September 10, 2002

WE CAN'T CLAIM VICTORY UNTIL WE'RE FREE OF ARAB OIL

IT'S time for America to wake up. Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the World Trade Center murders. This horrible crime was carried out by a group of suicidal fanatics...

W. B'WAY LOFT PROJECT THINKS OUTSIDE THE BOX

SOHO is breaking out of its calamitous post-9/11 slump. Shoppers have slowly returned and there seems no end to retail dealmaking. The Post has learned that jeansmaker Levi Strauss plans...

GE BOARD'S LUSH LIFE - DIRECTORS RAKE IN CLOSE TO $450,000 A YEAR

Jack Welch isn't the only executive living high on the hog at GE. While Welch receives such trinkets as cars, food, flowers and wine on GE's dime, General Electric's board...

PREPARE FOR 'CHAIN GANG AL' AS FEDS BEGIN PROBE

Chainsaw Al could become "Chain Gang Al," now that the Justice Department has started a criminal probe into the former CEO of Sunbeam, whose accounting shenanigans ran the company into...

CARPENTER EXIT SEEN AS KEY TO CITI REBIRTH

Even though Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill pitched one of his top lieutenants overboard, he and his megabank are still in a lot of hot water. In response to state and...

DOW UP 92, NASDAQ UP 9.30 ON CONSUMER CREDIT NEWS

Stocks rallied yesterday, providing the first back-to-back gains for the Dow Jones industrial average in three weeks. The Dow climbed 92.18 to 8,519.38, after a 143.50-point rise on Friday. Broader...

CARPENTER EXIT IS FIRST STEP TO CITI RECOVERY

Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill and his brass are trying to speed up reforms in their tarnished megabank to head off even deeper troubles. Even though Weill has pitched one of...

EXPECT MORE LAUGHS FROM NEW PLAYBOY

The new editor of Playboy, James Kaminsky, said he plans to put more humor into the monthly men's magazine but won't back away from long-form journalism. "Playboy is the magazine...

BROOKS BROS. WILL REOPEN AT 1 LIBERTY

Brooks Brothers is back. The venerable clothing store at One Liberty Plaza will reopen tomorrow at noon, exactly one year to the date from the moment when it was all...

SEX IN 'MILE' FAR FROM MILD

TORONTO - Eminem mostly keeps his clothes on, but "8 Mile" boasts a steamy sex scene that had tongues wagging at its first public showing here. His character, Rabbit, and...

EMINEM MAKES '8' COUNT - RAPPER'S FILM DEBUT AN IN-YOUR-FACE SUCCESS

TORONTO - Eminem's movie debut is a rousing "Rocky" with rappers - but that barely begins to describe the astonishing crossover appeal of "8 Mile." "8 Mile" had its world...

DIFRANCO, FRANKLY

* ANI DiFRANCO "So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter" [] Righteous Babe Records Ani DiFranco, the original folk punk singer, puts together a live concert recording that explains to anybody...

STARR REPORT

Remembering some Sept. 11 victims Let us not forget the engineers and technicians who lost their lives in Tower 1 (the North tower) last Sept. 11. Ch. 2 lost Isaias...

'FARSCAPE' IN A BLACK HOLE

'FARSCAPE" won't be back for a fifth season on SCI FI network. "Unfortunately, despite our best efforts to reach a broader audience, 'Farscape' has been unable to grow beyond its...

A MORE EXPLICIT MINOR MOVIE

Larry Clark, who has made a career out of directing sexually explicit films about minors, has done it again. His "Ken Park," written by Harmony Korine (who also scripted Clark's...

MORE FROM GEORGE

Almost a year to the date after his death last November, George Harrison will be heard from once again. His long-awaited studio album, "Brainwashed," which he was working on until...

'LAST' SHOW

Director Peter Bogdanovich will be at the Two Boots Pioneer Theater for Friday's 7 p.m. unspooling of his film "The Last Picture Show," starring Jeff Bridges and Cybill Shepherd. A...

TRAVELER'S UPDATE

River run The Hudson River Valley has just been designated a National Heritage Area by the federal government. That means that the feds have acknowledged the region's status as "an...

RED CARPET BURN; NBC EMMYS DEAL GIVES JOAN RIVERS...

E!'s Joan and Melissa Rivers will have some stiff competition on the red carpet at this year's Emmy Awards - powerhouse NBC."Today" show co-hosts Katie Couric and Matt Lauer will...

