NEWS LITE : AUTHOR VEXED THAT MOTORIST STILL DRIVES.

Horror writer Stephen King says he is grateful to be alive and angry that the driver who hit him still has a driver's license.

``We heard that his response is, `What's the big deal? It was an accident. I didn't mean to hit him,' '' King told the Bangor (Maine) Daily News. ``In this guy's mind, that makes it an accident. Well, guess what, you have a responsibility when you're on the road to watch what you're doing.''

King, 51, was walking along the shoulder of a road near his vacation home in North Lovell, Maine, in June when he was hit by a van driven by Bryan Smith, 42, of Fryeburg, Maine. King has since undergone several operations to set broken bones in his leg and hip and faces a long rehabilitation. King says he'll probably never walk at 100 percent again.

A sheriff's deputy quoted Smith, who has a history of driving offenses, as saying he was distracted by a dog in his van and ran off the road.

Prosecutors said on Friday that a grand jury would take up the case against Smith during its next session, which begins Sept. 30.

Aspiring polyglot of pop eyes idiom

Puerto Rican pop sensation Ricky Martin says he may sing Mandarin Chinese on his next album.

``Why not?'' Martin asked Monday. ``Or Japanese,'' said the singer best known for mixing Spanish and English in hits such as ``Livin' La Vida Loca.''

An Asian influence can be heard on his latest compact disc, titled ``Ricky Martin,'' he said while promoting the album in Singapore.

``I spent half the year in Asia last year, and at the same time I was recording my album,'' he said. ``I went back to the studio and told them how I was affected by these beautiful sounds.''

Martin is wildly popular in Asia. Fans from as far away as Australia and India traveled to Singapore to watch the heartthrob sing five songs at a 30-minute show Sunday.

Monica selling purses via Net

Monica Lewinsky's still looking for that perfect job, but in the meantime she's hoping to make money selling her own line of handbags over the Internet.

``What really excites me is that this has nothing to do with the president,'' she said in October's Marie Claire magazine.

The former White House intern is selling eight designs, ranging from $70 to $130.

Lewinsky said she took up knitting and sewing ``as the only way to stay sane'' when she was holed up in her Washington apartment, forbidden by prosecutors to talk to anyone by phone or e-mail. After she made her first handbag, all her friends wanted one.

Giuliani could run for foreman

Rudolph Giuliani will have to take time out from his job running the nation's largest city to help decide whether a man deserves $6 million for having his private parts scalded in the shower.

The New York mayor was picked Monday for jury duty in the case of a man who is suing his landlord for the shower injury.

``I was surprised, but I really want to comment on it as little as possible,'' Giuliani said. ``I am gratified and very honored to serve and actually looking forward to it after all these years as a trial lawyer.''

Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor, had expected to be dismissed quickly from the pool of jurors. Instead he waited the entire morning and most of the afternoon with other prospective jurors before being picked.

The plaintiffs are a man and his wife who are seeking $6 million in damages from their landlord for allegedly improperly maintaining the boiler and pipes in their East Harlem apartment. The wife is seeking an additional $1 million for loss of consortium.

The trial is scheduled to start today.

Liz on the mend in Bel Air home

Elizabeth Taylor has been released from a hospital where she was treated for a back injury after a fall.

The 67-year-old actress went home from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Sunday, spokesman Warren Cowan said Monday.

Cowan said she was recovering well from a compression fracture of a vertebra and undergoing physical therapy at home. Her recovery was expected to take several weeks.

News Lite is compiled by Karen Duffy from Daily News staff and wire reports

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo: (1 -- 2) Bog slog

Julia Galvin, above, slogs her way through a 60-yards-long trench cut into a peat bog Monday at Llanwrtyd-Wells in Wales. At left, another snorkeler is down in the trench for world competition in a slimy sport.

(3) Lewinsky

(4) Martin