i signed up for google news to open up with and to put short cut on
the desktop. now i am stuck; i can't get out - a can't go anywhere-
i'm stuck.  i drug the desktop icon to the trash bin-the symbol
disappeared but the program didn't.get me out and get me back to
opening with ms wxplorer and ms express.

Nasty problem!

Could it be that you have made Google News your default home page?

In Internet Explorer, try clicking on Tools, and then Internet
Options. Open the first tab (it may be the one you open to) marked
General. Does the first segment, Home Page, show
"http://news.google.com"?

If so, the problem is here.  Try clicking on the default or blank
button to change the page Explorer opens with, then close Explorer and
then reopen it.  Has this solved your problem?  If so, then you just
need to find the page you prefer in Explorer, and then go through the
above steps, clicking on Use Current as your home page preference.

You can still open Google News from your desktop by typing
"news.google.com" into your address/ location bar, then when the page
comes up, find a blank space, click the right-hand button on your
mouse, and choose Create Shortcut.  This will put a Google News icon
on your desktop.  Click on this and IE will open with Google News.
Click on the normal IE icon and it opens with your chosen page.

Does this help?  If so, please say and I will post this as an answer.

Best of luck, read2live