She may be one of the least popular cast members of the "Real Housewives" franchise, but now Teresa Giudice is disputing her sister-in-law's accusation that Giudice attacked her, saying it was the other way around.

"I usually don't comment on stories about me, but I cannot ignore Melissa Marco's vicious lie that I assaulted her at my own children's birthday party while she was holding my baby nephew,” says Giudice. “It is completely untrue in every way. To make such a horrible accusation that involves our children is beyond despicable and speaks to her true character."

Melissa recently did a round of interviews, including an Us Weekly cover and an appearance on Wendy Williams' show, where she had some tough criticism for Giudice. However, Giudice and her friends refuse to remain silent over accusations that she "roughed up" anyone.

“This supposedly happened at Gia and Milania's very big, very public joint birthday party in January,” a friend of Giudice tells me. “The party was at Space Odyssey, owned by Elvira Grau, who was with Teresa the entire time. Elvira has publicly tweeted that it's untrue. It was a very public party with a hired photographer there. No one saw them do anything but talk. They didn't even hug because Melissa was holding her baby, so Teresa just kissed the baby. If anything had happened, why didn't Melissa immediately go to the press about it then? She puts every other little complaint on Twitter. Nothing.”

In what is expected to be the most dramatic "Real Housewives" reunion of all time, viewers will get to see for themselves how bad things have gotten between these two family members.

“Melissa lost it at the reunion and put her hands on Teresa,” one Bravo insider tells me. “Teresa started yelling that she was going to 'sue' Melissa, but has not taken any legal action yet.”

Kimye has only existed for six months but it appears Kim Kardashian is already envisioning what the couple's offspring might look like.

The reality star opened up about her relationship with Kanye West on “The View” recently, telling the hosts she thinks Kanye West is her “perfect match" and that he will in fact be around "permanently."

When asked if she has plans for children, Kardashian, who is reportedly off her birth control, replied, “Kids is definitely something I want, I think I wanted that before.”

So much so, that Kardashian (known for her no-holds-barred attitude) took to her Twitter page yesterday to reiterate the point to her fans.

    Mom- want any coffee? Me- yes please Mom- how do u take it? Me- half coffee half milk. Just make it the color of what my kid would be

It looks like Marc Webb is going to get "pregnant again." As first reported by Variety and confirmed by Deadline.com, the "Amazing Spider-Man" director will return for the film's sequel, "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." Not surprisingly, star Andrew Garfield will don the red-and-blue costume again as well. (Emma Stone is still negotiating, but will likely appear too.)

In an interview with HuffPost Entertainment over the summer, Webb was unwilling to talk about the sequel.

"You know, I want to finish this up and go to a beach and think about the future," he said. "People ask about the sequel and I'm like, 'Well, you know, I don't know if I want to do that, but I love the process.' I love Andrew and Emma. But it's like asking someone who has just given birth, 'Do you want to get pregnant again?'"

In July, it was reported that Webb might not have the chance to get "pregnant again" for "Amazing Spider-Man 2." The director owed Fox a film from a previous contract, and it was unclear if that would prevent Webb from working for Sony again on such a short turnaround: "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" is out in theaters on May of 2014.

All turned out well, however, as Webb will be back along with his key collaborators. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," which was rewritten by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci ("Star Trek") from an original treatment by James Vanderbilt, is scheduled to start filming in early 2013.

For more on Webb, including what projects he has on the burner at Fox, head over to Variety.

Viewers of Katie Couric's talk show were doubtless surprised on Monday when, during the discussion of eating disorders, Couric disclosed that she had had her own struggles with that cruel, sometimes deadly condition.

"I wrestled with bulimia all through college and for two years after that," she said, describing the guilt she felt at eating a single cookie or chewing a stick of gum that wasn't sugar-free.

But the bulk of the show was devoted to her guests, who included experts on the subject as well as its sufferers, notably singer and new "X Factor" judge Demi Lovato.

During the hour, Couric said little more about her experience, which she had never before made public.

"I kind of hesitated to even bring it up," she told The Associated Press after the taping. "But I felt that if I expect people on my show to be honest, then, when relevant, I owe it to people watching to be honest myself.

"I wanted to focus on my guests," she said, "while acknowledging one of the reasons this issue is so important to me: I went through it."

It's all part of a balance Couric is striving for on her new syndicated daytime show, "Katie," between sharing her experiences and turning her show into a personal confessional.

But in an exclusive interview with the AP, Couric, 55, shared details about the illness that first plagued her as a senior at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Va.

