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HAMBURG, Germany, June 3 — As he left the soccer field after a club match in the eastern German city of Halle on March 25, the Nigerian forward Adebowale Ogungbure was spit upon, jeered with racial remarks and mocked with monkey noises. In rebuke, he placed two fingers under his nose to simulate a Hitler mustache and thrust his arm in a Nazi salute. Marc Zoro, right, an Ivory Coast native, was a target of racial slurs from the home fans in Messina, Italy. Adriano, a star with Inter Milan, tried to persuade him to stay on the field. From now until its conclusion on July 9, Jeff Z. Klein and other staff members of The Times and International Herald Tribune will track the world's most popular sporting event. Your guide to the games in Germany: teams, rosters, schedules, statistics, venues and more. In April, the American defender Oguchi Onyewu, playing for his professional club team in Belgium, dismissively gestured toward fans who were making simian chants at him. Then, as he went to throw the ball inbounds, Onyewu said a fan of the opposing team reached over a barrier and punched him in the face. International soccer has been plagued for years by violence among fans, including racial incidents. But FIFA, soccer's Zurich-based world governing body, said there has been a recent surge in discriminatory behavior toward blacks by fans and other players, an escalation that has dovetailed with the signing of more players from Africa and Latin America by elite European clubs. This "deplorable trend," as FIFA has called it, now threatens to embarrass the sport on its grandest stage, the World Cup, which opens June 9 for a monthlong run in 12 cities around Germany. More than 30 billion cumulative television viewers are expected to watch part of the competition and Joseph S. Blatter, FIFA's president, has vowed to crack down on racist behavior during the tournament. Underlining FIFA's concerns, the issue has been included on the agenda at its biannual Congress, scheduled to be held this week in Munich. A campaign against bigotry includes "Say No to Racism" stadium banners, television commercials, and team captains making pregame speeches during the quarterfinals of the 32-team tournament. Players, coaches and officials have been threatened with sanctions. But FIFA has said it would not be practical to use the harshest penalties available to punish misbehaving fans — halting matches, holding games in empty stadiums and deducting points that teams receive for victories and ties. Players and antiracism experts said they expected offensive behavior during the tournament, including monkey-like chanting; derisive singing; the hanging of banners that reflect neofascist and racist beliefs; and perhaps the tossing of bananas or banana peels, all familiar occurrences during matches in Spain, Italy, eastern Germany and eastern Europe. "For us it's quite clear this is a reflection of underlying tensions that exist in European societies," said Piara Powar, director of the London-based antiracist soccer organization Kick It Out. He said of Eastern Europe: "Poverty, unemployment, is a problem. Indigenous people are looking for easy answers to blame. Often newcomers bear the brunt of the blame." Yet experts and players also said they believed the racist behavior would be more constrained at the World Cup than it was during play in various domestic leagues around Europe, because of increased security, the international makeup of the crowds, higher ticket prices and a sense that spectators would be generally well behaved on soccer's grandest stage. "We have to differentiate inside and outside the stadium," said Kurt Wachter, project coordinator for the Vienna-based Football Against Racism in Europe, a network of organizations that seeks to fight bigotry and xenophobia in 35 countries. "Racism is a feature of many football leagues inside and outside Europe," said Wachter, who expects most problems to occur outside stadiums where crowds are less controlled. "We're sure we will see some things we're used to seeing. It won't stop because of the World Cup." Particularly worrisome are the possibilities of attacks by extremist groups on spectators and visitors in train stations, bars, restaurants and open areas near the stadiums, Wachter and other experts said. To promote tolerance, he said his organization would organize street soccer matches outside World Cup stadiums. Recent attacks in the eastern Germany city of Potsdam on an Ethiopian-born engineer and in eastern Berlin on a state lawmaker of Turkish descent, along with a government report showing an increase in right-wing violence, have ignited fears that even sporadic hate crimes and other intolerant behavior could mar the World Cup, whose embracing motto is A Time to Make Friends. Far-right extremism is isolated on the fringe of German society, and the German government has intended to confront its Nazi past while preaching openness and tolerance. Germany has one of the world's lowest rates of violent crime. Still, an immigrant group called the Africa Council said it would publish a "No Go" guide for nonwhites during the World Cup, particularly for some areas of eastern Berlin and for surrounding towns of the state of Brandenburg. In mid-May, a former government spokesman, Uwe-Karsten Heye, caused a furor when he tried to assist visitors by advising that anyone "with a different skin color" avoid visiting small and midsize towns in Brandenburg and elsewhere in eastern Germany, or they "may not leave with their lives." These remarks received blunt criticism from high-ranking German officials. Wolfgang Schäuble, the minister of the interior, said there were no areas in which World Cup visitors should feel threatened, calling Germany "one of the safest places in the world." Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, has warned that "anybody who threatens, attacks or, worse, kills anybody because of the color of his skin or because he comes from another country will face the full force of the law." The Bundesliga in Germany is one of the world's top professional soccer leagues, and has not experienced widespread racism. Incidents involving racial abuse of black players are more prevalent in semiprofessional and amateur leagues in eastern Germany. One of the cities playing host to the World Cup, Leipzig, is in the former East Germany. Another, Berlin, was partly in East Germany. After making a Nazi salute, which is illegal in Germany, Ogungbure of Nigeria was investigated by the authorities. But a charge of unconstitutional behavior against him was soon dropped because his gesture had been meant to renounce extremist activity. "I regret what I did," Ogungbure said in a telephone interview from Leipzig. "I should have walked away. I'm a professional, but I'm a human, too. They don't spit on dogs. Why should they spit on me? I felt like a nobody." Gerald Asamoah, a forward on Germany's World Cup team and a native of Ghana, has been recounting an incident in the 1990's when he was pelted with bananas before a club match in Cottbus. "I'll never forget that," he said in a television interview. "It's like we're not people." He has expressed anger and sadness over a banner distributed by a right-wing group that admonished, "No Gerald, You Are Not Germany." Cory Gibbs, an American defender who formerly played professionally in Germany, said there were restaurants and nightclubs in eastern Germany — and even around Hamburg in the west — where he was told "You're not welcome" because he was black. "I think racism is everywhere," said Gibbs, who will miss the World Cup because of a knee injury. "But I feel in Germany racism is a lot more direct." Racist behavior at soccer matches is primarily displayed by men and is fueled by several factors, according to experts: alcohol; the perceived "us versus them" threat of multiculturalism in societies that were once more ethnically homogenous; the difficult economic transition of eastern European nations since the fall of the Berlin Wall; and crude attempts to unnerve opposing players during bitter, consuming rivalries. Other observers say that the soccer stadium in Europe has become a communal soapbox, one of the few remaining public spaces where spectators can be outrageous and where political correctness does not exist and is even discouraged. "Nowhere else other than football do people meet someplace and have a stage for shouting things as an anonymous mass," said Gerd Dembowski, director of a Berlin-based antiracist organization called Floodlight. "You can shout things you would never say in your normal life, let out your frustrations." Not all the misbehavior can be traced to fans or to Europe. Players and coaches have also been transgressors. Luis Aragonés, Spain's World Cup coach, was fined in 2004 after making racial remarks about the French star Thierry Henry. In March, in the Brazilian league, the defender Antonio Carlos was suspended for 120 days, and 4 additional matches, after an incident in which he shouted "monkey" at an opposing player who was black. But it was an incident in Spain on Feb. 25 that galvanized antiracist sentiment and prodded FIFA into taking a tougher stand against bigoted behavior. That match, in Zaragoza, was temporarily halted in the 77th minute by the referee, who threatened to cancel the remaining 13 minutes after Samuel Eto'o, the star forward for Barcelona, was subjected to a chorus of racial taunts. Eto'o threatened to leave the field. His coach and teammates eventually persuaded him to continue, and last month Barcelona won the European Champions Cup. Eto'o has become one of the sport's most outspoken players on the subject of racism. "I'll continue to play," Eto'o, whose national team, Cameroon, did not qualify for the World Cup, said this week through his agent. "I'm not going to give up and hide and put my head down. I'll score goals against the teams whose fans are making rude noises." Under pressure to curb what it acknowledged was an increase in racist incidents, FIFA in late March announced a stricter set of penalties that would apply for club and national team matches. The sanctions would include suspensions of five matches for players and officials who make discriminatory gestures, fines of $16,600 to $25,000 for each offense and two-year stadium bans for offending spectators. It also said teams, which receive 3 points in the standings for a victory, would have 3 points deducted on a first offense by misbehaving players, officials or fans. Blatter, the FIFA president, told reporters that the 3-point deduction for abhorrent fan behavior would apply during the World Cup, then backed away from his comments in April. Blatter declined to comment for this article. And it remains unclear exactly what penalties will be levied against World Cup teams for offensive behavior by fans, coaches and players. Nicolas Maingot, a FIFA spokesman, said World Cup sanctions would be made public later. But in an e-mail response to questions, he said: "Only racist abuses in the field of play will be punished. For fans, it will be impossible, due to the multinationality of the audience. In other words, it would be impossible to identify from which side would potential racist abusers come." Critics counter that spectators are supposed to have their names on their tickets, so identifying offending fans should be relatively easy. Onyewu, the American defender who was punched by an opposing fan in Belgium, said the man was identified through an anonymous tip and was barred from attending matches for two years. He said he did not retaliate because he believed that racist behavior reflected acts of a minority of fans. "I'm anticipating a more professional environment in Germany because it's the World Cup," Onyewu said. Even so, he said, although antiracist efforts could restrict public behavior, "that's only helping the exterior." He added, "The interior mind thinking, you can't really change that."

A surge in discriminatory behavior toward blacks by fans and other players threatens to embarrass soccer.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 - The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United States as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to hunt for evidence of terrorist activity, according to current and former government officials. The volume of information harvested from telecommunication data and voice networks, without court-approved warrants, is much larger than the White House has acknowledged, the officials said. It was collected by tapping directly into some of the American telecommunication system's main arteries, they said. As part of the program approved by President Bush for domestic surveillance without warrants, the N.S.A. has gained the cooperation of American telecommunications companies to obtain backdoor access to streams of domestic and international communications, the officials said. The government's collection and analysis of phone and Internet traffic have raised questions among some law enforcement and judicial officials familiar with the program. One issue of concern to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has reviewed some separate warrant applications growing out of the N.S.A.'s surveillance program, is whether the court has legal authority over calls outside the United States that happen to pass through American-based telephonic "switches," according to officials familiar with the matter. "There was a lot of discussion about the switches" in conversations with the court, a Justice Department official said, referring to the gateways through which much of the communications traffic flows. "You're talking about access to such a vast amount of communications, and the question was, How do you minimize something that's on a switch that's carrying such large volumes of traffic? The court was very, very concerned about that." Since the disclosure last week of the N.S.A.'s domestic surveillance program, President Bush and his senior aides have stressed that his executive order allowing eavesdropping without warrants was limited to the monitoring of international phone and e-mail communications involving people with known links to Al Qaeda. What has not been publicly acknowledged is that N.S.A. technicians, besides actually eavesdropping on specific conversations, have combed through large volumes of phone and Internet traffic in search of patterns that might point to terrorism suspects. Some officials describe the program as a large data-mining operation. The current and former government officials who discussed the program were granted anonymity because it remains classified. Bush administration officials declined to comment on Friday on the technical aspects of the operation and the N.S.A.'s use of broad searches to look for clues on terrorists. Because the program is highly classified, many details of how the N.S.A. is conducting it remain unknown, and members of Congress who have pressed for a full Congressional inquiry say they are eager to learn more about the program's operational details, as well as its legality. Officials in the government and the telecommunications industry who have knowledge of parts of the program say the N.S.A. has sought to analyze communications patterns to glean clues from details like who is calling whom, how long a phone call lasts and what time of day it is made, and the origins and destinations of phone calls and e-mail messages. Calls to and from Afghanistan, for instance, are known to have been of particular interest to the N.S.A. since the Sept. 11 attacks, the officials said. This so-called "pattern analysis" on calls within the United States would, in many circumstances, require a court warrant if the government wanted to trace who calls whom. The use of similar data-mining operations by the Bush administration in other contexts has raised strong objections, most notably in connection with the Total Information Awareness system, developed by the Pentagon for tracking terror suspects, and the Department of Homeland Security's Capps program for screening airline passengers. Both programs were ultimately scrapped after public outcries over possible threats to privacy and civil liberties.

The volume of information harvested, without court warrants, is much larger than the White House has acknowledged.

IF outsized executive pay has indeed become a source of outrage to American shareholders, then the contest this week between Pfizer Inc.'s investors and its board could prove the most compelling of the year. The battle lines have been drawn between Pfizer's owners and managers, who will assemble on Thursday at the annual shareholder meeting in Lincoln, Neb., at the Cornhusker Marriott hotel. On one side stands Hank McKinnell, Pfizer's chief executive and chairman, recipient of $65 million in pay since he took the top job at the company in January 2001 and beneficiary of an $83 million pension when he retires. On the other are Pfizer shareholders, angry over the 46 percent decline in market value since Mr. McKinnell took the reins. Some shareholders are threatening to withhold votes for several Pfizer directors over Mr. McKinnell's pay. Pfizer, meanwhile, is fighting back in the proxy contest, working overtime to convince shareholders that its directors deserve support. Adding drama to this battle is the effect that withheld votes may have on Pfizer directors. Such acts of shareholder defiance are strictly symbolic; at most companies directors can win a seat if they receive one "yes" vote in an election. Last year, though, Pfizer changed its guidelines so that any director who received more "withhold" votes than "for" votes will have to resign. If the board rejects the resignation offer, it will publicly state why. Like many other companies, Pfizer has a mighty arsenal, backed by shrewd alliances and relationships with institutional shareholders. The Pfizer battle, governance experts say, illustrates an imbalance of power between company owners and managers that is prevalent today. "The management has these unlimited resources to fight back, and the shareholders are pretty much powerless," said John C. Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group. "The thing has gotten so out of hand that words almost fail me. The shareholders should not tolerate it." Institutional shareholders, who vote the stock on behalf of their individual investors, are supposed to act in the best interests of those who own the stock, and the institutions questioned said they were careful to avoid conflicts in proxy votes. But shaking up the status quo may not always be in their own interest. Pfizer is known for its assiduous courting of institutional shareholders. One way is through Margaret M. Foran, Pfizer's corporate secretary and vice president for corporate governance, who is co-chairwoman of the board at the Council of Institutional Investors, an influential organization of pension funds. She is also on the board of the International Corporate Governance Network, an institutional investor organization in London. Ms. Foran, who said she is a student of governance issues, added that her involvement in these organizations helped her stay current on best practices at corporations. MANY of Pfizer's biggest institutional stockholders also earn considerable fees for providing money management services to the company. These institutions could fear damaging such relationships by voting against the company. Some members of Pfizer's board serve on boards of firms that are among its larger shareholders, raising questions about their allegiances. Management says Mr. McKinnell is being paid for 35 years of service in an industry that has very long business cycles for attaining measures of success established by the board. It says Pfizer's board continues to strengthen the connection between pay and performance. "We have a duty to the shareholders to articulate and communicate the position of the board and I think that is what the company is intending to do," said Stanley O. Ikenberry, president emeritus at the University of Illinois and a member of Pfizer's board and compensation committee. "Hank McKinnell's compensation is down sharply for the current year, but looked at both in the context of one year and multiple years and in terms of pension, the board has reviewed those issues, discussed them extensively and supports the decisions that have been made." By contrast, a grass-roots group of businesspeople — Investors for Director Accountability — sees a pervasive problem in his pay. "Mushrooming management compensation, unconnected to performance, is an obvious area where directors have failed the people they legally represent," the organization said last month. "Shareholders should withhold their votes for the four nominees of the Pfizer board of directors who are members of the board's compensation committee. This would be a first step on a long road to restore director accountability to owners."

The battle between Pfizer Inc.'s investors and its board illustrates an imbalance of power between company owners and managers that is prevalent today.

BY A.J. BENZA & MICHAEL LEWITTES If Simon Rex looks a little familiar, it may not have anything to do with his gig as an MTV veejay or his ads for Levi's and Tommy Hilfiger. It could be because Rex did a little film work once upon a time three skin flicks to be precise! In case you missed his work, Rex' oeuvre includes titles like "Young, Hard & Solo II," its poignant sequel, "Young, Hard & Solo III," and "Hot Sessions III," which, in the opinion of this column, doesn't come anywhere near the first two "Hot Sessions." Those were, in a word, mesmerizing. Brad Posey, who owns the all-male photo and video studio Club 1821 as in men 18 to 21 which produced the videos, told us that Rex or Sebastian as he was known then "was very sweet and he performed very well, as any 19-year-old would who's at his sexual peak." Posey told us there wasn't any interaction with others on the video, just "lots of solo stroking and steamy poses." Oh, we've bee n there. Rex was mum about his past work, but MTV said they were "thrilled" to have Rex on hand. Behind George Hamilton's legendary tan, there's really a soft, sensitive guy who just wants to talk about things like "School-To-Work: Reinventing America's Workforce." Wait a minute, that sounds familiar where do we know that from? That's right, it was the platform Miss America Shawntel Smith used in her September victory. So, why the connection between George and the beauty queen? Well, according to sources, Hamilton recently made the very smooth transition from interviewing a guest to dating a guest. Shortly after Smith's cheery Feb. 6 appearance on the "George & Alana Show," Hamilton took Smith out on a dinner date. Hey, better to date a guest like Shawntel Smith than, say, Ed Begley Jr. Sources say Smith did her guest spot and they just really hit it off. Hamilton, a Hall-of-Fame dame chaser, not too long ago said: "I'm at a point where dating is boring. I like quiet." Don't hurt us man, we idolize you. Marcus Schenkenberg sitting in a barber's chair is like Cindy Crawford calling dermatologists to have the mole removed. It might sound shallow to you, but in the business of beauty, Marcus' new close-cropped hairstyle is a pretty risky move. We, of course, now like him more than ever and immediately make him eligible for our "Against-the-Grain Hall of Fame." "It's gonna lose me gigs, but it's also gonna get me gigs," Marcus told us while partying at Brinton Brewster's Wednesday night affairs at 40 Below. "I just totally surprised the agencies. I didn't care." In fact, while Schenkenberg was in Italy, his New York agent got a call from another agent in Italy gushing about sightings of a kid who looks "exactly like Marcus' little brother." Spooky. Either way, it hasn't stopped Hollywood from calling. Schenkenberg has already met with Zalman King and Joel Schumacher on future projects and just agreed to "play a bad guy" in the upcoming "Prince Valiant" film. Now that "Saturday Night Live" is making great strides at standing on the edge of comedy once again, it makes sense that their musical guests might represent that same sort of edge. (See Coolio, last week's performer.) Why then are some suits at the show sweating the appearance of next week's musical guest, Tupac Shakur? "Maybe because he's probably gonna roll up with a posse of 40 guys," said a source close to the show. "And, forget about backstage antics, you can never be too sure what he will do on stage." In addition, some say they're even expecting Snoop Doggy Dogg and Death Row Records' CEO Suge Knight to be part of his entourage, since this will be Tupac's first live TV performance since his incarceration and some expect his record label to make a major show of respect. For those seeking the calmer side to the show, you'll just have to wait until Feb. 24 when Elle Macpherson hosts and Sting performs. George Will's wife, Mari Maseng who penned Sen. Bob Dole's stodgy State-of-the-Union address response last month may be in hotter water with the majority leader than anyone thought. Sources tell us the GOP front-runner was so angry about the entire situation involving Maseng and his widely panned response that he chose not to use a speech that Maseng wrote for this week's annual meeting of the National Governors' Association. Furthermore, in the speech Dole did use written by a staffer in his Senate office he made fun of his lame State-of-the-Union performance. So, for those keeping score at home Mari isn't suffering writer's cramp. Dole is cramping her writing style.

If Simon Rex looks a little familiar, it may not have anything to do with his gig as an MTV veejay or his ads for Levi's and Tommy Hilfiger. It could be because Rex did a little film work once upon a time three skin flicks to be precise! In case you missed his work, Rex' oeuvre includes titles like "Young, Hard & Solo II,"its poignant sequel, "Young, Hard & Solo III,"

Spinach has terrorized generations of veggie-phobic kids, and many grownups don't much like it, either. But when it's combined with seasonings and feta cheese and wrapped in a golden crisp phyllo dough crust, even those who despise Popeye's ­favorite food ask for seconds. The spinach pie at Kebab House II on Orchard St. is a specialty of owner and executive chef Ramazan Ay, who serves the hearty dish as a main course. You can make individual tarts or one large pie, though the small ones are more labor-intensive. If you've never worked with phyllo dough before, know that it is important to keep the part you are not using covered with a damp towel so it won't dry out. Other than that, this dish is a snap to make - and a favorite in my family, even among those who eschew anything green. 1 onion, peeled and chopped 2 cups crumbled feta cheese Salt and pepper to taste 1 pound phyllo dough, thawed if frozen Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil over low heat. Sauté the spinach and onion for 10 minutes. Mix in the cheese, salt and pepper. Lay out a piece of phyllo dough and paint it with a little olive oil. Place a small portion of filling into the center, and fold over several times to enclose the filling completely. Repeat with remaining phyllo until all the filling is used up. Bake for 25- 30 minutes or until golden brown. Look for phyllo dough in the supermarket freezer case. Once thawed, it can successfully be refrozen. Optional flavorings for the filling include a grating of fresh nutmeg and some chopped fresh dill. You can freeze spinach pie, well wrapped, for up to three months.

