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A top House Republican on Tuesday called for Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record) to resign, days after the six-term GOP lawmaker agreed to plead guilty to federal corruption charges. "He betrayed his constituents, he betrayed the body and there's no place for him in the Congress," said Rep. Deborah Pryce (news, bio, voting record), the fourth-ranking Republican in the House. Last week, Ney admitted improperly accepting tens of thousands of dollars worth of trips, meals, sports tickets and casino chips while trying to win favors for a disgraced Washington lobbyist and a foreign aviation company. The Ohio congressman had defiantly denied any wrongdoing for months, but he reversed course and agreed to plead guilty in court papers filed Friday. Prosecutors will recommend he serve 27 months in prison. Ney, who is under treatment for alcohol dependency, was expected to formally plead guilty in court Oct. 13. Mary Jo Kilroy, Pryce's Democratic opponent, has called for Ney to step down and give up his federal pension. Another Republican facing a close re-election race, Steve Chabot of Cincinnati, said through a spokesman that any lawmaker responsible for criminal wrongdoing should step down. Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett and Ohio state Sen. Joy Padgett, the Republican running to replace Ney in Congress, have already called for Ney's resignation. But House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, cautioned that Ney hasn't formally pleaded guilty and could change his mind before his scheduled court appearance. He has said repeatedly that resignation is a decision for Ney and his family to make. "Until he has his day in court, I don't think it's up to me to comment what he should or shouldn't do." Barry Bennett, chief of staff for Cincinnati-area Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt, took issue with Ney collecting a paycheck if he isn't actively representing his district. "Short of expulsion, we can't make him leave, but meanwhile nobody is going to be voting for the constituents of the 18th district for the next two weeks and maybe not for two weeks in November and two weeks in December," Bennett said. "It's not right." Ney's chief of staff, David Popp, and lawyer William Lawler could not be reached immediately for comment. Lawler said Friday that Ney was not ready to resign. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060919/ap_on_...n&printer=1

Dog may be in the pound, but that doesn't mean he can't go on with the show. Duane "Dog" Chapman, collared last week by U.S. marshals for possible extradition to Mexico, plans to chronicle his legal dilemma in a special edition of his popular A&E show, Dog the Bounty Hunter. According to the cable channel, the 53-year-old bounty hunter will tell his side of the story to his fans in a one-hour special titled Dog: The Family Speaks set to air tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Chapman, his son, Leland Chapman, 29, and business partner Timothy Chapman (no relation), 41, were taken into custody in Hawaii by federal marshals early Thursday morning at the behest of Mexican authorities. The Dog posse was wanted on charges of illegal detention and conspiracy related to the 2003 capture of Andrew Luster, the Max Factor heir who was convicted in absentia of sexually assaulting three women in California and then fled south of the border. The apprehension made Chapman's career. Not only was Luster returned to the U.S. to begin serving a 124-year prison term, but the publicity surrounding the incident led to A&E offering Chapman his own TV show. But bounty hunting is a crime in Mexico. Dog and his two mates were nabbed by Mexican police, charged and released on bail. They were scheduled to appear at a court hearing on July 15, 2003, but never showed, ironically making them fugitives. The trio of Chapmans was freed on $300,000 bond Friday and now await an extradition hearing to determine whether they'll be shipped back to Mexico. Chapman, a former felon who claims to have brought in 6,000 bounties in his colorful career, must wear an electronic monitoring device on his ankle and is prohibited from leaving his home between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. without permission. On tonight's special, the thrice-divorced father of 12 and head of Da Kine Bail Bonds will appear with his current wife, Beth Chapman, and discuss the case. He's scheduled to recount his tracking of Luster to Puerta Vallarta and discuss his thoughts on Thursday's arrest and what he expects at his extradition hearing. We assume Chapman will also bring up his contention that U.S. authorities sold him out as part of a secret deal with the Mexico to swap the bounty hunters for Tijuana drug lord Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix. Felix was handed over to U.S. authorities two days before Chapman's arrest at his Hawaii home. "If cop killers...and drug lords that have hurt thousands of people are brought back from Mexico, and my sentence is six months, then I'll gladly meet him at the Juarez border, if they turn him over," Chapman sniffed to MSNBC, adding that he was "completely freaked out" by his own apprehension on Thursday. A Justice Department spokesman, however, says Chapman's allegations have more bark than bite. "There is no connection," spokesman Bryan Sierra told the New York Post. "That is just complete speculation from someone who wouldn't know." Meanwhile, expect Chapman to go into more detail on the case in his memoir, You Can Run But You Can't Hide: The Life and Times of Dog the Bounty Hunter, due out in February. As for Dog's ever-devoted followers, more 18,000 fans have signed a petition demanding the U.S. and Mexico government drop their charges against a man "who does so much to improve our society and rid the screets of criminals." Now in its third season, Dog the Bounty Hunter continues to rank as A&E's most watched television program. http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060919/en_tv_...5&printer=1

