October 11, 2006

THE BUZZ: London

The exchange rate may be horrific ($1.86/GBP 1) but everyone seems to be used to that now: A new industry report states that we're on track to top record-breaking 2000...

MADISON AVENUE'S NEW POWER PLAYER

The Google-YouTube combo could prove irresistible to advertisers. Until now, many marketers have been skittish because of the unpredictable and often risqué nature of YouTube and similar sites, where users...

PAULSON POSSE TARGETS SARBANES

Treasury Secretary and one-time Wall Street rainmaker Hank Paulson is the latest Washington bigwig trying to roll back reforms that are hitting the New York financial world in the gut....

STUY TENANTS TO GET PLANS - BIDDERS MUST PACIFY RESIDENTS

WITH best and final bids for Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village due next Monday, the suitors are now required to submit a plan for how they plan to treat...

LVMH GIVES WEBER TOP U.S. JOB

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton yesterday tapped Seventh Avenue veteran Mark Weber to serve as chief executive of LVMH Inc. (U.S.), a newly created post that encompasses the Donna Karan...

BUBBLY DEBUT

First the champagne, then the video announcement. In true YouTube fashion, 20-something cofounders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen posted an amateur video on their site Monday alerting the world that...

RODMAN SUES EX-ANALYST OVER WEB SITE

Wall Street welterweight Rodman and Renshaw and its chairman, erstwhile presidential candidate Wesley Clark, have sued a former analyst over what it claims is his attempt to use the Internet...

TELLING TITLE TALES - MCDONELL ELEVATED TO EDITOR OF SPORTS ILLUSTRATED GROUP

SOME magazine people are happy - even in these troubled times. Terry McDonell, the managing editor of Sports Illustrated, is about to get a bump up in title and prestige...

ST. JOHN KNITS BRINGS BACK ITS FORMER COO

St. John Knits, the venerable West Coast maker of power suits for women, has rehired its former chief operating officer, as it seeks to stabilize its business in the wake...

BUYOUT BUZZ - ANHEUSER-BUSCH JUMPS ON LAMPERT RUMORS

The King of Beers was the latest target of crafty hedge funds once again fueling takeover rumors involving billionaire investor Eddie Lampert. Yesterday, talk that Kmart chief Lampert was about...

WEBER TAKES HELM OF DONNA KARAN INTERNATIONAL

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton yesterday tapped Seventh Avenue veteran Mark Weber to serve as chief executive of LVMH Inc. (U.S.), a newly created post that encompasses the Donna Karan...

QUICKEN THE DEAD

FRANKENSTEINS BLOODY NIGHTMARE [** 1/2] (Two and one-half stars)'FRANKENSTEINS Bloody Nightmare" (the director, John R. Hand, has seen fit to drop the apostrophe in the first word) is a movie...

HOT ROD REVS UP OLD HITS

AFTER several years honing his skills as a jazz singer, Rod Stewart has rediscovered the power of rock 'n' roll. Live at the Nokia Theatre on Monday, and broadcast to...

PREACH AND SONG

COLOR it Barbra . . . the Good, the Bad and the Rather Stupid. Ms. Streisand's diva offering at Madison Square Garden on Monday night was an occasion to savor...

OLD YELLERS - '20 YEARS' TOO LONG

TALK about ham and cheese! If you last through 20 minutes of "Twenty Good Years," NBC's new sit-no-com, you are either a saint, a madman or in a tragic and...

PHIL'S HOUSE OF PAIN CLOSES

'DR. Phil" has shuttered the swanky "Big Brother"-type house featured in on-air segments after neighbors complained of unruly guests. The "Dr. Phil House," located in L.A.'s Wilshire district, is featured...

'BIONIC' COMEBACK

'THE Bionic Woman," the 1970s superhero series, is going to get the "Battlestar Galactica" treatment. NBC, the last network to air the series, has commissioned the producer who re-imagined "Galactica"...

CALLING FOR A DOCTOR

PAGING Dr. Frankenstein, paging Dr. Frankenstein. A workshop production of the new musical "Young Frankenstein" is only weeks away, and Mel Brooks is still looking for a star to play...

