NEWS LITE : AOL REACHES OUT TO TV GENERATION.

America Online, the nation's largest online service, is trying to attract more customers by mimicking an older technology: TV.

AOL said Monday that it will revamp its look with television-style ``channels'' and programming that will be updated throughout the day with news, weather and stock quotes. Each channel will focus on such topics as the workplace, lifestyles or families.

While AOL users already are greeted by a wide selection of topics when they log on, the new format will display the channels more prominently and make the service less complicated, the company says.

The content of the channels will change throughout the day, like TV programming, with a prime time slot, an early morning slot and late night slots, among others.

Customers will be able to use the new channels starting Monday.

Classic cars hit better roads in Iran

After surviving the heat, dust and potholes of South Asia, 75 vintage cars rumbled along smoother roads across Iran on Monday in the second Beijing-to-Paris car rally.

After a rest stop Saturday in Isfahan in central Iran, the drivers hit the road again Sunday, cheered by hundreds of Iranians lining the streets on a fine 72-degree day.

``The roads here in Iran are wonderful, and the people are great,'' said Ray H. Carr, a hardy American millionaire who at 73 predates his vintage auto, a gleaming green 1939 Ford Deluxe.

The drivers plan to cross into Erzurum in Turkey today and drive through Greece, Italy, Switzerland and Germany before reaching Paris.

The rally is unusual not only for the age of its cars, but also because Iran has opened its borders to such an event for the first time, allowing scores of foreigners from 22 countries, including several Americans, to drive through.

Carr, who owns two Holiday Inn hotels in Pennsylvania, said he wants to remember every bit of his adventure and has hired two cameramen to document every moment on video.

The 45-day rally covering 10,000 miles in 11 countries - the longest ever for classic and vintage cars - began in Beijing on Sept. 6.

It commemorates the first transcontinental rally from Beijing to Paris in 1907 and is scheduled to end in Paris on Oct. 18.

Birthday held up by the numbers

June Allyson will celebrate her birthday today, but exactly which one is up in the air.

She'll be 80, according to reference books. Not true, the former MGM star said Monday in a telephone interview.

Allyson said she's in her early 70s and that the discrepancy results from years ago when she lied to get her driver license early.

Besides, she said, ``I never discuss my age.''

The sunny, throaty-voiced actress was known for her girl-next-door and ``perfect wife'' roles in the '40s and '50s. She starred with the late Jimmy Stewart in ``The Stratton Story'' and ``The Glenn Miller Story.''

``Oh, gosh,'' she said. ``I remember being just very happy and loving everything I did. I felt like I was in Disneyland. I've lived kind of a charmed life, what can I say?''

Allyson has lived in Ojai for 20 years with her third husband, David Ashrow, a retired children's dentist.

Refusing to wait, watch life pass by

The death of Princess Diana has taught her friend, Sarah Ferguson, a thing or two about life.

Fergie, in New York on Monday for a Weight Watchers promotional appearance, said she wants to ``really live every moment. And do my best to help others.''

The former wife of Prince Andrew said she expected to be asked to continue Diana's charity work.

``But never in a million years would I ever dream that I could follow her in any way, shape or form,'' said Fergie, who turned 38 on Sunday.

She said she was ``really terrified to re-emerge'' as the Weight Watchers spokeswoman but ``I know Diana would have wanted me to go forward.''

Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31 and French authorities are investigating whether pursuing paparazzi contributed to the tragedy.

Clock ticking away for quality TV news

Don Hewitt offered alphabet soup at a recent luncheon.

The creator and executive producer of ``60 Minutes'' said he wants his colleagues to return to hard news and re-establish a line between entertainment and journalism.

``Maybe it's time to put the `e' back in entertainment and the `n' back in news and do something for the network's `S and P,' '' Hewitt said, referring not to standards and practices but to ``their souls as well as their pocketbooks.''

Hewitt, 74, was the guest of honor Sunday at a roast at the annual meeting of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Former royal adds to stable of kids

Mark Phillips, the former husband of Princess Anne, has had a child with his second wife, nine months after they married.

Olympic equestrian Sandy Pflueger gave birth Thursday to a girl, Stephanie, in London, said a spokeswoman, who was not identified.

The baby is the half-sister of 19-year-old Peter and 16-year-old Zara Phillips, both from Phillips' marriage to the princess. The former British Army officer and Anne, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, were divorced in 1992 after 18 years.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1) Rally participant Ray H. Carr of Pennsylvania and his 1939 Ford Deluxe take a break in Isfahan, Iran.

Associated Press

(2) ALLYSON

(3) Holy message

The U.S. Postal Service announced Monday that a 15th-century painting of Madonna and child by di Pietro will be this year's Christmas stamp.

Associated Press