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Mon Sep 25, 8:56 PM ET NEW YORK - Oprah Winfrey says her lawyers shouldn't have gone after the man who is trying to promote her as a candidate for president. Not because she's running, mind you. "I feel flattered by it," the 52-year-old talk-show host told The Associated Press on Monday. "My lawyers overreacted, I think, by sending him a cease-and-desist order because it really is a flattering thing." It should have been handled in a phone call, said Winfrey, who said she's thinking of calling Patrick Crowe of Kansas City, Mo., herself. Crowe has been campaigning to urge Winfrey to run for president for years, setting up a Web site that has its own campaign song. A month ago, Winfrey's lawyers sent Crowe a letter demanding that he remove her picture from his Web site. Winfrey's smiling face remained on http://www.oprah08.net Monday. Winfrey was in New York to promote Oprah and Friends, which launched Monday on XM Satellite Radio. In February, Winfrey signed a three-year, $55 million deal with XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. to launch her new radio channel, which joins her nationally syndicated television show and her O, The Oprah Magazine. XM Satellite Radio boasts more than 7 million subscribers.

Reuters - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani warns that Iraq can "make trouble" for its neighbors if they do not stop interfering in his country's internal affairs.

By Joal Ryan Mon Sep 25, 7:59 PM ET All in all, Desperate Housewives is in better shape than Mike the comatose plumber. The campy ABC soap faced down Sunday night football and won, albeit with numbers that were not as strong as those of Grey's Anatomy's present or Desperate Housewives' own past. An estimated 23.9 million tuned in Housewives' third-season premiere, per Nielsen Media Research statistics. No other Sunday night show drew as big an audience--not NBC's Sunday Night Football (estimated 15.6 million), not CBS' Without a Trace (estimated 17.4 million). But when the latest weekly rankings come out Tuesday, it should be Grey's Anatomy, not Desperate Housewives, that comes out on top. Wisteria Lane's old Sunday neighbor killed on Thursday with 25.4 million viewers, more than even CBS' CSI (22.6 million). Desperate Housewives, meanwhile, must make do with good buzz for its third-season storylines, and forget that its maligned second-season storylines scared off millions, from 28.4 million for last September's first episode to 24.2 million for last May's finale. All told, Sunday's Housewives, featuring Mike's coma and Bree's sexual awakening, drew nearly 1.8 million more viewers than last season's average. The win came as Housewives, in some parts of the country, aired its first new episode opposite a Sunday Night Football game. Compared to last season's week-three Monday Night Football game on ABC, Sunday's week-three Sunday Night Football game on NBC was up 15 percent in viewers. Compared to last season's premiere, Housewives was down 16 percent. And while the stats do give pause, it seems too early to say if Housewives was off because of football, or because of its aforementioned suckage problem. Elsewhere on Sunday, TV's biggest night after Thursday, the new ABC show Brothers & Sisters (estimated 16.1 million) lost more than a third of Housewives' audience, but managed to make things uncomfortable for CBS' Without a Trace. Making its debut in the 10 p.m. Sunday hour, Without a Trace was down 17 percent from its second-season premiere. Last season, the crime show aired on Thursdays where it was the whipped cream on a venti-sized CSI. Now it's the cup for a tall-sized Cold Case (estimated 15.9 million). Overall on Sunday, ABC "delivered a dominant first-place finish," but failed to impress CBS, which insisted it "opened in impressive fashion." The numbers say ABC was the most watched network of the night, followed by CBS. Football or no, NBC finished third, according to Variety, followed by Fox and the rerun zone that was the CW.

AP - Family members of three people slain by a 14-year-old on newsman Sam Donaldson's New Mexico ranch sued the makers of the video game "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" on Monday, claiming the crimes would not have occurred had the teenager never played the violent game.