POPEYE-WORTHY PIE. PHYLLO DOUGH WRAPS SPINACH IN PURE GOLD BY ROSEMARY BLACK Spinach has terrorized generations of veggie-phobic kids, and many grownups don't much like it, either. But when it's combined with seasonings and feta cheese and wrapped in a golden crisp phyllo dough crust, even those who despise Popeye's ­favorite food ask for seconds. The spinach pie at Kebab House II on Orchard St. is a specialty of owner and executive chef Ramazan Ay,

All day, every day, Cheryl Bernstein thanks her 16-month-old son. "I gave life to Reid, but he gave me life - a reason to get clean and go on," she said yesterday after graduating from the Manhattan Family Treatment Court program. Bernstein, 41, and her husband, Doug Flaumenbaum, 33, both recovering crack and heroin addicts, were among three dozen men and women who regained custody of their children. They are the third such group to graduate since the program's inauguration in 1998. The court program directs drug-addicted parents to treatment and subjects them to frequent, consistent monitoring so parents can regain permanent custody of their children. After the family is reunited, caseworkers and a judge continue to monitor the family's progress. Once parents have completed the program, their case with the Administration for Children's Services is closed. Even though they had been clean for 60 days, Bernstein and Flaumenbaum lost custody of Reid when he was only a month old because they were homeless and penniless, she said. In December 1999, Reid went to live with Flaumenbaum's mother while the couple entered a drug treatment program and took parenting classes. Bernstein is now a travel agent, and Flaumenbaum is studying desktop publishing. Lillian Martinez, 43, who battled a cocaine problem, wept as she accepted her diploma with her son, Paul, 16, and daughter Stephanie, nearly 20, in tow."I don't ever want to see the disappointment on [my kids'] faces again," Martinez said as her eyes welled with tears. Carl Baker, 32, and his wife, Rhonda Phillips, 35, went through the program after their marriage collapsed and they lost custody of six children. Yesterday, Baker held their seventh child, 11-month-old Ashley. In a speech, he reminded fellow graduates, "If you don't pick it up, you can't get high."

All day, every day, Cheryl Bernstein thanks her 16-month-old son. "I gave life to Reid, but he gave me life - a reason to get clean and go on,"she said yesterday after graduating from the Manhattan Family Treatment Court program. Bernstein, 41, and her husband, Doug Flaumenbaum, 33, both recovering crack and heroin addicts, were among three dozen men and women who regained custody of their children.

With Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik cracking the whip, the NYPD is suddenly responding to crime faster than it has in several years. Just four months ago, the average citywide response time to calls of a "crime in progress" was slower than it had been at any point during Mayor Giuliani's two terms in office. But since then, according to police documents obtained by the Daily News, the department's front-line cops seem to be turning things around. The NYPD has recently cut its response time by 10% after the measure peaked at 12 minutes in July through October. The citywide average fell to 10.8 minutes from November to February. The last time the NYPD was hitting that mark was in 1999. The 12-minute high was a full minute slower than the same period in 1999 - clearly a cause for concern when the figure was released last month in the semiannual Mayor's Management Report. Giuliani ordered Kerik to do something about it. Kerik responded by tracking response on a daily basis and holding precinct commanders accountable for increases the same way they are for violent crime. "I don't think response times are where they should be," Kerik said. "The only way to address it is the way I address everything else - start looking at this stuff daily." He added: "If the front-line supervisors know that we're going to be on top of them, they're going to be pro-active. The sergeant is going to be listening to the radio saying, 'Where's the cop?'" A precinct-by-precinct review shows widely different average response times: * The busy 75th Precinct in East New York, Brooklyn, posted the city's slowest time, at 15.8 minutes (down from 21.3 minutes); the 43rd Precinct in Soundview, the Bronx, was a close second, at 15 minutes. * The 6th Precinct in Greenwich Village and the 26th Precinct on the upper West Side had the best times, 6.9 minutes. The fastest citywide response time the NYPD has recorded since it began tracking response time was 7.9 minutes in 1993; only 10 out of the city's 76 precincts came in under 8 minutes in the most recent survey. * The city's smallest precinct, the 28th in Harlem, which covers about half a square mile, took an average of 8.4 minutes to respond to a crime in progress; the largest, the 122nd in Staten Island (29 square miles), came in at 13.6 minutes. "Obscene," is how Bob Holden, president of the Juniper Park Civic Association, describes the 14.6-minute response time of the 104th Precinct in Ridgewood, Queens. "I don't think it's the cops' fault; I think there's been a lack of effort by 1 Police Plaza to solve it," Holden said. City Councilman Sheldon Leffler (D-Queens), who is chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said Kerik is treating the issue more seriously than his predecessors did. Leffler said former Police Commissioners William Bratton and Howard Safir preferred to cite crime decreases as their measure of police efficiency. "The fact that it has gone down by a minute in the last four months is good, but I think the public should realize it still reflects a continuing increase from 7.9 in 1993," Leffler said. "The Giuliani administration has had police strategies in many different areas, but they have never, up until now, given the same effort to reducing the response time to crimes in progress." Response time measures the period from when the caller gets the 911 operator on the line to the cops' arrival on the scene. Under Kerik's new directive, response-time spreadsheets are dispatched daily to Police Headquarters for analysis. If a precinct shows a sharp spike, or a particular job stands out as taking a long time, Kerik's aides are on the phone to the local commander finding out what took so long. The key to Deputy Inspector Robert Lucena's success in the 26th Precinct has been tracking the busiest periods for 911 calls there, then making sure cops' meal breaks aren't scheduled at the same time. Inspector James Secreto of the 75th Precinct said cops sometimes forget to notify the dispatcher immediately upon arrival at the scene because they are often jumping out of the car to handle serious situations. "We're making a more conscious effort to let the dispatcher know when we're on the scene," he said, adding that as of last week, the average had been lowered to about 13 minutes. Graphic: POLICE RACING AGAINST THE CLOCK 6th Precinct: 6.9 minutes ... West Greenwich Village, including the New York University campus. Covers .79 square miles with a population of about 65,000. 26th Precinct: 6.9 minutes ... covers W. 110th to W. 141st St. on the upper West Side. Area is 1 square mile. Population is more than 46,000. 7th Precinct: 7 minutes ... second-smallest precinct in the city, covering .62 square miles. Population about 60,000. 100th Precinct: 7.5 minutes .... Neighborhoods include Arverne, Belle Harbor, Breezy Point, Broad Channel, Neponsit, Rockaway Park and Roxbury, Queens. Population is about 40,000. Covers 3.57 square miles, with 25 miles of waterfront. 5th Precinct: 7.6 minutes ... 2.2 square miles covering Chinatown and part of downtown civic center. 75th Precinct: 15.8 minutes ... covers 5.5 square miles; neighborhoods of East New York, Cypress Hills and Starrett City. population is 146,857; residential and commercial community includes eight large housing projects. 43rd Precinct: 15 minutes ... covers 4.3 square miles...neighborhoods include Soundview, Parkchester, Unionport....population is more than 170,000; private homes, apartment buildings and 20 housing projects. 104th Precinct: 14.6 minutes ... covers 7.4 square miles; Ridgewood, Glendale, Middle Village, Maspeth; mostly private homes and commercial buildings. Cops have long complained that several large cemeteries in the middle of the precinct cause delays because cops can't drive through them. 47th Precinct: 14.1 minutes ... population 130,000; includes Woodlawn, Wakefield, Williamsbridge, Baychester, Edenwald, Olinville and Fish Bay in the north Bronx. Covers 5.5 square miles, with 88 miles of roadway. 114th Precinct: 13.8 minutes ... neighborhoods include Astoria, Long Island City, Woodside and Jackson Heights. Covers 6 square miles. Population about 197,000. Graphic: RESPONSE TIMES BY PRECINCT The gray tones on the map show precincts where police took more than 10 minutes to respond to crimes in progress from November through February. Precincts shown in white had response times of less than 10 minutes. A 10-minute response time is considered average by many big-city police departments across the country. Response times (in minutes) to crimes in progress: 1st: Tribeca, Wall St. 11.4 13.4 6th: Greenwich Village 7.3 6.9 7th: Lower East Side 6.5 7.0 9th: Alphabet City 7.2 7.9 13th: Gramercy Park 10.8 9.4 19th: Upper East Side 10.7 11.3 20th: Upper West Side 9.0 8.8 23rd: East Harlem 7.3 8.0 24th: Upper West Side 8.3 8.0 25th: East Harlem 8.8 8.5 26th: Morningside Hts. 7.2 6.9 28th: Central Harlem 7.6 8.4 33rd: Washington Hts. 9.2 7.5 40th: Mott Haven 10.6 10.4 41st: South Bronx 9.4 8.2 44th: Morris Heights 13.5 11.3 46th: University Hts. 12.8 11.4 52nd: Bedford Park 13.6 11.8 60th: Coney Island 10.2 9.3 61st: Brighton Beach 14.0 11.3 63rd: Flatlands/Mill Basin 11.4 9.9 66th: Borough Park 12.7 11.2 67th: East Flatbush 12.4 10.6 68th: Bay Ridge 10.0 8.8 72nd: Sunset Park 11.4 10.4 76th: Carroll Gardens 9.7 8.1 78th: Park Slope 9.4 9.1 75th: East New York 21.3 15.8 77th: Crown Heights 14.2 12.4 79th: Bed Stuy 13.1 10.9 81st: Bed Stuy 11.1 11.6 84th: Brooklyn Hts. 10.1 9.3 88th: Forth Greene 10.6 9.6 101st: Far Rockaway 8.4 7.6 102nd: Richmond Hill 13.9 12.0 105th: Queens Village 11.5 10.5 106th: Ozone Park 14.0 12.9 107th: Fresh Meadows 12.5 11.7 113th: Springfield Gdns. 11.1 10.8 108th: Long Island City 13.1 11.7 112th: Forest Hills 10.1 10.4 115th: Jackson Hts. 11.0 10.2 120th: St. George 10.8 10.6 122nd: New Dorp 14.6 13.6

By JOHN MARZULLI DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU CHIEF With Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik cracking the whip, the NYPD is suddenly responding to crime faster than it has in several years. Just four months ago, the average citywide response time to calls of a "crime in progress"was slower than it had been at any point during Mayor Giuliani's two terms in office. But since then, according to police documents obtained by the Daily News, the

Wednesday, April 19th 1995, 2:35AM Jail inmates flout the city's newest law every day, with no fear of punishment. The long arm of the tough new anti-smoking law stops at the gates of Rikers Island. No one wants to face 19,000 prisoners with nicotine fits, said jailhouse sources. But the Correction Department "is looking at the law to see if it applies to city jails," said spokesman Tom Antenen. Jail may indeed be a "public space" in which smoking is banned, he said. Until that study is completed, he said, the butt ban won't be enforced. Inmates already are barred from smoking in mess halls, infirmaries and punitive cells, but they can light up freely in dorms, TV rooms, hallways and in their cells, he said. Peter Meringolo, head of the Correction Captains Association, said he intends to have his legal people look into the issue as well. "If they're going to grant the inmates an exemption, what do you say to the captain who doesn't want to be breathing that stuff?" Meringolo asked. "I go nuts when they want to smoke in my office," he added. He conceded there would be problems enforcing the ban: "It's not like in an office building where you can tell the guy to go outside and smoke." And he acknowledged it raised a serious question of crowd control. "What kind of individual are you going to be faced with who is dying for cigaret and already has a short fuse?" he said. "It would make the environment more hostile." Suspected criminals aren't the only ones in the city who got a break from the nicotine cops. United Nations employes are exempt because the UN is international territory.

Jail inmates flout the city's newest law every day, with no fear of punishment. They smoke cigarets. The long arm of the tough new anti-smoking law stops at the gates of Rikers Island. No one wants to face 19,000 prisoners with nicotine fits, said jailhouse sources. But the Correction Department "is looking at the law to see if it applies to city jails,"said spokesman Tom Antenen. Jail may indeed be

BY GEORGE RUSH AND JOANNA MOLLOY With Kasia Anderson and Suzanne Rozdeba Thursday, August 8th 2002, 7:06AM Did Tatum O'Neal's latest battle with ex-husband John McEnroe put her back on drugs? The "Paper Moon" star checked herself into L.A.'s Promises rehab facility after a friend caught her smoking crack, according to The National Enquirer. O'Neal emerged clean and sober from Promises' 34-day recovery program in late July, the tab reports. The actress is said to have plunged into her old habits because of McEnroe's memoir, "You Cannot Be Serious." The book, which came out in June, portrayed her as an unfit mother more devoted to drugs than to their three children. Furious and hurt, O'Neal launched a media counterattack in which she charged that McEnroe was a "cruel, cruel man" and a "sexual and physical bully." But the 38-year-old Oscar- winner received less sympathy than she expected. "Tatum honestly believed that the press and the public would feel sorry for her," a source told The Enquirer, out tomorrow. The Los Angeles Times reported on June 26 that O'Neal was "currently in a rehab program in Los Angeles." Her manager, Jason Weinberg, told us yesterday that he didn't know whether or not O'Neal had been in Promises, but said, "She couldn't be doing better now. The demand for her is very strong." She's making her movie comeback - shooting "The Technical Writer." She's also been offered several TV roles, said Weinberg. A rep for McEnroe, who has custody of their children, didn't return a call for comment on whether allegations of recent drug use would affect O'Neal's visitation arrangement. But with her agent in talks with HarperCollins about her own memoir, Mac can be sure he hasn't heard the last from his ex-wife. Rosie O'Donnell may hear a lot of whimpering next week when she returns from her vacation to sort out the trouble at her magazine. New editor Susan Toepfer, who replaced O'Donnell's first editor, Cathy Cavender, has been at the mag for only a month. But Rosie loyalists are already kvetching. "Everyone is uncomfortable and depressed," one insider tells us. "They feel they're working on stuff that Rosie doesn't even know about. The staff is afraid of voicing their opinions to Susan, for fear of getting fired." O'Donnell has made it clear that she doesn't agree with Toepfer's story ideas and wants her out. She's gone so far as to hire former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White to represent her in negotiations with magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr USA, whose CEO, Daniel Brewster, wants Toepfer to stay. Yesterday, Gunter Thielen, the new head of Bertelsmann, which owns G + J USA, stopped by the mag's offices to voice his support for Brewster. A G + J spokeswoman said Thielen didn't mention O'Donnell, but "restated his support and confidence in Dan Brewster and his management team." A rep for O'Donnell would say only "Rosie is very proud of the magazine and what it stands for." Manhattan art gallery I-20 is stretching the definition of art, by mounting a show due to feature a bloody video. The footage captures a 1996 massacre of Russian soldiers by Al Qaeda mercenaries in Chechnya. Gallery owner Paul Judelson says that his star artist, Sergei Bugaev, known professionally as Afrika, recently obtained the startling clip from Russian intelligence sources - and plans to work it into a November show. In the video, a Russian military column "walks into an ambush and is completely wiped out," Judelson says, adding that the tape will be edited down to 20 minutes from the original three-hour version. "I don't see this work as pandering to sensationalism, like a snuff video, although it plainly shows the massacre of the Russian soldiers," he says. Judelson calls the massacre "a prelude to 9/11." He tells Webster Hall curator Baird Jones that, in the context of world terrorism, "The violence in this video is relevant just the same way that a news broadcast of violence is necessary." Jesse Ventura's love for stogies might keep him in Cuba longer than he expects. The Minnesota governor is heading to Havana at the end of next month to participate in the U.S. Food and Agribusiness Exhibition, a showcase for American edibles. The group will cover his travel expenses, and he's been asked to join a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The former wrestler said he's going to Cuba to "learn about it firsthand," he told a radio audience on Monday. Gag us with a spoon. Though Reese Witherspoon plays a demur Southern belle in her upcoming film "Sweet Home Alabama," her favorite scene was far from ladylike. "Puking was my favorite thing," she declares in the new issue of W. Eschewing the special effects of, say, Industrial Light & Magic, Witherspoon reveals the secret formula of her faux Technicolor yawn. "It was corn chowder," she says. "Don't tell anybody. And we did lots of takes, 'cause I was having so much fun. I just love pretending to vomit!" It seems the actress can't get enough of the topic. It even came up while furniture-shopping with her husband, Ryan Phillippe. "We looked at some fancy things, and Ryan asked, 'What if a kid vomits on that?' " Although the actress has an obsession with what goes out, she admits she's big on the reverse. "I like everything," she tells W. "I eat all the time. Particularly having a kid. Somebody's got to eat, right?" Ozzy Osbourne and his wife, Sharon, are facing a new legal bummer. In a lawsuit just filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, entertainment network Threshold.tv says the Osbournes' deal with MTV violates an intellectual-property- rights agreement the Osbournes' company, Monowise, made with Threshold in The complaint alleges that, under its contract, Threshold acquired exclusive rights to the rocker's "name, likeness, image, identity, persona, trademarks and right of publicity." Larry Kasanoff, who heads up Threshold, wants to be declared the owner of the MTV series "and all derivatives therefrom." ENRIQUE IGLESIAS will fire up the "NFL Kickoff Live from Times Square," joining Bon Jovi and other acts Sept. 5. Iglesias' performance in the city's busy epicenter will lead into the season opener between the 49ers and the Giants at Giants Stadium. LES MOONVES apparently doesn't want anyone thinking he's playing favorites with his network stars. The CBS president declined to be photographed with "Early Show" anchor Julie Chen during the arrivals at Monday's premiere of "Mostly Martha." He did consent to join Chen in a group shot later at the dinner thrown by Gourmet magazine editor Ruth Reichl LAUREN BUSH needed a dose of glamour after spending six weeks backpacking with friends in France, Italy and Spain. On Tuesday, President Bush's niece dropped by the Escada showroom, where she was outfitted with two complimentary strapless numbers - one pink, one black and white. She flew home to Texas yesterday.

Did Tatum O'Neal's latest battle with ex-husband John McEnroe put her back on drugs? The "Paper Moon"star checked herself into L.A.'s Promises rehab facility after a friend caught her smoking crack, according to The National Enquirer. O'Neal emerged clean and sober from Promises' 34-day recovery program in late July, the tab reports. The actress is said to have plunged into her old habits because of

Wednesday, May 18th 2005, 9:59AM Summer is shaping up as extra sweet at Cafe Centro, where the menu ­features treats like s'mores, chocolate fondue and a unique cocktail called the Cotton Candy Cosmo. The drink was created by mixologist Bill ­Rogers, whose inspiration was the fluffy confection that the restaurant (in Rockefeller Center) occasionally serves to customers. Priced at $9, the deeply colorful libation is topped with billows of bright pink cotton candy. It's light, summery and wonderful for sipping outside. 2 ounces Absolut Citron Vodka Pink cotton candy for the top Shake vodka, Triple Sec, lime juice and cranberry juice vigorously in a shaker with ice. Strain into a martini glass. Garnish with pink cotton candy all around the rim and serve.

