At issue are so-called sanctuary cities, places where city employees are not required to report illegal immigrants to federal authorities. Some, such as San Francisco, have declared themselves sanctuaries or refuges. Others, like New York, have never adopted the "sanctuary" moniker.

New York's policy, issued by Democratic Mayor Ed Koch in 1988, is intended to make illegal immigrants feel that they can report crimes, send their children to school or seek medical treatment without fear of being reported.

An estimated half-million illegal and undocumented immigrants live in New York, and only a fraction are deported each year.

"What's the best thing to do about that?" Giuliani asked in 1996. "Put them in a situation in which they keep children out of school? Put them in a situation in which they don't go to hospitals? Or put them in a situation in which they don't report crimes to the police?"

Giuliani went to court to preserve the policy, suing over a 1996 attempt by Congress to undo the city's protections. He lost, but Mayor Mike Bloomberg later issued a new, broader version of the policy that is still in effect.

In the presidential campaign, Giuliani and Romney are talking tough on immigration, even opposing the bipartisan immigration overhaul backed by President Bush. Yet their records are not necessarily tough. For example:

_Several illegal immigrants worked on Romney's lawn as employees of a lawn care company; Romney said he didn't know the company had hired illegal workers.

_As mayor, Giuliani often spoke positively about illegal immigrants: "If you come here, and you work hard, and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you're one of the people who we want in this city," he told The New York Times in 1994.

_Both Romney and Giuliani spoke favorably of 2006 legislation providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants; they opposed a similar bill earlier this year.

Immigration inflames conservatives in early voting states such as Iowa and South Carolina, where some argue that illegal immigrants are straining schools and hospitals, lowering wages or taking jobs from law-abiding citizens.

In Aiken, S.C., on Tuesday, Giuliani repeated a pledge to closely track immigrants with tamperproof identity cards, bolster fencing and law enforcement at the border and deport illegal immigrants who commit crimes.

Giuliani planned to highlight his support for a physical and technological fence with new radio ads beginning Wednesday in New Hampshire and Iowa. His technological fence would be a system of motion detectors, night vision monitors and video cameras.

Romney, inspecting border fencing and checkpoints Monday in San Diego, reiterated his plan to hire more Border Patrol agents, sanction employers who hire illegal immigrants and cut federal dollars for sanctuary cities.

Romney blames "don't tell" policies, and Giuliani's support for them, for luring millions of illegal immigrants to the United States.

"New York City was the poster child for sanctuary cities in the country," Romney said last week in Bettendorf, Iowa.

Giuliani's defense is that he cracked down on all crimes, including illegal immigration. "New York City had the least amount of illegality per capita of any major city in the country, and I brought that change about," he said last week in Colorado Springs, Colo.

And his campaign accused Romney of hypocrisy, pointing out that as governor of Massachusetts, Romney did not try to punish sanctuary cities _ Cambridge, Orleans and Somerville _ in his own state.

"He had three sanctuary cities in his own state," longtime Giuliani aide Randy Mastro said. "The New York City program was very different. We had a system that protected public safety by encouraging aliens to come forward to the authorities to report crimes, and then required authorities to cooperate in the investigation and prosecution of aliens who committed crimes."

Romney says he tried to curtail the problem by deputizing state police to enforce federal immigration laws.

"It was exactly in response to the fact that immigration laws were not being enforced," spokesman Kevin Madden said. "It was also in conjunction with his belief that enforcement has to be a joint state and federal effort."

Bloomberg, who may run for president himself, waded into the dispute this week. Asked Monday about the idea of New York as a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, he said, "Let 'em come."

"I can't think of any laboratory that shows better why you need a stream of immigrants than New York City," he added. "I don't know what to tell anybody. If they don't believe that immigrants add a heck of a lot more than they cost, they just aren't looking at the numbers."

The toys recalled Tuesday were all made in China and posed a choking hazard or contained unsafe levels of lead, according to the CPSC. But the agency said there were no reports of injuries from the toys, which also included a "Barbie Doll and Tanner" play set and the car Sarge from the Pixar movie "Cars."

"I apologize for the situation we are all facing," Mattel Chairman and CEO Robert Eckert told CNN. "We'll continue working very hard on the standards, and if we see more issues, we'll promptly notify people."

The recall affects 9.58 million imported toys sold at toy stores, discount stores and other retailers nationwide dating back as far back as May 2003. Worldwide, Mattel said the recall includes nearly 19 million toys.

In a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon, Eckert said more recalls may be coming as the nation's biggest toymaker tightens its quality-control standards,

During the call, Mattel characterized the magnet problem as a design issue, and blamed a Chinese subcontractor for the presence of lead paint.

"They did not do their own due diligence," said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the consumer group U.S. PIRG."They relied on Chinese subcontractors - that doesn't cut it."

Mattel said it was recalling 72 different products, including 7.3 million "Polly Pocket" dolls and accessories, 345,000 "Batman" action figures, 253,000 "Sarge" die-cast cars, 683,000 "Barbie and Tanner" magnetic toys and 1 million "Doggie Day Care" play sets. An additional 2.4 million "Polly Pocket" play sets were recalled in November.