A record number of U.S. companies are trying to be gay-friendly, according to a survey released on Tuesday showing a growing number offering benefits and protections to gay and lesbian employees and customers. An unprecedented 138 major U.S. companies scored 100 percent in a Corporate Equality Index compiled by the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington-based gay rights advocacy group. That number was up from 101 companies last year and was 10 times higher than the 13 companies with that score in 2002, said the campaign, which conducts research and education programs and lobbies Congress. Top companies offer such benefits as medical coverage and family leave to same-[bleeped!] partners, prohibit discrimination against transgender workers or advertise in ways that respect gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people, it said. "More companies are not only implementing very comprehensive workplace policies that cover gay employees and their families but more companies are doing it faster and also seeking recognition for it," said Daryl Herrschaft, director of the group's workplace project. Consistent high scorers since the group began the index in 2002 have been IBM Corp. IBM.N>, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Levi Strauss & Co and Nike Inc., he said. "I think corporations are responding to a basic American value that has served them well for hundreds of years, that does not change with the political winds," Herrschaft said. "That is giving everybody equal opportunity at work, and making them feel like valued employees is not only the right thing but it's also good for the bottom line." Research shows gay and lesbian consumers spend some $641 billion a year, he said. Also, gays and lesbians are likely to pay attention to workplace policies, are brand-loyal and have higher amounts of disposable income, Herrschaft said. The campaign looked at 1,520 companies from such lists as the Fortune 1000 and Standard & Poor's 500 and culled enough information to rank 446 on its index. Three companies scored zero -- Exxon Mobil Corp., Midwestern retailer Meijer Inc. and Plano, Texas-based Perot Systems technology consultants. None of the three offered even minimal benefits or workplace protection for gay employees, the campaign said. But Exxon said it had a "zero-tolerance" policy toward any form of discrimination and harassment, including that based on sexual orientation. Representatives of Meijer and Perot Systems did not return calls seeking comment. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060919/us_nm/...c&printer=1

The Thai army took control of Bangkok on Tuesday and announced it would set up a commission to reform the constitution despite Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra declaring a state of emergency from New York. After tanks surrounded Government House in the country's first coup in 15 years, all television channels relayed a written statement saying the armed forces and police were in control of Bangkok and surrounding provinces, and appealed for calm. It said the armed forces and police had set up a commission to decide on political reforms, ousting Thaksin in the midst of protracted political crisis in which he was accused of undermining democracy. Weerasak Kohsurat, a deputy minister in a prior government, told Reuters he believed royal adviser Sumate Tantivejakul would head the reform commission and an interim government would be formed while political reforms were agreed. Elections would be called soon and Thaksin would be allowed to take part, he said. The statement was broadcast shortly after Thaksin called a television station to make a statement from New York, where he is attending a United Nations summit. "I declare Bangkok under a severe state of emergency," he said. The transmission stopped after 10 minutes while the billionaire telecoms tycoon-turned-politician, whose critics accuse him of corruption and abuse of power, was still talking. The capital remained quiet, according to the television message and Reuters reporters. Inside Government House, around 50 soldiers ordered police in the complex to lay down their weapons, a witness said. In his television statement, Thaksin ordered troops not to "move illegally" and told army commander-in-chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin to report to acting Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya. He also ordered Armed Forces Supreme Commander Ruangroj Mahasaranond to implement the emergency order. Even though Thailand's last military coup was 15 years ago, speculation about military intervention has been rife, with motorists calling traffic radio stations last week after tanks were spotted rolling down streets of the capital. That proved to be a false alarm, with the army saying it was merely soldiers returning from exercises. A general election scheduled for October was postponed last week, probably until November. The Thai baht fell immediately after reports of tanks approaching the center of the capital. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060919/ts_nm/...c&printer=1

