Lucci Goes O for 17

Susan Lucci of "All My Children" was snubbed for the 17th time Wednesday night at the Daytime Emmy Awards. The best soap opera actress award went to Jess Walton of "The Young and the Restless." Justin Deas of "Guiding Light" won the best soap opera actor award. "General Hospital" took home the best soap opera prize. "The Oprah Winfrey Show" won for best daytime talk show, but Rosie O'Donnell beat out Winfrey for best talk show host. Fred Rogers of "Mister Rogers" got a lifetime achievement award.

Spice Girls Still on Top

The Spice Girls maintained the top position on the U.S. album charts for a second straight week with a tiny 2.5 percent sales drop, the group's label said. The British pop group's debut album, "Spice," released by Virgin Records, sold just under 135,000 copies during the week that ended Sunday, bringing the 15-week total to almost 1.9 million. The No. 2 album, with sales of nearly 100,000, was Christian music artist Bob Carlisle's fourth solo release, "Butterfly Kisses (Shades of Grace)," which was 95th last week. Now in its fourth week on the pop charts, the album has shipped more than 800,000 copies to retail, his Diadem Records label said.

More 'Beatles' Treasure

Former "Beatles" star Paul McCartney says he has a notebook of never-recorded songs he wrote with John Lennon. These are the earliest-ever McCartney-Lennon songs written after the two musicians met at the Woolton Church Fete in Liverpool some 40 years ago. "There are probably five or six (songs)," McCartney said in a statement. "I wrote them in my school exercise book. It's got 'Love Me Do' in it and four others that were never recorded." There is no word on whether McCartney will record the old material.

Brokaw Gets Offer from CNN

A report that Ted Turner wants to pay NBC Nightly News anchorman Tom Brokaw $7 million a year to jump ship has produced chuckles in broadcasting circles and comments that it must be contract renewal time. An NBC spokeswoman said Turner regularly offers network broadcasting stars about $7 million a year to join his Cable News Network and added that on Monday, Brokaw told NBC affiliates in a speech that he looked forward to spending the rest of his career at NBC. The New York Times reported Wednesday that Turner offered Brokaw, 57, a contract worth more than $7 million a year to become CNN's "on air leader." A CNN spokesman had no comment on the report.

Lewis on London Stage

Jerry Lewis is making his London stage debut in "Damn Yankees." The musical, which is enjoying success as a revival, tells the tale of a passionate baseball fan who sells his soul to the devil (played by Lewis) to become the world's greatest ballplayer. Lewis says he loves the show and waits each day "like a kid in a candy store" for the curtain to go up. After its London run, the musical heads for Paris and Berlin. Then he will be taking it round Canada, Australia and Japan before hitting New York at the turn of the century.

Russia Honors Rostropovich

Russian President Boris Yeltsin has awarded renowned cellist Mstislav Rostropovich the order "for services to the fatherland", for his contribution to world music. Yeltsin said he was "proud that Russia has given the world this great musician and great man." Rostropovich was stripped of his citizenship by the Soviet authorities in 1978. He regained that status in 1990, and joined Yeltsin's resistance to communist coup plotters in 1991. He has since been an advocate of democratic reform in Russia.

'Rush' From New York

According to the New York Post's "Page Six," conservative talkmeister Rush Limbaugh hates New York and is spending more and more time doing his show from Florida. The paper quotes "one insider" in the Big Apple as saying it's an open secret at ABC flagship affiliate, WABC, that for the past six months Limbaugh has been secretly lambasting liberals from his new ocean-front home in Palm Beach. A spokesman for Limbaugh told the paper the show is broadcast from New York, not Florida. But the Post said with a few technical maneuvers, it is easy to broadcast the show from New York with Limbaugh on the line from Florida.

Apology for Roger Moore

Former James Bond star Roger Moore has won an apology from a British newspaper that alleged he and his ex-wife Luisa heatedly fought over money after their divorce. Moore's lawyer said there had been no "bitter battle" and that there final settlement was amicable. The paper, the Daily Mail, said the information for the story was supplied by a freelance agency, and editors never realized it contained major errors. The paper must apologize and pay Moore's legal fees.

O'Donnell at MTV Awards

Chris O'Donnell headlines a list of stars who will serve as presenters at the 1997 MTV Movie Awards. Also appearing with O'Donnell is Salma Hayek, Neve Campbell, Samuel L. Jackson, Alicia Silverstone, Michael Richards, Renee Zellweger and Gwen Stefani. MTV also announced that Bush -- who will headline that night at Los Angeles' Forum -- En Vogue and Jewel will perform at the ceremony. MTV will air the event June 12.

Wine Lovers Soak Up

Wine lovers splashed out more than $5.8 million for composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's prized collection in London Wednesday, smashing pre-sale estimates and setting a world record for a wine auction. The most spectacular item was the "Millennium Cellar Super Lot," a selection of some of the greatest wines ever produced, including champagnes, clarets and dessert wines described by Sotheby's auction house as "a hedonist's paradise." A self-styled incurable collector, Lloyd Webber first began buying wines as a schoolboy, gradually amassing a cellar of more than 18,000 bottles, far more than even the most ambitious wine drinker could consume in a lifetime.

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