NEWS LITE : DIRECTOR BRINGS MONK INTO FRAY.

Director Tony Kaye, who was so angry over the editing of ``American History X'' that he demanded his name be taken off the film, is described in the latest issue of Premiere as a rookie director ``testing the limits of Hollywood's patience.'' In the course of conflict with New Line Cinema, the company financing his movie, Kaye showed up for one meeting ``with a rabbi, a priest and a Tibetan monk in tow.''

White House next stop for Ted Turner?

Media mogul Ted Turner says he is ``very serious'' about making a bid for the White House, even though he contends his wife, former actress Jane Fonda, doesn't approve, according to a magazine report.

In its Nov. 23 issue, out today, The New Yorker says Turner let slip the idea after a recent black-tie Southern California dinner where he received the World Citizenship Award from a group dedicated to eliminating nuclear weapons.

``I am very serious about running for president, but Jane doesn't want me to do it,'' the flamboyant founder of CNN reportedly told several members of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

According to the magazine, Fonda left the door open to a Turner campaign, saying, ``wherever Ted goes, I go.''

The article called Turner's acceptance speech a ``clearly ad-libbed . . . synthesis of Southern populism, standup-comedy shtick, and talk-radio outrage,'' in which he claimed the United States was keeping nuclear weapons as protection from ``the starving masses of the Third World when they come to our door.''

Turner said they would be coming across the border from Mexico and from Saudi Arabia, ``when they run out of oil,'' according to the article.

Houston denies she abuses drugs

Whitney Houston is tired of the rumors that she and husband Bobby Brown might be abusing drugs.

``No, I'm not a drug addict, and neither is my husband,'' Houston says in the issue of Newsweek hitting newsstands today. ``If that were so, you'd get a lot less work out of me. It would show in the performances and in the work.''

The singer-actress, whose new album is ``My Love is Your Love,'' said her recent cancellation of a scheduled appearance on ``The Rosie O'Donnell Show,'' which helped fuel the drug rumors, was due to illness. She also blamed her frantic work and family schedule for the drug talk.

Branagh's aping tic not director's pick

It wasn't Woody Allen's idea for Kenneth Branagh to mimic the nervous comedian in ``Celebrity.''

``I said to him, `This part is definitely not me. If I was younger I definitely would not play it,'' Allen says in Sunday's New York Daily News. ``It requires a younger and more attractive person than me.''

But when it came time to shoot the film, Allen and everyone else involved couldn't help noticing how Branagh played his character with Allen's trademark halting speech, fluttering hands and jittery energy.

``In the end, I had so much respect for him as an actor that I felt, look, I don't wanna sit down and say we gotta reshoot everything and you gotta do it my way,'' Allen said. ``So that's what happened.''

Three-legged dogs well-represented

To his great surprise, first-time director Peter Berg had no trouble finding a three-legged dog - with an agent - for his black comedy ``Very Bad Things.''

Berg, better known as Dr. Billy Kronk on ``Chicago Hope,'' made the odd comedy loaded with death and dismemberment without planning to extend the carnage to the canine character. Then, when he got the idea, he thought it wouldn't be possible on his $3 million budget.

``Well, we could do computer effects on the dog , but it costs a fortune,'' Berg says in the December issue of Esquire. Then a colleague mentioned an agency for weird animals.

``Within four hours, there's three three-legged dogs auditioning. They all had three legs, and they were available. They had agents,'' Berg said.

``And that's when I really started to get a sense of just how bizarre this business really is.''

Hayes helps home dig literary scene

In ``Theme from Shaft,'' soul singer Isaac Hayes asks ``Can you dig it?'' Returning to his hometown of Memphis, Tenn., Hayes proved he can by helping break ground for a new library.

Hayes turned some soil at ground-breaking ceremonies Saturday for the $60 million Central Library.

``I've always had a thirst for knowledge and reading,'' Hayes said. ``I've visited the library quite a bit - owed a few fines - but I took advantage.''

News Lite is compiled from Daily News staff and wire reports

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2 photos

PHOTO (1) Perched for pounce

An adult bald eagle, perched on a tree near Chippewa River in Alma, Wis., peers into the shallow waterway looking for gizzard shad. Wintry weather has lured hundreds of eagles and tundra swans to the Mississippi River and its sloughs and backwaters in the region.

Darlene Pfister/Star Tribune

(2) HOUSTON