November 28, 2003

GIFT STICKER SHOCK - SOME PREPAID CARDS COME WITH HIDDEN FEES

Call them the gifts that keep on taking. Gift cards are increasingly popular, but some come with hidden fees that can make them seem Grinch-like. The amped-up gift certificates -...

SHAREHOLDERS MULL SUITS VS. BLACK & PALS

The first shareholder lawsuit in Conrad Black's insider pay scandal could drag in two powerful pals - Henry Kissinger and ex-Illinois Gov. James Thompson. The suit could be filed as...

GLOBAL TRADE WAR AVERTED BY ELEVENTH-HOUR TRUCE

The world's economic powers declared a last-minute truce yesterday to a looming trade war that would disrupt the global sale of everything from Florida oranges to French wine. The Thanksgiving...

SHOPPING SLUMP - A SLOW RETAIL KICKOFF COULD YIELD BIG DISCOUNTS

The number of people expected to shop today, on the official start to the holiday season, could be the lowest since 1997, according to some projections - raising the possibility...

BOOK REVIEW IS ALL IN THE FAMILY

IT may stop short of a conspiracy theory, but the familial ties of a Washington Post book reviewer has one Kennedy author crying foul. The reviewer under fire is Matthew...

THE LATE WHITE WAY: IT'S BEEN THE WORST SEASON IN YEARS, AND MORE CASUALTIES ARE TO COME

'WE'RE not producers anymore, we're kamikaze pilots," a veteran Broadway producer observed at the opening night party for "Wonderful Town" last Sunday. The crack drew big laughs from several other...

ALICIA KEYS, UNLOCKED - SHE'S GOT SOUL, SMARTS AND A YEN TO BE SILLY

"I want to stretch, I want a challenge. If you live life safe, there are no thrills." - Alicia Keys"See, I'm from New York City. New Yorkers are fast, quick...

THE EVOLUTION OF OF A REVOLUTION

THEY'VE sold thousands of records and are headlining the Hammerstein Ballroom tonight and tomorrow - but most of O.A.R.'s fans don't even know how to pronounce the band's name. That's...

A-ONE ENTERTAINMENT FOR ALL-AMERICAN GIRLS

THE AMERICAN GIRLS REVUE At the American Girl Place, 609 Fifth Ave., at 49th Street. Call (877) AG-PLACE. --- AMERICAN Girl Place is a swimmingly successful Chicago store that celebrates...

REMATCH OF OLYMPIC SKATING-SCANDAL PAIRS

THE two skating pairs at the center of last year's Olympic gold-medal judging scandal will face off again for the first time tomorrow night during a CBS special. Canada's David...

STARR REPORT

Here's Lisa's 'View' Having covered Elisabeth Hasselbeck's coronation as the newest co-host of "The View," I thought I'd track down Lisa Ling, who left the show last December, to see...

BERNIE ME UP! - AFTER A NICE LONG REST, COMIC BERNIE MAC RETURNS IN TV'S FUNNIEST SITCOM

"The Bernie Mac Show" [ 1/2] (three and one-half stars) Sunday night at 8:30 on Fox ---- BERNIE Mac is the kind of comic that either leaves you weak with...

MOI? JUST CALL ME SHY

WE have her all wrong. In her first interview since the sex-tapes scandal surfaced, Paris Hilton says she's really just a "shy" girl. "People have a different impression of me...

HICCUP HOORAY FOR 'HUKKLE'

HUKKLE [ 1/2] (three and one-half stars) Stylish black humor with a twist.In Hungarian, with English subtitles. Running time: 77 minutes. Not rated (mature subject matter). At the Cinema Village,...

IT'S ABOUT ANIMATED ACTIVISTS

INDEPENDENT SPIRITS [] (two stars) Spirited away by art. Running time: 60 minutes. Not rated (nothing objectionable). At the Quad, 13th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. ----- THE work...

BALLET ON ITS BIRTHDAY LETS GEORGE DO IT

NEW YORK CITY BALLET New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, (212) 870-5570. Season runs through Feb. 29. ---- IT was hardly business as usual when New York City Ballet jump-started...