NASA on Tuesday delayed shuttle Atlantis' homecoming by a day due to bad weather expected at the Florida landing site and because it wanted time to examine video of an object seen falling out of the craft. NASA rescheduled touchdown at the Kennedy Space Center for 6:22 a.m. EDT (1022 GMT) on Thursday. "Based on this weather we're having, we're going to waive off tomorrow," astronaut Terry Virts from Mission Control in Houston told Atlantis commander Brent Jett. NASA also had concerns about a video taken by a shuttle camera of an unidentified small dark object that appeared to fly out of the craft's payload bay on Tuesday. Johnson Space Center spokesman Doug Peterson said the object was a mystery. "At this point, we're not willing to hazard a guess," Peterson said. Flight controllers told the crew to postpone locking down the shuttle's robot arm and stowing the television antenna in case additional inspections were needed. Atlantis is returning from a week-long stay at the International Space Station to install the first new upgrade since before the 2003 Columbia shuttle disaster. It was the first of at least 15 flights planned by NASA to complete the half-finished station. Construction had been on hold since 2003, when shuttle Columbia disintegrated while returning to Earth, killing the seven astronauts on board. Tests of the Atlantis' flight controls and steering jets showed no problems, following the news that Atlantis' heat shield appears fit for the fiery return through Earth's atmosphere. Columbia's accident was caused by damage to its heat shield. Atlantis astronauts on Tuesday also took part in a three-way conference call with their counterparts on the station and a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. "It's a little crowded in the sky this morning," said station astronaut Jeff Williams. Soyuz is en route to the outpost after launching from Kazakhstan on Monday. Space tourist Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-American businesswoman, is on board the cramped Soyuz with U.S. astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin. She did not sound chipper when station crew member Thomas Reiter tried to pull her into the conversation. "Hello everyone, I look forward to see you on the station," she said. "A few more hours and you will be here," Reiter said. "Yes," she replied flatly. Russian ground controllers broke off the call so a flight surgeon could consult with Ansari, who is believed to have paid $20 million for the flight. It is not unusual for first-time space travelers to become ill in the weightless environment. Atlantis launched on September 9 from Florida carrying a $372 million solar power unit and truss structure that its crew installed on the space station. (Additional reporting by Jeff Franks in Houston) http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060919/sc_nm/...c&printer=1

AP - Pete Rose never expected baseballs bearing his autograph and a printed apology for betting on baseball to be sold publicly, his business agent said Monday.

