April 3, 2006
TECH GEAR GIANT - LUCENT, ALCATEL DEAL SHAKES UP MARKET
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amFrench communications equipment giant Alcatel and Lucent Technologies, the biggest U.S.-based telephone equipment maker, unveiled a $13.4 billion stock swap merger that will give the combined company annual sales of...
PUFFY'S UNFORGIVABLE HITS WINNING FORMULA
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amSean "P. Diddy" Combs has won awards for his music and his fashion designs. Now, he can add a new accomplishment to the list: Best-selling fragrance. Unforgivable, Combs' fragrance for...
OFFICE READS
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amTHE RULES OF WORK: THE UNSPOKEN TRUTH ABOUT GETTING AHEAD IN BUSINESS By Richard Templar Prentice Hall, $16.95 "'THE Rules of Work' is Emily Post meets Donald Trump!" announces the...
OPERA DISASTER AVERTED
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amOPERA seria nearly pushed out opera buffa at the Metropolitan Opera House on Friday night where Donizetti's great comedy "Don Pasquale" was coming to the final scene of its premiere...
JERRY LEWIS IN TROUBLE WITH THE 'LAW'
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amLEGENDARY comic Jerry Lewis will make a rare foray into drama in an upcoming episode of "Law & Order: SVU." In the episode, titled "Uncle," Lewis, 80, will play a...
BLAZING TRAILERS - PREVIEW PICKS FOR SUMMER
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amSUMMER is just around the corner - at least as far as Hollywood trailers are concerned. Calendar be damned, Tinseltown's most lucrative season will begin in just five weeks, on...
THE LATEST ODD COUPLE
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amRAY Romano never looked so good - certainly not compared to Patricia Heaton's new costar, former Playboy model Jenny McCarthy. McCarthy has signed on to Heaton's still-untitled new comedy pilot,...
STARR REPORT
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amStar mapping Star Jones is due back on "The View" today (11 a.m./Ch. 7), a week after mixing it up with co-host Joy Behar after phoning into the show to...
ONLY A GAME - HUNT IS ON FOR THE NEXT HOT CONTEST
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amLAST season everyone wanted a "Desperate Housewives" or a "Lost" knockoff. This season, the game show has made a comeback - and it's the new, hot programming commodity. With the...
CRAZY FOR YOU - ANNE HECHE + TRUE CRIME FLICK = BLISS
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amWITH two very notable exceptions, there really is nothing better than a cheesy true-crime movie and a bag of popcorn. Right? And now that "Lifetime" seems to be (thank God!)...
NO TAKERS FOR AL-JAZ
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amAL-Jazeera International, the English-language network of the controversial Arab channel Al-Jazeera, is set to launch this summer - but still does not have a single cable company signed up to...
STOP IN THE 'NAME' OF THE LAW: QNS. POL
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - Call it Barbara's Law - or maybe not. Assemblywoman Barbara Clark (D-Queens) has introduced a bill to outlaw the naming of legislation after crime victims. She says the...
NEW LOTTERY: BETTOR UP!
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - The lottery has added a new pitch to its repertoire - and it lets New Yorkers play ball for cool, hard cash. The planned Subway Series tickets, which...
CHUCK RIPS TAX 'SALE'
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amSen. Chuck Schumer yesterday ripped a "mind-boggling" IRS plan to let commercial tax preparers sell clients' personal financial information to anyone, charging that the practice could lead to rampant identity...
SENATORS SPAR OVER ALIEN 'GUEST' PLAN
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Virginia Sen. George Allen, a contender for the GOP's 2008 presidential nomination, yesterday slammed President Bush's idea of a temporary guest-worker program for immigrants. "I don't think we...
SHH! HILL TAKES AIM AT GUNS
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has quietly stepped up her fight for tighter gun control by signing on to a new push to make public a national database of...
FIREFIGHTER FOUGHT DWI BUST: COPS
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amAn off-duty fireman scuffled with cops during his DWI bust on the Verrazano Bridge and then faked breathing problems at a station house, police said yesterday. Firefighter Michael Radigan, 28,...
MCCAIN WARNS OF RUSSIA'S NEW 'EMPIRE'
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - The United States should boycott a St. Petersburg summit to protest Russia's restoration of "empire," Arizona Sen. John McCain said yesterday. "I have been very disappointed in President...