AUTUMN NOTES MEKONS TOP SEASON'S HIGHLIGHTS

WHENEVER someone mentions the Mekons, the loosely knit rock band that formed 25 years ago in Leeds, England, there's always a qualifier - "critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful." Sure, they...

INCOHERENT 'FASTER' DOESN'T END FAST ENOUGH

FASTERAt Rattlestick Theatre, 224 Waverly Place; (212) 627-2556. THERE'S this thing we'll call the homeboy play: a loose group of characters, more or less stoned, lazily hang around some rundown...

CABLE'S ALTERNATIVE VIEWING ON DAY OF MOURNING... SHOWS THAT MAKE YOU THINK - OR MAYBE POUR A STIFF DRINK

Don't put down that cable TV clicker on Sept. 11. While the broadcast networks will focus mostly on sober news coverage next week, the vast universe of cable channels are...

'PERFECT $TORM' LOOMING

ALBANY - New York state and New York City face an unprecedented, $11 billion "perfect storm" fiscal crisis after the Sept. 11 terror attack laid waste to the downtown Manhattan...

PATAKI'S SLIP SHOWING: POLL - MCCALL SLASHES HIS LEAD IN HALF

ALBANY - Gov. Pataki's sky-high support from New York voters has begun to erode and his once-huge lead over Carl McCall has trimmed, a new poll yesterday showed. The Marist...

NUTS & BOLTS OF BALLOT BATTLES

Headlined by a Democratic showdown between Carl McCall and Andrew Cuomo, today's state primaries were supposed to go off with a bang. But Cuomo dropped out of the race last...

'STILL A FRESH WOUND' AT WTC - VISITORS TO GROUND ZERO OBSERVE WEEK OF TEARS

Awe, anger, pride and passion. Those were the feelings at Ground Zero yesterday as thousands of New Yorkers and visitors from around the nation flocked downtown to pay their respects...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Two gunmen took hostages at a Pizza Hut in Boston, bungled the robbery, then pleaded with their victims to tie them up to fool police into thinking they were victims,...

ONE GRIEVING WIDOW FINALLY LEARNS TO LET GO

On Sept. 11, Post columnist Andrea Peyser was moved by the picture of a young man cradling his baby daughter, atop a poster in which his wife begged for help....

IRAQ COULD BUILD QUICK AND DIRTY NUKE BOMB

WASHINGTON - Iraq could assemble a nuclear weapon "in a matter of months" if it were able to obtain radioactive material from abroad, a shocking new report warned yesterday. In...

BIG TEST FOR BUBBA BUDDIES

Today is the biggest day of primaries across the country this year, with votes in 12 states - and a key question is whether more big names will fall, as...

COMPTROLLER FOES IN DESPERATE BIDS TO GET OUT VOTE

Moving from the under card to the main event in today's Democratic primary, Alan Hevesi and Bill Mulrow yesterday spent the final day on the stump, desperately trying to drum...

THESE TOTS DELIVERED DADDIES FROM DEATH

The babies may not know the significance of their birthdays yet, but one day their parents will tell them how they may have saved their fathers' lives. If baby Gracie...

MADMAN GRANDPA'S BODY FOUND IN FIRE RUINS

The body of the gun-wielding 79-year-old grandfather who terrorized his son and granddaughters before torching their suburban Long Island home ablaze was found in the wreckage yesterday. Rosario Musca launched...

SCHWARZ 'JURORS' GRILLED IN COURT

Round 4 in the case against former Officer Charles Schwarz began yesterday as 323 prospective jurors showed up at Brooklyn federal court to fill out a long questionnaire relating to...

FLT. 587 TRUCKER FILES SUIT FOR $5M

A truck driver who was nearly killed in the Flight 587 disaster has filed a $5 million suit against American Airlines. In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Edwin DeVito,...

GRANNY: IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL DIE IF I WANT TO

A beloved Brooklyn grandma - ecstatic about reaching the age of 100 - died just moments after her birthday cake was wheeled out. And her family says that's exactly the...

BRAVEST HAIL FIREFIGHTER-CARPENTER

More than 1,000 firefighters packed a Long Island church yesterday for a memorial service for firefighter Thomas Kuveikis, who was killed in the collapse of the Twin Towers. Kuveikis, 48,...

COP $OUNDS OFF - SUIT CLAIMS HIS HEARING WAS RUINED BY PARADES

A retired Manhattan police chief who is now in charge of security at La Guardia Airport is suing the NYPD for line-of-duty disability pay, charging years of being assigned to...