SO LONG, OLD CHUM

CABARET [ 1/2] (three and one-half stars)Roundabout Theater Company at Studio 54, 254 W. 54th St., between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. (212) 239-6200. Through Jan. 4. ----- COME to the...

NOW LUNA LYRICS ARE STRIKING AS LUNA TUNES

WHAT'S with all the jam bands in town? From Phish at the Nassau Coliseum to moe at the Beacon Theatre, Thanksgiving weekend has unofficially become jam-band time in New York.Luna...

BX. VET THANKFUL TO BE BACK HOME

Last Thanksgiving, Sgt. Julio Rosas was spending his first day on duty in the build-up to the Iraq war, dining on hot dogs, hamburgers and french fries at a Kuwaiti...

STREET TO HONOR JOEY RAMONE

Hey! Ho! Let's Go! An East Village street corner half a block from the birthplace of punk is being renamed after Joey Ramone, more than two years after the towering...

KIDS' DREAMS OF FLIGHT GROUNDED BY BUREAUCRATS

JEANNETTE Sepulveda wants to fly - but the city's Department of Education has clipped her wings. Every morning, the 16-year-old travels two hours by train and bus from The Bronx...

HOLIDAY MOURNING - KIN WEEP FOR TRAGIC BMW TEENS

Thanksgiving is a time to count your blessings - but for the parents of two 18-year-old Queens boys killed in a car crash, it became a day to mourn their...

'HATE' TIRE-SLASHERS STRIKE AGAIN

Vandals slashed nearly 50 tires in the Brooklyn's Borough Park neighborhood yesterday - the second wave of slashings in a week. "I'm supposed to be leaving soon to be with...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

A West Virginia woman whose dramatic rescue from her flooded car was broadcast on TV was later arrested after a sharp-eyed sheriff saw the footage, recognized the woman and remembered...

HILL WANTS MORE TROOPS

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday called for more troops to shore up the tenuous peace in Afghanistan, as she traveled to hot spots in the country and shared...

INSIDE DUBYA'S SECRET MISSION : EVEN LAURA DIDN'T KNOW HOLIDAY PLAN

WASHINGTON - With secrecy so intense that even his family didn't know what was up, President Bush was able to fly from Texas to Maryland and on to Iraq yesterday...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

BROOKLYN * A gunman stole hundreds of dollars from a token-booth clerk yesterday at a Fort Greene subway station, police said. The crook walked up to the booth at the...

ISRAEL SPEEDS FENCE-BUILDING

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday Israel is speeding up construction of a controversial West Bank fence and may take other "unilateral steps" if the Palestinians delay peace...

PAGEANT'S MAIN DRAG - B'WAY STAR GETS SANTA SLIGHT

Drag queen Harvey Fierstein was sadly mistaken if he thought he could ride with Santa dressed as Mrs. Claus in the Thanksgiving Day Parade, organizers said yesterday. The Broadway star...

PREZ SERVES UP T'GIVING WINNER - * MAKES SECRET FLIGHT TO WAR ZONE * MOVED TO TEARS AS HE HAILS TROOPS

President Bush carried out a daring secret mission to Baghdad yesterday to deliver a Thanksgiving Day message from America to his frontline troops in the war against terror: "We're proud...

VICIOUS L.I. SLAY: EX-GREEN BERET'S FIANCÉE MAKES GRISLY DISCOVERY

A former U.S. Army Green Beret was found beaten to death in the driveway of his Long Island home, authorities said yesterday. David Dentici, a 48-year-old auto mechanic, was bashed...

PERILOUS JOURNEY PLANE-LY PROVES PREZ HAS RIGHT STUFF

IT WAS the right thing to do - and it was a risky thing to do. There was no better way for President Bush to show a commander in chief's...

RETURN OF THE RINGS - KEITH FINDS MISSING WORLD SERIES JEWELRY

Retired Met legend Keith Hernandez got an early Christmas present this year when two World Series Rings he thought had been stolen turned up in his New York apartment. The...

