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Teri Hatcher lip suit going to arbitration

In a feud worthy of Wisteria Lane, Teri Hatcher has won a ruling in a case involving rival lip plumpers. A $2 million lawsuit against the Desperate Housewives star should be moved out of court and into arbitration, a judge ruled Monday.

The lawsuit by Hydroderm claims that a 2005 endorsement agreement with Hatcher's production company stipulated that she would not pitch competing products.

According to the suit, Hatcher, 43, was also pushing CityLips, which competes with Hydroderm's Volumizing Lip Serum. "Hatcher's name, image and likeness have been linked to so many competitors' products that it is anyone's guess as to what product keeps her skin and lips youthful," says the lawsuit.

But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Helen Bendix ruled that both sides are bound by a prior agreement to arbitrate Hydroderm's claims rather than litigate them in court.

DE NIRO IMPRESSES 50 CENT

Robert De Niro and 50 Cent are on the cover of March's Vibe, promoting their new crime drama Righteous Kill. The movie, which co-stars Al Pacino and Brian Dennehy, is expected to be released this fall.

Rapper 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, says he'd "hang out with Robert on Thursdays and Fridays" if he could.

"His celebrity is so strong that I get a chance to feel like a normal person for a little bit," he said. "People get nervous around him. We had a table read, and it was amazing because there were people who came in who were like, all recognizable faces ... and Robert comes in and Al comes in and it's almost like, their knees are going shaky under the table. It's great."

De Niro, 64, won an Oscar for portraying a mob boss in The Godfather: Part II. His screen credits also include Goodfellas and Heat.

"Those characters are more exciting," he says of playing gangsters. "People like to watch and identify with them in some ways. It's a fantasy. For an actor, (those parts are) more fun, in a way, to do."

FERGUSON GETS D.C. GIG

Less than a week after being sworn in as a U.S. citizen, Craig Ferguson learned he'll be telling jokes to President Bush. The CBS Late Late Show host said Tuesday that he's been booked as the entertainer at the annual White House correspondents' dinner in Washington

Ferguson, a Scot, recently passed a U.S. citizenship test and was formally sworn in Friday. For his late-night viewers, he described the correspondents' dinner, scheduled for April 26, as "like the Oscars for politicians."

"There are 2,800 journalists in attendance, there (are) congressman, senators there, military brass, the Cabinet and I sit at the top table with the president and the first lady," Ferguson said. "And I am thinking, 'Does he know I can't be kicked out now?'"