesterday, has touched off a holy war with historians. "It's Osama bin Laden's version of history," said...

SAD WAKE FOR PLUG-PULL KID

Teron Francis - dressed in a white suit and a white Yankee cap - was remembered yesterday at a wake for the tragic Bronx teen who was reluctantly taken off...

DEFIANT VOLCKER'S OLIVE 'OIL' BRANCH

WASHINGTON - The head of the U.N. oil-for-food scandal investigation demanded yesterday that Congress withdraw subpoenas and return secret documents - and offered an olive branch. Trying to avert a...

JILTED JOHN 'GROOMED' HIMSELF TO BE PURE

Chastity didn't come easy to born-again virgin John Mason. Friends counseled him on how to stay pure as he courted runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks. Jilted John, 32, had his fun...

CLOSE-CALL PM BLAIR: I HEAR YOU

A chastened British Prime Minister Tony Blair told voters, "I've listened and I've learned," yesterday after winning a historic third term - but with a sharply slashed majority in a...

'FOX' CHANEL - RAP GAL GLITZES UP COURT

The attire? Head-to-heels Chanel. The car? A shiny silver Bentley. The luncheon menu? One hot dog a la "cart" - eaten in the Bentley, ideally without getting the sauerkraut on...

'BAR' FIGHT BREAKS OUT - JACKO LAWYER, DA SEPARATED

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Tensions boiled over at the Michael Jackson sex trial yesterday, as the prosecutor trying the case and a member of the King of Pop's defense team...

SLASHED KID: 'I KNEW I'D DIE'

A 12-year-old slashed in a vicious Cinco de Mayo attack in Brooklyn said yesterday from his hospital bed that as he lay bleeding in the street, he could barely summon...

PATAKI MUST REBUILD CAREER, TOO

ALBANY - Friend and foe alike warned Gov. Pataki yesterday that the public's final verdict on his three terms in office will largely be based on how fast he gets...

NIGHT GUARD SLAIN IN HELL'S KITCHEN

A Pakistani man who had just moved to New York in search of a better life was found bludgeoned to death yesterday after his overnight shift as a security guard...

MYSTERY BLAZES HIT RITZY HI-RISE ON PARK AVENUE

Residents of a ritzy Park Avenue apartment building were spooked after a fire broke out on the 11th floor yesterday - the second blaze in only two months. Firefighters have...

GET RID OF CHAIR-BASH FIREMAN: JUDGE

Disgraced firefighter Michael Silvestri is facing the ax for bashing a fellow smoke-eater in the head with a chair at their Staten Island firehouse on New Year's Eve in 2003....

TEEN DIES A HERO - QNS. GIRL TRIED TO SAVE DOOMED PARENTS FROM FIRE

A courageous Queens teenager, who could have fled to safety when fire swept through her family's apartment, died with her parents early yesterday when she bravely tried to rescue them,...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

THE BRONX * An Alabama man was shot several times and killed by an assailant on a Kingsbridge street, cops said. Police did not know the motive for the attack,...

JOGGER FOUND SLAIN - MOM SHOT IN YONKERS

A 22-year-old mother was found shot dead on a Yonkers jogging track yesterday - with her gold and diamond jewelry left untouched. Latecia Benito was not robbed and may have...

MOTHER OF INVENTION - IPODS & E-GADGETS HOT ITEMS FOR MOM'S DAY

Play it on an iPod while you say it with flowers. While many will rely on time-honored favorites like flowers, brunch or a break from family feuding tomorrow, some sons...

VLAD SLAPS BUSH - WARNS DUBYA ON EVE OF VISIT: DON'T PUSH DEMOCRACY IN EX-SOVIET STATES

President Bush arrived in Latvia last night to start his third European trip this year and found a blunt message from Russia's Vladimir Putin: Stop trying to export democracy. "Democracy...

PETRA A MODEL OF STRENGTH - REBOUNDS FROM TSUNAMI

She survived the wave of the century - and now she's working hard to rebuild her life. Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova is using the same sprit of survival that helped...

BROOKLYN 'BROTHER BUTCHER' BUSTED

Police yesterday arrested a Brooklyn woman whose brother was found chopped up in plastic bags. Cops spent much of yesterday grilling Diane Ahmed yesterday in connection with the death of...