U.S. housing starts plunged to a more than three-year low in August, while falling new vehicle costs kept producer prices unexpectedly weak, government reports showed on Tuesday, bolstering views the economy is cooling. The data comes one day before the Federal Reserve's policy-setting committee meets to consider interest rates, and strengthens the case that borrowing costs will remain steady through the end of the year. The Commerce Department said U.S. housing starts fell 6.0 percent in August to an annual pace of 1.665 million units, the lowest since April 2003 and 19.8 percent below the July 2005 pace. Economists had forecast August housing starts to decline to 1.75 million units from July's originally reported pace of 1.795 million. "It's shockingly weak housing data," said Greg Anderson, senior currency strategist at ABN Amro in Chicago. "We knew the Fed was going to pause on Wednesday. It does make it much more likely that they'll stay paused thereafter if the housing sector is this weak." Producer prices edged up a smaller-than-expected 0.1 percent in August and core prices posted a surprise drop of 0.4 percent, the biggest since April 2003. The Labor Department said the decline in the core producer price index, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, reflected a 2.6 percent drop in auto prices and a 3.4 percent decline in the price of light trucks and SUVs. The decline in core producer prices followed a 0.3 percent dip in July, marking the first back-to-back monthly declines since November and December 2002. But even stripping out the automotive price declines, core producer prices would have been unchanged, it said. Wall Street economists had expected the report to show both overall and core producer prices had risen 0.2 percent last month. U.S. Treasury debt prices rallied on the tamer-than-expected producer prices and they later extended gains in flight-to-safety buying as the Thai army seized control of Bangkok in a coup. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 18/32 in price to yield 4.74 percent in late Tuesday trade versus 4.81 percent late on Monday. The dollar initially fell after the data, but recovered much of its losses after news of the Thai coup, which also helped push Wall Street stocks lower on the day. HypoVereinsbank senior economic adviser Roger Kubarych said the data assures a Fed pause on Wednesday, but "inflation hawks may not be silenced by the fall in the producer price index or by the continuing drop in home building." Economists anticipate that falling gasoline prices will spur consumer spending, cushioning the fall in housing-related activity. Indeed, retail industry reports on Tuesday showed U.S. chain store sales rose last week as cooler weather boosted sales of seasonal items. Redbook Research said sales last week were up 4.1 percent from a year ago, following an increase the week before. Discount retail giant Target Corp (NYSE:TGT - news) also boosted sentiment in the sector by saying September sales would come in near the high end of its forecast. HOUSING PERMITS FALL Permits for future groundbreaking, an indicator of builder confidence, fell 2.3 percent to a 1.722 million-unit annual pace, the lowest in four years. Economists had expected the Commerce Department to report August permits at a 1.745 million pace. U.S. single-family starts dropped 5.9 percent to a pace of 1.360 million units, the lowest since February 2003. Single family permits were down 3.5 percent to an annual pace of 1.279 million units, the lowest since December 2001. Single-family permits in the Midwest were at their lowest pace since May 1993, while in the Northeast, they were the lowest since January 1996. The report came a day after an industry survey showed home builder sentiment sank for the eighth straight month in September, a more than 15 year low. The closely watched National Association of Home Builders' index declined 3 points in September to 30, the lowest since February 1991, when the economy had slipped into recession. Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. in San Francisco, said the data could point to more serious questions about the economy than the future direction of interest rates. "The question is now what? What's more important -- the economy or interest rates?" he said. "Even though this is a great number for inflation and for rate (hikes) coming to the end of their cycle, we have to move on to the next concern, which is the economy." http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060919/bs_nm/...c&printer=1

An Italian thief accidentally turned himself in after losing his cellular phone while robbing an elderly lady, calling his own number to meet the finder -- and unwittingly arranging a date with police. The 77-year-old victim handed over the phone that the bag snatcher had dropped to police, who lured the thief to a meeting where he was arrested, news agency Agi reported Monday. Agi said the man had been freed from prison recently under an Italian mass pardon meant to ease congestion in jails. By the time police were waiting for him at the meeting point, the 35-year-old had already robbed another old lady and was riding a stolen scooter, Agi said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060919/od_nm/...c&printer=1

Reuters - Surgeons in China who said they performed the first successful penis transplant had to remove the donated organ because of the severe psychological problems it caused to the recipient and his wife.