COOL COCKTAIL A summer drink you'll cotton to S ummer is shaping up as extra sweet at Cafe Centro, where the menu ­features treats like s'mores, chocolate fondue and a unique cocktail called the Cotton Candy Cosmo. The drink was created by mixologist Bill ­Rogers, whose inspiration was the fluffy confection that the restaurant (in Rockefeller Center) occasionally serves to customers. Priced at $9, the deeply colorful libation is topped with billows of bright pink

BY CORKY SIEMASZKO DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER With Emily Gest Thursday, September 6th 2001, 2:23AM Mother Teresa believed she was possessed by the Devil, the archbishop of Calcutta said yesterday. So the revered nun, whom the Vatican hopes to make a saint, underwent an exorcism and afterward "slept like a baby," he said. Archbishop Henry D'Souza's bizarre revelation came as millions yesterday marked the fourth anniversary of Mother Teresa's death. But D'Souza told CNN and The Associated Press in India he truly believed Mother Teresa "might be under the attack of the evil one." The Catholic cleric said he diagnosed the demon in Mother Teresa shortly before she had a fatal heart attack Sept. 5, 1997, and died at age 87. The archbishop said the saintly sister was being treated for heart problems at a Calcutta hospital and that by day she appeared calm. But at night, he said, she became "extremely agitated" and tore off the wires to the heart monitors. D'Souza said he suggested an exorcism, and the elderly nun, who had devoted her life to helping the poor and downtrodden, quickly agreed. Some doubted the archbishop's story yesterday. The Rev. Richard McBrien, a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, called the exorcism and the archbishop's explanation for it bizarre. So did Michael Cuneo, author of "American Exorcism," which hits bookstores next week. "You're not supposed to proceed with an exorcism without exhaustive testing," he said. Mother Teresa won a Nobel Prize for her life's work, and Pope John Paul has begun the process of declaring her a saint. D'Souza said the exorcism should not hurt Mother Teresa's chances of achieving sainthood. "In the hearts of those who knew her, she does not need canonization," he told the throngs gathered at the Calcutta headquarters of Mother Teresa's religious order, the Missionary Sisters of Charity. "She is already a saint to them." Mother Teresa's sari-clad sisters feed a half-million families a year, treat 90,000 lepers and school more than 20,000 children in Calcutta. Former Mayor Ed Koch, who met the so-called Saint of the Gutters several times, said nobody had less reason for an exorcism than Mother Teresa. "It was a waste of time," Koch said. "She was as pure as driven snow, before and after." In New York, the nuns run an AIDS hospice in Greenwich Village, a women's shelter in Harlem and the Queen of Peace shelter and soup kitchen in the Bronx. Last night, a memorial Mass was said in Mother Teresa's memory at St. Rita's of Cascia in Mott Haven, the Bronx.

By CORKY SIEMASZKO DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Mother Teresa believed she was possessed by the Devil, the archbishop of Calcutta said yesterday. So the revered nun, whom the Vatican hopes to make a saint, underwent an exorcism and afterward "slept like a baby,"he said. Archbishop Henry D'Souza's bizarre revelation came as millions yesterday marked the fourth anniversary of Mother Teresa's death. But D'Souza told CNN and The Associated Press in India he truly believed

Wednesday, September 27th 1995, 4:32AM LOS ANGELES O.J. Simpson was "ready to explode" in a jealous rage at a 1993 party thrown by ex-Olympic champ Bruce Jenner so O.J. stormed off, leaving guests "really upset" and the hostess in tears, police reports show. Jenner and his wife, Kris, told cops Simpson was "just wigging" when Joseph Perulli, who dated Nicole Brown Simpson shortly after she left O.J. in 1992, paid a surprise visit to the Christmas Eve bash. The Jenners' chilling account of the party differs from the watered-down version Simpson's houseguest, Brian (Kato) Kaelin, told on the witness stand. But prosecutors never called them to testify at Simpson's murder trial. Prosecutors also omitted, without explanation, other witnesses to domestic violence, including limo driver Alfred Acosta and beachgoer Albert Aguilera, who allegedly saw O.J. hit Nicole in separate incidents in the 1980s. In her Nov. 3 statement to cops reviewed by the Daily News, Kris Jenner said, "He [O.J.] was getting a little bit glazed and you could tell he was ready to explode." When party host Bruce Jenner tried to calm Simpson, O.J. was cold as ice. "I sat down across from him [O.J.], you know, tried to bring up the subject of golf, and, to be honest with you, I got no response. I mean there was nothing! He didn't even look at me! I got absolutely no response," Jenner said. Perulli, an underwear model, told cops of his eerie encounter with Simpson at the party. "He [O.J.] came walking up. I said: 'You're looking well.' And O.J. said: 'It's just an illusion.' "We shook hands. I thought everything was fine. All of a sudden he went storming out of the house with Nicole and the kids and Kato [Kaelin], their whatever he was. He [O.J.] appeared angry," Perulli recalled in a Nov. 18 statement to cops. Perulli said when he first arrived at the party "it was like one of those E.F. Hutton commercials . . . dead silence. I thought, s--, what's going on here? Then I saw O.J. in the living room. . . . It was so tense and funky in that place. Kris was just beside herself." Kris Jenner said she was so fearful of an explosion by O.J. that she ran upstairs to her bathroom and wept. After the Simpsons left, Kris Jenner said: "We went on with the evening and every single person in the room was very, very uncomfortable after it happened. We all talked about it, you know, they were really upset." Jenner said Simpson left in such a huff that he was turning the car around before Nicole, Kato and the kids could even get in. "I felt so bad because they left with their kids and Santa Claus hadn't come yet. I felt really bad," Kris Jenner said.

LOS ANGELES O.J. Simpson was "ready to explode"in a jealous rage at a 1993 party thrown by ex-Olympic champ Bruce Jenner so O.J. stormed off, leaving guests "really upset"and the hostess in tears, police reports show. Jenner and his wife, Kris, told cops Simpson was "just wigging"when Joseph Perulli, who dated Nicole Brown Simpson shortly after she left O.J. in 1992, paid a surprise visit to the Christmas Eve bash.

Published: 2:56PM BST 09 Oct 2009 Media is a very fast paced industry and in order to maintain our strong market position in both print and digital media, we invest heavily in staff development/training and empower staff to take the initiative and continue to drive through new and innovative ways of engaging with our customers. This has led to us being the first newspaper group to go online in 1994 but also the first newspaper group to introduce podcasts. Our culture of innovation is also reinforced through modern facilities. Our state-of- the-art offices in central London were purposely built in order to radically change the way news was published. Our high-tech newsroom operates a hub and spoke editorial system which supports our pioneering approach of reporting news as and when it happens across multiple media platforms.

Telegraph Media Group operate a culture of knowledge sharing and staff empowerment.

By JAMES RUTENBERG and CORKY SIEMASZKO Wednesday, June 25th 1997, 2:02AM A New Jersey teenager who gave birth in a bathroom during her prom strangled and suffocated her newborn son as her date waited outside and classmates grooved on the dance floor, a prosecutor charged yesterday. New details emerged as prosecutors charged mom Melissa Drexler with murder, saying her baby lived long enough to draw several breaths. Drexler then dumped the body in the trash, returned to the dance floor and later noshed on salad, said Monmouth County prosecutor John Kaye. The baby was found by a maintenance worker sent to mop up the blood in the stall. "We are certain that the baby was alive after it was born," said Kaye, who had delayed charging Drexler until the autopsy on the baby was completed. "The child has marks on its neck that would indicate exactly what happened." Investigators aren't sure whether Drexler smothered the baby or if he suffocated inside the knotted plastic garbage bag in which he was found. Drexler, 18, of Forked River, N.J., faces life in prison if convicted on murder charges. She also is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Kaye said it was unlikely that prosecutors would seek the death penalty against Drexler, citing her youth and lack of a criminal record. Smirking and wearing a sleeveless black-and-blue denim sundress, matching sandals and bright blue nail polish, Drexler did not speak except to say "yes" when questioned by Superior Court Judge John Ricciardi. Drexler avoided looking at her parents, John and Maria Drexler, who mortgaged their home to make her $50,000 bail. Her 20-year-old boyfriend and the presumed father of the child, John Lewis, was not in the Monmouth County courtroom. Drexler's attorney, Steven Secare, entered a not guilty plea for his client. Drexler appeared on the verge of tears as she left with her parents. Secare insisted "she's not very happy and she's very nervous." John Drexler later called the charges "a shocker." Last night, Lewis, 20, paid a visit to the Drexler home. Emerging an hour later, he said Drexler was holding up well, but, "She's very scared." Earlier, Kaye revealed horrifying new details about what allegedly happened June 6 at the Lacey Township High School prom. "No one, as far as we know, no one knew she was pregnant but her," Kaye said. Drexler complained of cramps as she drove with Lewis to the Garden Manor banquet hall in Aberdeen Township, said Kaye. Witnesses described seeing blood on the floor while she was closeted in the bathroom stall and hearing sounds that were not "the normal things you hear in the bathroom," according to Kaye. They said Drexler appeared to be trying to wipe the blood from the floor with her shoe. Drexler apparently cut the umbilical cord with the edge of a sanitary napkin dispenser and put the baby in a garbage bag, which she later placed in a trash can, Kaye said. Before Drexler came out of the stall, she told a friend in the bathroom with her that she would be done shortly. "Go tell the boys we'll be right out," said Drexler, according to Kaye. Later, at the prom, when asked by school officials about the blood in the stall, Drexler "told them it was an extra heavy menstruation," said Kaye. The baby died of "asphyxia due to manual strangulation and obstruction of the external airway or orifices," he said. The county medical examiner's office determined that the baby had breathed by doing a microscopic analysis of sacs in his lungs. They also found air in the intestines of the 6-pound, 6-ounce, 19-inch boy. Meanwhile, Drexler's child lay unclaimed at the county morgue. "It hasn't been named yet," said Secare.

A New Jersey teenager who gave birth in a bathroom during her prom strangled and suffocated her newborn son as her date waited outside and classmates grooved on the dance floor, a prosecutor charged yesterday. New details emerged as prosecutors charged mom Melissa Drexler with murder, saying her baby lived long enough to draw several breaths. Drexler then dumped the body in the trash, returned to the dance floor and later noshed on

Published: 2:27PM GMT 26 Nov 2009 Information and key facts about The Daily Telegraph. The Daily Telegraph is Britain's biggest-selling quality daily newspaper, and retains the broadsheet format. Between Monday and Friday, it features seperate, dedicated Sport and Business sections. On Saturday's, the multi-section Daily Telegraph includes the following: The award-winning Telegraph Magazine is also included with The Daily Telegraph on Saturdays. Big-name writers and contributors include Simon Heffer, Boris Johnson, Jeff Randall, Brian Moore, James Cracknell, Benedict Brogan and Andrew Pierce. The Daily Telegraph offers greater advertising impact than any compact - not only because it has bigger pages than the compacts, but also because readers spend longer with each page than any other quality daily. So, by advertising in our paper, you’ll get greater standout and more exposure.

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Thursday, June 22th 2006, 7:34AM The Goldsteins' 3.5-carat ring landing in the dump this week is hardly an isolated tale of finding a diamond in the rubbish. "Oh, I've found jewelry," says Raymond Doyle Jr., a sanitation worker for District 6 on Long Island. "Louise [his wife] has a gold bracelet encrusted with rubies all around it. I couldn't even guess how much it's worth." As the old saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure. Who in the city hasn't furnished, or thought of furnishing, their apartment from sidewalk castoffs, or "reefing mungo," as those in waste management call it? After all, New Yorkers chuck some pretty amazing things - from vintage jewelry and toys to electronics and furniture. New York's Strongest work in freezing and scalding temperatures and amid broken glass, ­needles and oversize rodents to remove 8 million residents' refuse - a task that affords them first pick of the litter. "You gotta have the nose for it," says Doyle, 45. "The nose knows." He has claimed some spectacular finds in his 28 years on the job, including a first edition of Steinbeck's "Cannery Row" and a 1950s Erector Set. What's more, Doyle regularly sells what he finds on eBay. The Erector Set went for $300. A fishing plug known as a snook plunker reeled in $260. He finds so much, in fact, that he jokes he could take orders. "If you need a tool, you need new hinges for your door or your kitchen cabinets, rabbit ears for your TV that's going in the backyard, you name it, it's there." Elsewhere, the story is the same. "I find stuff all the time," says a Brooklyn sanitation worker who prefers to be known only as Rob. "I work in very ritzy areas, and they throw everything out - kitchen sinks, washers and dryers - stuff that works!" His biggest score was a box of comic books still encased in plastic. "This old lady was cleaning out her attic," he says. "Spider-Mans and Batmans and ­everything - that's probably my best find.". Doyle salvaged five framed, original postcards by noted artist Keith Haring, who died in 1990 of AIDS. "I would never sell that," he says. Books are other treasures close to his heart: "I can't let books go. I always take books." In a sign of the changing times, people are throwing away CDs as they move from disks to MP3s. "First, years ago, it was 78s and 45s, then a lot of LPs," says Doyle. "Then people threw away records, turning to CDs." Collecting trash is a study in cultural evolution. "I call myself an anthropologist who drives a garbage truck," says Doyle. "Whenever I look into the garbage, I'm studying the habits of man. I know more about some people than their loved ones do - without being nosy, just looking down." That's not to say taxpayers should fear that sanitation workers are digging through their trash. "We're working," Doyle emphasizes. "We're not going through garbage, never ripping open bags. A lot of times, people throw this stuff out as an afterthought on top of their pail." Rob agrees that only items in the open are fair game. "It's illegal to go through stuff that's not open. Just stuff you can see." And if some unfortunate soul realizes he has discarded a precious object, à la the Goldsteins' diamond ring, trash collectors are trained to locate and return it. "If they find out they threw it away before we get to the dump, we dump the truck in a separate area," Doyle explains. Workers then sort through the load, looking for bills and magazines with ­addresses on them to pinpoint the area with the right bags. "We isolate it, and most time we do find their rent money, mortgage money, jewelry, birth certificates," he says. In fact, Rob's men went through a search-and-rescue mission similar to the Goldsteins' just last week. "We had a guy who threw out jewelry also," he says. They fished through 12 tons of garbage to get it back. Unfortunately, reefing mungo isn't all handy appliances and collectibles. One day while Doyle was running his truck's compactor, gallons of blood began squirting ­everywhere. "It turned out to be beef blood," he says. "The man intended to use it for shark fishing, but threw it out. That was a fiasco, because the police were called." Animals pose another problem. "We've found live hamsters," says Rob. "Someone just left them on the curb in a little cage." Animal control is called in for those situations, as well as for critter attacks. Possums and raccoons, for example, love to bed down in garbage pails. "I've had a couple of times where I lift the lid open and a possum jumps out," says Rob. "Those are scary, no matter how many times you see it."

T he Goldsteins' 3.5-carat ring landing in the dump this week is hardly an isolated tale of finding a diamond in the rubbish. "Oh, I've found jewelry,"says Raymond Doyle Jr., a sanitation worker for District 6 on Long Island. "Louise [his wife] has a gold bracelet encrusted with rubies all around it. I couldn't even guess how much it's worth."As the old saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure. Who

John Edwards' former aide said he is "skeptical" that the former presidential contender is now a "doting, loving" father of his mistress's toddler after trying for so long to hide his paternity. Andrew Young says the senator proposed an elaborate cover-up to hide paternity. Andrew Young also suggested that Edwards finally admitted his fatherhood this week because an upcoming book includes evidence of Edwards' attempt to hide his paternity. "It's been 2½ years" Young told ABC News, referring to the amount of time that Edwards first began denying an affair with Rielle Hunter and later denying that her child, Frances Quinn, was his daughter. "For it to come out a week before my book is coming out ... I've expected it a long time. I expected they were going to do a public relations campaign to promote him, which I'm very skeptical of. All of sudden he's a doting, loving father of Quinn. I'm skeptical of it," Young said. Young is an ex-aide to Edwards, who was so loyal to the Democratic presidential wannabe that he initially agreed to publicly claim he was the father of Quinn to protect Edwards' reputation and political career. Young wrote his account of the sex scandal in a book titled "The Politician," which will appear on book shelves Feb. 2. "He is doing this a week before my book comes out where there is going to be stuff that he cannot, you know, there are voice mails. In his voice. And voicemails in Elizabeth's voice that absolutely contradict almost everything that he has said," Young said. "I think that he is trying, that he is going to do everything he can to deflect that." Edwards flew to Haiti with actor Sean Penn to work on earthquake relief Thursday, the same day he released a statement saying, "I am Quinn's father." "I will do everything in my power to provide her with the love and support she deserves," Edwards' statement said. He added that it was "wrong" that he denied he was the girl's father. Tune in to ABC News' "20/20" and "Nightline" Friday, Jan. 29 to see Andrew Young's exclusive groundbreaking interview. Then tune in to "Good Morning America" on the following Tuesday, Feb. 2, when Young will appear for his first live interview. Family friend and lawyer Harrison Hickman told ABC News that Edwards made his announcement Thursday because the arrangements for child support were only finalized in the past few days.

John Edwards' former aide Andrew Young says the one-time presidential contender admitted he was the father of Rielle Hunter's baby only because Young's upcoming book includes irrefutable evidence.

Wednesday, March 8th 1995, 3:63AM OUR GAME By John le Carre (Knopf. $24) ONE OF THESE YEARS, John le Carre will write a novel that falls short of his admirers' expectations, but 1995 is not the year. "Our Game" continues the remarkable record of high-tension excellence that began with "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold." At its simplest, this new (and 15th overall) novel is a mystery. A devious and delicious mystery. A man is missing, apparently on the run with a one-time Soviet spy, about $37 million stolen from the Kremlin and a young woman. The missing man is Larry Pettifer, a brilliant, bored radical don at the University of Bath. The former spy is a suspected Caucasus nationalist. The woman is the wild and beautiful mistress of Tim Cranmer, former British intelligence officer who was retired to his inherited wine estate in England after the Cold War ran its expensive course. Pettifer was at one time a double agent for the British and Cranmer was his control agent. Cranmer and Pettifer are opposites in temperament and tastes, but the two men have stayed in touch and, in fact, it was Cranmer who arranged Pettifer's professorship at Bath. So it is understandable that the British suspect Cranmer knows something about Pettifer's disappearance and understandable that Cranmer is put under surveillance. He couldn't care less about the money and the spying. Obsessed by his missing love, he shakes his followers and sets off to find her. In le Carre's tightening grip, though, the search becomes something altogether different for identity and meaning. Cranmer is an interesting character, as spiritually burned out as any character Graham Greene ever created, and a conventional intellectual who plays everything in life safe. Pettifer is such a contrast to Cranmer that it's hard to appreciate what they've got in common. But one clue comes in Paris, where Cranmer is told, "Maybe you don't want to find your friend, but to become him." Those words will come back to haunt Cranmer. "Our Game" is about betrayal and blood grudges, the redeeming nobility of ruined possibilities and the importance of dreams, even if they are unrealistic and unattainable. "Our Game" is some story. Le Carre is some storyteller.

OUR GAME By John le Carre (Knopf. $24) ONE OF THESE YEARS, John le Carre will write a novel that falls short of his admirers' expectations, but 1995 is not the year. "Our Game"continues the remarkable record of high-tension excellence that began with "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold."At its simplest, this new (and 15th overall) novel is a mystery. A devious and delicious mystery. A man is missing,

By NANCY DILLON DAILY NEWS BUSINESS WRITER Tuesday, August 12th 2003, 1:25AM Hewlett-Packard got flashy yesterday and unveiled a host of new digital cameras, printers, scanners, VHS-to-DVD home movie converters and consumer gadgets. There were more than 158 new offerings, representing HP's biggest product launch since it swallowed Compaq in a mega-merger last year. who made the announcement in the Starrett-Lehigh building on E. 26th St., quipped, "This is almost as many products as there are gubernatorial candidates in California." The consumer tech blitz is intended to fend off competition from No. 1 PC maker Dell and top printing rival Lexmark. One of the printers unveiled yesterday offers studio-quality black-and-white photo prints using an eight-ink process. The HP PhotoSmart 7960 ships in September and will retail at $299. HP also introduced the HP PSC 2510, a "mini photo lab" that can scan, copy, fax and generate proof sheets akin to photo labs'. After hooking up a digital camera to the printer, users can print a proof sheet, identify the frames they want, scan them back into the system and watch as the photos they marked are printed in the sizes and quantities they selected. It can connect wirelessly with PCs and sells for $399. One of the sexiest new products is the $149 HP ScanJet 460, a stand-alone scanner that looks like a sheet of glass in a frame. Users can place the tray-like scanner on anything from a wall to a table surface and watch as a scanning wand slides from left to right. "It even scans body parts," HP Digital Imaging exec Mary Peery said with a laugh. A new digital camera, the HP PhotoSmart 945, offers 5.3-megapixel resolution, an optical zoom and technology that helps balance the contrast between bright spots and shadows. It will retail for $549. HP's new DVD Movie Writer dc3000 will connect to PCs and transfer VHS tapes to DVD discs. Shipping in mid-September, it will sell for $399. "This is a powerful announcement," said Rob Enderle at Enderle Research in Silicon Valley. "HP is really the only company that deals with the full product chain of digital photography - from camera to computer to printer." Gartner Group tech analyst Peter Grant said Dell has some catching up to do. "The battlefield is flipped, at least in the short term," Grant said. "Now I can get everything from HP and only have to make one phone call when I have a problem or return."