PIT BULL DRAGS B'KLYN GIRL A BLOCK

A pit bull mauled a 5-year-old girl and dragged her by the ankle for a block in Brooklyn yesterday as her mother looked on helplessly, witnesses and police said. The...

FOTOG SNEAKED ONTO JACKO JET

A reporter was arrested after he tried to slip onto Michael Jackson's private jet with a camera the day the singer was booked on child molestation charges, Santa Barbara, Calif.,...

NICOTINE NAZIS ARE ASH-KING FOR IT THIS TIME!

LAWYER Rich Farley was steaming like a Thanksgiving turkey. "It's like making a household glass tumbler illegal during Prohibition because you could pour whiskey into it," he was saying. Farley...

BRIT BUSTED IN QAEDA BOMB PLOTS

A British man linked to al Qaeda and suspected of planning bomb attacks at soccer matches was arrested yesterday after explosives were found in his house. The 24-year-old, nabbed in...

QUEENS FAMILY IN 'DWI' HORROR

A motorist was drunk when he smashed into a road divider near Shea Stadium early yesterday, killing his cousin and seriously injuring his brother, police said. Santos Argueta, 24, of...

VICIOUS L.I. SLAY - EX-GREEN BERET'S FIANCÉE MAKES GRISLY DISCOVERY

When Tina Governale's fiancé pulled his truck up to their Long Island home but didn't come inside, she stepped out to check on him - and found him bludgeoned to...

ROTTWEILER ATTACKS BROOKLYN GIRL, 5

A Rottweiler mauled a 5-year-old girl and dragged her by the leg for a block in Brooklyn yesterday as her horrified aunt looked on helplessly, witnesses and police said. Little...

MIDWIFE STRIFE - CITY HOSP BANS BIRTHING ASSISTANTS

A major Manhattan hospital has barred midwives from delivering almost all of the babies born there, The Post has learned. New York-Presbyterian's Allen Pavilion is the only branch of the...

INSIDE DUBYA'S SECRET MISSION - EVEN LAURA DIDN'T KNOW HOLIDAY PLAN

WASHINGTON - With secrecy so intense that even his family didn't know what was up, President Bush was able to fly from Texas to Maryland and on to Iraq yesterday...

GLASS ACTS SPARKLE: RATING HOLIDAY DISPLAYS AT THE CITY'S TOP STORES

The biggest stores in town have taken panes to put holiday splendor under glass. This year's windows are even better than last year's. And if they don't have quite the...

THOMAS CAN HELP GM REVAMP JETS

SO MANY Jet holes. So little cap room to close them. They can't put all their money into a defense that couldn't be fixed in one offseason with the entire...

SHOCKEY'S RETURN SUFFERED SETBACK

Jeremy Shockey's intense desire to fast-forward the healing process and get back on the field got the better of him last Monday night. It put his expected return on Sunday...

NETS FOLLOW LEADER - KIDD SPARKS N.J. TO 2ND-STRAIGHT WIN

Nets 102 - Clippers 96 LOS ANGELES - There are some universal truths. Fish need water. The Nets need Jason Kidd. "That's an understatement," laughed coach Byron Scott before last...

RJ'S REPLENISHING HIS RESERVES

NET NOTES LOS ANGELES - In his first five games, Richard Jefferson shot .507 (35 of 69) with averages of 18.4 points and 7.6 rebounds. In his next seven, he...

IT'S NO SECRET: RESPECT ELDER

The secret is out. Georgia Tech's B.J. Elder held his personal coming-out party Wednesday night in the mecca of college basketball against one of the nation's top shooting guards. Elder...

MADDEN MISSES POINT, AGAIN

EARLY in the fourth quarter of Monday's Giants-Bucs game, Giants rookie Frank Walker intercepted a pass and ran 56 yards for a TD. At the 10-yard line, Walker removed the...

VINTAGE HOLIK NOW PROVING HIS WORTH

PITTSBURGH - They all scoffed at the Rangers last year for giving Bobby Holik $45 million over five years to leave New Jersey. Nobody's mocking anyone now. Because one-quarter into...