SEE-SICKNESS OVER 9/11 FLICK
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amAn Upper West Side theater yanked the coming attraction for a new Sept. 11 flick after moviegoers told them it was much too upsetting to watch. "I don't think people...
HAMAS LEADER SWIPES AT U.S.
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amJERUSALEM - The new Palestinian prime minister blasted the United States yesterday for restricting diplomatic ties with the Hamas-led government, saying his people were being punished for electing the militant...
CONDI TO IRAQIS: GOVERN ALREADY
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday attempted to light a fire under squabbling Iraqi leaders by telling them time was running out to form a new government. "The Iraqi people...
$10M NYPD BULLETPROOF INVESTMENT
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amThe City Council is proposing $9.9 million be added to the NYPD's budget so that all officers can get the latest top-of-the-line bulletproof vests. "Right now, close to half of...
GORBY RIPS U.S. 'POWER' TRIP
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amFormer Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev says the United States is on a high horse and is "intoxicated" as the world's only superpower. Gorbachev made his geopolitical comments to Time magazine....
AN 'ICE' WEEKEND - COOL $70 MIL FOR SEQUEL TO CARTOON FAVE
April 3, 2006 | 4:00am"Ice Age: The Meltdown" burned up the box office over the weekend, trampling the competition to take the No. 1 spot with mammoth earnings of $70.5 million. The animated sequel...
SPITZER ON THE HUNT FOR STATE'S TOP HEALTH-CARE 'CRIMINALS'
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amState Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has launched a massive manhunt to find nine of New York's health-care monsters - fugitives who are accused of ripping off millions from taxpayers in...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amMANHATTAN (lcf) * Two young men were arrested yesterday after they beat a worker with a baseball bat in a Harlem bodega, police said. Darnell Williams, 19, and his friend,...
MIKE APOLOGIZES TO WIDOW OVER 9/11 TAPE
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg apologized to the widow of an FDNY battalion chief yesterday for not notifying her that a tape of her husband's last words to a 911 operator existed and...
MAN DIES AFTER BATTLE WITH POLICE
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amA man with a history of drug-related arrests and mental problems died after struggling with cops who subdued him after he ran onto a highway, police said yesterday. Nacole Davenport,...
SOCCER PLAYER SLAIN IN BRONX
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amA Saturday afternoon soccer game turned deadly Saturday night in The Bronx, police said yesterday. Besnik Qelia, 27, of Bolton Street, had been returning home from a friend's house when...
JILL 'ALIVE AGAIN' - FREED JOURNO BACK IN U.S.A.
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amJill Carroll, the American journalist held hostage in Iraq for 82 days, flew home to Boston and a tearful reunion with her family yesterday, saying, "I finally feel like I...
MIKE TALKS UP CORZINE
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg stuck up for Jon Corzine yesterday after reports surfaced that aides to Gov. Pataki said the New Jersey governor was "nickel and diming" the city on the deal...
MAFIA'S 'DON' JUAN - 'KILLING MACHINE' WAS POETIC LOVER
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amGregory Scarpa Sr. was a killer, an FBI informant and mob capo to most of the world - but to Linda Schiro, he was a dapper lover for 30 years,...
HOME HEROES - REALITY TV SAVES BURNED-OUT QNS. CLAN
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amA Queens minister and his family said prayers and sobbed tears of joy after TV's "Extreme Makeover" home-renovation crew rebuilt their fire-ravaged house in a week and revealed it to...
KATIE: NBC YA LATER - NEW CBS ANCHOR
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amKatie Couric can start sleeping in. The all-American morning-TV queen has decided to leave the "Today" show to become the evening news anchor on CBS - the seat once occupied...
TEEN TRIES 'SUICIDE BY COP'
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amA troubled knife-wielding teen lunged at a transit officer in a Brooklyn subway station yesterday, in a failed bid to commit "suicide by cop," police sources said. Roland Carrasco, 19,...
AN 'ICE' WEEKEND - BUT SHARON SINKS LIKE A STONE
April 3, 2006 | 4:00am"Ice Age: The Meltdown" burned up the box office over the weekend - as Sharon Stone bombed in "Basic Instinct 2." Ice Age trampled the competition to take the No....
IN'VEST'MENT IN COPS' LIVES
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amThe City Council is proposing that $9.9 million be added to the NYPD's budget so that all officers can get the latest top-of-the-line bulletproof vests. "Close to half of our...