By NANCY DILLON DAILY NEWS BUSINESS WRITER H ewlett-Packard got flashy yesterday and unveiled a host of new digital cameras, printers, scanners, VHS-to-DVD home movie converters and consumer gadgets. There were more than 158 new offerings, representing HP's biggest product launch since it swallowed Compaq in a mega-merger last year. CEO Carly Fiorina, who made the announcement in the Starrett-Lehigh building on E. 26th St., quipped, "This is almost as many products as there are

By RAPHAEL SUGARMAN and DAVE GOLDINER DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS Saturday, August 14th 1999, 2:11AM BRISTOL, Conn. Rafael Sanchez wasn't worried when he came in to pitch yesterday afternoon with the game on the line for his Rolando Paulino All-Star team. The 12-year-old from the Bronx looked up into the stands and spotted his dad his personal good-luck charm looking down from a seat behind the third-base dugout. "Every time I feel nervous, I look up and see my father," said Rafael, an eighth-grader at Junior High School 22 in the Melrose section of the Bronx. "He's cheering and I feel great. It calms me down." The pitcher took a deep breath, whiffed the first batter and coolly retired the side. He went on to hit a sacrifice fly that knocked in the winning run as the Paulino All-Stars beat Dover, Del., 6-5, and continued their improbable run through the Little League Eastern Region playoffs. "Winning is great," said Justin Echevarria, 11, a first baseman. "I also like the way the girls look at you when you win." The latest Rolando Paulino victory came as no surprise to the contingent of 50 boisterous friends and relatives from the Bronx who came to cheer for their little heroes. They sat together, some wearing red jerseys, stomping their feet, yelling encouragement in Spanish and chanting, "New York! New York!" No one rooted harder than Rafael Sanchez's father, also named Rafael Sanchez. The elder Sanchez, who dreamed of playing professional ball himself as a child in the Dominican Republic, sees a more secure future for his son. "Sure, I'd like to see him play professional," said Sanchez, who owns a parking lot in Morris Heights. "But school is more important. School comes first." Wearing a green tank top, Sanchez looked intently down as his son took the mound in the fourth inning yesterday with the bases loaded and the game tied. A few pitches later, he cheered with his wife, Ana Sanchez, and another son, Edwin, as the younger Sanchez retired the side to get out of the jam. "Whenever I get two balls in a row, I look up at him," the younger Sanchez said. After the game, the kids from the Bronx said goodbye to their parents and friends, most of whom have been making the two-hour drive to and from Bristol for each game. "We would like to stay, but we have to go back and forth," said Ana Sanchez. "We have to work, we have no choice." The boys are staying in a dormitory with coaches and players from the other teams. All of them were planning to go to a dance last night and were concerned over the lack of girls for the shindig. In just a few days here, the Bronx teammates have made many friends. The tournament here lasts until Thursday, when the Eastern Region champs will head for Williamsport, Pa., for the Little League World Series. The suburban kids from the other teams asked plenty of questions about the Bronx, which they imagined was a wasteland where the ballplayers would have to dodge bullets in-between practice swings. "I tell them I love the Bronx," said right fielder Alex Martinez. "It's not that dangerous and there's no place like home." Here's a look at the Rolando Paulino team's progress in the Little League playoffs. TUESDAY: Lost 2-0, to Capital City, Washington, D.C. WEDNESDAY: Beat world champion Toms River, N.J., 5-3 in stunning upset. YESTERDAY: Beat Dover, Del., 6-5. TONIGHT Play State College, Pa. SUNDAY: Play Denton, MD., in round-robin finale Four out of six teams in each of two divisons make it to next round starting Monday, with the winner going to Williamsport, Pa., to represent the East at the Little League World Series.

BRISTOL, Conn. Rafael Sanchez wasn't worried when he came in to pitch yesterday afternoon with the game on the line for his Rolando Paulino All-Star team. The 12-year-old from the Bronx looked up into the stands and spotted his dad his personal good-luck charm looking down from a seat behind the third-base dugout. "Every time I feel nervous, I look up and see my father,"said Rafael, an eighth-grader at Junior High School 22 in

Alain Robert and Jeb Corliss are two men who've never met, yet they share many of the same experiences. They're both risk takers driven by their fears. Building climber Alain Robert hangs from ceiling at home to stay in super shape. One scales steel and glass towers, while the other soars through the air. Corliss, 34, uses a flying squirrel-style wing-suit to travel at speeds of up to 300 mph and steer through the air during freefall. "If you want to do something spectacular, something special, you have to be willing to take really unique risks," said Corliss. Corliss described his childhood as unhappy and isolated. By his teens, he said, he was suicidal. Watch the full story on a special edition of "20/20" Tuesday, June 1 at 10 p.m. ET "I didn't really care, nothing mattered to me," Corliss said. "And all I know is that feeling made me want to do things that were really, really dangerous." Base jumping -- freefalling from high structures -- became his passion, and he jumped from iconic landmarks across the globe. "In my search for death I really did find my life," Corliss said. Forever pushing the limits, Corliss moved on to wing-suit flying, which allowed him to fulfill his childhood dream. "I was about 5 years old and I was watching these birds, and I remember seeing them open their wings and start to fly," said Corliss. "And I remember going, you know what, when I get older I'm going to do that." In 2007, Corliss flew past the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Brazil. He describes that flight as amazing but felt he wasn't close enough to anything -- so he set his sights on the Matterhorn in Switzerland. Now he trains constantly to avoid missteps, like the one he had in Italy while training to fly off the Matterhorn. His parachute got caught on some branches during his descent, and he broke his hand in two places. He was still determined to get to the Matterhorn in the Alps. Last year, with his left hand broken, and armed with his trademark cameras that document all his flights, Corliss jumped out of a helicopter at 16,000 feet. He flew at speeds of almost 200 mph, in the coldest temperatures he's ever flown. How does the suit enable him to fly like a bird? It has vents that fill with air as he falls, inflating his "wings" and allowing him to slide against the air. At one point on the way down the mountain, Corliss felt he was too close to the mountain, he said, but courage led the way down. "It's all bonus time as far as I'm concerned," he said. "I've already lived my life 10 times over. If I died tomorrow doing what I love, I don't want anyone to cry for me. Everyone should throw a celebration, because I died doing what I loved."

'20/20' looks at the fascinating exploits of "Birdman" and the "French Spiderman," aka Jeb Corliss and Alain Robert, who talk about what drives them to push the extremes of experience.

Friday, April 28th 2006, 7:18AM Be warned: A potential "Sopranos" spoiler follows. As fans know, when we last saw Vito Spatafore, the gay mobster played by Joe Gannascoli, he was in a small town in New Hampshire contemplating a world where can live free (or something like that), while back in New Jersey, his pals were contemplating his demise. However, in an interview airing Sunday night at 10 on WPLJ's (95.5 FM) "Twist," hosted by Dennis Hensley, Will Wikle and Melissa Carter," Gannascoli suggests that first we'll delve deeper into his new lifestyle. Asked if Vito gets a boyfriend, he replies: "You will see it soon, my friend." And what sort of man would Vito go for? "I would think, I guess, the type I like in women - black hair, dark," Gannascoli says. "If Vito had a choice, he would go for the Benjamin Bratt-type." The Italian Heritage & Culture Committee of the Bronx and Westchester will give WNYW/WWOR general manager Lew Leone its 2006 Il Leone di San Marco Award in Media Sunday in New Rochelle. ... NBC has renewed all three versions of "Law & Order" for next season. ... Tomorrow, Ch. 4's Darlene Rodriguez will be honored with the Chairman's Award by the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force of the N.Y. State Assembly at their annual conference, Somos el Futuro (We are the future). ... ABC will hold open auditions Sunday for singers (18 or older) for a new reality show. Participants will sing one song of their choice and one from a list posted at www.abcmusicproject.com. The audition is 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Copacabana, 560 W. 34th St. ... Ch. 2 launches "Kirtzman and Kramer" hosted by Andrew Kirtzman and Marcia Kramer Sunday at 11 a.m. R.H.

Latest 'Twist' on what'll become of gay mobster Be warned: A potential "Sopranos"spoiler follows. As fans know, when we last saw Vito Spatafore, the gay mobster played by Joe Gannascoli, he was in a small town in New Hampshire contemplating a world where can live free (or something like that), while back in New Jersey, his pals were contemplating his demise. However, in

WASHINGTON, April 23 — A White House spokesman, Trent Duffy, said on Friday that President Bush had seen photographs of the coffins of service members killed in Iraq arriving at Dover Air Force Base that were made public on Thursday and agreed with the Pentagon that releasing the photographs was wrong. "We must pay attention to the privacy and to the sensitivity of the families of the fallen," Mr. Duffy said. "And that's what the policy is based on and that has to be the utmost concern." A collection of more than 300 pictures of these coffins landing with Iraq war dead at Dover Air Force Base, Del., were made available this week after a Web site, the Memory Hole (www.thememoryhole.org), filed a Freedom of Information Act request for any pictures of coffins arriving from Iraq at the Dover base. The Pentagon, which has blocked news organizations from taking their own pictures of similar scenes, said releasing the photographs was wrong. It said its policy, in place since the first war in the Persian Gulf, was meant to protect the privacy of military families. The nation has literally tens of thousands of such photos because when American forces go to war, so do combat photographers who document the horror and heroism of battle, as well as the quiet moments of preparation before a mission and reflection or rebuilding after the fighting stops. The work of these soldiers with cameras sometimes attain a realism and intimacy beyond anything Steven Spielberg filmed for "Saving Private Ryan." The images are routinely released by the Pentagon to highlight the work of the armed forces and to make the Pentagon's case before the public. They appear in Defense Department publications and on its Web sites, and are available to news organizations. But other pictures go unseen. Some are classified because they reveal the secret ways the United States wages war. Placed in archives, they are available for study by those with the proper security clearance. Some are made public after many years, resonating like Mathew Brady's prints from the Civil War. These military photographers also document their fellow soldiers' journeys home, even if that journey is made inside a flag-draped coffin. Many news organizations have accused the Pentagon and the Bush administration of trying to keep images of soldiers killed in Iraq away from the public for political reasons, fearing a loss of support for the war. But whatever the reason for not releasing them, why were these pictures taken at all? "We take all kinds of photographs for historical purposes, for documentation and for training," said an Air Force combat photographer, who discussed his work but demanded that his name be withheld. "We take photographs regardless of whether the images are classified or for official use or for the public," he added. "It doesn't matter to us. We take the pictures. If they are cleared for public release, that is all well and good." At the Pentagon, officials said they were reviewing the policy to see whether it was in conflict with the Freedom of Information Act. "By all means, we support F.O.I.A.," John Molino, deputy under secretary of defense for military community and family policy, said on Thursday of the Freedom of Information Act. "F.O.I.A. is the law of the land. The law of the land trumps policy all the time. If for some reason we find that the policy is inconsistent with the F.O.I.A., we'll look at whether or not the policy needs to be changed." In their eagerness to take advantage of the first photographs of American war dead from Iraq returning to Dover, several news organizations broadcast or published images of coffins that actually contained the remains of astronauts killed in the breakup of the Columbia space shuttle, NASA said Friday. Among the news organizations that used the incorrect photographs were CNN, The Associated Press, Reuters and The Washington Post. "This was an obvious case of mistaken identity," said Bob Jacobs, a NASA spokesman. Mr. Jacobs said 73 of the photographs, which reportedly showed soldiers killed in Iraq, were actually images from the arrival at Dover of the bodies of the seven astronauts killed in the Columbia accident. The freedom of information request had asked for "all photographs showing caskets (or other devices) containing the remains of U.S. military personnel at Dover A.F.B." from Feb. 1, 2003 — the day the Columbia disintegrated — to the present. NASA officials realized that the images were from the Columbia ceremonies because they recognized the scenes from the events. For one thing, Mr. Jacobs said, "one of the coffins has an Israeli flag on it," he said. One of those killed in the shuttle disaster was an Israeli astronaut, Col. Ilan Roman. But news organizations that used the NASA pictures labeled them as dead soldiers from Iraq. In some cases, they said they had received confirmation from the Pentagon first that the pictures showed coffins of soldiers killed in Iraq. CNN reported on its error without apology saying, "The Pentagon had confirmed to us that the bodies were those of military remains." CNN said it did not use the photos until it received that confirmation. Steve Coll, managing editor of The Washington Post, said his newspaper printed the photos without any confirmation from the Pentagon. He described the decision to use the photos as a chaotic one. Thom Shanker reported from Washington for this article and Bill Carter from New York.

A White House spokesman said that President Bush agreed with the Pentagon that releasing the photographs of the coffins of service members killed in Iraq was wrong.

There are two traditional views of how Americans can be happiest in retirement. In one, they retrofit their homes with grab bars and wheelchair-accessible bathrooms and "age in place" while maintaining long-time community, church and family ties. In the other, they say farewell to friends and frigid winters and head off to Florida or Sun City for a life of leisurely golf and bridge games. But a new study from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College suggests there is another road that leads to happiness. Older Americans who move are somewhat happier and wealthier than those who stay put, but most of their moves are short-distance ones--some made as part of a retirement plan and some in response to a shock, such as being widowed or divorced, the study found. Despite their differing circumstances, both groups ended up with at least modest gains in happiness from the move. Those who moved after a shock were a little less unhappy than old folks in comparable circumstances who stayed put. Those who executed a planned move were happier than their less mobile planner peers. The findings dispel the notion that staying put in a long-time home maximizes the psychological well-being of older adults, says Kelly Haverstick, a research economist at the center. "I was personally surprised." The findings are, however, consistent with a broader definition of aging in place. Most of the older folks' moves were short distance, suggesting that maybe downsizing to a more manageable residence, but staying in your community surrounded by family and friends, is the key to happily aging in place. In their report, Haverstick and her co-authors used data from the University of Michigan's national Health and Retirement Study to examine the habits of folks born between 1931 and 1941. They were tracked over a 12-year period from 1992 to 2004. That means the individuals were aged 51-61 the first year studied, and were aged 63-73 during the last year. Nearly a third (30%) of homeowners moved at least once over the 12-year period, while in any two-year period, 7% of homeowners moved. But 60% the moves were short-distance ones of less than 20 miles, while only 21% of moves were for more than 200 miles. The statistics show small net outflows from New England and the North Central regions along with larger net inflows into the South Atlantic (including Florida) and the Mountain regions (including Arizona) but no large-scale migration from the Frost Belt to the Sun Belt. Surprisingly, the report found that a move for traditional retirement reasons (for example, seeking a warmer climate or leisure) ranked only fourth on the list of reasons folks gave for moving. Of the movers, 28% moved for family reasons (to be near children or to care for an older relative, for example); 22% moved because of financial stress; 21% moved to upgrade to a better house and/or location; and 16% moved for traditional retirement reasons. Lastly, the report looks at whether households making a move choose to continue being homeowners. Here there is a big difference between seniors who have faced shocks and those who had the luxury to plan their moves. It turns out that 33% of homeowners who moved after shocks became renters or moved in with relatives. (For advice, see "How to Set Up a Multi-Generation Household.") Only 18% of movers who hadn't suffered a shock discontinued homeownership. Moving also affected the average change in home equity for the various groups. Those who didn't move, whether or not they faced shocks, saw an average increase in home equity of $12,000. Those who moved after a shock saw a decline in home equity of $26,000. Those who moved according to a plan invested more in their homes, with an average increase in home equity of $33,000.

Research contradicts idea that seniors need to cling to their homes.

Making money in the stock market hasn't been this tough since the fall of 2008. Bear in mind that in the short-term the bears may very well be in control. Stock markets are succumbing to the deflationary, and very negative conditions in many European nations that have been driven by very real necessity to cut budget deficits and reduce debt. This fiscal discipline is not priming the pump of slowing economies. In the U.S. the sharp decline in consumer confidence and housing starts along with poor jobs numbers plagues expectations for domestic equities and is driving down--rather dramatically, too--the yield on 10-year Treasury notes. Plunging yields attest to the lack of vigor in the economy. "Count me among those who believe that the 'austerians' (austerity is coming) are about to send the economy off a cliff, or as I see it, into a demolition derby," warns my newest favorite blogger John T. Burke Jr. on Centerlane.com. Indeed, the dividend yield on the Dow is a tad more than the 10-year Treasury. Never mind this odd juxtaposition. Investors continue to take their money out of money market funds and equity funds to put the money in bond funds as the search for yield continues in frustrated fashion. To craft a survival strategy for this environment, StreetTalk has made use of several shrewd, pithy market gurus he especially respects. Christopher Woods, emerging markets expert for CLSA Securities, Stephen Leeb of Leeb's Market Forecast, Robert Smith of Smith Affiliated Capital, and Frank Holmes, CEO, U.S. Global Resources, a mutual fund group. No matter what transpires short term in the world economy, Dr. Stephen Leeb of Leeb's Market Forecast is adamant about a sure long-term trend in global commodities. "2008 was but a prelude to incredibly high commodity prices," Leeb e-mailed me this week. "Where is the excess capacity for copper, oil, indium, silver, rare earths and many other minerals and metals critical for building out alternative energies? China gets it in spades and we are clueless." In light of the desperate cloud over deepwater drilling for crude oil, Leeb likes natural gas stocks, which should benefit from rising natural gas prices, up 17% just in the past month. Today, a perfect example of natural gas prices advancing while crude oil weakens. His choices: Gazprom, which has 20% of the world's natural gas reserves, and CNOOC ( CEO - news - people ) Ltd., a huge Chinese oil and gas giant. By the way, Leeb would be an aggressive seller of BP ( BP - news - people ) on the uncertainty of plugging the well in the Gulf and the size of its future liability. Leeb's preferred way to play the long-term bullish trend in metals is Powershares DB Base Metals Fund ( DBB - news - people ), which tracks an index for the prices of copper, zinc and aluminum, metals that will be required in massive amounts by China for energy infrastructure, including alternatives, where it is far ahead of the U.S. Leeb believes that in two years DBB can rise from $18 to $40, more than a double. "All commodities will have their day big time once Europe is sorted out," says Leeb. "In the meantime more currency debasement means continued gains in gold." Both Leeb and another savvy investor friend, Frank Holmes, CEO of U.S. Global Investors ( GROW - news - people )--which runs several natural resources mutual funds--are excited about prospects for gold prices. At the present price level above $1,200 an ounce, several gold mining stocks seem very well positioned. Both men favor Barrick Gold ( ABX - news - people ) which has substantial gold reserves in North America. Holmes also has been buying Schlumberger ( SLB - news - people ), a big oil services outfit. Check out Holmes' chart on the performance of various commodity prices; it is the formative story going forward.

Market gurus look to gold and commodities as places to put money. Some are shorting European banks, too.

