DEVIL FINDS WORK

Who won the town-hall debate between Barack Obama and John McCain?

• OFFICIAL: FIRE PLAY CAUSED FATAL BLAZE

  ASSOCIATED PRESS

  A child playing with fire caused the weekend apartment blaze that claimed five members of a Manhattan family, authorities said Monday. Fire marshals also determined that a candle caused a fire...more >

• NYC OPENS TOURISM OFFICE IN INDIA

  ASSOCIATED PRESS

  NEW YORK - From Bollywood to the Big Apple. New York City has opened its latest international tourism and marketing office in India, hoping to entice more Indians to visit. The office in...more >

• 3 SMOKING GUNS AMID QNS. BLAZE

  By REUVEN FENTON and ALEX GINSBERG

  Firefighters called to the scene of a minor blaze in Queens yesterday found more firepower than actual fire when they discovered three illegal guns, authorities said. The FDNY quickly doused the...more >

• POLICE 'SHIFT' GEARS

  MORE ANTI-CRIME OT

  By LARRY CELONA and ANDY GELLER

  Trying to fight a shocking spike in murders and shootings, the NYPD has launched a blue blitz against violent crime by boosting overtime for patrol cops and narcotics detectives, law-enforcement...more >

• HOT-DOG HERO IS PIZZA-CHOMPING CHAMP

  By ALIYAH SHAHID

  He'll take the last three slices to go. Hot-dog eating champ Joey Chestnut downed 45 slices of pizza, nearly six whole pies, in 10 minutes yesterday to win the Famous Famiglia World Pizza...more >

• $6.5 MIL FOR MASTECTOMY NIGHTMARE

  By DENISE BUFFA

  A jury has awarded a Bronx woman $6.5 million after a doctor at Bellevue Hospital removed her left breast - even though her cancer had been cured, her lawyer said. Lydia Williams, then an...more >

• BAG 'MOSQUE' GAG: CHURCH

  TOTE JOKE SPARKS IRE

  By REUVEN FENTON

  A pair of graphic designers say they thought it would be funny to misidentify a Russian Orthodox church as "The Mosque" on a tote bag that displays a map of Williamsburg landmarks. But...more >

• TAXI CRISIS LOOMS

  SHORTAGE AMID ECO LAW

  By BILL SANDERSON

  Think it's hard to hail a cab now? It's about to get worse, as taxi-fleet owners run their old cars into the ground - because new ones are nearly impossible to buy. High nationwide...more >

• B'KLYN FIRE HORROR

  KID, 12, AND UNCLE KILLED IN NEW APT.

  By JOE MOLLICA and ALEX GINSBERG

  Fire swept through a Brooklyn apartment building yesterday, killing a man and his 12-year-old nephew barely a week after they moved in, devastated relatives said. Shawn Monderson, 33, a bus...more >

• EAST SIDE SHOWS IT LOVES A PARADA

  By BRIGITTE STELZER

  Lavish costumes and pounding beats reigned at yesterday's 44th annual Hispanic Day Parade on a sunshine-filled afternoon on the East Side. Mayor Bloomberg and two Spanish-language soap-opera...more >

• ELDERLY MOM, SON FOUND DEAD

  By JAMIE SCHRAM and TIM PERONE

  The badly decomposed bodies of an elderly woman and her son were found inside their Washington Heights apartment yesterday, police said. A neighbor, Jenny Ferrer, told The Post she had called...more >

• THAT'S THE TICKET, ER, TIP

  By JOHN DOYLE

  Cops are plastering parked vehicles in Williamsburg with fliers that look a lot like parking tickets as part of a new campaign to thwart would-be car burglars. The inside of the fliers read...more >

• STATE'S OTB REVENUES PULLING UP LAME

  By DAVID SEIFMAN

  The action is way down at the Off-Track Betting Corp. since the state took it off the city's hands in June, The Post has learned. Officials are projecting that OTB will collect $900...more >

• BRIDES LIFT VEIL ON SEX FANTASIES

  By TODD VENEZIA

  Saying "I do" doesn't mean the passion's kaput - at least according to a majority of brides-to-be, who think sex will get steamier after they marry. A survey by brides.com...more >

• 'JUDGE' FINANCES PROBED

  By LAURA ITALIANO and LARRY CELONA

  The winner of September's primary race for surrogate judge in Manhattan is under investigation for allegedly disguising $270,000 in 11th-hour contributions as a transfer from her own assets...more >

