April 1, 2002

NO JOKE: EMBATTLED ENRON IS FIFTH ON FORTUNE 500 LIST

Despite bankruptcy, scandal-ridden Enron managed to wrangle fifth place in the much-anticipated Fortune 500 rankings for 2001. Wal-Mart topped the annual list with revenues of $219.8 billion and is the...

FULLER FINALLY GETS MORE OF US

New staffers are flocking to Bonnie Fuller's Us Weekly. Fuller, who starts her fourth week as editor in chief of the Jann Wenner-owned mag today after a week off skiing...

ZIFF WINS ROUND: BUT DUNNING ALSO CLAIMS VICTORY IN SUIT

The simmering dispute between the financial backers of Ziff Davis Media and its ousted CEO James Dunning has boiled over in a new flurry of legal activity. In all, 12...

OVARIAN CANCER KILLED THIS MAN . . . OR WHY LINDA WATCHES THIS SERIES EVEN THOUGH SHE REALLY DOESN'T HAVE TO

SO what does a TV critic watch when she doesn't have to watch? Me, I can't get enough of a documentary series on HBO called "America Undercover Sundays." Turns out...

KIDS CHALK UP HIT WITHOUT TELLING YOU

AS any parent will tell you, kids have ways of talking to each other no adult will ever understand. And from time to time, the grade-school telegraph can produce a...

THE SCOTS TAKE NEW YORK

AS part of Distilled Live Scotland in New York Festival, the Mull Historical Society, a pop band, will play Thursday, Friday and Saturday in a free show at a studio...

OPRAH HAD BETTER THINGS TO DO, HUH

TIME was, when the president of the United States requested your help, you helped - no matter what. But not Oprah Winfrey. I couldn't believe my eyes when I read...

BELLY FASHIONABLE: PREGNANT CELEBS EXPECTING TO STAY SEXY, STYLISH IN MATERNITY WEAR

HOLY mama! More than ever before, pregnant celebrities are throwing sheaths and muumus to the wind, and showing off their beautiful bellies and bountiful cleavage with tighter, more fitted clothing....

THE DAY AFTER

Sure, we've seen them on their big night -the Oscars, when they arrived in drop-dead (and sometimes deadly awful) designer gowns, dripping with (borrowed) jewels, their hair and faces meticulously...

MOB RAT COULD BE WORST KIND OF VERMIN FOR EATERY OWNERS

Owners of several city restaurants are stuck between a rock and a hard place since a mob boss turned stool pigeon identified them as extortion victims, The Post has learned....

SHEA'S NEW EATS HIT A HOME RUN

BUY me some peanuts, a pork sandwich and some real New York pizza. I don't care if I need an antacid. That's the new refrain to "Take Me Out to...

CARL FUZZY ABOUT THE 'RAGS' IN HIS 'TO RICHES' LIFE STORY

STATE Comptroller Carl McCall's repeated assertions that he "started out" in public housing and grew up on welfare are - so far - backed by few details. McCall, who has...

TEARS FLOW FOR QUEEN MOTHER

The mighty and the meek alike paid tribute yesterday to Britain's Queen Mother - remembering her as a "pillar of strength and inspiration." Accolades poured in from around the world...

BLOOMY: LEVY'S FINE FOR NOW

Mayor Bloomberg denied yesterday that he's planning to oust Harold Levy as chancellor of the city's 1.1 million student system - and that no candidates are being sought out at...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

The Target department store really lived up to its name yesterday when a Connecticut motorist zeroed in on the front doors and barreled through them. Police could give no explanation...

DRUG LORDS SLAUGHTER DOLPHINS

The world's growing illegal-drug trade is claiming innocent new victims: tens of thousands of dolphins. The playful sea mammals are being slaughtered by Latin American gangs using the fishing industry...

SMOKERS LOOK ALL OVER TAR-NATION FOR CIG DEALS

Internet sites and Indian reservation smoke shops expect a boost in tax-free cigarette sales when New York's higher tax takes effect Wednesday. Larry Ballagh, who sells tax-free cigarettes over the...

EGAN ASKS FOR 'PEACE IN OUR DAY' - POPE SEEKS 'HUMANITY,' NOT 'HORROR'

Edward Cardinal Egan and Christian leaders across the globe made appeals for peace during yesterday's Easter services. More than 2,500 people packed into St. Patrick's Cathedral, where Egan called "for...

NEW AD IS KATE'S CUP OF TEA

Former champagne-swilling wild woman Kate Moss says she's got a brand-new addiction - hot tea. The reed-thin supermodel, has inked a deal to become Britain's new spokeswoman for tea. She'll...