Toshiba is recalling 340,000 laptop batteries made by Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). because of problems with recharging them, the latest in a string of embarrassing defects and production glitches for Sony. The recall affects 100,000 batteries for laptops sold in the United States, 45,000 in Japan, and the remainder in other parts of the world, Toshiba Corp. spokesman Keisuke Omori said Tuesday, declining to quantify the number of problems reported by customers. The defect is not directly related to the problem behind last month's recall of Sony laptop batteries by Dell Inc. and Apple Computer Inc., which cited concerns the batteries could overheat and catch fire. Dell asked customers to return 4.1 million faulty batteries, while Apple Computer Inc. recalled 1.8 million. In both those cases, the troubled lithium-ion batteries were made by Sony Energy Devices Corp., a Japan-based subsidiary of Sony. The Toshiba recall involves battery packs for Dynabook and Satellite models made from March through May this year, and they will be replaced for free, Omori said. The batteries sometimes stop recharging or run out of power, but no injuries or other accidents have been reported, he said. The new recall also comes soon after production problems forced Sony to delay some key product launches. Earlier this month, Sony said it would postpone the European launch of its PlayStation 3 video game machine by four months until March due to problems producing a component. In additional, while the much-awaited console is set to hit stores in November in the United States and Japan as planned, fewer units will be available, according to Ken Kutaragi, the executive in charge of the project. And last week, Sony said it will postpone by a week until Sept. 23 the Japanese launch of its new digital Walkman because of a malfunction of an unspecified part of the portable music player. The problems at Sony come as the electronics and entertainment company behind the Walkman portable music player has been trying to bolster its brand image under the leadership of its first foreign executive, Welsh-born Howard Stringer. Sony has been fighting to make a comeback after falling behind Apple in portable music players and other rivals, including Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea, in flat-panel TVs. Sony has been successful in selling slimmed down TVs lately with panels made in a joint venture with Samsung. Sony shares edged down 0.8 percent to close at 4,930 yen ($42) in Tokyo, while Toshiba shares climbed 0.5 percent to 796 yen ($6.70). http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060919/ap_on_...l&printer=1

Thousands of protesters flooded the center of Budapest on Tuesday again after Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's blunt admission he lied to win an election sparked outrage and riots a day earlier. Monday's riots, in which over 150 people were hurt, followed the leak of a tape on Sunday in which Gyurcsany said he and his Socialist party had lied for four years about Hungary's budget in order to win a general election in April. Over 10,000 again crammed a square in front of parliament, waving flags and calling for Gyurcsany to step down in Hungary's worst political crisis since communism collapsed in 1989. Monday's violence took police -- and the nation as a whole -- by surprise. Hungary, which joined the European Union in 2004, has often been shown off as a model of democratic reform since the communists were ousted. Police kept a close watch over the crowd and Reuters correspondents at the scene said that as of 2100 GMT there were no signs of violence. Higher taxes and fees for healthcare and university tuition had prompted protests before the release of the tape sparked a violent backlash that weakened the Hungarian forint and other currencies across central Europe. Gyurcsany, a 45-year-old millionaire facing his biggest crisis in two years as prime minister, has rejected calls to quit and instead vowed to press on with tough economic reforms. "The longest and darkest night of the third Hungarian republic is behind us," Gyurcsany said on television referring to the period in Hungary following the collapse of Communism. "This is not a revolution, this is not 1956, this is the betrayal of our great national history," he added later at a news conference referring to the Hungarian uprising against Soviet occupation 50 years ago. HARD TO SURVIVE The soaring budget deficit has forced Hungary to abandon plans to join the euro single currency in 2010, with analysts now saying 2014 is more realistic. The protests come two weeks ahead of local elections on October 1 and follow a slump in the ruling Socialist Party's popularity to 25 percent in polls from 40 percent at the election. Gyurcsany said his remarks, made to party faithful in May but leaked on Sunday, were meant as a call for reform and a pledge not to lie again, but the unprecedented bluntness of his admission -- peppered with foul language -- shocked the nation. The main Fidesz opposition has urged the prime minister to go amid what it called a "moral crisis." "A pathological liar can not step over his shadow," Fidesz leader Viktor Orban told a news conference. Gyurcsany won April's election partly on a promise of tax cuts but has since imposed tax hikes and benefit cuts worth $4.6 billion in 2007 alone to curb Hungary's budget deficit which will surge to 10.1 percent of gross domestic product this year. The protests are likely to continue with students set to hold a major demonstration on Thursday. Istvan, a 28-year-old student who refused to give his last name, said the protests should continue until the government resigns, but they should remain peaceful. "The government has lied, we knew that they lied, but this arrogance afterwards, that they try to explain that we spent too much, this is unacceptable," he said. Analysts said they expect Gyurcsany will be able to hang on for now, but added the uproar could ultimately cost him his job. "It will be very difficult for him to survive, not because his own party will back out, but because morality is a factor that's gaining importance in Hungarian politics," said Ervin Csizmadia, an analyst with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. "It's hard for me to imagine that it won't create a difficult, unsolvable problem in the medium term, especially as half of Hungary has completely lost its trust in him." http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060919/wl_nm/...c&printer=1