It began, she said, when she learned she had been turned down by the college she most wanted to attend.

Couric was a likely candidate for an eating disorder.

"Like a lot of young women, I was struggling with my body image," she said, "and feeling like I wasn't good enough or attractive enough or thin enough."

She termed her figure at the time as "curvy," and not the cultural ideal, which she identified as "five-foot-eight and weighing 115 pounds. It can be so difficult to embrace the body that you have if it doesn't fit with the ideal. Women get praised for being super-thin, so you keep striving to be that way."

She said her disorder "ebbed and flowed" through the years.

"Some periods were worse than others, when I was binging and purging a lot," she said. "I'd have a piece of gum that wasn't sugarless and then say, 'Oh! I've been bad,' and then feel so terrible that I would eat and throw up. It was awful.

"But what I'm describing is something so many people have gone through or are going through," she noted, "and it's so damaging, both psychically and physically."

Couric attended the University of Virginia, then landed her first job at the ABC News bureau in Washington, D.C. And even then, she was waging a battle with food.

With the help of a therapist, she had a grip on her condition by her early 20s, though "it didn't mean that I didn't still have issues and feel bad about myself."

But since then, she said, "I've learned how to have a much healthier relationship with food, and how to enjoy my life without obsessing about food."

She said she was glad she had shared with viewers her ordeal with bulimia, "because it's so commonplace."

And it's not the first time Couric has let the public in on a personal ordeal. Her audience shared her pain from the death of her husband, Jay Monahan, of colon cancer in 1998. The tragedy led Couric, then a co-anchor of "Today," to become an advocate for colon cancer awareness and for colonoscopies. In 2000, she underwent a colonoscopy on the air.

In an interview to air tonight on CBS's 60 Minutes, President Barack Obama will refer to Israel's concern over Iran's march toward a nuclear program as "noise."

"When it comes to our national security decisions -- any pressure that I feel is simply to do what's right for the American people. And I am going to block out -- any noise that's out there," Obama says, according to AFP.

 STEVE KROFT: "How much pressure have you been getting from Prime Minister Netanyahu to make up your mind to use military force in Iran?"

PRESIDENT OBAMA: "Well—look, I have conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu all the time. And I understand and share Prime Minister Netanyahu's insistence that Iran should not obtain a nuclear weapon, because it would threaten us, it would threaten Israel, and it would threaten the world and kick off a nuclear arms race."

STEVE KROFT:  "You’re saying, you don't feel any pressure from Prime Minister Netanyahu in the middle of a campaign to try and get you to change your policy and draw a line in the sand? You don’t feel any pressure?"

PRESIDENT OBAMA: "When it comes to our national security decisions—any pressure that I feel is simply to do what's right for the American people. And I am going to block out—any noise that's out there. Now I feel an obligation, not pressure but obligation, to make sure that we're in close consultation with the Israelis—on these issues. Because it affects them deeply. They're one of our closest allies in the region. And we’ve got an Iranian regime that has said horrible things that directly threaten Israel’s existence."

Debt collectors and district attorneys are teaming up to bully bad-check writers into paying their debt, including a California woman who bounced a $48 check to Walmart and was threatened with jail time.

In a practice that has spread to more than 300 prosecutors' offices, collection companies are sending signed letters on D.A. letterhead that threaten jail time unless the check writers settle up and pay for a "financial accountability" class, reported the New York Times.

Even petty amounts owed can invite harsh treatment. Single mom Angela Yartz told the paper she was unaware that a $47.95 check she had written to Walmart had bounced. She later received a letter signed by the Alameda County (Calif.) district attorney that she better fork over $280.05 or face up to a year behind bars.

Intimidation tactics are nothing new on the bill collection front, of course. Even hospitals are accused of using them. The University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis is now being probed for allegedly harassing very sick patients into paying up or risk losing medical care.

Debt collection is a $12 billion-a-year business, and 30 million people are now in the cross-hairs of bill collectors, reported the Los Angeles Times. So it should be no surprise that firms are stepping up their strong-arm tactics.

Last year, the Federal Trade Commission received 180,928 complaints about the debt recovery biz, the LAT said.

In the arrangement between debt collectors and district attorneys, the agencies secure their share plus the class fee and the district attorneys get paid by the agencies or receive a share of the money collected, reported the Times.

Above the Law pointed out the potential conundrum of threatening someone with imprisonment on prosecutor letterhead before a lawyer has even considered the case. District attorneys explained to the Times that the letters reduce their caseload, and that only those who ignore merchant warnings are contacted.