By BOB LEWIS, Associated Press Writer Mon Sep 25, 7:52 PM ET RICHMOND, Va. - Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record) on Monday denounced as "ludicrously false" allegations from a former college football teammate that he frequently used a racial slur to refer to blacks in the early 1970s and that he once stuffed a severed deer head into a black household's mailbox. Allen's campaign also released statements from four other ex-teammates defending the senator and rejecting Dr. Ken Shelton's claims. Shelton leveled the allegations against the former University of Virginia quarterback in an article published Sunday in the online magazine Salon.com and during an Associated Press interview Sunday night. "The story and his comments and assertions in there are completely false," Allen said during an interview with AP reporters and editors. "I don't remember ever using that word and it is absolutely false that that was ever part of my vocabulary." Larry J. Sabato, one of Virginia's most-quoted political science professors and a classmate of Allen's in the early 1970s, said in a televised interview Monday that Allen used the epithet. "I'm simply going to stay with what I know is the case and the fact is he did use the n-word, whether he's denying it or not," Sabato, now director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, told Chris Matthews on MSNBC. Sabato would not say whether he had heard Allen say the word, and did not know whether it was true that Allen used the word frequently in college. Allen, a Republican, has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2008, but questions about racial insensitivity have dogged him during his re-election bid against Democrat Jim Webb. Allen's use of the word "macaca" in referring to a Webb campaign volunteer of Indian descent in August prompted an outcry. The word denotes a genus of monkeys and, in some cultures, is considered an ethnic slur. But the senator insisted he did not know that and had simply made the word up. Shelton, a Hendersonville, N.C., radiologist who was a tight end and wide receiver for the university in the early 1970s, said Allen used the n-word only around white teammates. Shelton said the incident with the deer head occurred during their college days when he, Allen and another teammate who has since died were hunting on a farm the third man's family owned near Bumpass, Va., 40 miles east of the university. Shelton said Allen asked the other teammate where black families lived in the area, then stuffed a deer's head into the mailbox of one of the homes. "George insisted on taking the severed head, and I was a little shocked by that," Shelton said. "This was just after the movie `The Godfather' came out with the severed horse's head in the bed," Shelton told the AP. He said he came forward because of Allen's presidential prospects and the "macaca" incident. "When I saw the look in his eye in that camera and using the word `macaca,' it just brought back the bullying way I knew from George back then," Shelton said. Shelton described himself as an independent who has supported Democratic and Republican candidates. He said he regretted that he had not spoken against Allen in the early 1980s, when he was first entering politics. Shelton said he began writing down his recollections as Allen's career "ascended to heights I never could have imagined." Other former teammates rushed to the senator's defense. Charlie Hale of Abingdon, a college roommate of Shelton's and an Allen campaign volunteer, said that he had hunted often with Allen, and "there was not even a rumor on the team" about the alleged deer incident. Doug Jones, another Allen campaign volunteer who said he had roomed with Shelton, also dismissed the allegations. "I never heard George Allen use any racially disparaging word, nor did I ever witness or hear about him acting in a racially insensitive manner," Jones said. Another former teammate, Gerard R. Mullins of Roanoke, said he recalled nothing racist about Allen. "George had a strong personality, and I guess that's why he was a quarterback," Mullins, who is not close with Allen, said in a telephone interview. Sometimes, he said, Allen was confrontational with teammates. "He would kind of pick on everyone a little just to get a reaction," said Mullins, a defensive back responsible "From a football standpoint, if you were black or white it didn't matter: if you dropped a pass, he'd have something to say to you." Shelton's claims came a week after a debate in which Allen bristled at questions about his Jewish ancestry. Allen later acknowledged publicly for the first time that his grandfather, a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, was Jewish, and on Monday he said both his maternal grandparents were Jews. Explaining his initial reaction, Allen has said his mother swore him to secrecy when she told him about his ancestry last month. Allen's father, the late George H. Allen, was a legendary football coach with the Los Angeles Rams and the Washington Redskins. Allen transferred from the University of California, Los Angeles, to Virginia when his father took the Redskins job.

Reuters - Actor Russell Crowe said on Monday he quit an epic movie about the Australian outback co-starring Nicole Kidman because he doesn't do "charity work" for major studios.

