NEWS LITE\Argentines Madonna no saint.

Madonna is due to arrive today in Buenos Aires to start shooting the movie "Evita," but she'll find a chilly reception.

Unreconstructed supporters of Evita Peron resent the show's depiction of their heroine as one who slept her way to power. On walls downtown and near the airport are graffiti such as, "Evita lives! Get out Madonna!"

President Carlos Menem has called the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "a total and utter disgrace." Buenos Aires Archbishop Antonio Quarraccino labeled Madonna "pornographic and unsuitable - an insult to Argentine women."

Shooting is to begin Feb. 8. Evita was a show-biz star who became the nation's powerful first lady before dying of cancer at 33 in 1952. Many Argentines consider her a saint.

Norway's lucky strike a true gem

Give this diamond to your betrothed and the engagement might be kaput - it's only 0.07 carats. But Norwegians are delighted with the barely visible stone.

It's the first diamond ever found in Norway. Its discovery by an unidentified rockhound in Finnmark, the country's northernmost province, was announced Thursday.

Experts had long suspected that diamond-bearing geological formations in Russia and Finland extended into the Norwegian arctic, but had been unable to find diamonds.

The find caused immediate hope and worry in sparsely populated Finnmark.

Some saw the chance of an economic boom if prospectors rush to the tundra, while others worried that such a rush could devastate the region, the state radio network NRK said.

Roberts, Perry beyond 'Friends'

Julia Roberts has a habit of falling in lust with her leading men - she was engaged to Dylan McDermott of "Steel Magnolias" and Kiefer Sutherland of "Flatliners," and seriously bonded with Liam Neeson of "Satisfaction."

Now, the Pretty Woman has latched onto Pretty Boy Matthew Perry of "Friends." Roberts filmed a guest stint for a one-hour episode to be aired Super Bowl Sunday. She plays Susie, a makeup artist who promises her former grade school classmate (Perry) a night he'll never forget.

Apparently the make-believe kisses turned into something much cozier. Roberts was snapped leaving his California digs at 7 a.m. one Sunday morning - she, barefoot, he, in socks. Then she vroomed off in his black Porsche.

Not the nerds they used to be?

The British chapter of Mensa, the organization for the cranium-empowered, is stepping into the '90s for its 50th anniversary. It's paying a PR firm good money to come up with "seminars like 'How to Strip for Your Man,' pub crawls and backstage tours of the popular soap 'Coronation Street.' " To the accusation that the high-IQ set is going the meat market way, Adrian Crowe, 47, declares: "Being smart doesn't make you a sexless nerd. Mensa's a great place to meet people."

From sunny Malibu with love - Johnny

From Johnny Carson, heeeeeeeere's money!

The former "Tonight Show" host has given $1 million to help build a learning center serving the Nebraska region where he grew up.

The $2.5 million Lifelong Learning Center in Norfolk will use satellite technology and other technical developments to offer college degrees and job training.

Northeast Community College, Wayne State College, the University of Nebraska and other institutions are taking part.

Carson has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars each to a radiation center at Lutheran Hospital and a theater that bears his name at Norfolk High School.

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(1) Madonna No Evita? (2) Johnny Carson Remembers hometown (3) Julia Roberts will appear as a former classmate of Chandler (Matthew Perry, left) on an episode of "Friends" to air Super Bowl Sunday.