'FOOLS' PARADISE - MR. T'S 'PITY' PARTY

FEW people in the history of the world have gotten more mileage out of a single catchphrase than Mr. T. He has been pitying fools since 1982, when he uttered...

STARR REPORT

'Talent' pool open Simon Cowell says he pushed, hard, for NBC to move the second season of "America's Got Talent" (he executive-produces) from January to March. "My gut feeling, if...

THE HOT 100 - RUBEN STUDDARD SLIMS DOWN

THE Velvet Teddy Bear has lost some stuffing. "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard (who earned the moniker during his days on the second season of "Idol") dropped close to 100...

COST IN TRANSLATION - ZAGAT'S NEW DINNER TABS DON'T ADD UP

THE new 2007 Zagat Survey poses a riddle: How can the "average estimated cost" of dinner with one drink and tip at Eleven Madison Park be a mere $66 when...

SURVEY SAYS 'MORE' - ZAGAT SEES SIZE, STEAK IN STYLE FOR '07

BIG and beefy, that's us. So says the 2007 Zagat New York City Restaurant survey out today ($14.95). Jumbo newcomers Buddakan and Morimoto have upped the seat count to more...

B'WAY BREWS HIT THE STAGE - COCKTAIL KING PUTS THE DRAMA - AND MUSICAL - IN DRINKING

SEE the show, sip the cocktail? Oh, hell - just make the cocktail! Those who've been to any Roundabout Theatre productions - or shows at Lincoln Center, Playwrights Horizons, the...

TONE RULES FOR SONIC YOUTH

ROLL over, Beethoven: Your latest successor has Gwen Stefani (and you) on her iPod, Rachmaninoff in her soul - and attitude to spare. "I'm not a freak, I'm not a...

'HIP HOP COP' GOES ON TRIAL

An NYPD narcotics officer drove an armed, three-man band of felons and gunrunners through upper Manhattan, looking for drug dealers to rob one night last winter, Manhattan Supreme Court was...

NAPPING KID 'KIDNAPPED' BY CAR THIEF

An 8-year-old boy was kidnapped in upper Manhattan last night by a drunken women who stole the SUV he was sleeping in and took him on a terrifying ride to...

B'KLYN GAY-BASH HORROR WAS CYBER SETUP

The man brutally beaten in a remote Brooklyn parking lot was lured there by a would-be robber who targeted him in an online chat room because he's gay, sources told...

'NET THE SUNSHINE IN: CUOMO

Let the sun shine - on politicians and lobbyists, that is. That's what former Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo wants to do if he is elected attorney general next month. He...

SCHOOL GRADES MAY GET F: JEB

Gov. Jeb Bush yesterday warned that New York City should brace for an outcry when it assigns letter grades to public schools next spring, joking he still has "tire marks...

LAWLESS BIKE-CABS MAY SOON FACE IM-'PEDI'-MENTS

Pedicab patrons would be forced to wear seat belts under rules being considered to make the growing industry safer. "You'll see public safety regulations like seat belts and reflective lighting,"...

KNIFE NUT IN COURT

Three brothers, all of them cops, sat silently in a Queens courtroom yesterday as the demented 28-year-old man accused of brutally plunging a knife into their father over and over...

GOP COUPLE HOSTS HILL & ELIOT

At a carefully staged campaign event, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and gubernatorial front-runner Eliot Spitzer yesterday made a Democratic show of force in the living room of a Long Island...

COUNCIL FEARS LOSS OF HOSPS

Closing ailing private hospitals could leave the Big Apple shorthanded during a health catastrophe and overwhelm the public hospital system, a soon-to-be-released City Council study says. "During past emergencies -...

DERANGED DIRT DEVIL: GIVE MY VAC BACK

NEXT time, sweetie, don't run for your lawyer. Share the vacuum cleaner. We've learned why the love affair between Jennifer Wilbanks - the spicy and crazy Runaway Bride - and...

TEEN JOGGER RAPED - L.I. CAR KIDNAP

A gun-toting fiend abducted a 15-year-old jogger on a quiet Suffolk County street, and then bound and sexually assaulted the girl in his car, cops revealed yesterday. The girl was...