By Josh Grossberg Mon Sep 25, 7:48 PM ET Steven Tyler has apparently been living on the edge more than he previously let on. ADVERTISEMENT In an interview with Access Hollywood set to air Tuesday night, Aerosmith's sinewy singer reveals that he has quietly been battling hepatitis C, a blood-borne infection that can potentially lead to fatal liver damage, including cirrhosis or liver cancer. Per the New York Daily News, the 58-year-old Tyler tells host Nancy O'Dell that he was diagnosed three years ago but had contracted hepatitis C several years earlier without manifesting any symptoms. He subsequently endured a year's worth of pills and injections containing the antiviral drug interferon. "I've been pretty quiet about this," Tyler says, adding that his physician recommended he undergo the strict interferon regiment three years ago when the group took a break. "You know, it really hurt. It was a bad, bad period." Now, though, the frontman says he's back in the saddle, health-wise. "It is nonexistent in my bloodstream...where it's like a complete cure," says Tyler. The virus is often transmitted through dirty needles and typically affects addicts in high numbers. While there is no vaccine or known cure, hepatitis C can be controlled and even reduced in the bloodstream by powerful antiviral drugs such as interferon that strengthen the immune system. No word on whether the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame vocalist will discuss how he contracted hepatitis C , but he has long history of drug abuse. Back in the late 1970s, he and Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry were known as the Toxic Twins for their heavy consumption of drugs, including heroin. Their addictions got so bad the Boston band nearly took a permanent vacation from the rock scene two decades ago. But the group's masterminds cleaned themselves up and launched a hugely successful comeback in the late '80s. Tyler also admits that his health crisis and subsequent treatment put a big strain on his 17-year marriage to fashion designer Teresa Barrick. "I had a little problem at home, to say the least," the "Cryin' " crooner says on Access. "I would run upstairs at night, you know, to put the kids asleep and wake up at 3 in the morning with a nosebleed--you know, just passed out from the interferon, the treatment. It's a shot and pills and all of that. But the good news is I stood the test of time." The couple, who have two teenage children, ended up divorcing last year. Tyler tells Access he plans to talk more openly about his struggle with hepatitis C in the future to raise public awareness. "Hepatitis C is the one that, of all the people in this room, at least three have it and don't know it," he says. "It's the silent killer. I may go on Oprah and talk about this. I hope you don't mind me mentioning that." The musician joins an estimated 4.5 million Americans who suffer from hepatitis C, including fellow celebs Pamela Anderson, Naomi Judd and Larry Hagman. The disclosure caps a difficult year for the rocker. In March, Tyler underwent a successful procedure to repair a broken blood vessel on his right vocal cord, forcing Aerosmith to scrap 12 dates in the spring. And one month ago, 54-year-old bassist Tom Hamilton revealed that he's being treated for throat cancer but planned to rejoin the band on the road in the coming weeks. But Tyler is F.I.N.E. now. He's doing a guest shot Monday as Charlie Sheen's hard-partying neighbor on CBS' Two and a Half Men, and Aerosmith is currently on the Route of All Evil tour with Motley Crue. The jaunt is in support of Devil's Got a News Disguise, Aerosmith's latest greatest hits compilation arriving in stores on Oct. 10. The band plans to return to the studio to begin work on a new album in February.

Reuters - More than 150 Brazilians were murdered each day last year on average, putting Brazil on a par with some war zones in terms of its homicide rate, the Justice Ministry said on Monday.