BY GEORGE RUSH AND JOANNA MOLLOY With Suzanne Rozdeba, Zoe Alexander and Spencer Morgan Tuesday, September 23th 2003, 7:27AM Just when many had pronounced their relationship dead, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck set off fresh wedding rumors yesterday by showing up at a courthouse in Georgia. Local speculation was that the couple, who called off their Santa Barbara nuptials a week before, came to the Liberty County court building (near Savannah on the Georgia coast) for a marriage license. Not so, says Sheriff Don Martin, whose office is in the courthouse. "Ben came by with Jennifer to thank the Sheriff's Department and tell them how happy they were for helping out with protecting them and securing his property over the weekend," Martin told us. We can see how Bennifer might feel under siege: On Friday, Lopez flew up from Miami to join Affleck at his $7.1 million estate on Hampton Island near Savannah. Affleck took his fiancée out of for a spin the 1966 Chevelle she'd bought him. National Enquirer sleuth Barry Levine was promptly on their tail. Just their luck, the jalopy broke down, forcing the star couple to hike to a gas station for help. The next morning, they chose a vehicle in better health - a green Range Rover. The couple had barely left their spread when they had a half dozen cars laden with paparazzi in their mirror. One snapper who gave chase claims that the Range Rover was pushing 100 mph when it pulled away from the lens- jackals. The couple headed to Savannah, where they stopped at Best Buy and Barnes & Noble. Affleck, who had bought about 40 DVDs at Media Play the day before, also hit a Pro Bass outdoor shop. The goateed actor - who looked like he was getting in touch with his inner redneck in camouflage pants and a Mr. Goodwrench hat - was spotted in the gun department. A saleswoman at the story wouldn't say what he bought at the store. But Sheriff Martin said that, when he stopped by the courthouse, Affleck said he planned to apply for a gun or rifle permit. While he's waiting for his license, the actor has brought on local security. A photog told us one of Affleck's sentries fired a shot in the air to scare away a picture-shooter. Affleck's rep had no comment on the alleged warning shot, but asked, "Why can't [the media] just leave them alone?" The Federal Aviation Administration seems to be doing its part to help. An FAA spokesman confirms that the agency imposed a flight restriction over Affleck's property from Saturday morning to Sunday morning. The rep said the restriction, which grounded paparazzi planes, had to do with issues of "public safety or security." Russell Crowe's bar-brawling behavior is being turned into a television special. The Aussie's short-tempered moments will be featured in "Greatest Fights," a British program produced by Granada TV. It will include footage of the Oscar-winner roughing up a BBC producer at Britain's 2002 BAFTA Awards. Also due to be included are Rusty's alleged scuffles with techno icon Moby and other blokes he has encountered in bars. Crowe's rep didn't return a call. But we wouldn't be surprised if his lawyers try blocking the project. Meanwhile, Crowe seems to be picking another fight - this time with Mel Gibson. Asked about Gibson's epic movie about Christ, "The Passion," Crowe told a Chicago radio interviewer: "If what I've heard about it is fair dinkum [Aussie for 'true'], that he spent $25 million making a movie that's shot in Aramaic and Latin, and he's intending to release it without subtitles, I think he's got to get off the glue." Told that Gibson feels subtitles aren't necessary because so many people know the story, he countered, "What a waste of time! If we know the story, why did [he] bother making it?" Democratic presidential candidate Gen. Wesley Clark is reaching out to all voters - including badly behaved, beer-drinking bachelors. The retired NATO commander recently gave Maxim magazine an interview, in which former Col. David Hackworth debriefed him on what mattered most to the Maxim man. "No, no, I did not inhale," says Clark in the upcoming article. he says, "I walked into a [enemy] base camp and got greased. The guy emptied an AK[-47] magazine at me he stitched me up the right side of my body. He put a hole in my leg and one through my shoulder. I was lying on the ground bleeding and yelling. "The doctor said, 'You got the million-dollar wound.' But I thought the million-dollar wound was when you lost your you-know-what." He decided to stay in Vietnam because, "Why would you want to go out and work for a bank when you could be connected to the future of the United States?" Could Maxim readers get a few nights in the Lincoln bedroom? "Um, that's a key policy question," says Clark. "I'm not sure whether that's good government or not, but I'll certainly take it under consideration." Paris and Nicky Hilton made an early exit from the Vegas premiere of Cirque du Soleil's show "Zumanity." Word is that drag diva Joey Arias gave offense during his opening remarks when he gestured toward the fun-loving hotel heiresses and asserted, "Clearly, this is the hooker section." The duo made a quick departure and were conspicuously absent at the multi-million- dollar after-party, where jockstrapped performers on stilts were ogled by Daryl Hannah, Orlando Bloom, Jennifer Love Hewitt and designers Roberto Cavalli and Richie Rich. The Hiltons' rep says the sisters had to leave early to shoot footage for today's guest spot on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." A trip to Berlin has joined architect Daniel Libeskind and developer Larry Silverstein at the heart. Silverstein, who holds the lease on the World Trade Center, had irked Libeskind by hiring architect David Childs to lead the design of the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower. Trying to mend relations, Silverstein asked Libeskind if he'd show him his most famous building, Berlin's Jewish Museum. Libeskind agreed, giving Silverstein, his wife, Klara, and about 50 members of the United Jewish Appeal a private tour on Sept. 12. "It was wonderful to see the museum through the eyes of its creator," Silverstein told us. "It definitely strengthened our relationship," said Libeskind, who also had Shabat dinner with Silverstein the same day. "He's a wonderful human being." As for Childs, Libeskind told architectural writer Paul Goldberger during last weekend's New Yorker Festival: "Listen, I come from a tradition of Hasidic, arranged marriages. I know that this one will work, too." JASON BIGGS, who stars in Woody Allen's "Anything Else," still sounds like he's recovering from his make-out scene with Seann William Scott in "American Wedding." "It was definitely different from kissing a girl," Biggs told Webster Hall curator Baird Jones. "He had a bunch of stray hairs on his lip. The worst part was that we had to do 30 takes" DENISE RICH, composer and Pardon-gate figure from the final days of the Bill Clinton presidency, has split with her longtime business partner, Ric Wake. Wake, a music producer and up-and-coming exec at Sony Music, has bought her out. Rich will hold on to the rights to her songs, The News' Phyllis Furman reports. Rich's cancer-fighting Angel Ball is Oct. 27. MARC ANTHONY celebrated his 34th birthday at Copacabana on Saturday with Sean Combs, Donald Trump and, naturally, his wife, Dayanara. The salsa star told the former Miss Universe, "I love you from the bottom of my [bleeping] heart!" Anthony and Johnny Pacheco also sang about their love for Puerto Rico - till about 4 a.m. SUGAR SHANE Mosley, the new WBC and WBA super- welterweight champ, celebrates his victory over Oscar De La Hoya at Elaine's tonight. The city better give it up for Dave Matthews tomorrow night when he plays Central Park. We need to drown out his inner voice of gloom. "[The voice] gets louder as I get older," says Matthews, whose free, AOL-sponsored performance supports public schools. "I'm better at ignoring it than when I was 21, and taking lots of acid," the South African rocker tells Details magazine. But, even now, "I lose my grip a lot. "I can be up there going, 'God, there's that one person sitting there bored to death - everyone else is hoping I stop,' " says Matthews, whose first solo CD, "Some Devil," is released this week. Somehow we don't think that'll be the case on the Great Lawn.

Just when many had pronounced their relationship dead, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck set off fresh wedding rumors yesterday by showing up at a courthouse in Georgia. Local speculation was that the couple, who called off their Santa Barbara nuptials a week before, came to the Liberty County court building (near Savannah on the Georgia coast) for a marriage license. Not so, says Sheriff Don Martin, whose office

COMPILED BY SUNNY LEE & BRANNE L. HELDMAN Friday, October 17th 2003, 1:24AM CLASSICAL ALICE TULLY. Lincoln Center, 65th St. & Broadway (212-721-6500). Sun. at 5, the Chamber Music Society playing Schubert's "Trout" quintet. $38.50-$45. AVERY FISHER. Lincoln Center, 65th St. & Columbus (212-721-6500). Thru tomorrow at 8, N.Y. Philharmonic, with Alicia de Larrocha; $37-$114. Tomorrow at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., "Babes in Toyland" with Little Orchestra Society; $10-$35. CARNEGIE HALL. 881 Seventh Ave. (212-247-7800). Isaac Stern Auditorium: Tonight at 8, Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra; $20-$40. Tomorrow at 8, Beata Bilinska; $25-$50. Sun. at 8, New York Milal Missionary Choir. Zankel Hall: Tomorrow and Sun. at 7:30, Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, $28-$38. COLDEN CENTER. Queens College, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing (718-793-8080). Sun. at 2, Peking Operal; $12. METROPOLITAN OPERA. Lincoln Center, 62nd St. & Columbus Ave. (212-362-6000). Tonight at 8, "La Traviata." Tomorrow at 1:30, "La Boheme." Tomorrow at 8, "The Marriage of Figaro"; all shows $32-$205. N.Y. STATE THEATER. Lincoln Center, 63rd St. & Columbus Ave. (212-307-4100). City Opera. Tonight at 8, "Magic Flute." Tomorrow at 1:30, "Of Mice and Men." Tomorrow at 8, "The Mikado." Sun. at 1:30, "Carmen"; $25-$110. WEILL RECITAL HALL. 154 W. 57th St. (212-247-7800). Tonight at 7, Céleste Zewald; $24. Tomorrow at 2, Carol McGonnell, $20; at 8:30, Sexisational Sixties Festival with Martin di Martino, $25. Sun. at 5, The MET Chamber Ensemble with James Levine. BEACON THEATER. 2124 Broadway. (212-307-7171). Tomorrow at 11, "Comedy Central Live," starring Lewis Black and Dave Attell; $33.50-$49.50. IRVING PLAZA. 17 Irving Place (212-777-6800). Tonight and tomorrow at 9, Super Diamond with Tijuana Strip Club; $27-$30. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN. Seventh Avenue & 33rd, (212-307-7171). Tonight at 8, "Festival De La Hispanidad"; $44.50-$154.50. NASSAU VETERANS MEMORIAL COLISEUM. 1255 Hempstead Turnpike, Uniondale (212-307-7171). Good Charlotte, tonight at 7:30; $25. ROSELAND BALLROOM. 239 W. 52nd St. (212-307-7171). Tomorrow at 7, Jagermeister Music Tour: Slayer; $30. TOWN HALL. 123 W. 43rd St. (212-307-4100). Joan Baez, tonight at 8; $30-$50. Tomorrow at 8, "Fado"; $30-$35. WESTBURY MUSIC FAIR. 960 Brush Hollow Rd., Westbury, L.I. (631-888-9000). Tomorrow at 8, "Hot Autumn Nights" with Tommy James; $41.50. 9 Great Jones St. (212-677-6963). Jacquie Barnaby, Orpheus Looks Back, Granian, Rodcone, Smiley, Good Brother Earl, tonight. Shari Lambert, Tud, Erica Cashman, Nevermor, Voice of a Secret, Iodine, tomorrow. B.B. KING BLUES CLUB. 237 W. 42nd St. (212-997-4144). Spearhead and Michael Franti, tonight. Blue Rodeo, tomorrow. Peter Tosh Tribute, Sun. THE BITTER END. 147 Bleecker St. (212-673-7030). Jaley, Christopher Jak, Reju, Aaron McLaine, L'Nard, toinght. John Power, Sinem, Maura, Josh Weinstein, Naked Underneath, The Healers, tomorrow. THE BOTTOM LINE. 15 W. Fourth St. (212-228-6300). Ute Lemper, tonight. BOWERY BALLROOM. 6 Delancey St. (212-533-2111). Josh Rouse and Leona Naess, tonight. Evan Dando and Vic Chestnutt, tomorrow. CBGB. 315 Bowery (212-982-4052). Gibbypalooza: Dawn & Rich, SSR1, Sixty Cycle, The New Speed, Walter Shriefels, Classic Case, High Speed Chase, Reach 454, Carnival of Souls, Evil Adam, tonight. "Homocrops": World Famous BoB, Naked Highway, Dead Betties, Yoni, tomorrow. CONTINENTAL. 25 Third Ave. (212-529-6924). Hillard, Te Cu Dos, Hard Ups, Bona Roba, Trauma Queens, tonight. Heap, Black Dog, Sabbra Cadabra, tomorrow. White Sone, Pacaea, Bluetone Vibe, This Time, Labelle, Sun. JOE'S PUB. 425 Lafayette St. (212-539-8770). Garland Jeffreys and the Coney Island Playboys, tonight and tomorrow. Pierce Turner, Sun. KNITTING FACTORY. 74 Leonard St. (212-210-3055). Ari Hest, Stephen Kellogg, tonight. Ayanna Hobson and Little Buster's Soulbrothers Band, tomorrow and Sun. MERCURY LOUNGE. 217 E. Houston St. (212-260-4700). Holly Golightly, Ko and the Knockouts, Kid Congo and the Pink Monkeybirds, tonight. The Wrens, Palomar, tomorrow. Evil Beaver, The Donkeys, Sun. NORTHSIX. 66 N. Sixth St., Brooklyn (718-599-5103). Tonight, Beulah, John Vanderslice. Tomorrow, LoVid, Jaime Archangel. The Sabers on Sun. PLAID. 176 E. 13th St. (212-388-1060). Deejay Paul Sevigny, tonight. Spaulding Rockwell, tomorrow. 709 Lorimer St., Brooklyn (718-302-3770). Nell Bryden, Courtney Little, Amelia White, tonight. Late Bloomers, Dawn Landes, Savage Juliet, tomorrow. Non Horse, So L'il, The Blood Group, Sun. SOB'S. 204 Varick St. (212-243-4940). Sweet Mickey, Red Pill, tonight. Carlos Darci, tomorrow. SOUTHPAW. 125 Fifth Ave., Brooklyn (718-230-0236). The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, Daptone Souland Revue, tomorrow. TONIC. 107 Norfolk St. (212-358-7503). Palomino, Howard Fishman, tonight. Palomino, Dr. Israel, tomorrow. THE ALGONQUIN'S OAK ROOM. 59 W. 44th St. (212-840-6800). Jamie DON'T TELL MAMA. 343 W. 46th St. (212-757-0788). Tracy Terrell, Greg Purnhagen, "A Night on the Town," tonight. Janelle DeMarzo, Beth Valenti, "Judy Garland Live!" with Tommy Femia, tomorrow. Connie Pachl & Bill Daugherty, Ann McCormack, Sun. THE DUPLEX. 61 Christopher St. (212-255-5438). Toby Blackwell, "Not for the Squeamish," tonight. Rock Albers, Jeanne MacDonald, Baby Jane Dexter, tomorrow. "Lovely," Phillip Officer, Sun. FEINSTEIN'S. 540 Park Ave. (212-339-4095). Michael Feinstein & Jimmy Webb, FIREBIRD CAFE. 365 W. 46th St. (212-586-0244). Gregory Moore and Lana Rein star in "Croon," a salute to great male vocalists of the '30s and '40s, tonight thru Sun. MAMA ROSE'S. 219 Second Ave. (212-533-0558). Michael McAssey, tonight & Sun. Sharon McNight, tomorrow. 995 Fifth Ave. at 81st St. (212-650-4737). Steve BIRDLAND. 315 W. 44th St. (212-581-3080). Aaron Neville with Emiko Hayashi Trio, thru tomorrow. Lew Anderson's All-American Big Band, tonight. BLUE NOTE. 131 W. Third St. (212-475-8592). Abbey CORNELIA STREET CAFE. 29 Cornelia St. (212-989-9319). Bill McHenry Quartet, tonight. DETOUR. 349 E. 14th St. (212-533-6212). Dan Pratt Organ Quartet, tonight. JSYO Future All-Stars, tomorrow. IRIDIUM. 1650 Broadway (212-582-2121). Nicholas Payton Sonic Trance, thru Sun. JAZZ STANDARD. 116 E. 27th St. (212-576-2232). Memphis Blood featuring James "Blood" Ulmer and Vernon Reid, thru Sun. 178 Seventh Ave. S. (212-255-4037). Eric Reed & the New York Seven, thru Sun. CAROLINES. 1626 Broadway at 49th St. (212-757-4100). Greg Proops, thru Sun. "Nasty Show," thru tomorrow. COMIC STRIP LIVE. 1568 Second Ave. (212-501-1982). Kerry McNally, Cory Kahaney, Ellen Cleghorn, thru tomorrow. DANGERFIELD'S. 1118 First Ave. (212-593-1650). Paul Mercurio, Jessica Kirson, Russ Meneve, Jackson Perdue, Greg Rogell, thru Sun. N.Y. COMEDY CLUB. 241 E. 24th St. (212-696-5233). Steve Marshall, Russ Meneve, Sam Greenfield, Andrew Kennedy, thru tomorrow. UPRIGHT CITIZENS BRIGADE THEATRE. 307 W. 26th St. (212-366-9176). The Swarm, Killgore: The Musical, tonight. Monster Talk, Andy Rocco's Happy Life, Dance With Bears, Respecto: Good Vs. Elvis, Mother: The Soundtrack, Swarm: Midnight Hive, tomorrow. ASSSSCAT 3000, Sun. AIDA. Palace, 1554 Broadway (212-307-4747). AVENUE Q. Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45th St. (212-239-6200). BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Lunt-Fontanne, 205 W. 46th St. (212-307-4100). CABARET. Studio 54, 254 W. 54th St. (212-719-1300). CHICAGO. Ambassador, 219 W. 49th St. (212-239-6200). 213 W. 42nd St. (212-307-4550). GYPSY. Shubert, 225 W. 44th St. (212-239-6200). HAIRSPRAY. Neil Simon, 250 W. 52nd St. (212-307-4100). THE LION KING. New Amsterdam, 214 W. 42nd St. (212-307-4100). LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. Virginia, 245 W. 52nd St. (212- 239-6200). MOVIN' OUT. Richard Rodgers, 226 W. 46th St. (212-307-4100). NINE. Eugene O'Neill, 230 W. 49th St. (212-239-6200). THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Majestic, 247 W. 44th St. (212-239-6200). 246 W. 44th St. (212-239-6200). RENT. Nederlander, 208 W. 41st St. (212-921-8000). THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW. 222 W. 45th St. (212-239-6200). SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS. 111 W. 44th St. (212-239-6200). TAKE ME OUT. Walter Kerr, 219 W. 48th St. (212-239-6200). THE BOY FROM OZ. Imperial, 249 W. 45th St. (212-239-6200). THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE. Marquis, Broadway & 46th St. (212-307-4100). URINETOWN. The Henry Miller, 124 W. 44th St. (212-239-6200). WICKED. The Gershwin, 222 W. 51st St. (212-307-4100). BLUE MAN GROUP. Astor Place, 434 Lafayette St. (212-254-4370). DE LA GUARDA. Daryl Roth Theatre, 20 Union Square East (212-239-6200). THE DONKEY SHOW. Club El Flamingo, 547 W. 21st St. (212-307-4100). FORBIDDEN BROADWAY. Douglas Fairbanks, 432 W. 42nd St. (212-239-6200). I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE. Westside, 407 W. 43rd St. (212-239-6200). LISTEN TO MY HEART. Upstairs at Studio 54, 254 W. 54th St. (212-239-6200). LIVING OUT. Second Stage Theatre, 307 W. 43rd St. (212-246-4422). NAKED BOYS SINGING! Actor's Playhouse, 100 Seventh Ave. (212-239-6200). OMNIUM GATHERUM. Variety Arts Theatre, 110 Third Ave. (212-239-6200). STOMP. Orpheum, 126 Second Ave. (212-477-2477). THE THING ABOUT MEN. Promenade Theatre, 2162 Broadway (212-580-1313). TRUMBO. Westside, 407 W. 43rd St. (212-239-6200). Central Park and 79th St. (212-769-5200). "Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind & Spirit" captures the diversity of the country and its people. THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. Fifth Ave. at 82nd St. (212-879-5500). "Klee Abstract" features 30 paintings and watercolors. SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM. 1071 Fifth Ave. (212-423-3500). "Watercolors by Kandinsky." This exhibit includes important examples from the Hilla von Rebay Foundation collection. ALL THIS USELESS BEAUTY: PHOTOGRAPHS BY LARRY RACIOPPO. Brooklyn Public Library. Grand Army Plaza (718-230-2100). More than 30 color prints by this longtime Brooklyn native capture the area's past and present. VISUAL METAPHORS. Photo District Gallery. 37 W. 20th St. (212-807-8787). This show, which marks the first anniversary of the space, highlights more than 20 artists. AOC BEDFORD. 14 Bedford St. (212-414-4764). Intimate Village restaurant charms with its rustic interior and well-tuned food: Try octopus carpaccio, Serrano ham or gnocchi with Cabrales. *** HUE. 91 Charles St. (212-691-4170). "French-Vietnamese" cooking is a trifle hit and miss, but try these: seared tuna salad, pork and beef meatballs, quail. *1/2 JIMMY'S CITY ISLAND. 500 City Island Ave., Bronx (718-885-2222). Jimmy Rodriguez makes a detour into seafood, with wildly uneven results. You're safe with the octopus cocktail, crab legs and short ribs, though. * LEVER HOUSE. 390 Park Ave. at 54th (212-888-2700). Head-turning decor and topnotch new American food from Dan Silverman; go for the raw fluke, foie gras, filet mignon and rack of lamb. *** NAR. 152 Metropolitan Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-599-3027). A dimly lit hideout specializing in Turkish meze (small plates). You'll be happy you ordered the beef and tomato borek or eggplant dish called imam biyaldi. ** NORTH SQUARE. 103 Waverly Place (212-254-1200). Solid American bistro cooking from Yoel Cruz, with a smart wine list. Try the chopped salad, white beans and peppers, Arctic char, pork chop. **1/2 ROCCO'S. 12 E. 22nd St. (212-353-0500). Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito and his mama, Nicolina, make some great meatballs, but the rest of the menu is uneven. Try the salads, grilled shrimp. ** SAPORI D'ISCHIA. 55-15 37th Ave., Woodside, Queens (718-446-1500). Italian food store in an industrial nabe gets made over at night into a romantic restaurant with entertainment. **1/2 BON APPETIT CELEBRATES AUTUMN WITH "ENTERTAINING WITH STYLE". Grand Central Terminal, Vanderbilt Hall, 15 Vanderbilt Ave. (212-246-2977). Today, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., free. Chefs from Dos Caminos, Aix and Craft offer cooking tips at this culinary bonanza, amid pumpkin-carving demonstrations and food samplings. THE BROADWAY INSPIRATIONAL VOICES: 10TH ANNIVERSARY GOSPEL CELEBRATION. Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St. (212-840-2824). Sun., 8 p.m., $35-$250. Cast members of "Hairspray," "The Producers" and "The Lion King" join special guest Patti LaBelle and the contemporary gospel choir of LaGuardia High for a benefit concert for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. THE CABARET CONVENTION. Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St. (212-997-6661). Mon. at 6 p.m., $25-$100. Produced by Donald Smith and the Mabel Mercer Foundation, this weeklong celebration of top singers kicks off with Karen Akers, Ann Hampton Callaway and Jessica Molaskey. Also featured: salutes to Julie Wilson (Tues.), Al Hirschfeld (Wed.) and Judy Garland (Thurs.). www.mabelmercer.org. FALCONRY EXTRAVAGANZA. Central Park, East Meadow, 59th St. and Fifth Ave. (212-360-3456). Tomorrow, 1-4 p.m., free. Park Ranger Matt Symons launches a dozen falcons into the air to perform aerial feats. PAUL AUSTER. Brooklyn Public Library, Grand Army Plaza at Flatbush Ave., Prospect Heights (718-230-2122). Tomorrow, 2 p.m., free. This author of "The New York Trilogy" reads from his latest book, "The Book of Illusions," about a Vermont professor who loses his wife and son in a car crash, and takes to reclusion until a mysterious silent film grabs his attention.