REGIS: IT'S 'A JOY' TO EMCEE NOMINEES

Here's his final answer: Regis Philbin says he's "thrilled" to be master of ceremonies at the Gracie Mansion reception to honor the first-ever winners of the Post's Liberty Medals later...

INNOCENCE LOST - JOHN PODHORETZ BIDS FAREWELL TO THE CONCERNS OF SEPT. 10

AMAZING to think that 365 days ago America was united in a wonderful and terrible common innocence. Certainly we didn't think of ourselves as innocent. Quite the opposite. We were...

CITY CUTS NURSES TO PRIVATE SCHOOLS

The Bloomberg administration is slashing nursing services to students at private and parochial schools to help address the city's fiscal crisis. The Archdiocese of New York said the city Health...

SUBWAY MOM ATTACKS TOT: COPS

A Queens woman was arraigned on assault charges yesterday for allegedly attacking her baby girl on a subway train. "Shut the f- - - up!" Chang Jang yelled at her...

ABOUT FACE: FEDS WANT CHANGES IN BOTOX ADS

There are a few wrinkles to Botox ads that frowning federal regulators want removed. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration contends that TV and print ads for the popular anti-aging...

NBA STAR INDICTED IN COLLEGE BOO$TER SCANDAL

Basketball superstar Chris Webber was indicted yesterday on charges he lied to a Detroit grand jury about taking $280,000 in illicit funds from a busted booster while he played college...

PRECIOUS LIVES OF 9/11 BABIES - THEIR BIRTHS BROUGHT JOY ON A DAY OF DESTRUCTION

These are the babies who were born on New York's darkest day. Their birthdays will forever be associated with tragedy - but as they turn 1 year old tomorrow, they...

MISSILES DEPLOYED IN D.C. TERROR TEST

Anti-aircraft missiles are being deployed at the Pentagon and Washington-area military bases to test a multilayered defense of the region, U.S. officials said yesterday. Starting today and continuing tomorrow, on...

25 JOIN 'BLUE' WALL OF HONOR

The names of 25 police officers - including 23 who perished at the World Trade Center - were added yesterday to the city's police memorial in a ceremony attended by...

'SUPER' CHARGED - ELECTRIC IMPULSES LET REEVE 'USE' HIS LEGS

Dramatic home videos of paralyzed "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve apparently using his legs are coming to television. Reeve - whose spinal cord was severed in a 1995 horseback riding accident...

PALESTINIANS NABBED IN CAFE POISON-COKE PLOT

JERUSALEM - Three Palestinians, planning to use a new terrorist weapon, are under arrest for preparing to poison the Coca-Cola at a popular Jerusalem cafe, Israeli authorities said. The three...

SAUDIS: HEY, WE'RE OSAMA'S 'VICTIMS' TOO

WASHINGTON - The latest Saudi Arabian public-relations campaign, directed at members of Congress, claims that "people must understand that we are also victims of Osama bin Laden's terrorist acts." The...

RAMBLING MAN : YASSER HITS TERROR IN WEIRD SPEECH

JERUSALEM - In a rare speech to the Palestinian parliament, a rambling and sometimes incoherent Yasser Arafat yesterday condemned terror attacks on Israeli civilians and offered - apparently in jest...

SLAIN SAILOR EYED AS TARGET IN FEUD

Cops now think sailor Kevin Robinson, the former gang member gunned down in his old Brooklyn neighborhood, may have been the intended target. Investigators at first thought Robinson, 21, slain...

TOKING TEACHERS' JOBS UP IN SMOKE

Two young Brooklyn middle-school teachers have "toked" themselves out of jobs after getting busted for possession of marijuana, authorities said yesterday. Police nabbed teachers Joshua Smith and Susan Glanstein, both...

AFRICAN 'LAND GRAB' PREZ TO BE CITY HALL'S GUEST

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe - whose controversial land-seizure programs have drawn the ire of the world - is expected to drop by City Hall on Thursday to make his case...

ASYLUM BID SPURS PERJURY CHARGES

A woman pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges she lied about facing genital mutilation if she returned to her native Ghana, a tale that won her political asylum and support...

'PERV' PRIESTS IN COURT

A pair of alleged pervert priests appeared in the same Brooklyn courtroom yesterday, one surrounded by a throng of parishioners past and present. The Rev. Francis Nelson, charged with fondling...