Israel scattered at least 350,000 unexploded cluster bomblets on south Lebanon in its war with Hizbollah, mostly when the conflict was all but over, leaving a deadly legacy for civilians, U.N. officials said on Tuesday. "The outrageous fact is that nearly all of these munitions were fired in the last three to four days of the war," David Shearer, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, told a news conference in Beirut. "Outrageous because by that stage the conflict had been largely resolved in the form of (U.N. Security Council) Resolution 1701," he said. The resolution adopted on August 11 halted 34 days of fighting three days later. A truce has largely held since then. Israel denies using cluster bombs illegally. A U.N. fact sheet said the figure of 350,000 unexploded bomblets was based on reports by Israeli soldiers, and excluded cluster bomb firings by conventional artillery or aircraft. Chris Clark, manager of the U.N. Mine Action Coordination Center of South Lebanon, said the cluster bomb threat in the south was "extensive and, in my opinion, unprecedented." While Israel has provided general information about where it believes unexploded ordnance might be, Clark said tactical maps given to the United Nations by Israeli forces withdrawing from the south were "absolutely useless" in clearance efforts. "We have asked through many channels for the headquarters of these units to provide detailed strike data," he told a briefing at the United Nations in Geneva. "It has not yet been received." FAILED TO EXPLODE The United Nations has so far identified 516 cluster bomb strike locations and says 30 to 40 percent of the bomblets they scattered over the south failed to explode at the time. Only about 17,000 bomblets have been defused so far and the United Nations says clearance work could take up to 30 months. Shearer said cluster bombs had killed or wounded an average of three people a day since the war ended, with 15 killed, including a child, and 83 wounded, of whom 23 are children. Clearance efforts have so far focused on villages, schools and playing areas, but will soon shift toward farmland, which provides 70 percent of household incomes in the south, he said. "The cluster munitions are stopping farmers from getting out to their fields and resuming their farming activities," he said. Cluster bombs have been found on the ground and hanging on barbed-wire fences and trees, including in citrus, banana and olive groves, Clark said. They have also turned up in the rubble of destroyed buildings, complicating reconstruction efforts. Human rights groups have criticized Israel and Hizbollah for indiscriminate attacks on civilians in the fighting that began after the guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12. Shearer said it "defied belief" that so many cluster bombs were fired in the last hours of the war. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060919/ts_nm/...c&printer=1