GAL PAL KILLED IN DRAGSTER CRASH
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amAn 18-year-old woman died when her drag-racing boyfriend lost control of his car and swerved into oncoming traffic in Yonkers, cops said yesterday. The body of the victim, Lital Gamliel,...
DEADLY NIGHT OUT - INNOCENT DAD SHOT DEAD AT CLUB
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amA Bronx father was the apparent innocent victim of a wild nightclub shooting that left him dead and two others wounded - all because of a dispute involving the DJ,...
IN-VEST $10M IN NYPD: QUINN
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amThe City Council is proposing that $9.9 million be added to the NYPD's budget so that all officers can get the latest top-of-the-line bulletproof vests. "Close to half of our...
DRAG RACER KILLS GAL PAL IN CRASH - FRIENDS MOURN 'GIFTED ARTIST,' 18
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amAn 18-year-old aspiring artist was killed in a horrific smash-up when her drag-racing boyfriend lost control of his car and swerved into oncoming traffic in Yonkers yesterday, police said. The...
SOCCER SPAT ENDS IN SLAY
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amAn argument over a soccer game in The Bronx turned deadly when a player was fatally shot as he returned home, police said yesterday. Besnik Qelia, 27, of Bolton Street,...
HARLEM TEEN KILLS KNIFE ATTACKER
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amA simmering feud ended in bloodshed yesterday when a frenzied 37-year-old man stormed a Harlem bodega and stabbed a teenager - who then turned the knife on his attacker and...
DERANGED FAN SPITS ON STERN'S GAL PAL
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amShock jock Howard Stern and his sexy girlfriend Beth Ostrowsky were attacked just outside Lincoln Center by a crazed man who threatened the couple and then spit in the blonde...
REBUILDING ROADBLOCKS: A TRUE MEMORIAL
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amTHE president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. said last week that the LMDC is still "open to further solutions, suggestions" about how to list the names of victims and...
BRAVEST FATHER'S TORMENT - RACKED BY SON'S HOMELESS PLIGHT
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amA Staten Island firefighter, accused of leaving his wife to wed a 9/11 widow, is speaking for the first time about the controversy involving his homeless young son - insisting...
NYC'S TERROR BANK - DA SHUTS $3B ACCT.
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau has shut down a massive terror-finance pipeline in which a whopping $3 billion in profits from drug deals and other crimes flowed through...
MOOSELAND SECURITY - ALASKA GETS TERRORCAMS WHILE N.Y. BEGS
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Tiny Alaska fishing towns got the feds to splurge on state-of-the-art camera equipment to monitor icy harbors - even though New York City is still far short of...
EMT DRUG TEST URGED
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amThe FDNY is proposing random drug tests for the city's Emergency Medical Services. Union bosses and city officials had a high-level sit-down last week at the Office of Labor Relations...
'MOB' FED'S STING - POSED AS HIT MAN
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amDecades before rogue FBI agent Lindley DeVecchio allegedly funneled classified information to a murderous mob boss, he acted the part of Mafia hit man to foil a death plot against...
N.Y.'S MAGNIFICENT MEDICS
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amNew York City's cops may be the Finest, its firefighters may be the Bravest, but its paramedics are the best - and they've proved it by winning an international lifesaving...
D.A. IN 'STRIP FLUB' - SCORES FIASCO
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amTwo years ago, Manhattan prosecutors subpoenaed hundreds of boxes of documents from the Scores strip-club empire. But despite what investigators admit were signs of fraud, embezzlement, and the overcharging of...
TALK TO US FIRST: POL TO ED. DEPT.
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amA Harlem assemblyman wants the city to give lawmakers a year's heads-up before creating a school in an existing building. Assemblyman Keith Wright said he would introduce a bill in...
STOMACH-TURNING - SICKENING HABITS OF ILL-TREATED EATERY STAFF
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amThe way some New York restaurateurs treat workers is enough to make you sick. Employees who don't get sick days are nearly twice as likely to sneeze, cough or spit...
DJ TELLS OF STALK ORDEAL
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amA beautiful radio personality has described for the first time her horror of being stalked by a crazed fan who tried to woo her with odd gifts - before sending...