GREEN WORTH GOLD FROM OUT OF BLUE

A Florida schoolteacher has a real gem of a story to tell his students this fall. The teacher, a part-time wreck diver, recently swam in the deep blue off Key...

DIPLOMATIC BUSH MAKING 'BUDS'

President Bush's spokesman yesterday said there's "budding" momentum toward putting more muscle behind U.N. resolutions against Saddam Hussein after France called for a two-step process that could lead to military...

WHY WE MISSED 9/10 TERROR HINTS

U.S. intelligence caught snippets of alQaeda "chatter" a year ago today that included phrases like "Tomorrow is zero hour" and "The match begins tomorrow" - but didn't translate them from...

SAILOR SLAY EYED AS DELIBERATE 'FEUD' SHOOTING

Cops now think sailor Kevin Robinson, the former gang member gunned down in his old Brooklyn neighborhood, may have been the intended target. Investigators at first thought Robinson, 21, slain...

9/11 ONE YEAR LATER COMMEMORATIVE PULLOUT

ANDREW CARD Chief of Staff The man who told the president, then had to oversee a White House at war WASHINGTON - It was supposed to be a routine stop...

KEITH'S READY TO BACK DOWN: HERNANDEZ WILL SAY 'I'M SORRY' TO METS; PIAZZA SLAMS PHILS

Mets 6 Phillies 4 PHILADELPHIA - Apparently, Keith Hernandez doesn't believe the Mets are quitters with no heart. The former Met All-Star first baseman said yesterday that he is going...

NETS BACKUP: TIME'S LIMITED

Rodney Rogers will back up small forward Richard Jefferson. Center Dikembe Mutombo has Jason Collins in reserve. Aaron Williams will sub for Kenyon Martin at power forward. And all three...

BOSS TAKING BACK SEAT IN WELLS PROBE

YANKEE NOTES George Steinbrenner is letting GM Brian Cashman and his security department look into the altercation that resulted in David Wells getting a tooth punched out early Saturday morning...

AMERICAN IDOLS REVITALIZED OPEN

THE majestic fountains of the world-famous Unisphere were turned off for the duration of the U.S. Open fortnight as New York combats its water shortage. So 31-year-old Pete Sampras must...

DEVILS, GOMEZ STILL FAR APART

Devils GM Lou Lamoriello is back to playing contract hardball. Earlier optimism has faded, and training camp is likely to open Friday without 2000 Rookie of the Year Scott Gomez....

GIAMBI JUDGMENT AHEAD ; POSTSEASON HIS PROVING GROUND

He knew about the mystique and aura of the Yankees. He understood the ghosts of Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle. Yet from the other side of the field, Jason Giambi...

AT LAST, METS GET THE RUNS

MET NOTES PHILADELPHIA - You can see it for yourself on the stat page. It's a little graphic that shows what each team has scored every day of the week....

WIGGINTON FINDING POWER TO SUCCEED

PHILADELPHIA - Ty Wigginton was cracking jokes Sunday afternoon, which was a good thing to see. A few months ago, Wigginton could've been stereotyped as the frightened rookie who didn't...

MARTIN'S PROBABLE VS. PATS

JET NOTES Curtis Martin's left ankle sprain doesn't appear serious enough to threaten his availability for the home opener against the Patriots Sunday, though the Jets are being cautious. "Curtis...

HOT HERM CALLS A REVERSE: NIXES USUAL DAY OFF AFTER FLAWED JET WIN

Mondays after Jet wins are usually reward days off for the players for a job well done on Sunday. Herman Edwards introduced this policy last season to the delight of...

TIKI'S GOTTA GET THE BALL FOR JINTS TO HAVE A SHOT

TWO winless teams go at it on the fast artificial surface inside the Edward Jones Dome this Sunday and for the Giants to avoid staying winless after the weekend is...

ESTES DEAL FINALLY FINISHED

MET NOTES PHILADELPHIA - When Raul Gonzalez was shipped from Cincinnati to the Mets in the Shawn Estes trade, he had one last conversation with fellow outfielder Brady Clark. "[Clark]...

HAMILTON WON'T MAKE SOMETHIN' OUT OF NUTTEN

GIANT NOTES Keith Hamilton has lingering bad memories of last season's game against the Rams in St. Louis. Hamilton remembers the excruciating 15-14 loss and also bitterly recalls hurting his...