NEWS LITE : CAR-LOVING STARS HONOR COLLECTOR.

Hollywood shade tree mechanics Jay Leno and Tim Allen have long salivated over Beverly Hills car collector Bruce Meyer's stable of vehicles.

Meyer, whose garage includes Duesenbergs, hot rods, race cars and motorcycles, was presented with the Meguiar's Award as the collector car hobby person of the year at a Petersen Automotive Museum gala Thursday.

``Every time I go to Bruce's garage, there is always something different, and it's always good,'' said Leno, the 1997 Mequiar's Award winner. ``He should have won the first year, but due to trickery and politics, I won.''

In a videotaped tribute, Allen said, ``I can't think of a bigger car freak - other than me.''

Among the 500 people honoring Meyer was ``Entertainment Tonight'' hostess Mary Hart, ZZ Top's Billy F. Gibbons and racers Dan Gurney and Danny Sullivan.

Book's contents far outweigh cost

A secondhand book bought at a flea market turned out to be more than a worthwhile purchase when the owner found two sketches by Rembrandt between its pages.

Media in Amsterdam, Netherlands, reported Thursday that after returning from the market, the buyer - whose name was not given - paged through her new $1 book and found three drawings valued at more than $50,000 total.

Two of the sketches, which were not described, were original Rembrandts, and a third was drawn by one of his students. An art expert authenticated them.

Directors will rule at Cannes festival

The jury for the 52nd Cannes Film Festival features an eclectic lineup of directors, actors, a singer and a playwright, with Hollywood duly represented by Holly Hunter and Jeff Goldblum.

The list is heavy on directors: Andre Techine of France, George Miller of Australia, Maurizio Nichetti of Italy and Doris Dorrie of Germany will join jury president David Cronenberg, the Canadian director of ``Crash'' whose appointment was announced earlier.

Also on this year's list is Yasmina Reza, the French author of the hit play ``Art,'' which won a coveted Tony Award last year.

Hunter, a 1993 Oscar winner for ``The Piano,'' will be there, as will Goldblum, who's carved a niche playing eccentric scientists in big-budget films and most recently lent his voice to DreamWorks' ``The Prince of Egypt.''

Celebrated opera singer Barbara Hendricks will provide some musical star power. Rounding out the list is French actress Dominque Blanc.

The festival runs this year from May 12-23.

Court TV ratings soar with Jones' testimony

Jenny Jones is a hit on the witness stand, if not on her talk show.

Jones' testimony this week in the trial of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a man killed three days after he taped an episode of her talk show drew big ratings for struggling Court TV.

When Jones began her three days on the stand Monday afternoon, an estimated 334,000 viewers were tuned in to live coverage on Court TV, a 350 percent increase over the cable network's normal daytime ratings.

The trial's ratings peak Monday was matched on Jones' final day of testimony Wednesday.

Not since the Louise Woodward case two years ago has Court TV drawn as many people to watch a live trial.

``For our viewers, this has all the elements of a terrific trial - it's got sex, it's got murder and it's got a big star,'' said Art Bell, Court TV's executive vice president of strategic planning.

Viewers enjoyed the chance to turn the tables on a talk show host, listening to her forced to answer questions instead of ask them, Bell said.

The lawsuit argues that ``The Jenny Jones Show'' humiliated Jonathan Schmitz when it revealed his friend Scott Amedure had sexual fantasies about him. Three days after the show was taped, Schmitz shot Amedure to death. The show never aired.

Jones could use such ratings magic for her own show. Like most talk shows, it's suffering: Ratings this year are 20 percent lower than last year.

COSTLY COUGH: Judge hears erroneous jury verdict

When a juror coughed, defendant Alan Rashid had a right to feel sick.

The cough came just as the jury foreman announced a verdict of ``not guilty'' in Rashid's trial on a charge of threatening homicide.

The cough coincided with ``not,'' Judge Michael Gibbon only heard ``guilty,'' and Rashid was sentenced to two years in prison.

As the jury left the Cardiff, Wales, court Thursday, one inquisitive member of the panel asked an usher why Rashid was going to jail after being found innocent. So the jurors were herded back into court.

``It was a very bizarre situation, and I've never heard of it happening before,'' said Nicholas Williamson, the court manager.

Rashid was brought back to court, the jury confirmed its verdict of ``not guilty,'' and Gibbon told the defendant he was free to go.

``I am very relieved, as you would imagine,'' Rashid said.

French-cast peace bell now en route to U.S.

A massive bronze bell cast by a French foundry left Paris on Friday for the United States, where it will be the main attraction of the Millennium Monument planned in northern Kentucky.

The 33-ton ``world peace bell'' is believed to be the largest free-swinging bell in the world, surpassing by six tons the last record-breaking bell made in Cologne, Germany, in the 1920s.

The bell was cast in the port Nantes in western France by the Atlantic Foundry, which usually makes propellers for ships and submarines. The mold was created by the Paccard Foundry, a bell manufacturer in the French town Annecy.

The bell was loaded early Friday on a barge that took it up the Loire River, where it will be transferred to a ship that will take it to New Orleans. It is expected to arrive there May 23.

The bell will be rung for the first time on July 4, then will be sent up the Mississippi River to Newport, Ky., where it will go on display at the Millennium Monument.

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

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos

PHOTO (1) Jenny Jones is all smiles after finishing her testimony.

(2) Paccard Foundry chairman Pierre Paccard, left, and American engineer Dan Swen check the boarding of the World Peace Bell.

(3) LENO

(4) HUNTER