'SCALD' POL ZIPS LIPS
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - "Wild Woman" state Sen. Ada Smith will refuse to cooperate at today's planned meeting of a special Senate panel named to investigate her aberrant behavior, The Post has...
GREEN FACES DEM SHUTOUT
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amMARK Green, former public advocate and would-be attorney general, is doing so poorly in his battle against Andrew Cuomo that he may be shut out of next month's Democratic nominating...
MAN SLAIN IN SOCCER ARGUMENT
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amAn argument over a soccer game in The Bronx turned deadly when a player was fatally shot as he returned home, police said yesterday. Cops said Besnik Qelia, 27, of...
DEADLY NIGHT OUT - INNOCENT DAD BLOWN AWAY AT CLUB
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amA Bronx father was the apparent innocent victim of a wild nightclub shooting that left him dead and two others wounded - all because of a dispute involving the DJ,...
ISLES' SLIDE PICKS UP PACE
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amFlyers 4 - Islanders 1 The Islanders got an earful from out-the-door general manager Mike Milbury in an off-day tongue lashing Saturday following a deplorable performance against the last-place Penguins....
YOUNG GEM DANDY IMPRESSES RENNEY
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amWith the present infinitely better than the immediate past, a projected important piece of the future skated on Ranger ice yesterday at the club's practice rink in Westchester. Lauri Korpikoski,...
FINALLY, TIME TO SHEA BALL - WITH HIGH HOPES, CAMPAIGN BEGINS FOR METS
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amAs Pedro Martinez jogged off the field at Shea Stadium after yesterday's workout, there were fans yelling for him. The Mets said there were more than 13,000 fans in the...
THE ROAD TO '27' - YANKEES OPEN WITH ONE GOAL: WINNING IT ALL
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amOAKLAND - It's not now or never. But in the Yankees' universe, the current five-year run without a 27th World Series title feels like 50. And it's not just the...
COMIN' OUT FROM BRONX SHADOW
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amA DIRTY little secret of the Mets was revealed once again this spring when Braves GM John Schuerholz's book exposed just how badly Tom Glavine really wanted to stay in...
HILL OF A DAY FOR GLAVINE
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amTom Glavine knows he's not getting any younger. But the 40-year-old feels he's still getting better, and he has the arsenal - and numbers - to prove it. Glavine, today's...
BORN TO WEAR THE PINSTRIPES - DAMON'S GIDDY ABOUT HIS DEBUT
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amOAKLAND - Johnny Damon knows he shouldn't be this excited, or this wide-eyed, or this keyed up. He isn't a kid any longer, after all. He has done Opening Day...
LEE WILL BE ROOTIN' FOR GATORS
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amKNICK NOTES PHILADELPHIA - Rookie David Lee thought Larry Brown was either kidding or testing him when the coach told him last week he'd like Lee to attend the NCAA...
LIFTING A LIGHTER LOAD
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amHARD to outrun the posse in a City of Alligators, Carlos Beltran says, when your legs come up as short as a New Yorker's patience. "Every time I would get...
BOMBERS HAVE ONE HALL OF A LINEUP
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amOAKLAND - Johnny Damon hasn't taken his first hack atop the Yankee lineup, but he is predicting greatness for his new playmates. "It's pretty good with all those Hall-of-Famers behind...
CHAW-BREAKER - SHEFF SPITS OUT TOBACCO FOR HIS SON
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES OAKLAND - Six words from his son Jaden Amir were enough to make Gary Sheffield delete chewing tobacco from his mouth. "My 3-year-old son was at home and...
FARMAR COULDA BEEN A GATOR
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amFINAL FOUR NOTES INDIANAPOLIS - The lineups of the two teams playing tonight could have had a very different look if a couple of decisions had gone different ways. UCLA...
SORIANO'S HOPING TO 'GET HAPPY'
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amAlfonso Soriano remains unhappy, but seems resigned that left field is his new home. The former Yankee was at Shea Stadium yesterday working out with his new team, the Washington...
BANNISTER'S MOVIN' ON UP
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amMET NOTES It will be Brian Bannister on the mound Wednesday for the Mets. With Victor Zambrano battling a left hamstring strain, Willie Randolph said yesterday that Bannister will move...
DEVILS' WIN A LOU-LOU - LAMORIELLO FIRES 'EM UP
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amOVERTIME: Devils 3 - Penguins 2 PITTSBURGH - They're turning around so much and often they might be figure skaters. But these are the Devils, and this is spring, and...