SUICIDAL GAL TAKES A DETOUR

A troubled woman who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday began her bid for suicide on the Manhattan Bridge but got spooked off when she realized that workers had spotted...

COPS SEEK 4TH BOMB WITNESS

The NYPD is searching for a possible fourth witness who may have observed the explosion outside the British Consulate, police sources said yesterday. A senior police official said a surveillance...

FEDS PROMISE NOT TO GAS MOB CANARY

The Justice Department has reversed itself and will not seek the death penalty against godfather/turncoat Joseph Massino, law-enforcement sources told The Post yesterday. The Bonanno family boss will be spared...

SISTER OF BUTCHERED B'KLYN BROTHER BUSTED

Police yesterday arrested a Brooklyn woman whose brother was found chopped up in plastic bags. Cops spent much of yesterday grilling Diane Ahmed in connection with the death of her...

PRAYERS AID BEATEN BX. PRIEST

The Bronx priest brutally attacked Monday morning by a gang of teens thanked well-wishers yesterday for their love and prayers. The Rev. Jorge Fernandez, 41, also said Edward Cardinal Egan...

KILLER COKE KIN - FATHER-SON SMUGGLERS GUILTY IN '96 TRIPLE SLAY

A father-son duo was convicted of murder yesterday for executing three men while running a New York-to-Pittsburgh cocaine ring in the 1990s - and now face a possible death sentence....

STILL JUST A BIG 'ZERO' - GOV: TOWER REDESIGN WILL STICK TO WTC-SITE PLAN

As these disheartening photos show, there has been virtually no progress at Ground Zero over the last two years. Nonetheless, Gov. Pataki again defended architect Daniel Libeskind's plan for the...

GOTTI DIVORCE A DONE DEAL

Peter and Catherine Gotti's two-year divorce saga finally came to end yesterday. The reputed head of the Gambino crime family signed off on the deal at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center,...

FREAKY FRIDAY FOR E. SIDE DRIVER

An out-of-control car swerved onto a Midtown sidewalk yesterday, smashed into scaffolding and then rammed into five parked cars, and finally knocking over an SUV, police said. The car was...

MAN, 19, GIVES UP IN '$40 SLAY' DOWNTOWN

A Lower East Side man was arrested yesterday in connection with last week's fatal stabbing of a teenager in the neighborhood in what may have been a drug deal gone...

'LEWD' HS TEACH GETS 'EXPOSED'

A Manhattan high school teacher was arrested yesterday for allegedly exposing himself to a male student inside a bathroom, police said. Miguel Fundus, 38, a teacher at Humanities HS on...

CELL-CAMERA 'PERV' NAILED

Talking on a cellphone in public is sometimes rude - but taking pictures up women's dresses with a cellphone is always against the law. A Long Island man found that...

SWAYNE GOOD LUCK FOR DRAGONS

Keep your four-leaf clover. To heck with a rabbit's foot. The only thing the Dragons need is Kevin Swayne. The wide receiver has been a good luck charm for the...

CAMERON JUMPS TO SECOND IN LINEUP

MET NOTES MILWAUKEE - Since coming to the Mets last season, Kazuo Matsui never batted lower than third. Last night, he batted eighth. Willie Randolph made an interesting lineup move...

CHAOS REIGNS AT BRONX ZOO - CIRCUS ATMOSPHERE SURROUNDS YANKS' 4TH STRAIGHT LOSS

10 INNINGS: A's 6 - Yankees 3 On a scale of 1 to 10, Joe Torre said yesterday afternoon the tension in the Yankees' dugout was "probably at an 8...

PIAZZA PIZAZZ - STAYS HOT WITH 2 HRS

MILWAUKEE - Doug Mientkiewicz may have re-created a monster. Two days ago, Mike Piazza was hitting .198, was in a 1-for-21 slump, and said he was close to feeling sorry...

WITNESSES FALTER IN PRINCE'S TRIAL

Epiphanny Prince's family sat together in a criminal courtroom in Brooklyn yesterday as the trial of the Bergtraum basketball star was set to continue when Assistant District Attorney Charles Tucker...