PAGE TURNS ON FOLEY - TELLS FBI LOWDOWN ON E-LURE

WASHINGTON - A former House page at the center of the Mark Foley cybersex scandal dished dirt on the disgraced former Florida congressman to the FBI yesterday during a 21/2-hour...

BLOOMY'S TRIPLE 'PAY' FOR INDEPENDENT JOE

Mayor Bloomberg will commute to Connecticut later this month to headline a third fund-raiser for Sen. Joe Lieberman in his fight against Democrat Ned Lamont, sources say. Bloomberg will endorse...

ACTRESS 'KILLER' BOAST TO PAL - 'I HAD TO DO' IT

"I had to do what I had to do." That's all alleged killer mugger Rudy Fleming would say when asked, by friends, why he had just shot dead a beautiful...

MIKE A '1PARTY' POOPER - ZINGS GOP RULE

The state would be better off if a single party didn't control the entire government - and so might the nation, Mayor Bloomberg suggested yesterday in a shot at the...

NO PAROLE FOR LENNON KILLER

ALBANY - John Lennon's killer was denied parole a fourth time yesterday, the day after the slain Beatle would have turned 66. "The panel remains concerned about the bizarre nature...

COPS RALLY VS. 'PROFILE' CAPT.

Two groups representing minority cops yesterday condemned an NYPD captain who allegedly told his officers to stop every black-male teen at a Park Slope subway station. Capt. Michael Vanchieri, head...

DRUGS SPURRED $LAY-SUICIDE

A New Jersey man killed by his business partner was stealing money from their Brooklyn company to support a cocaine habit, according to court papers. Esat Astafovic, 41, was ambushed...

VET COP IN UNDERAGE RAPE BUST

A Manhattan cop has been arrested for allegedly raping a female child relative, sources said yesterday. Officer Angel Negron, a 16-year veteran of the force assigned to the 19th Precinct...

HEAD-ON HORROR - E. SIDE PARENTS KILLED, BABY GIRL FIGHTS FOR LIFE

A high-powered Upper East Side couple was killed in a horrific highway smashup in Orange County that left their 10-month-old daughter fighting for her life. Sam Blyakher, 33, and his...

CRUSHED-CAB CLAIM

Two Brooklyn brothers whose cab was flattened two weeks ago by a collapsed East Village crane filed a suit yesterday demanding a new taxi and other compensation. In a 10-page...

'HIP-HOP COP' ON TRIAL AS DRUG-ROB GANG BIG

An NYPD narcotics officer drove an armed, three-man band through upper Manhattan, looking for drug dealers to rob one night last winter, Manhattan Supreme Court was told yesterday. Donald Medard,...

JILTER JEN SUES HER EX - OF ALL THE %#*! NERVE

As if leaving him standing at the altar wasn't enough humiliation, "Runaway Bride" Jennifer Wilbanks is now suing her jilted groom, claiming he owes her a household's worth of cash...

FIGHT FOR FIELDS AT RANDALLS

The city wants to sell the right to use sports fields on Randalls Island to a group of private schools for $85 million, but one politician said yesterday the land...

N. KOREA'S DIM KIM IN WORLD OF TROUBLE AS CHINA SLAPS NUKE-MAD 'PUPPET' STATE

China broke with its close ally North Korea yesterday and said the world must hit the country with "punitive actions" because of its nuclear-bomb test. China's ambassador to the United...

U.N. TALKS TOUGH WITH SANCTIONS LOOMING

WASHINGTON - U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said yesterday the United States will not be intimidated by North Korea's threats as world powers worked to reach a deal on tough sanctions...

RUDY'S RAISING FUNDS FOR FLOUNDERING FASO

Rudy Giuliani lent star power to long-shot gubernatorial hopeful John Faso's fund-raising yesterday, appearing as the star attraction at a gala at The St. Regis. Giuliani was a badly needed...

JUSTICE FOR KENDRA KIN - SUBWAY-SHOVE KILLER'S CONFESSION EASES PAIN

Almost seven years after he shoved her into the path of an oncoming subway train, Andrew Goldstein took responsibility yesterday for killing Kendra Webdale, admitting he had wanted to hurt...