CLASSICAL ALICE TULLY. Lincoln Center, 65th St. & Broadway (212-721-6500). Sun. at 5, the Chamber Music Society playing Schubert's "Trout"quintet. $38.50-$45. AVERY FISHER. Lincoln Center, 65th St. & Columbus (212-721-6500). Thru tomorrow at 8, N.Y. Philharmonic, with Alicia de Larrocha; $37-$114. Tomorrow at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., "Babes in Toyland"with Little Orchestra Society; $10-$35. CARNEGIE HALL. 881 Seventh Ave. (212-247-7800). Isaac Stern Auditorium: Tonight at 8, Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra; $20-$40. Tomorrow at 8,

BY BARBARA ROSS DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Thursday, May 31th 2001, 2:21AM The folks who run Syms clothing stores might know that "an educated consumer is our best customer," but they apparently have a lot to learn about the advertising business. Manhattan prosecutors charged yesterday that Douglas Meyer, the former vice president of marketing at Syms Advertising, a subsidiary, wove a scam that fleeced his bosses for $5.5 million. Meyer pulled the worsted wool over their eyes, prosecutors said, by saying that he needed to hire three separate vendors to design, produce and place print advertising for the clothing firm. Some ads were created and properly placed in print media, investigators said. However, they added, two companies that sent Syms bills produced nothing at all. Both were controlled by Gerald Birnbach, 53, of Yorktown Heights, Westchester County, who used to do business with Meyer. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said Meyer, 48, of Secaucus, N.J., used the same scam with Syms' direct-mail program, which he also directed. Prosecutors said that when the scam began in January 1998, Meyer and Jelle (Jay) Eijpe, 39, also of Secaucus, shared half of the money paid to Birnbach's allegedly fake firms. In May 1998, they said, Birnbach started issuing checks "disguised as bogus 'consulting fees' " to a third fake firm, which then funneled the money to Meyer and Eijpe. Morgenthau said the culprits - all of whom were charged with grand larceny - ultimately stole more than $5.5 million over three years. Syms' advertising budget at the time was about $10 million a year. "A lot of it [the stolen money] was spent on a fairly lavish lifestyle," Morgenthau said.

The folks who run Syms clothing stores might know that "an educated consumer is our best customer,"but they apparently have a lot to learn about the advertising business. Manhattan prosecutors charged yesterday that Douglas Meyer, the former vice president of marketing at Syms Advertising, a subsidiary, wove a scam that fleeced his bosses for $5.5 million. Meyer pulled the worsted wool over their eyes, prosecutors said, by

Sunday, March 13th 2005, 1:31AM Remember when U.K. bands used to be cheeky and flip? During the Brit-pop era of the '90s, the country snickered to groups like Oasis, Supergrass, Blur, Pulp, even the Spice Girls - all of them witty, sarcastic, and full of dash. But just one breakthrough for a different kind of act can shift the whole sensibility. When the wan band Coldplay went massive several years ago - not only in the U.K., but in the hard-to-crack U.S. market - nearly every new British band turned earnest. So far this century, the U.K. has been dominated by the sweeping sounds of Travis, the Doves, Elbow, Starsailor and especially Keane. Add to that list Manchester's Long-View. The group's songs boast enraptured vocals, yearning melodies and lush production. It's closest to the sound of Keane, which makes sense, since that band was the biggest in Britain last year. Long-View singer Rob McVey has a rich, warm and comforting voice. But it's the four-man band's curse that their debut album opens with a number so spectacular, the rest of the set can't hope to live up to it. The song "Further" has the kind of dense orchestral chorus you imagine stadiums full of people singing along to. It's anthemic in the extreme, yet intimate in its beauty. The rest of the CD offers serviceable knock-offs of the song, which makes for likably somber mood music. There's nothing wrong with that. But would it kill these young romantics to lighten up once in a while? AL'S ALL RIGHT FOR NOW Expectations are everything. When Al Green released his first album with his great collaborator Willie Mitchell in 17 years - and cut it in the same studio that minted some of history's most sensual hits - how could we not anticipate something transcendent? What we got, on the 2003 album "I Can't Stop," wasn't. It was a decent enough effort, but hardly equal to Green at his peak. For this followup, we arrive with more modest hopes, which may be why it seems a better effort. Mitchell has rallied to a degree. There's more animation in the music - punchier horns, a bouncier bass, better-honed melodies. And there's Green's swirl of a voice. The agility of his falsetto can still dazzle. And when he has a dramatic melody behind him, as in "Real Love," he reminds us how far his voice can travel in a song, and how much emotion it can mine along the way. Green even manages to survive a cover of "You Are So Beautiful," a sap-fest that worked for Joe Cocker only because his voice is so contrastingly homely. In the end, the title of Green's album gets it right. Everything's okay, or perhaps a bit better. For heaven, we'll have to wait. Tough-talking folkie Jess Klein sings of working-class women who dream of escape Jess Klein writes about bored women who want to bust their lives wide open. There's the waitress who's too defeated to dream, the office worker who has sunk into depression so slowly that she barely recognizes it and the woman who toils in a dark room in London, all the while pining for the light. Klein fantasizes an escape for them through reckless, even ravenous sex. And while it's hardly uncommon for female songwriters to convey that kind of hunger in words, Klein distinguishes herself by putting as much kick and bite into her music. On Klein's fifth, and most confident, album, she emerges as more of a rocker than a singer-songwriter. In the tradition of Maria McKee and Tift Merritt, Klein's songs hit hard and always catch the ear. Given her focus on working-class dreams, she approaches Springsteen territory at times, though thankfully not as flagrantly or clumsily as Melissa Etheridge. In her compact and catchy rocker "Sink My Teeth In," Klein drives a Chevy across Pennsylvania, on the run from routine. In "Shonalee," she sings of a waitress, "This life isn't ever gonna give you what you want/But you can lose your sorrows in a song." Klein doesn't have the world's most commanding voice. It can be reedy and wavering - a folk voice that's yearning to rock. But that may be the perfect voice for songs all about reaching for something you can never grasp.

THE WEIGHT ON THEIR SHOULDERS LONG-VIEW "Mercury"(Columbia) Remember when U.K. bands used to be cheeky and flip? During the Brit-pop era of the '90s, the country snickered to groups like Oasis, Supergrass, Blur, Pulp, even the Spice Girls - all of them witty, sarcastic, and full of dash. But just one breakthrough for a different kind of act can shift the whole sensibility. When the wan band Coldplay went massive several years ago - not

Thursday, January 11th 2001, 2:15AM Not since the golden days of Studio 54 have Manhattan's West 50s been so hot. Formerly a nightlife desert, the area now has trendy restaurants, bars and, at the epicenter of it all, the star-studded Hudson Hotel. But the Hudson will soon have a neighborhood rival. In March, the owners of SoHo's Mercer Hotel are opening the ultra-hip Chambers Hotel on W. 56th St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves. The swanky Chambers will contain a "living museum" of more than 500 works by important contemporary artists. Its 77 rooms will be styled to look like artists' lofts, with platform beds and Turkish rugs. The two-tiered lobby, meanwhile, will have alpaca couches and leather-covered columns. And the restaurant, owned by chef Geoffrey Zakarian (formerly of Patroon and 44), will be called Town. How long before the Chambers is swarming with glitterati? We're betting a matter of days after it opens. Glamour just made it easier to find sexy runway looks for less. The magazine has introduced a new monthly section called "Millionaire? Who Cares!" that showcases hot styles for under $100. "We wanted to recession-proof fashion for readers so they can get every new trend and great look at a price," said editor in chief Bonnie Fuller. Each item includes either a Web site address, toll-free telephone number or store number so that readers can shop from their homes. The feature will be six to 10 pages each month. A MAN OF THE CLOTH Laura Bush's fans will soon be able to dress like her. The future First Lady's favorite designer, Michael Faircloth, is planning to launch an upscale ready-to-wear collection for spring 2002. The line will include day suits, dinner suits and evening dresses. Faircloth, who designed Bush's peacock blue swearing-in suit and slinky red lace Inaugural Ball gown, would like to change the perception that Lone Star women are gaudy. "Everybody stereotypes Texans as rowdy, loud, with big hair and bright colors," he told Women's Wear Daily. The women he knows are in fact "very elegant, very quiet and very sophisticated." They are also all different sizes, and Faircloth plans to take that into account when he creates his line. The garments will be cut generously for "very well-proportioned American figures." Time to trade in that tired SUV and pick up a trendy station wagon. That's right, the coolest new cars at the Detroit Auto Show were inspired by the trusty old family ferry. Designer Todd Oldham, MSN Carpoint.com's celebrity fashion editor, spotted more than five updated wagon designs at the car show earlier this week, including the Mercedes C-Class Estate. Why the wagon revival? "We love to haul our junk around," said Oldham. "I could see a two-person family having the Mercedes Estate and still feeling sexy about it." If you can't afford a new Mercedes, just borrow your parents' wagon. You'll be the hippest person on your block and the only one who realizes it. After skipping a seaon, Sean (Puffy) Combs is showing his Sean John men's line during fashion week. The event is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 10, at The Tent at Bryant Park and is sure to draw the usual array of rap stars, athletes and top models. Comb's runway debut was the highlight of the February 2000 shows: Male models swaggered down the runway in red fur coats, leather pants and $6 million worth of Fred Leighton diamond jewelry. Rappers Lil' Kim and Missy Elliott, singer Luther Vandross and New York Yankee Derek Jeter cheered from the audience. Puffy may well be the only fashion entrepreneur going from the courthouse to the catwalk. The rap impresario goes on trial next week in state Supreme Court on gun possession charges stemming from a 1999 arrest. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

THE FOXY FIFTIES Not since the golden days of Studio 54 have Manhattan's West 50s been so hot. Formerly a nightlife desert, the area now has trendy restaurants, bars and, at the epicenter of it all, the star-studded Hudson Hotel. But the Hudson will soon have a neighborhood rival. In March, the owners of SoHo's Mercer Hotel are opening the ultra-hip Chambers Hotel on W. 56th St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves. The swanky Chambers

By MARISA GUTHRIE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Monday, November 29th 2004, 1:51AM It's that time of year - lots of shopping, cooking and wrapping to keep us busy. And it's a busy season on television as well. But none of it requires spending wads of money, lifting a finger (just a thumb on the remote) or leaving the cozy confines of the couch. Here are some of the highlights of the holiday programming onslaught: Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson further cement their reign as the Sonny and Cher for the new millennium with a holiday variety hour. "Nick & Jessica's Family Christmas," Wednesday at 9 p.m. on ABC, has Nick's old band, 98 Degrees, reuniting for a rendition of "I'll Be Home for Christmas." But that's not all. Jessica is joined by little sister Ashlee for their first-ever TV duet. It's hard to believe, but Rupolph, Hermey the Elf and those lovable Misfit Toys turn 40 this year. CBS screens the long-running holiday classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," featuring Burl Ives and a score by Johnny Marks, Wednesday at 8 p.m. The Eds learn the true meaning of Christmas in "Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy's Jingle, Jingle, Jangle," Friday at 8 p.m. on the Cartoon Network. When Eddy finds his presents in the attic and they all stink, he decides the only way to save his Christmas is to get adopted into another family with better presents. But Ed and Edd help Eddy realize that there's more to the holiday than just loot under a tree. Joe Mantegna and Jean Smart play a married couple who are skating on the brink of divorce in the CBS movie "A Very Married Christmas," Sunday at 9 p.m., based on Elizabeth Berg's best seller "Say When." Mantegna plays the oblivious husband who is shocked when his wife (Smart) suddenly announces she wants to split up. Charles Durning co-stars. NBC's "Fear Factor" has a special holiday episode, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m., in which contestants step into Santa's boots and try to deliver presents despite the presence of vicious guard dogs. "Groundhog Day" meets "A Christmas Carol" in USA's "12 Days of Christmas Eve," Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. Steven Weber plays a high-powered, self-centered corporate raider and 21st-century Scrooge who is forced to relive Christmas Eve until he learns the true meaning of the holiday. Molly Shannon co-stars. The Fab 5 morph into Santa's little helpers for "A Very Queer Eye Christmas," Dec. 7 at 10 p.m. on Bravo, taking on one family's bad decorations, holiday clichés and gifting needs. "A Clay Aiken Christmas," Dec. 8 at 8 p.m. on NBC, includes the "American Idol" runnerup performing favorite holiday songs with Barry Manilow and gospel singer Yolanda Adams. "Will & Grace's" Megan Mullally also stops by for a solo. The weather outside is rarely frightful in "The O.C.," but things inside the annual Winter Ball could be when Marissa (Mischa Barton) uses the event to publicly acknowledge her relationship with handyman D.J. (Nicholas Gonzalez), Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. on Fox. Ben Stiller, Hugh Grant, Britney Spears, Jim Belushi, Brad Garrett, Leah Remini, Jerry Stiller and James Woods bring to life the animated tale of "Robbie the Reindeer: Hooves of Fire," Dec. 11 at 8 p.m. on CBS. Robbie (voiced by Ben Stiller) must train to compete in the Reindeer races against black sheep reindeer Blitzen (Grant) for a spot on Santa's sleigh team. George Lopez brings his comedy to the ABC movie "Naughty or Nice," Dec.11 at 8 p.m. Lopez plays a sports radio jock who changes his stripes at the earnest entreaty of a young boy with a life-threatening illness. Once Lopez starts being nice, funny things start to happen, the boys health improves and so do the home teams' scores. The wacky Wiggles - the sensations of the preschool set - gear up for the holidays with a little help from rocker John Fogerty, "Brady Bunch" alum Barry Williams and a big guy in a red suit. "Santa's Rockin'," Dec. 6 at 10 a.m. on the Disney Channel, features 12 classic and new Christmas songs, including "Silent Night" performed in Spanish and English. Pop-culture magazine Entertainment Weekly recaps the year's trends in "The Biggest Little Things of 2004," Dec. 16 at 9p.m. on Bravo. The special examines the "iPod craze," post-Janet Jackson "censorship mania" and the "Perversion of the Family" epitomized by shows like "Desperate Housewives," "Wife Swap" and "Family Bonds." "Karroll's Christmas," Dec. 14 at 8 p.m. on A&E, is another take on the Dickens classic. Tom Everett Scott stars as a young greeting-card executive visited by the ghost of a Marley (more Bob than Jacob), as well as the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Verne (Mini-Me) Troyer plays the Ghost of Christmas Future and Sha Na Na is featured on the soundtrack. Dr. Phil and his wife are back for TNT's annual "Christmas in Washington" concert with such acts as JoJo, Michael McDonald, LeAnn Rimes, Ruben Studdard and Vanessa Williams, Dec. 15 at 8 p.m. CBS' "Home for the Holidays 2004," Dec. 22 at 8 p.m., attempts to raise awareness of adoption via inspirational stories. Jamie Foxx, who was adopted, hosts the special, which includes performances by Black Eyed Peas and Ashlee Simpson. "A Christmas Story," Jean Shepherd's classic tale about a boy who wants a BB gun from Santa, gets a 24-hour run on TBS starting at 8 p.m. on Dec. 24. Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa head to sunny Florida to host ABC's coverage of "The Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade," Dec. 25 at 11 a.m.

TV IS BLITZEN US WITH SPECIAL Rudy, Scrooge & jolly young Nick HOLIDAY VIEWING GUIDE LONG REIGN: "Rudolph"marks its 40th year on CBS. SNOW BIZ: "Robbie the Reindeer"is all revved up and ready to go. JOLLY ROCKERS: The Wiggles & St. Nick YULETIDE CLASSIC: Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story"HE'LL SLEIGH YA! Comic George Lopez in the ABC movie "Naughty o SNOW BIZ: "Robbie the Reindeer"is all revved up and ready to go. 'FAMILY'

By DAVID HINCKLEY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Thursday, May 4th 2000, 2:12AM Trying to get the staff at WBAI to agree on a single course of action would be like getting France to agree on one kind of cheese. But Bernard White, WBAI's new program director, says that despite recent tensions at 'BAI and parent Pacifica over staff and programming, a higher goal can't and won't be forgotten. "WBAI," says White, "is one of the few voices trying to bring reason to the madness." There are those, of course, who think WBAI is part of the madness - a nest of radicals. Those critics should listen to White, a 20-year WBAI veteran who is soft-spoken, polite, listens to dissent and has a sharp sense of humor. Goodbye, stereotype. But White also has strong views on subjects like police brutality and corporate greed, and he says WBAI will continue to provide platforms for demonstrations, community groups, radical thinkers, prisoners, anti-corporate activists and alternative practitioners from nutrition to politics. In fact, he'd like to do more of that - as hard news, in the style of Amy Goodman's daily "Democracy Now." He'd like to get better technology and take away other distractions so the staff can "do the work it's capable of doing." Which, he adds, sometimes "just means relaxing and having fun." As for the internal tensions, White says he can help heal them. "I don't subscribe to everything Pacifica has done," he says. "We're a different dynamic from [San Francisco's] KPFA. We didn't have to go to the street. Though we're in solidarity on many issues, WBAI won't go the way of most of the rest of Pacifica.  We will never become a music station." Tensions will fade, he hopes, "once the name-calling ends  and we all sit down together. "When [the late] Samori [Marksman] took this position, he had ideas we galvanized around. I worked closely with Samori on many of those ideas, and I think the majority of people support me. I also think the station has far more listeners and influence than Arbitron thinks. " AROUND THE DIAL: Paul McCartney narrates as Sir John Taverner conducts a concert live from the Church of St. Ignatius tonight at 8 on WNYC (93.9 FM).  Isaac Hayes of WRKS opens the youth wing of the Brooklyn Library today, 3 p.m., at Grand Army Plaza.