By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press Writer Mon Sep 25, 7:10 PM ET MILWAUKEE - Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that Democratic leaders aren't doing enough to fight terrorism and said Americans must "reject any strategy of resignation and defeatism in the face of determined enemies." Cheney, speaking at a party fundraiser, said Republicans must keep national security on the minds of voters heading into the November midterm election. Cheney used his 20-minute address to defend the Bush administration's war on terrorism and point fingers at Democrats. "We have to stay on the offensive until the danger to civilization is removed," Cheney told about 110 people at the Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee. Cheney attacked Democrats for turning their backs on Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., after his loss in the primary to anti-war candidate Ned Lamont. He took Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean to task for saying the capture of Saddam Hussein has not made America safer and accused Dean and Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), D-Pa., of advocating what Cheney called a failed policy of retreat in the war against terrorism. The vice president chided Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada for opposing the Patriot Act and suggesting the U.S. should not have invaded Iraq, even if it meant leaving Saddam in power. Reid responded Monday by saying the White House has lost all credibility on matters of national security. "With Iraq in a civil war, Afghanistan moving backward and our own borders unsecured, it's clear George Bush and Dick Cheney are desperate to hide their record and distort the truth," Reid said. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., said Cheney's comments were proof that the administration's Iraq strategy isn't working. "Instead of changing course, we just get more of the same tired rhetoric that does nothing to make us safe or fix the mess the vice president has helped create," Kennedy said. The Democratic National Committee accused Cheney of being on a "smear and fear" tour. Cheney and President Bush were on the road campaigning for candidates in four different states Monday. After the Milwaukee stop, Cheney headed to Michigan to attend a dinner reception for Michael Bouchard, a Republican Senate candidate. Bush was in Connecticut and Ohio. The Milwaukee fundraiser was for get-out-the-vote efforts and not to benefit a specific candidate, the state party said.

By Joal Ryan Mon Sep 25, 7:21 PM ET Mel Gibson is facing his critics. The movie-going ones, anyway. Out of the spotlight since an admittedly "out of control" blowup and drunken-driving arrest, Gibson has surfaced in Oklahoma and Texas, only once resorting to the cover of a wig, and fielding questions at screenings of his new movie. "The audience could ask anything they wanted," Jhane Myers, a publicist who worked on the star's recent Southwest swing, said Monday. "And it never came up." "It" is Gibson's reputed "f--king Jews" and "sugar tits" rant from his July 28 DUI arrest in Malibu. What came up instead was Apocalypto, Gibson's all-Mayan action-adventure movie due out in December. "Don't be afraid. I got a hide like a rhinoceros, you know," Gibson told a Fantastic Fest audience in Austin, Texas, on Saturday night, per an audio recording of the Q&A session posted on Ain't It Cool. Gibson sounded low-key and engaging, frequently eliciting laughs, even when the Apocalypto talk turned apocalyptic. "The precursors to a civilization that's going under are always the same, time and time again," Gibson said, linking his 15-century period piece to the present day. "I don't mean to be a doomsday guy, but the Mayan calendar does end in 2012, boys and girls. "Have fun!" The Fantastic Fest screening was one of four sneak peeks, held Thursday through Saturday, of Gibson's not quite finished print. All but the final showing were private screenings for Native American groups. While Gibson has asked Jewish leaders to put him on the "path to healing," he apparently wants Native Americans to set him on the right path with Apocalypto. The film, which Gibson wrote and directed, features a cast of Native-American actors, including Rudy Youngblood, who joined the filmmaker on the promotional tour. "It's probably the first big film that's ever starred only indigenous people, which I think is really cool, because it's better than me getting up and putting a wig on," Gibson said Saturday night. Funny, he should mention a wig... At a Thursday afternoon screening for members of the Comanche Nation at Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma, Gibson entered the venue wearing a hat, sunglasses and a wig--the better to keep him from drawing a crowd, Myers explained. "He just had a disguise on when he was going in," Myers said. "I can't really give you a [detailed] description because then everyone would know what to look for." Gibson greeted audience members and exited the theater sans disguise, Myers said. Early notices for Apocalypto won't have Gibson diving for cover. Ain't It Cool's Harry Knowles, who saw the film twice on Saturday, called it, given its presently unfinished state, a "rough jewel." "This could very well be the best film Mel has made when he's done with it," Knowles wrote on his site. At Indiewire.com, Matt Dentler blogged that Apocalypto was a "fine adventure film." He even gave distributor Disney poster-blurb fodder: "It's Braveheart with subtitles." Dentler, however, might have also given Disney angina. He wrote that he wasn't entirely able to get past Gibson's "disgusting" words from the DUI bust. "Was I able to block it from my mind during the Q&A?" blogged Dentler, producer of the prestigious South by Southwest Film Festival. "Not at all." Upping the controversy quotient, a Gibson comment about the Iraq war at Fantastic Fest ("What's human sacrifice if not sending guys off to Iraq for no reason?") proved ready-made for a Drudge Report headline ("MEL GIBSON BLASTS IRAQ WAR, SAYS AMERICAN CIVILIZATION ON DECLINE...") Gibson pleaded no-contest to a misdemeanor DUI count on Aug. 17. The deal meant required Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for the Braveheart Oscar-winner, but headed off a trial that might have featured tapes of his tirade. Apocalypto is Gibson's first film since The Passion of the Christ. More test screenings likely are on the way; its director told the Austin crowd he was eager for feedback. "You don't know if you can trust your own judgment anymore."