BOSSANOVA DANCES AWAY WITH BIG A WIN

Whenever a halfway decent sprinter dawdles through a first half-mile in :45.4 and he's two lengths in front going six furlongs, he'd almost have to fall down to lose. Bossanova,...

KERRY'S HEAVY LOAD - COLLINS CAN'T LIFT GIANTS BY HIMSELF

All the work to streamline his throwing motion, all the personal growth and maturity, all the superior talent brought in around him - after all this, Kerry Collins, for the...

ISLES RUNNING OUT OF EXCUSES

The Islanders' season has already come down to the sad sight of Rick DiPietro standing before the cameras and notebooks Wednesday night, waxing prophetic about these being "must-win" games. Must-win...

JETS HOPED BACK COULD PLAY SOWELL

Tell the truth. If you were told Jerald Sowell has been playing for the Jets since 1997 - for the past seven seasons, dating back to the Bill Parcells era...

EVANS ALL FIRED UP FOR MORE

JET NOTES Josh Evans was hoping for more last Sunday. Now on Monday, he's hoping for more. Evans, the Jets' defensive tackle who made his 2003 debut last Sunday after...

SHOCKEY'S RETURN STILL QUESTIONABLE

GIANT NOTES Jeremy Shockey tried so hard to get back on the field for Monday night's game in Tampa that he may have hurt his chances of playing on Sunday...

MUTOMBO JUMPS IN - ENERGIZED CENTER LEADS KNICK SURGE

INDIANAPOLIS - This recent Knick revival has been brought to you by a 7-2 center deemed older than a fossil by the Eastern Conference champion braintrust. What is Nets GM...

SKILES SADDLED WITH BUM RAP - 'BAD GUY' LABEL SHEER NONSENSE

IF you're wondering who signed off on Alonzo Mourning's (kidney illness) uninsured, $22-million guaranteed signing, it sure wasn't Nets VP Rod Thorn. Executives don't make those kinds of perilous command...

WILLIAMS' SCORING SPREE PROVES HIS WORTH

KNICK NOTES INDIANAPOLIS - This was in October, in the preseason, when Latrell Sprewell was on the Timberwolves' bench in a suit, sitting out the exhibition game against the Knicks...

UNHAPPY HOLIDAY - FIRST-PLACE PACERS HALT KNICKS' STREAK AT THREE

Pacers 93 - Knicks 70 INDIANAPOLIS - It takes a lot to tick off Allan Houston. But Reggie Miller and last night's officials managed to do so. The worst possible...

STILL TIME TO EARN YOUR STRIPERS

THE days are growing shorter and colder, but saltwater anglers still have some excellent opportunities for late-season action on both striped bass and blackfish. Striped bass are still in close...

PIGSKIN PROFIT

NEBRASKA at COLORADO Today Noon TV: Ch. 7. LINE: Nebraska -2 1/2. ANGLE: This is the most dangerous game of the five to play. Colorado (5-6), playing at home, needs...

KIDD'S NET WORTH: TRUTH BE TOLD, JERSEY NEEDS JASON

LOS ANGELES - There are some universal truths. Fish need water. Red Sox fans need pity. The Nets need Jason Kidd. "That's an understatement," coach Byron Scott said with a...

BYRON'S A NATURAL: EXEC: NET COACH HAS RIGHT STUFF FOR TV CAREER

If the Nets eventually fire coach Byron Scott -- which reportedly could happen -- he likely has a career as a TV analyst waiting for him. "I think that is...

5 QUESTIONS FOR STEVE YOUNG

For this week, The Post's Andrew Marchand spoke with ESPN's NFL analyst, Steve Young. The 42-year-old Young played 15 seasons in the NFL. He won the regular-season MVP once and...

MARCHAND'S MATCHUP OF THE WEEK

'SPORTSCENTER' VS 'ESPNEWS' (Which is better?) No matter how hard some of the anchors try, SportsCenter is still a must watch. With its booyah and whistles, it is like your...

TWO OF A KIND: EX-NINERS CALL PENNINGTON A YOUNG MONTANA

It was just a 15-minute conversation on football, but when it was over ex-49er Brent Jones almost felt as if he'd spoken to Joe Montana instead of the Jets' Chad...