NEWS LITE : COLLINS GETS MARRIED NEAR HIS SWISS HOME.

British rock star Phil Collins married his Swiss fiancee, Orianne Cevey, in a private civil ceremony in Switzerland, Lausanne daily Le Matin reported Saturday.

The nuptials took place Friday at Begnins, the village near Lake Geneva where the former Genesis drummer lives, Le Matin reported.

Collins, 48, and Cevey, 27, invited more than 300 guests to a reception Saturday evening at the luxury lakeside Hotel Beau Rivage in Lausanne.

The hotel was closed to the public and heavy security was in place for the celebration of Collins' third marriage.

No details were made public, but Swiss media had reported that rock stars including Eric Clapton, Elton John, Mark Knopfler and Collins' former Genesis colleagues were expected to attend.

Actor strips Irish brogue for `Placid'

For ``Lake Placid'' co-star Brendan Gleeson, playing a small-town American sheriff was tough. The Irishman thinks sounding American is one of his greatest challenges.

``I'm quite nervous about the accent thing,'' Gleeson says in the July 23 issue of Entertainment Weekly. ``At home I could go county by county. But a standard American accent is actually the hardest thing to do.''

Gleeson, who starred in ``The General,'' a film dealing with Irish gangster Martin Cahill, said playing the notorious thug was touchy.

``I didn't want to dance on anybody's grave,'' Gleeson said. ``There are still people hobbling about Dublin in pain from things he did.''

Ex-CIA head to act as dean for Bush

Robert Gates, the director of the CIA during the Bush administration, has agreed to serve as interim dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.

`Passport for Pets' travel plan eases British quarantine rules

A Pyrenean mountain dog, owned by a cancer-stricken boy undergoing treatment in France, has become the first pet since 1901 to bypass Britain's rigid quarantine requirement.

William Dowell, 15, had his dog, Cassis, brought to him while he was being treated in Lyon. He appealed to the British government to allow his dog immediate entry, and on Friday brought her home.

Prime Minister Tony Blair arranged for the dog to bypass the six-month quarantine period under the ``passports for pets'' plan, which officially comes into force next year.

Blair's plan eases the restrictions on family pets, provided the pets are carefully vaccinated and tagged with an identification microchip.

PEACE O' PIZZA; Woodstock sizzles in many ways

At the original Woodstock, there were warnings about bad acid. At Woodstock '99, the admonishments are about water - drink lots of it.

Organizers on Saturday tried to push H2O on more than 225,000 people sweltering in 90-degree-plus temperatures during the second day of the three-day megaconcert.

``There's lots of free water here. There's water all over the site. We just have to get people to use it,'' promoter John Scher said. ``Without being preachy or lecturing them, we are telling concertgoers to drink lots of water, wear hats and use sunscreen.''

Since the concert began on Friday, Scher said emergency medical crews had treated nearly 1,000 people for heat exhaustion and dehydration, and that continued to be the top concern.

Not crime. Not traffic. Not gate-crashers. Not the growing piles of garbage and overflowing portable toilets.

Other than the heat, the 30th anniversary festival at an abandoned military base in upstate New York was running fairly smoothly.

There was one death: A 44-year-old Massachusetts man suffered a heart attack overnight at his campsite. The man had been in the hospital two weeks ago for heart surgery, and state police believed his death was unrelated to the heat.

A concertgoer also gave birth. The delivery came at a local hospital, not the festival site, officials said. No other information was available.

The possibility of scattered showers in the forecast might afford concertgoers some relief.

``It's almost unbearable,'' said Angela, an 18-year-old from New Hampshire, who didn't want to give her last name. She was sporting a serious sunburn around her neck and shoulders.

``But a little heat and sunburn are nothing to put up with for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity like this.''

There were water fountains and ``rain rooms'' - tents with sprinklers - set up throughout the site. At each stage, concert workers sprayed those in the front with hoses and passed jugs of water back into the crowd.

Among the musicians performing Saturday were Counting Crows, Dave Matthews Band, Alanis Morissette and Metallica.

Portuguese make impressive play for European soccer championship

More than 30,000 people formed a human logo in the shape of a soccer player Saturday at Lisbon's National Stadium to promote Portugal's bid to host the 2004 European championship.

Sporting colored hoods, the crowds assembled in the silhouette of a player next to stripes of red and green, the colors of Portugal's flag. The words ``Portugal, 2004'' and ``Euro'' were etched on the stripes.

Among the participants was Prime Minister Antonio Guterres.

Later, 651 gymnasts making up the player's flexed right leg created the illusion of kicking a soccer ball.

European soccer's governing body, UEFA, is expected to select the host for the 2004 championships by October.

News Lite is compiled from Daily News staff and wire reports.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Phil Collins, with his fiancee, Orianne Cevey, gives the thumbs-up signal just before their marriage ceremony Saturday in Switzerland.

Fabrice Coffrini/Associated Press

(2) A peace sign made of discarded pizza boxes at Woodstock '99 is reminiscent of the original.

Dave Duprey/Associated Press