DELGADO SET TO BITE APPLE
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amCarlos Delgado has already turned last year's boos into oohs. As Delgado waved his 35-inch, 34-ounce Louisville Slugger at Shea Stadium for the first time as a Met, the crowd...
DALY: DON'T BLAME ISIAH
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amSixers 114 - Knicks 95 Hall-of-Fame coach Chuck Daly wrote the foreword to the new book, "The Perfect Team." If a book were to be written on this season's Knicks,...
ROBINSON GOES FROM STUD TO DUD IN LATEST LOSS
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amKNICK NOTES PHILADELPHIA - Rookie guard Nate Robinson responded to Larry Brown's negative reinforcement with a poor outing last night, feeling the criticism affected his game. Robinson questioned whether he...
NETS STREAK HITS 12
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amNETS 90 - HEAT 78 By himself, Vince Carter is a "difficult cover," Pat Riley admits. Then add the rest of the Nets to the mix. "Right now, they're playing...
SHAQ HOWLS FOUL ON STU JACKSON
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amAfter the red-hot Nets rolled to a 90-78 rout of foul-plagued Miami, Pat Riley said officials hold Shaquille O'Neal to a frustrating double-standard, while the Diesel charged the NBA with...
FLORIDA GATORS (32-6) VS. UCLA BRUINS (32-6)
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amPOINT GUARD UF's Taurean Green vs. UCLA's Jordan Farmar: It's sophomore vs. sophomore, which can't make either coach comfortable. Farmar broke out against LSU, scoring on 3-of-6 shooting on 3's....
BRUINS IN PRESENCE OF ROYALTY
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amINDIANAPOLIS - UCLA is known as the royal palace of college basketball, but for the first time ever, the Bruins are being led by real, live royalty. Luc Richard Mbah...
DALY: IT'S TOO SOON TO GIVE UP ON ISIAH
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amHall of Fame coach Chuck Daly wrote the foreword to a new book, "The Perfect Team." If the Knicks wrote a book for this season, it would be called "The...
TWO BILLS, ONE SPECIAL NIGHT
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amINDIANAPOLIS - This night is for the father too, because the father has been there every step of the way, living his old basketball dream through his son, who tonight...
NET STREAK STRIKES 12
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amNets 90 - Heat 78 By himself, Vince Carter is a "difficult cover," Pat Riley admits. But the Nets are so much more than Carter these days. And that is...
NETS NOT KIDDIN' AROUND
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amThe nationally televised Phoenix-at-Detroit game yesterday was moments from tip-off and the pre-game centered on the point-guard matchup of Steve Nash vs. Chauncey Billups. Two MVP candidates, the nation was...
OPENERS CLOSED FOR FAR TOO MANY
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amIT HAPPENS every spring: Well before steroids became an issue, MLB teams began to switch from broadcast TV to cable TV, and then from one cable TV network to another,...
CTK'S DAVIS MAY BALK
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amLarry Davis, Sr., heard over the weekend that there was a chance that Herb Sendek might leave N.C. State for Arizona State. "We hoped they were just rumblings," said Davis,...
STORM MINSTREL ROLLS HOME
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amIn seven-furlong, $60,000 Fickle Fanny overnight stakes for fillies and mares, Slew Motion shot to front under Rich Migliore, set pace in hand well off rail pressed by Sweet Sweet...
BARBARO READY
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amMaybe it's an omen for the budding supercolt Barbaro: This is the 50th anniversary of Needles going straight from a victory in the Florida Derby on March 24 to winning...
FIGHTIN' WORDS - GIDDY GATORS UNFAZED BY UCLA
April 3, 2006 | 4:00am"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana, philosopher INDIANAPOLIS - You would think the Florida Gators learned from the terrible verbal gaffe committed...
O'SHEA CLIMBS PIRATES' LADDER
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amOhio University's Tim O'Shea, quietly gaining ground in the Seton Hall coaching race, had a second interview with first-year athletic director Joe Quinlan yesterday in Indianapolis, The Post has learned....
WEIRD BUT TRUE
April 3, 2006 | 4:00amIt's been a long strange trip for Jerry Garcia's toilet - somebody stole the late Grateful Dead star's salmon-colored commode from the driveway of his former home in Marin County,...