CONGRESS PUSHING TO YANK HIS VISA

Two U.S. senators are planning a bipartisan push to have Congress declare that Yasser Arafat has broken his obligation to push for peace and punish him by yanking his right...

'PARCH' MADNESS - RESERVOIRS ON RISE AS CITY SEES NEW WATER RULES

Emergency water restrictions began in the city this morning as water levels crept up slowly in seven upstate reservoirs. The drought emergency, announced last week by Mayor Bloomberg, calls for...

YASSER'S 'ALLIES': SORRY, CAN'T HELP

With Israeli tanks ringing his shattered headquarters, Yasser Arafat called on the United States for military protection - but even Saddam Hussein said he can't help the besieged Palestinian president....

JOSEPH'S EASTER MIRACLE - FDNY FATHER'S DAY HERO A WALKING WONDER

A Queens firefighter who was nearly killed in the deadly Father's Day blast in Astoria was granted an Easter miracle yesterday - he walked a full day without using a...

JAYSON'S EASTER NOTE: I'M SORRY, NEIGHBORS

Disgraced NBA great Jayson Williams played Easter Bunny yesterday for his nervous neighbors - by delivering groveling apologies. The normally devout former hardwood hero also skipped Easter services and remained...

BUSH'S 'INCORRECT' FOREIGN POLICY

THE surprise of the weekend was President Bush's response to the Israeli moves against Yasser Arafat. He said in no uncertain terms that the current crisis is the result of...

COP STABBED TO DEATH BY GIRLFRIEND'S EX: POLICE

An off-duty undercover Bronx cop was fatally stabbed through the heart Easter morning as he rushed to help his girlfriend during a fight with her ex-beau, cops said. The 34-year-old...

BUSINESS COULD SLOW TO TRICKLE FOR DROUGHT-HIT SECTORS

The city's new water restrictions may spell doom for some businesses - and be a godsend for others. Washing cars privately or watering lawns could get you slapped with a...

TAVERN WILL BE 'DISHING' IT OUT TO YANKEE FANS

Across from the House That Ruth Built, the famed Yankee Tavern is preparing for a deluge of YES Network-deprived fans to pour in today to watch the game, which won't...

BUSH GIVES PALESTINIANS 'PEACE' OF HIS MIND

President Bush yesterday condemned the latest Palestinian terror attacks - a day after saying that Yasser Arafat can do "a lot more" to stop terror. "The president condemns these acts...

SHARON WONDERS: WHERE IS THE CONCERN FOR OUR PEOPLE?

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was on the phone Saturday night with Secretary of State Colin Powell after yet another Palestinian suicide bombing, this one striking a chic...

COUPLE STABBED IN VILLAGE APT.

An man and woman were stabbed numerous times in their East Village apartment last night and were in critical condition at Bellevue Hospital after an apparent family dispute turned violent,...

BUBBA: RICH PARDON WAS 'TERRIBLE POLITICS'

Former President Bill Clinton for the first time has said he regrets pardoning fugitive billionaire Marc Rich - but only because it backfired and hurt Clinton's image. "It was terrible...

POOL VAULT: MIKE ASKS STAFF TO SHARE CARS

Mayor Bloomberg, the city's most prominent straphanger, said yesterday that his staff is exploring car-pooling to City Hall to help ease the congestion on traffic-choked Manhattan streets. Hizzoner said he...

TROOPS SET FOR A 'SHORT' STAY - PERES SAYS ISRAELIS WON'T OCCUPY TOWN

Israeli troops and tanks tightened their siege on Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters yesterday, as Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said soldiers could remain in Ramallah for several weeks. "We don't...

WE'LL WIN: SHARON'S VOW IN WAR AGAINST TERROR

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took to the airwaves last night to vow that Israel will win the war for its survival - hours after back-to-back suicide bombings killed...

BIN LADEN SEARCH HEATS UP AS TOP AIDE GETS SHIPPED TO GITMO

One of Osama bin Laden's key lieutenants was believed to be among 20 al Qaeda terror suspects en route to Camp X-Ray yesterday. He would be the highest-ranking leader in...

BOGUS TERROR TALE PUTS JFK ON ALERT

A Kuwaiti father, bent on keeping his daughter out of the United States, concocted a story about her supposed terrorist intentions, putting authorities at JFK Airport on high alert yesterday,...

PLO'S JEWISH PAL DISGRACES VICTIMS

IN THE eyes of many Jews, Brooklyn native Adam Shapiro is Israel's version of American traitor John Walker Lindh. The Jewish Taliban. "He is a traitor," Shayna Levine, one of...

SCHWARZ PERJURY RAP MAY SCARE OFF WIESE

New perjury charges against Charles Schwarz could force a key witness to clam up if he's asked to back the ex-cop by testifying at his new trial, lawyers say. The...