• WEINER FEARS BANK WITHDRAWAL

  By REBECCA ROSENBERG and DAN MANGAN

  Poor neighborhoods could lose bank branches because of the takeover of Washington Mutual by JPMorgan Chase, Rep. Anthony Weiner warned yesterday. A study by Weiner's office found that 37...more >

• DEVIL FINDS WORK

  NUN-ATTACK FIEND AIDS WOMEN

  By MURRAY WEISS, DOUGLAS MONTERO and LUKAS I. ALPERT

  A man who served time in the brutal rape and torture of a Harlem nun nearly 30 years ago has shockingly forged a new life helping to pick judges and working in an office that solely deals with...more >

• PARALYZED REV. THANKS GOD

  By ABRAHAM RIESMAN and NEIL GRAVES

  The beloved Brooklyn pastor and Grammy-nominated gospel singer who survived a horrific Fourth of July car crash was cheered by some 2,500 followers yesterday at the Javits Center. Paralyzed from...more >

• CHARTERING NEW COURSE

  SCHOOLS' THEME DREAMS

  By YOAV GONEN

  These aren't your older siblings' charter schools. Ten years after state law was amended to allow for the creation of independently run public schools, charter proposals in New York are...more >

• CHELSEA SOLE SURVIVOR, 10, IN 'DIRE' SHAPE

  By FRANK ROSARIO and C.J. SULLIVAN

  Ten-year-old Jonzan Valdez was clinging to life yesterday, as friends left tears and flowers at the scene of the Chelsea fire that killed his parents and three little sisters. Maschay Joa Valdez...more >

• NURSE ROBS WOMAN, 92, BLIND: POLICE

  By JAMIE SCHRAM AND CHRISTINA CARREGA

  A Manhattan home health-care aide swiped $8,500 from two victims, including an elderly blind woman, law-enforcement sources said yesterday. Jasodra Mohan, 40, grabbed a blank check from...more >

• QUINN NOW IN MIKE'S CORNER

  By SALLY GOLDENBERG

  City Council Speaker Christine Quinn yesterday did an about-face, embracing legislation to extend term limits for city officials and all but endorsing Mayor Bloomberg for a third term, citing the...more >

• O-JOE BOOST IS BILL-HILL SHOW

  CLINTONS TEAM UP - TO SING HER PRAISES

  By DAPHNE RETTER and AUSTIN FENNER

  Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton made their first joint appearance for the Obama ticket by joining Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden and his wife yesterday - but the former first...more >

• BARACK TIGHTENS RACE IN CRUCIAL OHIO

  By DAPHNE RETTER

  Barack Obama has nearly closed the gap with John McCain in Ohio, a state that no Republican has ever lost and won the presidency. An Ohio Newspaper Poll released yesterday found that 48...more >

• MAC BETTER 'LATE' THAN NEVER

  By CARL CAMPANILE

  John McCain will appear on David Letterman's "Late Show" Thursday, officials said, presumably to patch up hard feelings left by the GOP candidate's awkward snub of the funnyman...more >

• PALIN FALLS PREY TO FEY

  By JEREMY OLSHAN

  Thanks to Tina Fey, Sarah Palin isn't just a target of jokes - she's been swift-butted. Some political scientists contend that Fey's "Saturday Night Live" skewering of the...more >

• ANGIE'S LIP SERVICE

  By DAVID K. LI

  Angelina Jolie has a cutting-edge way of raising kids - the world-famous beauty recently took son Maddox, 7, shopping for knives. "My mom took me to buy my first daggers when I was 11 or 12...more >

• 'CHIHUAHUA' NIPS RIVALS

  By NEIL GRAVES

  Leo and Russell proved no match for a little yapping dog, as "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" bit its rivals for a second straight week. The lost-in-Mexico mutt topped the box office with...more >

• US MAN ARRESTED IN PAKISTAN

  TRYING TO ENTER MILITANT-INFESTED AREA

  ASSOCIATED PRESS

  PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Pakistani police arrested a 20-year-old American man late Monday in a militant-infested area close to the Afghan border, an officer said. Officers were investigating why the...more >

• QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT 'NEW' KIM JONG IL PHOTOS

  MAY BE MONTHS OLD

  AP

  SEOUL, South Korea -- The 66-year-old man in the photos appeared the picture of health, full of vigor despite reports he underwent brain surgery less than two months ago. He was surrounded by...more >

• CONTINENTAL DRAFT: EURO BIGS UNVEIL CASH-INFUSION PLAN

  By DAN MANGAN

  European leaders tried yesterday to bolster their teetering financial system - and dodge a deep recession - by pledging billions of euros to guarantee bank loans in exchange for ownership positions...more >