AP - Working Mother magazine released its annual list of the top 100 places to work, with its chief executive touting an improvement in mother-friendly benefits in corporate America.

By Gina Serpe Mon Sep 25, 7:48 PM ET While coroners in the Bahamas try to determine what, exactly, caused the sudden death of Anna Nicole Smith's son, Daniel, more than two weeks ago, the rest of the island, it seems, is trying to determine whether Smith has received any special treatment before and after the young man's passing. ADVERTISEMENT While results of a second autopsy are still pending, though it was revealed today that the body of the 20-year-old remains at a Nassau funeral home and has not been, as was first expected, sent back to the U.S. Sources close to the former Playmate now say that Daniel will likely be buried on the island, not in California as initially planned. While news of the funeral site seems like a fairly innocuous development, it has still managed to cause a stir among some Bahamian officials. The country's opposition Free National Movement has been the most vocal in calling out the government. The group says Smith was "hastily" granted citizenship just days before she gave birth to a baby girl. Smith had gone to the Bahamas to seek privacy and managed to get fast-tracked for permanent citizenship--something that usually takes six months was accomplished in half that time for Smith, a "disturbing precedent," according to the Free National Movement. But officials have pooh-poohed the complaints. "As long as all the forms are filled out correctly and all of the requirements are met?as quickly as we can verify it we would be processing these applications," the country's Labour minister, Shane Gibson, told the Bahama Journal in defense of the turn-around. "We don't want to simply hold on the applications just to say it's going to take six months. If we finish the process within a week, why can't we grant the permanent residency? Why should we just make the person wait?" Meanwhile, the investigation that was launched following Daniel's sudden death also touched off another firestorm, with Head Coroner Linda P. Virgill being removed from the case in the wake of accusations that she had given the Smith investigation precedence over a build-up of local cases due to its high profile. Virgill deemed the death "suspicious" and "unnatural" and called for an inquest to determine the hows and whys of his passing. Her office set a start date of Oct. 23 for the investigation, though last week, her superiors admitted she may have acted prematurely. Authorities now say they may wait until the results of the second autopsy, conducted by Anna Nicole Smith's private pathologist, and further toxicology tests are revealed to see whether the boy died of natural causes. If so, no inquest may be needed. Daniel was visiting his mother in Nassau's Doctors Hospital two days after Anna Nicole gave birth via Cesarean section to his sister, whose name and paternity have yet to be released. On the morning of Sept. 10, hours after he turned up, he was pronounced dead. Last week, Smith's legal sidekick, Howard K. Stern, told E! News that the first of the three toxicology screenings turned up no traces of illegal substances in his bloodstream, though low levels of an antidepressant and sleeping medication were present. Despite the lack of a cause of death, authorities issued a death certificate for the boy last week to allow the body to be released for funeral services. Smith is currently free to leave the Bahamas, but has opted to stay put for the time being.