L.I. CROOKS TERROR-FIED - 9/11-WARY CITIZENS BOOST BUSTS FOR EVERYDAY CRIMES

Police on Long Island say that a public on alert for terrorist acts has increased arrests for various nonterrorism crimes resulting from calls from watchful citizens. The crimes range from...

MAD-CAP PARADERS TAKE TO THE AVENUE

Hats on! Thousands of paradegoers came to check out the lids being donned at the annual Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue yesterday. "For me, it's not just about the hats,...

TROOPS DIG IN FOR LONG STAY: ISRAELIS MAY OCCUPY RAMALLAH FOR A MONTH

As Israeli troops and tanks tightened a siege on Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters yesterday, a report emerged that the Israeli army plans to keep soldiers in Ramallah for another...

RANGER HOPES SLIM & NONE

TAMPA - It would be nice for the Rangers if the NHL had its own NIT tournament for the teams that didn't qualify for Lord Stanley's big dance. Then, you...

AT LEAST MARTY'S IN PLAYOFF FORM

Throwing stones despite living in his own underattended glass house, Smarty Marty took a little shot at the team that will be shooting at him tonight. "We might play in...

DANE VS. DIXON IS JUAN TO WATCH

ATLANTA - Anyone looking for the pivotal matchup in tonight's national championship between Maryland and Indiana need search no further than shooting guards Juan Dixon and Dane Fife. Dane Fife...

A BATTLE TO AVOID STRUGGLING

Tonight's game at the Coliseum between the Devils and Islanders has become more than the Carolina Bowl, more than simply a battle for sixth place and the right to play...

DAVIS, HOOSIERS REST ON SUNDAY

NCAA FINAL FOUR NOTEBOOK ATLANTA - The day before coaching the most important game of his career, Mike Davis stayed true to himself. A devout Christian, Davis has not held...

FOR OPENERS, REY MAY NOT BE OK

Sitting alone in his Shea office yesterday, Bobby Valentine shook his head in disgust. The Web-loving Valentine couldn't log on-line, but that wasn't what caused the majority of Valentine's angst....

KOMIYAMA'S SET FOR SOME HOME COOKIN'

MET NOTES Of all the American food he's tried, Satoru Komiyama finds Eggs Benedict especially delicious. Today, Komiyama will get a real flavor for being a major leaguer in the...

THE STAGE IS SET FOR FINAL SCENE OF HOOSIERS TOO

ATLANTA - They have watched the Villanova-Georgetown tape, and they have watched Buster Douglas knock out Mike Tyson, and now, 40 minutes from a most improbable hoop heaven, the Indiana...

TERPS' BENCH LOOKS TO DEEP SIX INDY

ATLANTA - Even in the moments after last season's Final Four loss to Duke, the Maryland Terps were convinced that they would have one of the deepest teams in the...

CABLEVISION CON JOBS ARE NOTHING NEW

SO much for public and media pressure. Opening Day dawns with three million Cablevision-controlled households being shut out of their first of 130 Yankee cable telecasts. That leaves us with...

SUNDAY BREAK MOVES UP IN CALM BEFORE STORMS

Sunday Break advanced from 12th to seventh this week on the "Derby Dozen" following his eventful allowance victory Wednesday at Aqueduct, but otherwise all was quiet on the 3-year-old front....

HUSKIES WRITE PERFECT ENDING

UConn 82 Oklahoma 70 SAN ANTONIO - Undefeated, unchallenged until the final game, and in the end, unfazed, one of the most perfect women's college basketball teams ever put together...

STAGE'S SET FOR GIAMBI

YANKEE NOTES BALTIMORE - If he could carry a tune better than a bat, Jason Giambi may have been the rock star he dreamed about as a kid. Yet, after...

FLIP: K-MART'S NOT DIRTY

NET NOTES MINNEAPOLIS - Kenyon Martin, dirty player? Ask Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders and he'll tell you "most improved player." Saunders, who coached Martin in the Goodwill Games last summer,...

EVERYTHING'S AMAZIN' . . . SO FAR

IF things look, well, more alive this season at venerable Shea Stadium - the Brooke Astor of ballparks, although not aging quite as gracefully - it's because the wattage has...

AL FEELING GOOD ABOUT BEING A LITTLE LEITER

A year ago, Al Leiter sprinted into his Opening Day start following 192/3 scoreless spring-training innings. During the just-completed exhibition season, he allowed seven earned runs in 141/3 innings (a...

PUTTING BAD (K)NIGHT TO BED; WILLIAMS, DAVIS HAVE DEMONS TO EXORCISE

ATLANTA - One team is trying to forget a nightmare. The other team is trying to undo a Knightmare. Tonight's national championship game is an emotionally-laden showdown between Maryland, which...