SLAIN COP WAS DRUNK

The blood-alcohol level of a cop beaten at a White Castle - and then mortally wounded by a fellow cop - was more than three times the legal limit, greater...

INSURE THIEF DODGES JAIL

A whiz-kid insurance agent from Long Island - who swiped hundreds of thousands of dollars from clients ranging from ABC newswoman Diane Sawyer to a 9/11 victim - dodged prison...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

MANHATTAN (lcf) * Cops are searching for an East Village woman who has been missing for the past five days. Olga Noboa (above), 77, was last seen at 1:30 p.m....

UNION BLASTS FIRETRUCK RISK

Ninety-five percent of the FDNY's 200 fire engines contain a "defect" that critically injured a firefighter last May, the firefighters union says. "We're risking the health and safety of New...

PRENUP, UP AND AWAY - MORE & WACKIER PACTS

This isn't your mother's prenup. A shocking new survey of divorce lawyers shows that not only are more baby boomers saying "I do" to prenuptial arrangements, the items they're targeting...

MEL: IT WAS BOOZE THAT RIPPED JEWS

Mel Gibson says he's fighting an uphill battle against booze, and claims his anti-Semitic rants were "just the stupid ramblings of a drunkard." "What I need to do is heal...

BARKIN SCORE$ BIG FROM HER LOVE ON THE ROCKS

Their love is cold, but the ice was plenty hot. More than 100 of the dazzling jewels given Ellen Barkin by Revlon billionaire Ron Perelman brought in more than $16...

2 CAR DEATHS BLOCKS APART

Two pedestrians were struck and killed in two separate accidents yesterday only blocks from each other on the Upper West Side, police said. In the first, John Evers, 66, tripped...

'THEY'RE DEAD IN 2 SECONDS' - AMISH MADMAN'S 911 SLAUGHTER THREAT

His voice was calm; his words, curt; his message, chilling. He was going to kill his 10 Amish schoolgirl hostages "in two seconds" if state police didn't clear out. "Don't...

YONKERS 'CASINO' AT GATE

The long-awaited reopening of Yonkers Raceway is set to take place this morning - but without any horses. And this has infuriated the racing industry, which charges the trotting track...

E-CHAT LED TO BROOKLYN 'BIAS-BASH'

The man brutally beaten in a remote Brooklyn parking lot was lured there by a would-be robber who targeted him in an online chat room because he's gay, sources told...

SPITZER SMACKED BY GIULIANI'S TAX ATTACK

Rudy Giuliani jabbed at gubernatorial front-runner Eliot Spitzer last night, suggesting the Democrat will hike taxes to handle the state's budget crunch, as he helped raise cash for GOP nominee...

JAIL FOR 'TRAITOR' - SCHOOLS' CHIEF THIEF GOES FROM COCKY HOTSHOT TO SHACKLED & SNIVELING WRETCH IN L.I. COURT

The shamed superintendent of the Roslyn, L.I., schools was a pathetic shell of his former arrogant self yesterday as he shuffled into court in a prison jumpsuit, sloppy and sniveling,...

KIDNAPPING ORDEAL FOR 'NAP' CHILD

A neighborhood errand with his mom and grandma turned into a kidnap ordeal for an 8-year-old Manhattan boy after a thief stole the car in which he was sleeping, police...

QUAKING IN FEAR AS TREMOR STARTS NEW NUKE PANIC OVER N. KOREA 'PUPPET' STATE

The world is so jittery about North Korea's nuclear testing that an earthquake off Japan's coast yesterday instantly sent some into a panic, thinking it was another underground explosion. Japanese...

RALLY AGAINST 'PROFILE' CAPT.

Two groups representing minority cops yesterday condemned an NYPD captain who allegedly told his officers to stop every black male teen at a Park Slope subway station. Capt. Michael Vanchieri,...

ANDY CASTS 'NET

Let the sun shine - on politicians and lobbyists, that is. That's what Andrew Cuomo wants to do if he is elected attorney general next month. He unveiled a proposal...

CONNECTICUT - THE NUTMEG STATE

On Jan. 9, 1788 Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the Constitution. THE Dutch were the first Europeans to explore the land that would become Connecticut. Before then, it...