Yartz, the Walmart customer, noticed that part of her jacked-up settlement bill from the D.A. included $180 for the budgeting class. The Times said she eventually paid $100.05 to cover the bounced check and penalties, and took her chances with the rest.

A Michigan appeals court ruled this week that a Walmart employee with an inoperable brain tumor and cancer was not wrongfully fired over medical marijuana use.

Upholding a decision by a federal judge in Grand Rapids, Mich., last year, the appeals court said that "Michigan law doesn't stop employers from firing people who use medical marijuana," the Associated Press reports.

Joseph Casias was an inventory-control manager at a Walmart in Battle Creek, Mich., until he was fired after he tested positive for marijuana in 2009.

According to a 2010 report by the Associated Press, Casias uses medical marijuana to treat symptoms of an inoperable brain tumor and cancer. The married father of two has been in remission for several years, but the medical condition causes him pain and interferes with his ability to speak.

His oncologist had prescribed the treatment after Michigan voters approved medical marijuana use in 2008.

"No patient should be forced to choose between adequate pain relief and gainful employment, and no employer should be allowed to intrude upon private medical choices made by employees in consultation with their doctors," said Scott Michelman, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, in 2010. The ACLU and its Michigan branch, along with attorney Daniel W. Grow, represented Casias in the lawsuit against Walmart.

"For some people, working at Walmart is just a job, but for me, it was a way of life," Casias said in a statement released in 2010. "I came to Walmart for a better opportunity for my family, and I worked hard and proved myself. I just want the opportunity to continue my work."

Addressing the case, Walmart said that marijuana use "conflicts with its safety policy in stores."

"The doctor prescribed treatment was not the relevant issue. The issue is about the ability of our associates to do their jobs safely," the company said in 2010.

ACLU insists that Casius complied with "all applicable state laws and never once smoked marijuana at work or came to work under its influence."

Nonetheless, a federal appeals court said Wednesday that the "state medical marijuana law provides some immunity in criminal cases, but it doesn't offer protection to people in the workplace," according to the Associated Press.

Ever wonder what it would look like if Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan were photographed in bed together? Wonder no more, you masochist! The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films have released a first still from "Scary Movie 5" to Coming Soon, and it features your favorite tabloid fixtures in what could be viewed as a post-coitus moment. (Sorry.)

Lohan and Sheen are set to appear in the film -- though only briefly. It is widely assumed the characters they play will get brutally murdered, as is the custom of the "Scary Movie" franchise, which spoofs the "Scream" franchise, which is a horror spoof in its own right. Earlier this month, Page Six reported that Lohan was balking at the film's script because it cast her in a negative light. She eventually reported to the set after Dimension allegedly threatened legal action, but many were still concerned with her ability to perform.

"Even Charlie Sheen worried she might not be able to do the scene,” a source told Page Six.

Check out the new still below. "Scary Movie 5" -- also starring Ashley Tisdale, Erica Ash, Terry Crews, Heather Locklear, Molly Shannon and Kate Walsh -- hits theaters on April 19, 2013.

Tim Pawlenty quit as co-chair of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign on Thursday to become one of Wall Street's top lobbyists in Washington. Pawlenty, a former governor of Minnesota, will lead the Financial Services Roundtable.

The move came with Romney's campaign struggling to find its stride with just seven weeks left before Election Day. Polls show the former Massachusetts governor running neck and neck with President Barack Obama in a contest both sides predict will be very close. But Romney's campaign has been grappling with a video showing him seemingly writing off Obama supporters as having a "victim" mindset and being reliant on government handouts. And Republicans outside the campaign have been grumbling that the campaign needs a shot in the arm.

"It is an honor to call Mitt and Ann my friends," Pawlenty said in a written statement released by the Romney campaign. "As the campaign moves into the home stretch, he has my full support and continued faith in his vision and his policies."

"Tim Pawlenty is a dear friend," Romney said in the same statement. "He's brought energy, intelligence and tireless dedication to every enterprise in which he's ever been engaged, and that certainly includes my presidential campaign.

"While I regret he cannot continue as co-chair of my campaign, his new position advancing the integrity of our financial system is vital to the future of our country," Romney said. "I congratulate him."

Romney passed over Pawlenty in his search for a vice presidential candidate, eventually settling on Congressman Paul Ryan. Pawlenty had been discussed as a possible running mate for Sen. John McCain in 2008, but the veteran lawmaker picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin instead.