Trying to get the staff at WBAI to agree on a single course of action would be like getting France to agree on one kind of cheese. But Bernard White, WBAI's new program director, says that despite recent tensions at 'BAI and parent Pacifica over staff and programming, a higher goal can't and won't be forgotten. "WBAI,"says White, "is one of the few voices trying to bring

COMPILED BY BREANNE L. HELDMAN & BRITTANY SCHAEFFER Friday, July 15th 2005, 1:33AM CELEBRATE NEW ORLEANS. Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 72nd St. and Fifth Ave. (212-360-2777). With Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, Donald Harrison & New Mardi Gras Sound, Rebirth Brass Band, Lady Buckjumpers Social Aid & Pleasure Club. Tomorrow at 3; free. DON RICKLES. North Fork Theatre at Westbury, 960 Brush Hollow Road, Westbury, L.I. (631-888-9000). Tomorrow at 8; $51.50. GIANT STEP 15TH ANNIVERSARY. Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 72nd St. and Fifth Ave. (212-360-2777). With Femi Kuti, Brazilian Girls, Nickodemus. Sun. at 3; free. THE HIDDEN CAMERAS. Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St. (212-533-2111). With Dressy Bessy, Pony Da Look. Tonight at 8:30; $17. JUDY COLLINS. North Fork Theatre at Westbury. 960 Brush Hollow Road, Westbury, L.I. (631-888-9000). With Peter Yarrow, Bethany Yarrow. Tonight at 8; $46.50. O.A.R. Jones Beach Theater, Jones Beach (516-221-1000). Tonight at 7; $20-$30. OZOMATLI. Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place (212-777-6800). Tonight at 8; $20. R & B ISLAND JAM. Beacon Theater, 2124 Broadway (212-307-7171). Maze, Frankie Beverly, Elvis White. Tonight at 8; $78.50. SHELBY LYNNE. Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 72nd St. and Fifth (212-360-2777). With Alana Davis, Brett Dennen. Tonight at 7; $10. B.B. KING BLUES CLUB. 237 W. 42nd St. (212-997-4144). Tonight at 8 and 10:30, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy; $25. Tomorrow at 8, Somi, Jeremiah, $15; at midnight, Faith Evans, $35. Sun. at 8, Powerman 5000; $20. CBGB. 315 Bowery (212-982-4052). Tonight at 8, Darkdaze, Desolate, Inept, Fight of Your Life, Dragpipe, Another Day Wasted, High Speed Chase; $10. Tomorrow at 9, Neurobox, One Solid State, Glass Society, Ninth House; $10. Sun. at 6, Rabia, Cranked Up, Two Man Advantage, Retching Red; $10. HOUSING WORKS USED BOOK CAFE. 126 Crosby St. (212-334-3324). Tonight at 7:30, Nada Surf, Tara Angell, Last Town Chorus; $25. JOE'S PUB. 425 Lafayette St. (212-539-8770). Tonight at 7, JC Hopkins Biggish Band, Queen Esther, $10; at 9:30, King Wilkie, $15. Tomorrow at 7:30, Morley, $15; at 9:30, Stew, $20. Sun. at 7 and 9, Nicolai Dunger; $12. LIVING ROOM. 154 Ludlow St. (212-533-3376). Tonight at 7, Juliet Lloyd, Kristin Hoffmann, Carol Lipnick, Spooky Ghost. Tomorrow at 6, Charles Zerner, David Copenhafor, Milton, Emile Westergaard. KNITTING FACTORY. 74 Leonard St. (212-219-3006). Tonight at 6, Wakefield, Spill Canvas, Umbrellas; $10; at 10:30, Hot Fire, Jah Division, Roxy Pain, Kill Rock Stars Starter Set All-Star Dancers Hooray!; $5. Tomorrow at 8 and 11, Cyro Baptista & Beat the Donkey, Maracatu New York, DJ True; $12. Sun. at 6, The Buzz Showcase; $20. MERCURY LOUNGE. 217 E. Houston St. (212-260-4700). Tonight at 8:30, Robbers on High Street, King of France, Innaway, Speedway; $12. Tomorrow at 9:30, Ta Det Lugnt, Endless Boogie, Tarantula A.D.; $12. Sun. at 7:30, Victoria Lucas, Northern Arms, Washington Social Club; $8. NORTHSIX. 66 N. Sixth St., Brooklyn (718-599-5103). Tonight at 8, Reverend Bizarre, November's Doom, Gates of Slumber, Rigor Sardonicous, Well of Souls, Agnosis; $15. Tomorrow at 8, Mr. Brownstone, Waltham, Hair Supply, Alabama Black Snake; $10. Sun. at 8, Slough Feg, Bible of the Devil; $8. RODEO BAR. 375 Third Ave. (212-683-6500). Tonight at 10, Jack Grace. Tomorrow at 10, Simon & the Bar Sinisters. Sun. at 10, Flying Neutrinos. SOB'S. 204 Varick St. (212-243-4940). Tonight at 8 and 10, Jose Conde, $15; at midnight and 2 a.m., Tantan (Lakol), Black Parents, $15. Sun. at 7 and 9:30, Feijoada Pot; $5-$12. SOUTHPAW. 125 Fifth Ave., Brooklyn (718-230-0236). Tonight at 8, Buddy Miller, Katy Mae, Clare Burson; $20. Tomorrow at 8, Loki da Trixta, DJ LoPro; $5. WEBSTER HALL. 125 E. 11th St. (212-353-1600). Sun. at 8, Cafe Tacuba; $40. AVALON. 47 W. 20th St. (212-807- 7780). Tonight, Edgar V. Tomorrow, Astral Projection. BEMBE. 81 S. Sixth St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-387-5389). Tonight, Funmi, Dave Medina, Sabo. Tomorrow, Nova, Moke, CIELO. 18 Little West 12th St. (212-645-5700). Tonight-tomorrow, Nicolas Matar. Sun., Nick Warren Shanghai. CROBAR. 530 W. 28th St. (212-629-9000). Tonight, Hernan Cattaneo, Jason Jollins, Virtue, Chip Chop, Neon Music. Tomorrow, Sharam, Dean Coleman, Johnny Dynell, Degree. GYPSY TEA. 33 W. 24th St. (212-645-0003). Tomorrow, Shimon, Stretch Armstrong. LOTUS. 409 W. 14th St. (212-243-4420). Tonight, Walter Taieb, Jason Angola, Michael T. Tomorrow, Jared, Naomi. Sun., Frank R, SPIRIT. 530 W. 27th St. (212-268-9477). Tonight, WEBSTER HALL. 125 E. 11th St. (212) 353-1600. Tonight- tomorrow, Moody, Avery, Chikkitin, Sean Sharp, Chase. BIRDLAND. 315 W. 44th St. (212-581-3080). Paquito D'Rivera New Quintet, tonight-tomorrow. Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Big Band, Sun. BLUE NOTE. 131 W. Third St. (212-475-8592). Maynard Ferguson, tonight-Sun. CORNELIA STREET CAFE. 29 Cornelia St. (212-989-9319). Jeremy Steig Duo, tonight. Century Schizoid Music Festival, tomorrow and Sun. DETOUR. 349 E. 14th St. (212-533-6212). Kriste Peoples tonight. Riot with Adrian Hibbs, tomorrow. DIZZY'S COCA-COLA CLUB. Time Warner Center/Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th St. & Broadway (212-721-6500). Hilton Ruiz, tonight-Sun. IRIDIUM. 1650 Broadway (212-582-2121). Eddie Gomez, tonight-Sun. JAZZ STANDARD. 116 E. 27th St. (212-576-2232). Rebecca Paris, tonight-Sun. KITANO. 66 Park Ave. (212-885-7125). Junior Mance Trio, tonight-tomorrow. VILLAGE VANGUARD. 178 Seventh Ave. South (212-255-4037). Buster Williams Quartet, tonight-Sun. Ferry Landing, Brooklyn (718-624-2083). Tonight at 7:30, Mark Peskanov, Raman Ramakrishnan and Steven Beck play Beethoven and Schubert. Tomorrow at 7:30 and Sun. at 4, Aaron Boyd, Omar Guey, Yuri Namkung and Mark Peskanov play violin concertos by Vivaldi and Bach, with orchestra; $25-$40. METROPOLITAN OPERA. Lincoln Center, 63rd St. & Columbus (212-362-6000). Tonight-tomorrow at 8 and tomorrow at 2, American Ballet Theatre performs "Giselle"; $22-$160. N.Y. STATE THEATER. Lincoln Center, 63rd St. & Columbus (212-870-5570). Tonight-tomorrow at 8, Lincoln Center Fest: "I La Galigo"; $25-$150. HISTORY. 15 W. 16th St. (212-294-6160). "Greetings From Home" displays artifacts and artwork detailing 350 years of Jewish life in the U.S. THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM. 1071 Fifth Ave. (212-423-3500). The "Art of Tomorrow" features paintings and collage by "nonobjectivist" German artist Hilla Rebay and her contemporaries, who shunned artistic renderings of material objects. JEWISH MUSEUM. 1109 Fifth Ave. (212-423-3200). "Wild Things: The Art of Maurice Sendak" displays drawings, paintings and costumes by famed illustrator. THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. Fifth Ave. at 82nd St. (212-879-5500). The Costume Institute's "Chanel" explores the history of the world's most famous fashion house, displaying iconic designs by Coco Chanel (those tweed jackets!), and modern pieces by latter-day designer Karl Lagerfeld. "Max Ernst: A Retrospective" features 200 works by the seminal surrealist artist, and is the first New York restrospective in 30 years. THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART. 11 W. 53rd St. (212-708-9400). "Pioneering Modern Painting: Cezanne and Pissarro 1865-1885" features paintings and drawings done by the two iconic artists as they worked side by side in France's Oise River Valley. "Friedlander" features pictures of American cities and people by the famed postwar photographer. THE MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 1220 Fifth Ave. (212-534-1672). "Glamour, New York Style" displays over 125 haute couture gowns worn by New York's glitterati. NATIONAL ACADEMY. 1083 Fifth Ave. (212-369-4880). "Disengo" features the studies artists create before beginning a masterpiece. The show includes studies in sculpture, painting and drawing by modern artists. THE WHITNEY MUSEUM. 945 Madison Ave. (212-570-3676). "Overhead/Underfoot: The Topographical Perspective in Photography" explores how photographers incorporated aerial views into their artwork in the 20th century. The display features works by Harold Edgerton, Dennis Oppenheim, Cy Twombly and Margaret Bourke-White. 11TH ANNUAL RAKHAING THINGYAN BURMESE WATER FESTIVAL. Courtyard area at 220 Henry St., between Madison and Montgomery Sts. At the Junior High School in Chinatown, enjoy Burmese ceremonies, cuisines, performances and children's games. Sun., 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; free. 20TH ANNUAL IMMIGRANTS PRIDE PARADE. Sixth Ave., from 35th to 56th Sts. AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL. Asia Society, 725 Park Ave. (212-517-ASIA). Asia Society and Asian CineVision present more than 100 films from the Far East, as well as the U.S., from romantic comedies to thrillers. It kicks off tonight at 6:30 with a gala tribute to award-winning actress Maggie Cheung and a screening of her latest film, Olivier Assayas' "Clean." The fest plays thru July 31. www.aaiff.org. BROOKLYN HEIGHTS FESTIVAL. Court St. from Atlantic to Montague St., Brooklyn. Tomorrow. MADISON AVE. SUMMER FAIR. Madison Ave. from 42nd to 57th Sts. Sun. OUTSIDE ART FESTIVAL. Lafayette Ave. and Fulton St., Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Academy of Music Local Development Corp. and Chashama host this event, focusing on women's experience through works by male and female choreographers and spoken word artist Lenelle N. Moise. Tonight-Sun. at 7 p.m.; free. www.chashama.org. PARK AVE. SUMMERFEST. Park Ave. South from 17th to 23rd Sts. Vendors offer food, arts and crafts. Tomorrow, ROOFTOP FILMS. Governor's Island. Rooftop Films presents an outdoor festival of shorts about everything from pirates to traveling the open seas to outer space. The piano-pop group The Lost Tricks will perform tomorrow at 8, before the movies are shown at 8; free. www.rooftopfilms.com. SIREN MUSIC FESTIVAL. W. 10th St. and Stillwell Ave., Coney Island. This fifth annual indie rock fest features Spoon, The Dears, Mates of State, Brendan Benson, Dungen, VHS or Beta, Q And Not U, Saul Williams, Ambulance Ltd, Diamond Nights, Morningwood, Be Your Own Pet, Nine Black Alps and Detachment Kit. Tomorrow, noon-9; free. www.village voice.com/siren. CIRQUE DE SOLEIL. Meadowlands Sport Complex, 50 State Route 120, East Rutherford, N.J. (201-935- 8500). Varekai, Cirque de Soleil's newest extravaganza, features daring acrobats, colorful gymnasts and breathtaking stunts. Thru July 24; $40-$86. FIREWORKS AND CABARET. Astroland, 1000 Surf Ave., on the boardwalk between W. 10th and W. 12th Sts., Brooklyn (718-265-2100). The Fourth may be over, but you can still catch fireworks, along with cabaret. Tonight, Miss Saturn sings as she hula-hoops. Bring your own hoop and join in the "Hoopapalooza." Every Friday at 8; free. Theatre, 158 Bleecker St. (212-307-4100). The Hollow Men, an award-winning sketch comedy troupe from Britain, wraps up their run. Tonight at 8, tomorrow at 8 and 10:30 p.m.; $27.50. PRIDE. Dixon Place, 258 Bowery (212-219-0736). Broadway actor Perry Ojeda ("On the Town") plays a cavalcade of 13 characters in his one-man tour de force about being gay in America. Tonight and tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.; $15. www.dixonplace.org.

CONCERTS CELEBRATE NEW ORLEANS. Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 72nd St. and Fifth Ave. (212-360-2777). With Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, Donald Harrison & New Mardi Gras Sound, Rebirth Brass Band, Lady Buckjumpers Social Aid & Pleasure Club. Tomorrow at 3; free. DON RICKLES. North Fork Theatre at Westbury, 960 Brush Hollow Road, Westbury, L.I. (631-888-9000). Tomorrow at 8; $51.50. GIANT STEP 15TH ANNIVERSARY. Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 72nd St. and Fifth Ave. (212-360-2777). With Femi Kuti, Brazilian

Wednesday, September 11th 1996, 2:01AM DON IMUS of WFAN (660 AM) yesterday strongly defended his decision to have ex-News reporter Mike McGovern cover a murder trial at which Imus' wife, Deirdre Coleman, is an alternate juror. In the process, he showed why he has a nationally syndicated radio show and people like you and me don't. The reason he hired McGovern to give daily updates on the Imus show, he said yesterday, is that tracking the case would be "educational," which is apparently some kind of newfangled word for "good radio material." But then during a break Monday, Coleman told Judge Harold Rothwax that with Imus covering the trial and all, she felt uncomfortable and wasn't sure she could remain impartial. That is, maybe she should be dismissed. Rothwax replied, basically, that since her discomfort was caused by a decision made within the Imus family, perhaps she should exhaust all possible remedies within that family before seeking judicial relief. That is, maybe Imus should dismiss McGovern. On the air yesterday, Imus said Rothwax had missed the point. He also called the judge a "hard-ass." So even if McGovern files a world-class expense account, Imus has gotten his money's worth from the case. In fact, he had gotten his money's worth even before he ran the case past one of his regular guests, Father Tom Hartman who said the judge had raised an excellent question. Imus called Hartman a "weasel." "That's Monsignor Weasel to you," replied Hartman. Oops. I mean, very educational. AROUND THE DIAL: Hal Jackson of WBLS (107.5 FM) will coach and Larry Hardesty of WBLS/WLIB is one of the referees at tonight's New York All-Star Basketball Classic, 7:30 at the Garden. . . . WFDU (89.1 FM), which carries 43 hours of country and bluegrass a week, primarily in the morning, did a nice tribute to the late Bill Monroe yesterday as did WFUV. . . . WQXR (96.9 FM) airs the Met Opera production of Verdi's "La Forza Del Destino" tonight, 8-11:15. . . . Arbitrend ratings came out yesterday they're interim reports between the quarterly Arbitron "books." WKTU (103.5 FM) remains No. 1 overall and with listeners ages 18-to-34 and 25-54. . . . WVNJ (1160 AM) tosses a party to honor Glenn Miller tomorrow. Bill Owen hosts, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., outside of Town Hall in Tenafly, N.J., and plays Miller music noon-2 p.m. . . . Jeff Katz, a morning talk host at KSTE in Sacramento, Calif., was fired after suggesting on the air that any driver who hit an illegal immigrant should be awarded a sombrero bumper sticker for his or her car. Ten stickers would qualify the driver for a free meal at Taco Bell. Among the complainants was the National Hispanic Media Coalition.

DON IMUS of WFAN (660 AM) yesterday strongly defended his decision to have ex-News reporter Mike McGovern cover a murder trial at which Imus' wife, Deirdre Coleman, is an alternate juror. In the process, he showed why he has a nationally syndicated radio show and people like you and me don't. The reason he hired McGovern to give daily updates on the Imus show, he said yesterday, is that tracking the case would

By ALICE McQUILLAN DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Monday, June 23th 2003, 7:04AM Rapper Lil' Kim, who thinks big when it comes to jewelry, said someone swiped $250,000 worth of her baubles at Kennedy Airport this weekend. Two of her signature pieces - a white-and-yellow diamond-encrusted gold necklace with a crowned "B" and platinum dog tags filled with yellow diamonds - were snatched from her luggage Friday, the Daily News has learned. "She was extremely upset, but she should be commended for acting responsibly and being patient," said her high-powered lawyer Mel Sachs. The 4-foot-11 rapper, famous for her skimpy, eye-popping outfits, was headed to Los Angeles for tomorrow's Black Entertainment Television awards. Nominated as best female hip hop artist, she was set to perform - and wear the jewelry. Lil' Kim, 27, is rarely seen without her "B" necklace - a symbol of her Queen Bee Records label. Catching an 8:45 a.m. United flight to L.A., the Brooklyn-born rapper planned to carry on a Louis Vuitton bag filled with an estimated $500,000 worth of jewelry, including the two custom-made necklaces. However, there was a mixup at the check-in counter and the carry-on bag was checked in with eight other pieces of luggage belonging to the rapper and her entourage, Sachs said. While in her first-class seat waiting to take off, Lil' Kim realized the error. The flight was delayed while the Vuitton bag with the jewelry was retrieved from the baggage hold. Although it still contained her earrings, rings and other jewelry, the two oversize necklaces were missing, said Sachs. The bag looked "tampered with" - both an outside flap and a jewelry holder inside had been opened, he said. United had advance notice that Lil' Kim was taking that flight, Sachs said, suggesting her fame and penchant for gems made her a target. "Lil' Kim is known for her exceptional and distinctive custom-made jewelry and had two irreplaceable pieces of her collection stolen," he said. "Celebrities like Lil' Kim are vulnerable to being targeted and being victims of this kind of theft." Her latest CD, "La Bella Mafia," reminds fans of her taste for bling-bling, the rap word for big jewelry that's soon to be in the Oxford English Dictionary. "Don't be mad," she raps, "I can't put this money in a casket. . . . I can't take these diamonds with me when I die." Lil' Kim, whose given name is Kimberly Jones, didn't take the 8:45 a.m. flight, which was thoroughly searched when it landed in Los Angeles. Her Vuitton bag was tested for fingerprints, and baggage handlers and other airport employees were due to take polygraphs, Sachs said. Alan Hicks, a spokesman for the Port Authority, said only, "Kimberly Jones filed a report for lost jewelry, and the incident is under investigation by the Port Authority police." She said she was sure she packed the missing items but her Englewood, N.J., mansion was checked anyway, Sachs said. This is not the first time a celebrity has reported losing pricey baubles at JFK. A Kennedy baggage handler pleaded guilty to stealing Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson's $375,000 diamond necklace and bracelet in 1995. He swiped the valuables while loading luggage aboard a British Airways jet two days after Fergie wore the gems to a White House reception.

Her bling-bling is missing. Rapper Lil' Kim, who thinks big when it comes to jewelry, said someone swiped $250,000 worth of her baubles at Kennedy Airport this weekend. Two of her signature pieces - a white-and-yellow diamond-encrusted gold necklace with a crowned "B"and platinum dog tags filled with yellow diamonds - were snatched from her luggage Friday, the Daily News has learned. "She was extremely

9/23/2007 7:00 AM PDT by TMZ Staff Even six feet under, Rodney Dangerfield still don't get no respect.So says his wife Joan, who filed suit Thursday to halt the airing of video of the comic taken during his last years, which she says is "highly private, extremely sensitive, and very personal" and wasn't meant for public consumption. Joan is suing former Dangerfield pal David Permut, who she says took more than 200 hours of footage at his home while Rodney was in ill health. The bug-eyed comedian died in 2004 at 82.According to the suit, Permut plans to use some of the footage in a documentary to air at Sundance next year. His production company didn't return calls for comment.

Even six feet under, Rodney Dangerfield still don't get no respect. So says his wife Joan, who filed suit Thursday to halt the airing of video of the…

DEBORAH BLUMENTHAL is a writer who lives in New York. BY DEBORAH BLUMENTHAL S o what if the forest green Charles Jourdan leather pumps were a size 9 narrow instead of a 9 medium? They were $29.96, weren't they? You couldn't touch a similar pair on Fifth Avenue for under $100. Pawing through tables of shoes and racks of designer clothes sandwiched together in the basement of Filene's department store in Boston, the devout bargain hunter easily falls prey to such logic and the lure of the ''find,'' be it practical, impractical, a perfect fit or a tight squeeze. Since 1908, Filene's Basement, at the corner of Summer and Washington Streets in downtown Boston, has been a celebrated discount outlet. Today it is ranked as a major Boston tourist attraction, an obligatory stop on the circuit including nearby Faneuil Hall and the Quincy Market redevelopment. The wide assortment of merchandise takes in men's, women's and children's clothing, luggage, giftware, hardware, toiletries, toys, books and records. At 9:30 A.M. when the doors are unbolted, the throngs include Bostonians in every budget range, tourists and overseas shoppers, some of whom get word of major sales that the store announces in Boston papers 24 hours in advance. On an average day, tens of thousands of shoppers descend into the two-level basement devoid of dressing rooms, carpeting, flattering lights and seductive music. During special sales, the number rises to well over 100,000. There are no statistics to prove it, but store executives sometimes say that Filene's Basement sells more items per square foot than any other store in the world. The Basement shares the same building as the upstairs store, but is run as a completely separate operation. In fact, the Boston Basement has proved such a hit that five other Filene's outlets called Filene's Basement have opened since 1978, four in Massachusetts - Saugus, Framingham, Worcester and Burlington - and the fifth in Manchester, N.H. And more are planned, including three on Long Island and one in Queens. In addition to the Boston store, there are 11 other upstairs Filene's stores. The Boston Basement is unique, however, among the Filene's stores in having an automatic markdown plan. According to the system, every article is marked with a tag showing the price and the date the article was first put on sale. Twelve days later, if it has not been sold, it is reduced by 25 percent. Six selling days later, it is cut by 50 percent and after an additional six days, it is offered at 75 percent off the original price. After six more days - or a total of 30 -if it is not sold, it is given to charity. Shopping under this system can become something of a gamble. Browsing through the fur department, I came upon a shearling coat (which fit perfectly) priced at $399 and selling in Bergdorf Goodman for $900. Three shopping days later it was slated to be reduced 25 percent to make the price a considerably more affordable $300. Still, I had no guarantee it would be there on Monday even if I did stay in Boston. Unwilling to take the chance of losing it, I bought it for $399. Along with the moderate initial prices and the promise of further markdowns, the biggest reason for Filene's Basement's success is said to be the wide variety of quality merchandise - much of it with designer labels still intact. In addition to buying surplus stock from stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman-Marcus and I. Magnin, Filene's Basement pays cash for irregular merchandise, going-out-ofbusiness stock and distress merchandise from fires and floods. O n an average day, bargain hunting covers diverse ground with odd items and one-of-a-kinds making up most of the treasure trove. In the men's suit department, for example, a visitor recently came upon a navy blue wool suit by Ralph Lauren with a Saks Fifth Avenue label and priced at $250. At Saks it would sell for about $500. Nearby was a beige wool Yves Saint Laurent suit with a Saks label, for $125; at Saks the suit would sell for $250. Not all the merchandise is designer league, however. Rubbing shoulders with the quality gabardines and soft flannels were a group of boxy corduroy sport jackets, made in Poland, and priced at $55. Nearby, piled on an unadorned wooden counter and heralded by a hand-scrawled diamond-shaped sign of orange construction paper, were Geoffrey Beene silk paisley ties for $4.99 - originally marked $10.50 - and a rack of Christian Dior leather belts for $8. On one of the women's accessories counters, silk neckerchiefs by Ralph Lauren and Christian Dior were $5 and a glass-enclosed display case jammed with handbags included a Diane Von Furstenberg signature fabric briefcase for $29.95 and a brown signature fabric shoulder bag with leather trim by Lanvin for $59.95. Bargain prices, however, did not always stand for bargains. In the toiletries section, cranberry-colored compacts of a pale shade of powder blush by Calvin Klein, which usually sell for $10, were marked $2.99. Most, however, looked smudged, nicked and unsanitary, as though curious shoppers had finger-painted with them. Other items such as golden yellow ''shadowcake'' by Alexandra de Markoff lay open with missing applicator brushes. Most of the women's apparel was in excellent condition but I came upon a few articles of clothing, such as a pair of white flannel Charles Jourdan slacks ($12) with dirt-rimmed hems, which looked as though they would tenaciously remain gray despite the most vigorous dry cleaning. Although Filene's upstairs store does not sell furs, the Basement has its own small fur department. In keeping with the rest of the Basement, the atmosphere is no-frills. Under the ghoulish glare of neon lights, however, there are some impressive quality furs at discount prices. A glistening Ben Kahn natural ranch mink coat, ticketed at $9,500, for example, had a Filene's price of $5,500. A Norwegian natural blue fox jacket with mandarin collar was $1,595 and an Australian dyed opposum-lined raincoat was $399.