THIEF'S WRIST SLAP - SCAMMED CELEBS

A whiz-kid insurance agent from Long Island - who swiped hundreds of thousands of dollars from clients ranging from ABC newswoman Diane Sawyer to a 9/11 victim - dodged jail...

2-SEC. WARNING - AMISH MADMAN'S 911 SLAUGHTER THREAT

His voice was calm; his words, curt; his message, chilling. He was going to kill his 10 Amish schoolgirl hostages "in two seconds" if state police didn't clear out. "Don't...

JAIL FOR 'TRAITOR' - ROSLYN'S $2M SCHOOL SWINDLER GETS 12 YRS. AS JUDGE AND STUDENTS RIP WEEPY CREEP

The shamed superintendent of the Roslyn, L.I., schools was sentenced yesterday to four to 12 years in prison after a blistering hearing in which a judge branded him a "traitor"...

TIGERS KEEP SIZZLIN' - ROBERTSON BEATS ZITO IN OPENER

GAME 1: Tigers 5 - A's 1 OAKLAND - The Yankees couldn't stop the Tigers. And Barry Zito, the big free-agent pitching prize this coming offseason, couldn't slow them last...

STINKO START - ISLES 0-3 FOR 1ST TIME

Kings 4 - Isles 2 LOS ANGELES - So much for the Islanders' new era. Their 4-2 loss to the Kings here last night dropped new coach Ted Nolan's team...

HUNTING ON THE INTERNET

THE Internet is always the first place most of us go when we want to find something and hunters should be doing the same thing, especially when you're looking for...

REYES SPARK PLUG FOR TEAM'S ENGINE

BEFORE Jose Reyes became a phenomenon, before he became a live-action version of some X-Box baseball video game, the men who championed him through his growing pains insisted he was...

LONG ROAD LEAVES WEAVER ON SHEA HILL

Only three years ago, Jeff Weaver was still pitching for the Yankees. Well, not really. Weaver - tonight's NLCS Game 1 starter for St. Louis - went 27 days between...

SPOTLIGHT ON TOM - NLDS GEM GIVES GLAV MOMENTUM FOR GAME 1 START

Luckily for the Mets, Tom Glavine is a better pitcher than he is a cook. At yesterday's Shea news conference, someone noticed a bandage on Glavine's left index finger. Was...

YANKS KEEP TORRE OFF LIVE TV

Joe Torre's Yankee managing career isn't dead, but don't dare try to put him on live TV or radio. The Yankees prevented their own network, YES, as well as ESPN,...

BRADFORD WARMS UP FOR PUJOLS

Bullpens are often undervalued and overlooked, and the Mets' is no different. That is, until Albert Pujols comes up with men on base and the game on the line at...

METS CLAIM IT WON'T BE EASY - PUJOLS MAKES CARDS TOUGH TO DEAL WITH

In the playoffs so far, the Mets are unbeaten through three games. They start a series of seven more now. At sold-out Shea Stadium tonight, the Mets will open the...

FOOT HAS JAMES BUMMED

Even during his disastrous first season with the Knicks, center Jerome James remained a happy-go-lucky chap - quick with an offbeat quote and smile. That all changed yesterday when a...

FLOYD'S WORKOUT IMPRESSES WILLIE

NLCS NOTES Cliff Floyd worked out yesterday at Shea Stadium, running in right field and fielding balls in left field. Floyd needed to determine his status for the NLCS, due...

ALL ABOUT TEAM FOR JEFFERSON

Richard Jefferson insists all his hard work is geared only toward the Nets and collective success. Jefferson, part of the Nets' Big Three, needed to sacrifice his game, and while...

COKER COMMITS TO ST. JOHN'S

St. John's has gotten a verbal commitment from highly-sought-after center Ayodele 'Dele' Coker, a 6-foot-10, 245-pounder from Nigeria who is enrolled at South Kent Prep School. Coker said he chose...

GARDEN DUD FOR RANGERS

Flyers 4 - Rangers 2 The legs are connected to the minds. Neither was there last night. And neither were the Rangers. "We need to develop an attitude on this...