REVAMPED METS RARING TO GO

Roberto Alomar rubbed Mo Vaughn's shiny head with a black belt. Jeromy Burnitz walked into the clubhouse with skateboard in tow. The Mets may have appeared to be in a...

BOMBERS ARMED AND DANGEROUS ; TORRE'S 'BEST' STAFF READY TO GET SERIOUS

BALTIMORE - Armed with a pitching staff he senses is the best he has taken north and a lineup with bigger muscles, Joe Torre delivered a message to the Yankees...

NETS' RALLY IS SPOILED DUE TO MITCHELL'S HELP

T-Wolves 86Nets 85 MINNEAPOLIS - Thirty-eight year-old Sam Mitchell was hanging back, watching the Richard Jefferson option on the final play. As Jason Kidd blew past Chauncey Billups, Mitchell figured,...

TIME FOR AMAZIN'S TO LEAVE SPRING BUMBLINGS BEHIND

THE scene that summed up the Mets' spring training: While warming up in the middle of the second inning of an exhibition game against the Rangers at The Ballpark in...

ROG: STAFF IS BEST I'VE BEEN ON

BALTIMORE - He will be 40 in early August. He has a record six Cy Youngs and two World Series rings. He has four children and wife Debbie in Houston....

EW SHOWS HE'S NOT DONE YET

Magic 97Knicks 90 ORLANDO - The Knicks are almost officially dead, but Patrick Ewing proved yesterday he still has a bit of life left in his creaky 39-year-old body. Recovering...

YANKS READY TO RAMPAGE, UNLESS ...

BALTIMORE - The Yankees begin a season today in which it appears only Don Fehr and Bud Selig could prevent 100 victories. Short of a work stoppage, this club has...

COALE WOWED GENO SOONER THAN MOST

SAN ANTONIO - Sherri Coale says she owes Geno Auriemma everything, including the scare she hoped to give him last night. "I don't think he's very worried about me," she...

LEGENDS IN OUR MIDST : JETER HAS 'AURA' OF A CHAMPION

It's really this simple, Derek Jeter has evolved into a baseball god. He has become this generation's Mickey Mantle. And before Mickey there was Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig and Babe...

LEGENDS IN OUR MIDST: BASEBALL IS IN ALOMAR'S BLOOD

He was born to baseball, born to star. When new Mets second baseman Roberto Alomar was only two years old, his dad Sandy Alomar Sr. knew his child possessed a...

VAUGHN'S MAKING HISTORY: LAST AFRICAN-AMERICAN TO WEAR JACKIE'S 42

Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to wear No. 42 in the major leagues. Mo Vaughn is the last. It's a distinction Vaughn cherishes as much as winning the 1995...

HE'S ALL EARS: SORIANO LISTENING AND LEARNING FAST

BALTIMORE - He hits. Has power. Possesses two live legs and a muscular arm. And his play around second base is improving. So, in scouts' parlance, Alfonso Soriano has four...

BACHELOR NUMBER 31 : DATING SECRETS FROM MIKE PIAZZA

Single women are all the same. First they feign interest in my job, inquire about my family, tell me how much they love Steve Serby's column, and then they get...

GIAMBI IS N.Y.'S STAR OF STARS

BALTIMORE - There are very few athletes built to control New York. Many try but few make New York work for them, not reduce them to goo. Joe DiMaggio and...

HARDBALL HEROES, DIAMOND DOGS: POST'S SURVEY OF THE BEST (AND WORST) IN THE BUSINESS

With the help of scouts, managers and executives, The Post's annual look at the best and worst in the major leagues: FIVE BEST ALL-AROUND PLAYERS 1. Alex Rodriguez, Rangers -...

2002 YANKEES: THIS TIME, SECOND TO NONE

Have the Yankees clinched the AL East title yet? No? Wait a month or so. In need of a few tweaks after losing the World Series last November, the Yankees...

AL PREVIEW

You search and search for reasons why the Yankees will not conquer the AL again. Because Oakland's young starters can dominate a short playoff series. Because the Mariners will finally...

NL PREVIEW

As a rookie, Mel Stottlemyre pitched and lost Game 7 against the '64 Cardinals. His career will become a perfect circle when the Yanks and St. Louis meet again in...

2002 METS: REBUILT TO GO THE DISTANCE

As Armando Benitez takes the hill for the bottom of the ninth in Game 6 of the World Series, the Mets' season flashes before their collective eyes. It seemed like...

THE MATCHUPS: INDIANA VS. MARYLAND

ATLANTA - The NCAA Tournament, a field of 65 teams, each with hopes and dreams, has come down to this improbable matchup: Indiana, one of the most storied programs in...