Carefully tailored to service the soccer mom crowd racing between work and kids and shopping, "The Rachael Ray Show" is a syndicated daytime talk show-cum-pep rally targeting viewers who are double-parked. It moves along in energetic rat-a-tat-tat style via a series of manic Rachael McNuggets that casts Oprah's very own handpicked youngster as a whirlwind of hyperkinetic charisma. Indeed, the opening hour depicts the former host of Food Network's wildly popular "30-Minute Meals" as a woman in need of Ritalin to slow it down, modulate her pitch and try a little less hard. Ray has an inherent likability and is certainly easy on the eyes, but she doesn't talk to us so much as screams and she might want to consider taking a more leisurely approach. As it is, it's all she can do to keep from using the adoring audience as her mosh pit. Happy to be here after spending the past five years "talking to vegetables," Ray emerges to a cool, loftlike brick set (it spins!) and hip R&B theme music. She quickly (everything here is quick) pours herself a cup of completely unnecessary coffee that she sips while reminiscing at the set's kitchen table. Ray's occasionally squeaky voice is even more adorably anxious than usual, but the crowd clearly already views her as royalty on Day 1 -- screaming wildly with her every breathless piece of jabber. She packs a lot of show -- too much, actually -- into the kickoff that's punctuated by her cuddly asides designed to establish a connection with Jane America. See Rachael skydive with a viewer determined to overcome her fear. See Rachael prepare a meal in just seven minutes. See Rachael talk live with a viewer over the Internet. Now see Rachael sharing the stage with first guest Diane Sawyer, who looks typically fabulous but appears somewhat flummoxed by the ball of exuberance bouncing around her. Sawyer also utters the phrase "slut shoes," which would seem to indicate that she, too, was trying too hard. Interstitials leading in and out of the commercial breaks feature viewer questions and revelations such as the best way to toss a salad if you lack a salad spinner: Put it in the washing machine and hit "Spin." Seriously. And there's a sizable emphasis here on cooking (no surprise). For Ray's sake, the hope would be that the repasts are low caffeine. Queen Oprah herself is scheduled to arrive today to anoint her latest offspring with her presence and use that reflected glow to create another Nielsen monster a la Dr. Phil. "The Rachael Ray Show" is clearly being positioned as the next generation of "Martha Stewart Living," the difference of course being the fresh scrubbed girl-next-door beauty of the thirtysomething host and the injection of high-intensity joie de vivre. It's likely that Ray will tone down the tempo to merely rapid as she settles into the big chair, though she probably will never have the effortless bearing that Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell brought to the stage. Breaking from the gate, she skirts the fine line between endearing and annoying and could tip either way. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060919/people...c&printer=1

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) on Tuesday announced 20 lawsuits against resellers allegedly engaged in the distribution of infringing software and software components. The lawsuits, filed against 20 defendants throughout the United States, are against companies that allegedly distributed counterfeit software or software components or participated in hard-disk loading, Microsoft said. Hard-disk loading is the installation of unlicensed software on computers that are then sold to unsuspecting businesses or consumers. Lawsuits were filed against companies in nine states: Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon and Texas. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060919/bs_nm/...c&printer=1

President George W. Bush said on Tuesday in a message to the Iranian people that the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is using their resources to fund terrorists and pursue nuclear weapons. In his annual address to the U.N. General Assembly, Bush directed a portion of his remarks to Iranians, saying "you deserve an opportunity to determine your own future" and an economy that rewards their talents. "The greatest obstacle to this future is that your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue nuclear weapons," Bush said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060919/ts_nm/...c&printer=1

President George W. Bush's approval rating has rebounded to 44 percent, the highest level in a year, in the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, the newspaper reported on Tuesday. Bush's approval rating jumped five points from 39 percent in the previous poll conducted earlier this month. The bounce comes with seven weeks before elections to deicide control of Congress amid falling gas prices and a renewed campaign by Bush to boost support for the Iraq war and to portray Republicans as more competent than Democrats on security, the newspaper said. Bush's approval rating edged up largely on the strength of Republicans coming back to the fold with 86 percent saying they support him now, compared to 70 percent in May, USA Today said. For the first time since December 2005, a majority of people polled did not say the war in Iraq was a mistake. The respondents were evenly split at 49 percent to 49 percent, the report said. However, the poll finds that the Iraq war continues to be a problem for Bush. Sixty percent said he does not have a clear plan for handling Iraq and 75 percent said Iraq is in a civil war, USA Today said. The telephone poll of 1,003 people was conducted September 15-17, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060919/pl_nm/...c&printer=1