WORTH WEIGHT FOR GIANTS QB

These opportunities come once and rarely twice, which is why Jared Lorenzen understands how fortunate he is to be here, back for a return engagement with the Giants. The biggest...

METROS GETTING DEFENSIVE

With four starters out last weekend in Colorado, the MetroStars - the worst defensive team in MLS last year - had their best defensive showing of the young season in...

CORRALES BACK IN RING

LAS VEGAS - It has been nine months since Diego Corrales scored arguably the biggest win of his career by dethroning previously unbeaten Acelino Freitas for the WBO lightweight championship....

SMOOTH 'ROAD' FOR BOSS HOSS - THEY'LL ALL GUN FOR 'BELLAMY' - AND FAIL

LOUISVILLE - The 131st running of the Kentucky Derby today at Churchill Downs will be a two-minute cavalry charge, a mile-and-a-quarter mad dash for glory, with much more than the...

MIGHT BE FASTER THAN SECRETARIAT

LOUISVILLE - Bellamy Road is likely to win the Kentucky Derby today because he goes into it after running the fastest race of any three-year-old in nearly a quarter of...

'SIS' STUNNED IN OAKS

LOUISVILLE - Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse for Yankees skipper Joe Torre, they did. Turning in a too-little, too-late performance worthy of the cellar-dweller Bronx Bombers,...

TORRE: BOSS CROSSED LINE - BLAME ME, NOT MEL, YANKS' MANAGER SAYS

After George Steinbrenner implied in a published report that Yankee pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre's head might be on the chopping block, Joe Torre struck back at The Boss yesterday afternoon....

JOE SHOWS TRUE CLASS TO GEORGE

YOU can only hope that George Steinbrenner treats his horse better than he treats his pitching coach. Steinbrenner always talks about Yankee class, but last night Joe Torre showed the...

KNICKS STAYING IN RACE FOR JACKSON

Don't count the Knicks out of the Phil Jackson sweepstakes just yet. Without being specific, an NBA source said there still could be some hang-ups with a Jackson-to-the-Lakers coaching scenario....

MRI CLEARS WILLIAMS FOR ACTION

YANKEE NOTES An MRI on Bernie Williams' right arm revealed a mild triceps strain, and he was cleared to play last night. Williams took BP with his teammates and was...

CLAMORING AT 'GREAT WALL'

NOTEBOOK LOUISVILLE - Nick Zito's barn 36 on the Churchill backstretch has been the top destination for visitors this week, with only a select group allowed inside the "Great Wall...

SERGIO STAYS ON COURSE - KEEPS 2-SHOT LEAD IN WACHOVIA

CHARLOTTE - Swirling winds and slick greens prevented the leader from running away from the pack and prevented the game's big guns from making a run at yesterday's Wachovia Championship...

PIAZZA PIZAZZ - SNAPS OUT OF SKID WITH TWO HOMERS

Mets 7 - Brewers 4 MILWAUKEE - Doug Mientkiewicz may have re-created a monster. Two days ago, Mike Piazza was hitting .198, was in a 1-for-21 slump and admitted he...

MO-JOE RISES TO DEFEND MEL

YOU can only hope George Steinbrenner treats his horse better than he treats his pitching coach, because things keep getting worse in Yankeeland. Regarding the chronically petulant owner taking out...

MRI CLEARS BERNIE FOR ACTION

YANKEE NOTES An MRI on Bernie Williams revealed a mild triceps strain, but he was cleared to play last night against Athletics. Williams took BP with his teammates and was...

SECOND EFFORT - CAMERON MOVES INTO NO. 2 HOLE

MILWAUKEE - In his short career as a Met, Kazuo Matsui has never batted lower than third. Last night, he was hitting eighth. The Mets scored seven runs and knocked...

PLAN FOR PEDRO, PIAZZA UNCLEAR

MET NOTES MILWAUKEE - Pedro Martinez is pitching tonight, which leads to the obvious question - will Mike Piazza be catching? Ramon Castro has caught Martinez in his last three...

EVERYTHING STARTS EARLY TODAY

Post time for the Kentucky Derby card at Churchill Downs is 11 a.m., so wagering outlets will open earlier than usual for the Derby card. Belmont Park opens the parking...