Retailers including Wal-Mart (down $0.02 to $43.58, Charts, Fortune 500) ordered their stores to pull the affected toys from shelves and stopping them from being sold at registers.

Tuesday's announcement marks another devastating blow for Mattel. Two weeks ago the company recalled 1.5 million toys made in China for its Fisher-Price unit due to the presence of lead. The company said the recalls would cost about $30 million.

It also followed Monday's news that the boss of a Chinese factory that produced the lead-tainted Fisher-Price toys had committed suicide.

Some 70 to 80 percent of all the toys sold in the United States are made in China, according to the CPSC. The agency estimates that hundreds of millions of toys are imported into the United States every year.

"The point is when a toy come into the U.S., it must meet U.S. safety standards," Nancy Nord, acting chairman of the CPSC, told reporters after Mattel's announcement. "What I would like to see, at the end of the day, is toys tested in China before they are imported into the U.S."

The recall is the latest development in the growing crisis over the safety of Chinese products. Chinese officials have gone out of their way to stress the safety and quality of its exports, blaming the problems on a small number of companies.

Earlier this month, China's Commerce ministry blacklisted 400 export firms following the recent product safety scares.

Mattel said consumers should stop using the affected toys immediately and contact the company for instructions about how to receive a replacement.

Mattel's launched a Web site (www.mattel.com/safety/) that includes a full list of the recalled toys. Or consumers can also visit the CPSC site to learn which "Polly Pocket", "Batman", "Sarge", "Barbie and Tanner" and "Doggie Day Care" toys are affected.

The information was not public, the judge said. Donaghy had "unique access," including what crews would officiate at games, the interaction of different officials and players, and the physical condition of certain players.

He concealed the scheme from the NBA and other referees to avoid detection, the judge said. Donaghy also must pay a $500,000 fine and at least $30,000 in restitution.

Prosecutors said in open court that Donaghy bet on games himself; but that was not part of his plea.

The FBI first contacted the NBA on June 20 to talk about a referee alleged to be gambling on games, and the two sides met on June 21, NBA commissioner David Stern said last month. Donaghy resigned July 9 after 13 years as a referee; Stern said he would have fired him sooner but was told it might affect the investigation.

Stern blamed a "rogue, isolated criminal" for the betting scandal that threatened the credibility of every referee.

Donaghy was rated in the top tier of officials, Stern said, and there was nothing suspicious about the frequency of his foul calls. He was assigned to work in the second round of the playoffs, with his last NBA game coming during the Phoenix-San Antonio Western Conference semifinal series.

No other NBA officials or players were expected to be involved in the scandal, which Stern called the "most serious situation and worst situation that I have ever experienced either as a fan of the NBA, a lawyer for the NBA or a commissioner of the NBA."

Overall, consumers rated their satisfaction with the maker of their PC 3 percent worse than last year, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), the annual quality study conducted by the University of Michigan set for release Tuesday.

Apple is still the leader in terms of satisfaction with service and products, but its overall ranking dropped by five percentage points this year. Dell also lost five points on its score. Hewlett-Packard's HP brand showed a 1 percent improvement in a year, while its Compaq label is still rated the worst.

This survey is indicative of consumer satisfaction in general, which increased a mere 1 percent since the second quarter of 2006. Though American consumers' satisfaction has increased for the last nine quarters, that rate of satisfaction is slowing, said Claes Fornell, director of the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan, which conducted the study.

"It probably means for the economy at large that we will see a slowdown in consumer spending (next quarter) and consumer demand as well," he said. "We've seen a pretty strong correlation between customers and how satisfied they are and their future purchase behavior."

Admittedly, customer satisfaction is a hard thing to measure, he said. Fornell's group conducts the survey by asking 80,000 customers of the leading PC makers a series of questions related to how they view service quality, price, problems, future or repeat purchase plans, and satisfaction related to expectations.

Among PC vendors, Apple still leads the pack with a score of 79, and Compaq comes in at 73. On a scale of 100, any score in the 70s is respectable, and any rating above 74 means you're doing "quite well," Fornell said.

Apple's drop, even if it is ever so slight, is unusual since the company is usually ranked well on most aspects of the ACSI survey, Fornell said. He points to the Apple's growth as a possible cause, as well as the enormous expectations that come with being a quality leader.

"It's almost like what goes up must come down," he said. "They have done so well that they have increased their business by 400 percent in the last five years. That puts a certain strain on resources. With many more customers to service, it's not that service quality is going down, as much as the reliability of the products." Survey results refer only to Apple's computer products.

Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said, "Customer satisfaction is very important to Apple. While we're pleased that we're still No. 1, we're going to try even harder."

Dell also dropped 5 percent after raising its ranking last year. Dell's problem is customers' perception of product reliability as well as service, Fornell said. As examples, just this year, both shipping delays of the much-anticipated XPS M1330 notebook and the New York Attorney General Office's decision to sue Dell for consumer fraud have made news.