DEBORAH BLUMENTHAL is a writer who lives in New York. BY DEBORAH BLUMENTHAL S o what if the forest green Charles Jourdan leather pumps were a size 9 narrow instead of a 9 medium? They were $29.96, weren't they? You couldn't touch a similar pair on Fifth Avenue for under $100. Pawing through tables of shoes and racks of designer clothes sandwiched together in the basement of Filene's department store in Boston, the devout bargain hunter easily falls prey to such logic and the lure of the ''find,'' be it practical, impractical, a perfect fit or a tight squeeze. Since 1908, Filene's Basement, at the corner of Summer and Washington Streets in downtown Boston, has been a celebrated discount outlet. Today it is ranked as a major Boston tourist attraction, an obligatory stop on the circuit including nearby Faneuil Hall and the Quincy Market redevelopment.

Bank of America Corp., the nation's largest bank, unveiled plans yesterday to cut 30,000 jobs worldwide in the next few years, as part of an aggressive effort to streamline its far-flung operations and cope with billions of dollars in losses from toxic mortgages and the continuing weak economy. The cuts will probably affect the company's operations in Massachusetts, analysts say, but bank officials said it was too early to say how many reductions will occur here. Massachusetts is one of the bank’s largest employment centers with 7,000 employees, in addition to its 270 retail branches. Overall, the job reductions will hit more than 10 percent of its workforce, now at 287,000 worldwide. "The whole goal here was to make our company more streamlined, more efficient," Bank of America chief executive Brian Moynihan, who lives in Wellesley, said in announcing the restructuring at the Barclays Capital Global Financial Services Conference in New York. The job cuts are part of an ongoing companywide restructuring effort. The first phase, which includes the company’s consumer business and its support operations, is expected to reduce expenses by $5 billion annually by 2013. For instance, the bank said it plans to combine some of its 63 data centers and merge three deposit systems into one. The bank also plans to examine other divisions in a second round of restructuring, such as wealth management and investment banking, which could lead to additional job cuts. That review is slated to begin next month and be completed in March. Bank officials said it was too early to say how many additional jobs may be cut in the second phrase, but suggested it would likely be smaller than those disclosed yesterday. "It's probably not going to be as fruitful on dollars per square inch, but it will be fruitful," Moynihan said. The cuts are just the latest effort by the bank to save money in the wake of the global economic downturn and collapse of the US housing market. In late 2008, Bank of America revealed plans to cut 30,000 to 35,000 jobs as part of its integration of Merrill Lynch & Co. in January 2009. And earlier this year, the company disclosed plans to cut 3,500 jobs and shed roughly 10 percent of its branches. The company's headquarters are in Charlotte, N.C. Massachusetts has already felt the impact of those moves. Even while the company was growing overall, with the acquisitions of Merrill Lynch and Countrywide Financial Corp., the bank has 2,000 fewer workers in the state than it did in 2007. As recently as July, Bank of America said it planned to let go 150 employees at a back-office operation in Malden by next spring. Other financial companies are cutting their operations as well because of the sluggish economy, weak housing market, and unusually low interest rates, which reduce the amounts banks can earn on deposits. Bank of New York Mellon Corp., which has large operations in Massachusetts, announced plans to cut 1,500 jobs, or 3 percent of its workforce. And Boston-based State Street Corp. said it planned to cut 850 jobs, including 558 in Massachusetts, on top of thousands of jobs cut previously. And Wells Fargo & Co. recently pledged to cut expenses by up to $6 billion. "I think the cuts are necessary given the growing pressures on profitability because of the slowing economy and the prolonged low-interest environment," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Joe Morford. "The challenging environment is affecting all banks and Bank of America is not alone," Morford said. But banking analyst Richard Bove said Moynihan has been forced to cut deeper than many other banks because the company had grown so large through acquisitions, and because the magnitude of the mortgage-related losses it is facing from Countrywide in 2008, which Bove called one of the worst acquisitions on record. In the second quarter alone, Bank of America reported a net loss of $8.8 billion, mostly related to an $8.5 billion settlement with investors who pressured the bank to buy back toxic mortgages handled by Countrywide. And it faces billions of dollars in additional legal claims. Moynihan has "got to focus on those parts of the business that work by getting rid of the parts of the business that don't, so he can pay for all the lawsuits related to Countrywide," said Bove, who works for Rochdale Securities LLC. In addition, the bank has been trying to integrate operations after years of bulking up through acquisitions, including FleetBoston in 2004, and Merrill Lynch two years ago. Moynihan noted the company made six acquisitions from 2003 to 2008, leaving the bank with 63 data centers, three deposit systems, and tens of millions of square feet of office space it didn't need. "It's kind of like an accordion," Bove said. "The bank makes a number of acquisitions, then it decides it has overextended itself and needs to shrink and focus on its core business." The bank said many of the job cuts will occur through attrition or by not filling vacant jobs, rather than outright layoffs. Bank of America's stock rose 7 cents to $7.05.

The nation’s largest bank has grown tremendously in recent years with major acquisitions, while also suffering through a perilous economy and steep losses from the mortgage crisis.

Wed Apr 1, 2009 3:14pm EDT So, everyone at your company now has access to the Internet and e-mail. Great! Now make sure it stays that way, by following a few simple "DOs and DON'Ts." DO provide all employees with training about the best and most efficient use of e-mail and Internet searching-you want to get the most out of your investment. DO make rules about Internet and e-mail use-prohibit or limit personal Internet use and e-mail correspondence, for example. A clear, written policy will go a long way toward preventing abuses. DO educate employees about sharing financial or credit information only at secure sites. DO make sure your employees know why they have Internet access-it should become a tool to do their jobs better, not a hindrance or a distraction. DO create good policies and procedures both for retaining important documents and for destroying outdated or sensitive data. DO designate an employee or a department to be in charge of technical problems with the Internet-your employees shouldn't waste their time trying to fix problems they aren't trained to fix. DO protect confidential and sensitive e-mail content by managing your in- and out-boxes or by installing encryption software. DON'T allow electronic mail to replace written memoranda about important issues or face-to-face meetings with your staff. DON'T spy on your employees-give them passwords and respect their privacy. But make sure they know that their computers, including the contents, belong to the company. DON'T let an e-mail virus destroy your data. Make sure there is a system for monitoring such viruses, and keep critical data backed up or duplicated. DON'T allow employees to access pornography or other offensive material at work-you are responsible if a hostile work environment results.

So, everyone at your company now has access to the Internet and e-mail. Great! Now make sure it stays that way, by following a few simple DOs and DON'Ts.THE DOsDO provide all employees with training

The St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra, which under principal guest conductor Vladimir Lande performed at Symphony Hall Wednesday, is not the august St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) Philharmonic Orchestra, which traces its history back to 1882. It’s not even the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, which was founded in 1931. Just 44 years old this year, the SPSASO has relatively little in the way of a touring and recording pedigree. Nonetheless, those who’ve heard the National Philharmonic of Russia in Symphony Hall over the past few years know that even no-name Russian orchestras can deliver the goods. And this one did its home city and country proud. Too bad only a few hundred concertgoers were there to enjoy it. The all-Slavic program opened with a novelty, Polish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s 1949 “Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes,’’ and continued with more familiar fare, Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with Chinese soloist Xiayin Wang, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. Weinberg’s “Rhapsody’’ thrust us at once into a deep forest of cellos and basses (both sections magnificent throughout the evening); then the themes emerged in the winds and brass, sounding as much Jewish (was that a khosidl?) as Moldavian. The piece exploded into bouts of frenetic string playing - no problem for these strings - and then some splashy movie music. The Prokofiev was less successful. Wang doesn’t want for technique, and there were melting moments in the nocturne-like sections of the slow movement that conjured Rachmaninoff. But she also banged a lot, and some of her passagework was blurry. She wasn’t helped by the orchestra, which was too loud (a shrill piccolo, for one) and lacked both finesse and wit - what happened to the sly gavotte that opens the slow movement? Lande’s Tchaikovsky was painted in similar strokes: bold, brash, and at times bombastic. It was also the fastest Fifth I’ve ever heard, barely 40 minutes. The finale sounded more like a confident proletariat striding forward into their shiny new future than the composer’s anguished struggle to achieve E major. But the passion of the Andante cantabile recalled Serge Koussevitzky’s legendary 1944 BSO recording, with a limpid, russet-colored opening horn aria and luscious solos from oboe and bassoon. A quick listen afterward to the orchestra’s just-released recording of this symphony (on Canada’s Marquis label) confirmed my good impression of the playing. The one encore was announced by Lande as “I think you will recognize it.’’ We certainly should have: It was Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide’’ Overture, a gay, glittering tribute to the orchestra’s American tour - and perhaps to the Huntington Theatre Company production of Bernstein’s musical satire that was playing across the street.

The St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra is just 44 years old this year, and has relatively little in the way of a touring and recording pedigree. Nonetheless, those who’ve heard the National Philharmonic of Russia in Symphony Hall over the past few years know that even no-name Russian orchestras can deliver the goods. And this one did its home city and country proud. . Too bad only a few hundred concertgoers were there to enjoy it.

Facebook might have been one of the biggest stories of 2011, but don't count on friending the First Daughters anytime soon. In their only print interview of the holiday season, President Obama and the First Lady tell PEOPLE they don't allow daughters Sasha and Malia on Facebook. Not that it's been a hard decision to enforce, says the President. Their theory is, "Why would we want to have a whole bunch of people who we don't know knowing our business? That doesn't make much sense." But when the First Lady points out that Malia is only 13 and Sasha 10 right now, the President laughs and adds, "We'll see how they feel in four years." The Obamas, who let the family dog Bo sit in on the Dec. 5 interview (only after removing his distracting jingle-bell collar), also revealed that must-see TV in the White House divides along gender lines. "For the girls and me, , that's our favorite show," the President says, adding that he's "a little darker" in his TV habits, listing as his must-sees, other than sports. "Yes," said the First Lady with a laugh, "we don't watch TV with him." And lest anyone think the private residence of the most powerful man in the world comes with all the latest gadgets and gizmos, President Obama says the technologically antiquated second-floor family quarters only recently saw a DVR installed. "We're a little bit behind," he tells us dryly.

The President and First Lady differ on their must-sees of 2011

Alexa Ray Joel and Billy Joel Billy Joel has spoken out about his daughter Alexa Ray Joel's condition following "She is going to be fine," Joel told The 23-year-old daughter of Joel and model Christie Brinkley was rushed to St. Vincent's Hospital Saturday afternoon after a female caller placed a call to 911. Following Alexa Ray's hospitalization, her rep issued a statement saying, "She is stable and her doctors are assessing her needs." According to reports, Alexa Ray swallowed an unknown quantity of pills following a breakup with her boyfriend.

The singer releases a statement about his daughter Alexa Ray's hospitalization

US companies are seeking more visas to bring highly skilled foreign workers into the country, hinting at a stronger labor market. The annual quota of 85,000 H-1B visa applications was filled in eight months this year, two months earlier than in 2010 - although not nearly as quickly as in the years before the recession, when the quota could be exhausted in as little as two days. “It indicates an improved economy, but not like boom times,’’ said Bruce Morrison, a former Democratic congressman from Connecticut who helped create the H-1B visa program. Demand for H-1B visas rises and falls with the strength of the US economy. In 2007, all were snapped up in two days. In 2009, the first year after the economic downturn, it took nine months to reach the quota; last year, it took 10 months. This year, the quota was met on Nov. 22, eight months after the application window opened. There are dozens of visa programs for admitting foreign workers, most of them designed for temporary workers. For example, there is a visa for foreign journalists, another for athletes, and yet another for entertainers. The H-1B visa is intended to help US employers temporarily hire skilled workers who may be hard to find in the domestic labor force. Citizenship and Immigration Services begins accepting H-1B visa applications every April. Employers, rather than individuals, apply for the three-year visas, which can be renewed for another three years. H-1B visas have been used them to bring in such diverse professionals as chefs and fashion models, but according to a January study from the Government Accountability Office, 50 percent of the visas go to “STEM workers’’- those with training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Many of the nation’s major technology companies hire H-1B workers directly. In addition, US subsidiaries of outsourcing firms in India seek H-1B visas so they can send their employees to American companies as contract workers. Since its launch in 1990, the H-1B program has been controversial. Businesses say the program helps supplement a labor pool that contains too few engineers and scientists, but technology workers say companies hire foreign workers to avoid paying US wages. The GAO study found that 54 percent of visa recipients between June 2009 and July 2010 were categorized as “entry-level’’ technical workers and paid considerably less than experienced Americans with similar skills. “Certainly, a lot of employers are using it for low-cost foreign workers,’’ said Ron Hira, associate professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology and a longtime H-1B critic. Hira and other critics say the H-1B system is the wrong way to bring in foreign workers. They favor using permanent US residency visas, commonly known as green cards, which would allow the holders to seek full citizenship in five years, and, they say, reduce the risk that workers will be exploited as cheap labor and then sent home. A bill seeking to expand the green card program was passed by the House of Representatives in November but hit a roadblock in the Senate. The bill, sponsored by Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah, would eliminate the per-country quota on job-related green cards. Under current law, the United States makes available 140,000 employment-related green cards per year, but no more than 7 percent of the visas can be issued to people from any given country. That means Switzerland, with 7.8 million inhabitants, gets the same number of work-related green cards as China, with 1.3 billion citizens, or India, with 1.2 billion. US companies are eager to tap the large pool of Chinese and Indian technology workers, especially those who have been trained at US colleges and universities while on student visas. Often, such workers can’t get green cards and must return home. “Today, many of the foreign students completing a STEM degree at a US graduate school return to their home countries and begin competing against American workers,’’ said a report released in October by the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. Chaffetz said that dropping the per-country cap would be a first step toward retaining more of these foreign workers. “Our immigration policy should be blind as to which countries these high-skilled immigrants come from,’’ he said. “Companies want the best people. They don’t care what country they come from.’’ Even in a Congress sharply divided over immigration issues, the Chaffetz bill passed with an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote. But it has been blocked in the Senate by Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa. “I have concerns about the impact of this bill on future immigration flows,’’ Grassley said in a statement issued by his office, “and am concerned that it does nothing to better protect Americans at home who seek high-skilled jobs during this time of record high unemployment.’’ The House bill is also taking fire from David Lee, president of the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association. Lee said that by eliminating the per-country green card cap, more visas would go to applicants from other countries and fewer to Koreans. “It’s kind of a zero-sum game,’’ Lee said. “We’ll be negatively affected by this legislation.’’ The biggest problem, Lee said, is the current total cap of 140,000 job-related green cards. He favors a big increase that would make it much easier for foreign workers to get to the United States, and the idea of providing green cards to any foreigners who earn advanced degrees in mathematics, engineering, or the sciences from US universities.

American companies are more agressively pursuing specialized visas to bring highly skilled foreign workers into this country, a possible sign of an improving labor market. The annual federal quota of 85,000 H-1B visa applications was filled by late November, two months earlier than in 2010 - although not nearly as quickly as in years before the recession. “It indicates an improved economy, but not like boom times,’’ said Bruce Morrison, a former chairman of the US House Immigration Subcommittee..

has agreed to pay $110 million to settle consumer litigation accusing it of charging excessive overdraft fees. The largest U.S. bank by assets joined (BAC.N) and several smaller lenders in settling their portion of the nationwide litigation over the fees, which are typically assessed when customers overdraw their checking accounts. Consumers had accused more than 30 lenders of routinely processing transactions from largest to smallest rather than in chronological order. This can cause overdraft fees, typically $25 to $35, to pile up because account balances fall faster when larger transactions are processed first. Critics say this disproportionately burdens customers with lower incomes and balances. JPMorgan's settlement in principle was disclosed in a filing on Friday with the U.S. district court in Miami. The settlement requires negotiation of final documentation and approval by U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King, who oversees the nationwide litigation. It also calls for an unspecified change to JPMorgan's overdraft practices. JPMorgan spokesman Patrick Linehan said the New York-based bank was pleased to settle in principle. Robert Gilbert, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In September 2009, JPMorgan said it would henceforth post debit card transactions and ATM withdrawals as they occur, and end debit card overdrafts unless customers ask for them. barred banks from charging overdraft fees on electronic and debit card transactions without advance customer approval. Bank of America last year settled its part of the nationwide litigation for $410 million, the largest agreement so far. & Co. are among banks that have not settled. Wells Fargo has appealed a San Francisco federal judge's $203 million award in August 2010 to California consumers in another overdraft case. The JPMorgan case was brought by customers including Florida resident Estella Lopez and Los Angeles resident Andrea Luquetta. Lopez said she incurred $204 of overdraft fees on seven debit card purchases in August 2009, but would have incurred just one $34 fee had the bank posted her transactions from lowest to highest. Luquetta accused the bank of posting a $1,725 automatic bill payment five days early in August 2009, causing her to incur $231 of overdraft fees on seven debit card purchases. She said she should have incurred at most just one $33 fee. In afternoon trading, JPMorgan shares were down 12 cents at $38.16 on the The case is In re: Checking Account Overdraft Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, No. 09-md-02036.

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $110 million to settle consumer litigation accusing it of charging excessive overdraft fees.

LOS ANGELES – While news of Jesse James’s alleged affair only hit headlines last week (thanks to mistress Michelle “Bombshell” McGee selling her story), Sandra Bullock may have been “blindsided” by her husband prior to accepting her Oscar for Best Actress. Bullock barely even acknowledged, let alone touched, a teary James after her name was called out as the winner, although he whispered “something private” in her ear and she gave him a smug look before jumping out of her seat. Despite appearing quite prepared on stage, she failed to thank him in her acceptance speech (although she didn’t forget her “lover” Meryl Streep) and was quick to change to subject when asked about him backstage after the big win. SLIDESHOW: Bullock Was on Top of the World Before Affair Surfaced “Don't piss him off. He had something in his eye. It's very dusty from the dance music,” Bullock responded when asked why James was crying. “I'd never divulge what Jesse says unless he divulges it first.” PHOTOS: Who Is Michelle 'Bombshell' McGee? This was quite a turnaround, given that at the SAG Awards just a few weeks earlier Bullock gushed about “her man” while accepting the award. “I love you so much, and you're really hot,” she said lovingly to James. “And I want you so much!" RELATED: Best Actress Break Up Curse?

Did Sandra Bullock Already Know About Jesse James' Affair at Oscars?