LEYLAND CHEERS TORRE

OAKLAND - Sometimes it takes one World Serieswinning manager to understand what another World Series-winning manager is all about. Jim Leyland's Tigers knocked the Yankees out of the playoffs, but...

TABLE IS SET FOR MANGINI'S CREW

THIS is a week when Eric Mangini's Jets can show us exactly what they're made of. This is a week when the Jets can show us they are not your...

SHOCKEY COULD PLAY SUNDAY

Considering the alternative, the Giants were relieved yesterday that the battery of tests on tight end Jeremy Shockey's right ankle and foot all came back negative. That means the injuries...

VICK SHOULDN'T WORRY JINTS SICK

AS SOON as the Giants turned the page on the Redskins and the next chapter read "Falcons," the name Michael Vick surfaced as a hot topic of conversation. How to...

WHEN IT COMES TO A-ROD, IT'S UNITE OR DIVIDE

THIS felt like an either/or proposition. This felt like Joe Torre goes, Alex Rodriguez stays. Joe Torre stays, Alex Rodriguez goes. It felt like changing managers was the last gambit...

'ABOUT TIME' FOR TITLE, JOE - BOSS EXPECTS 'GREAT DEAL' FROM MANAGER

A phone call set up by Brian Cashman that put Joe Torre on the line with George Steinbrenner Monday was the key component to Torre returning as manager of the...

AL MIGHTY - GIVING PUJOLS MUCH TO HIT CARDINAL SIN

Outfielders probably did this when Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Josh Gibson or any of baseball's legendary sluggers came to bat. Heck, you even did it in Little League or slow-pitch...

SWINDAL STEALS THE SHOW

Steve Swindal once asked George Steinbrenner if he could marry his daughter Jennifer. So you know right away Swindal isn't a shy guy. As general partner for the Yankees, Swindal...

SURGERY LIKELY FOR RANDY

Randy Johnson's barking back will be examined by back specialist Dr. Robert Watkins in Los Angeles soon. And while the Yankees will await Watkins' take on Johnson's herniated disc, general...

THIRD DEGREE - WRIGHT'S TALK WITH ROLEN LED TO HOT CORNER SUCCESS

Two years ago in Houston, Scott Rolen was appearing in his third straight All-Star Game and David Wright was a little-known prospect appearing in the Futures Game. Wright had idolized...

AFTER PUJOLS, LOTS OF HOLES ON CARDINALS

NLCS SCOUTING REPORT THIS has been one Amazin' year so far, and you can expect the magic to continue. But don't expect the Mets to get the same kind of...

IT'S STILL ALL SYSTEMS JOE - TORRE'S LEGACY GETS BOOST FROM BOSS

THE difference wasn't lost on Joe Torre. Eleven years he's managed the Yankees, meaning that 11 years he's dragged his weary self down from Westchester County a few days after...

AMAZIN'S READY TO SEE THE WORLD - TOP-TO-BOTTOM JUGGERNAUT TRUMPS THE CARD'S TWO-MAN GANG

THE Mets swept the Dodgers, three straight games. The Cardinals might not be much harder to knock out. The rematch of the 2000 NLCS begins tonight at Shea. The Mets...

CHEERS FOR TORRE - LEYLAND SAYS JOE DESERVED ENCORE

OAKLAND - Sometimes it takes one World Series-winning manager to understand what another World Series-winning manager is all about. Jim Leyland's Tigers knocked the Yankees out of the playoffs, but...

RANGERS GIVE TYUTIN A TALK

Fedor Tyutin had struggled in the first two games of the Rangers season, so Tom Renney decided it was time to communicate one-on-one with the sophomore defenseman. What did the...

DELGADO PROVING HE'S A FALL GUY

Great players have been known to struggle after coming to New York; just ask Dave Winfield. Great players have been known to struggle in the playoffs; just think Alex Rodriguez....

RANGERS DROP FIRST OF YEAR

Flyers 4 - Rangers 2 The legs are connected to the minds. Neither was there last night. And neither were the Rangers. "We need to develop an attitude on this...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Cops in El Cajon, Calif., had no trouble tracking down a man who walked into a convenience store carrying a suitcase, loaded it with bottles of booze and tried to...