At issue in the case is shareholders' ability to recover damages from parties, such as investment banks and accountants, that are accused of aiding corporate fraud.

Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat seeking his party's presidential nomination, wrote President Bush urging him "to take appropriate steps to discourage" the Justice Department's solicitor general from filing a brief in the case in support of the defendants.

His letter was sent Tuesday, the day before the deadline for Solicitor General Paul Clement to submit such a brief.

Dodd urged Clement not to file a friend-of-the-court brief that contradicted the Securities and Exchange Commission's position "that parties who contribute to defrauding investors should be held accountable."

On the other side, a bipartisan group of three former SEC chairmen, 13 other former SEC officials and 11 academic experts filed a brief with the court Tuesday supporting the defendant companies. The three ex-chairmen were Roderick Hills, appointed by President Ford; Harvey Pitt, one of Bush's former appointees to the position; and Carter appointee Harold Williams.

On Tuesday, a group of people who lost retirement savings in the collapse of Enron Corp. renewed their plea to Bush to support the share- holders' position, Stoneridge Investment v. Scientific-Atlanta.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco also upheld a lower court's ruling dismissing the defendants' claims that they were immune from punishment because they were government contractors.
Since 1990, more than 2,300 people have sued over health problems they believe were caused by exposure to radioactive emissions from south-central Washington's Hanford site over the years. The downwinder cases are largely based on the release of iodine-131, a radioactive byproduct of nuclear weapons production.

A judge dismissed six of the 12 initial "bellwether" cases. In 2005, juries rejected four more during two trials. Just two people, who suffered from cancer, won damages totaling $544,759 against the government and the contractors that managed the federal site at the time.

The appeals court on Tuesday overturned the verdicts against three plaintiffs, Wanda Buckner, Shirley Carlisle and Kathryn Goldbloom, who suffer from hypothyroidism, a condition that slows the body's metabolism.

The district court erred in ruling that the plaintiff's endocrinologist could not testify that he authored articles on I-131's effect on thyroid cells, because it deprived the jury of testimony from the doctor about the extent of his expertise regarding causes of thyroid illness, the appeals court ruled.

In addition, the defendants were allowed to impeach the doctor's testimony based on inadmissible hearsay of another doctor who did not testify, the court ruled.

"We thus have no choice but to reverse the verdicts against plaintiffs Goldbloom, Carlisle, and Buckner and remand for a new trial," Chief Circuit Judge Mary M. Schroeder wrote for the panel.

The court also overturned the ruling in favor of plaintiff Gloria Wise, who was awarded $317,251, on statute of limitations grounds. However, the appeals court remanded the case to district court to determine whether Wise had the information necessary to file a claim within the three-year statute of limitations.

That particular ruling is significant because it could mean the claims of hundreds of other plaintiffs will be time-barred, said Kevin Van Wart, whose Chicago law firm represents General Electric Co., E.I. DuPont de Nemours Co. and UNC Nuclear Inc.

Richard Eymann, a plaintiffs attorney, said he did not yet know how many other clients could have their cases dismissed as a result. Despite that potential impact, Eymann called the overall ruling a victory for the downwinders.

"We're hoping that the contractors and the government will get into serious settlement negotiations with us," he said.

The federal government created Hanford in the 1940s as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. Contractors operated reactors and other facilities that historical documents say resulted in intentional and accidental releases of toxic chemicals and radiation.

Residents only learned of the emissions when the government declassified thousands of documents in 1986.

People in Arizona, Nevada, Utah and the Marshall Islands have received compensation for being exposed to radiation during the atomic buildup. Downwinders at the Hanford site have had a more difficult time because health studies have offered differing opinions on whether they have suffered substantial or chronic exposures that threatened their health.

Iodine-131 concentrates in the thyroid, which regulates the body's metabolism. Most of the plaintiffs have thyroid conditions, such as cancer, hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism. To succeed at trial, plaintiffs had to prove they were “more likely than not” harmed by radioactive iodine gases released during Hanford operations.

That can be difficult to prove, in part because thyroid disorders are not caused only by exposure to radiation. The plaintiffs' had asked the court to expand the test for causation when there are potentially multiple causes, such as radiation, smoking, genetics or pregnancy.

The appeals court rejected that request.

The court rejected the companies' claims that they were immune from punishment because they were government contractors. The district court already had rejected that claim, as well as claims that the defendants could be held liable for any I-131 emissions from the Hanford facility, which the appeals court rejected as well.

The government already indemnified the contractors under the Price-Anderson Act and must pay any damage awards.

The court denied an appeal by plaintiff Shannon Rhodes, whose claims were rejected by a jury, and upheld the $227,508 award for plaintiff Steve Stanton.

The court also denied an appeal to move to state court claims by other plaintiffs who do not yet have symptoms of any thyroid disease. They had previously sued the contractors for the costs of medical monitoring, but their claims were dismissed.

Van Wart called the last ruling particularly significant because it could have potentially involved thousands of additional plaintiffs.