NEWS LITE : ENTERTAINING FOR CAUSE; DIABETES THERAPY PUMPS UP SINGERS.

If you're thinking the world doesn't need another sickly sweet girl group, the Pump Girls would agree.

They're diabetics.

The four Orange County youngsters, who wear insulin pumps, sing about their condition on their debut CD, appearing in stores this week.

The song ``We Care about You'' contains the lines ``The pain that you feel/We know it's for real.''

``I was always asking myself, Why me? Why do I have diabetes?'' said Colleen Cottrell, 13, of San Juan Capistrano. ``This song is like a big hug.''

There are other topics, too, she stresses: ``Boys, parties, independence and rock 'n' roll.''

Roughly $1 of every CD sold will go to a fund to buy insulin pumps for youngsters whose families cannot afford the $5,000 price, which most insurers don't cover.

The computer-controlled pump delivers insulin around the clock through a tube, eliminating the need for daily insulin injections.

``Before the pump, diabetes was ruling our lives,'' said group member Janelle Munion, 15, of Corona, who got her pump a year ago. ``Now we're saying . . . it's our turn.' ''

The other group members are Brittany Rausch, 12, of Costa Mesa and Sara Cronstedt, 14, of Rancho Santa Margarita.

The group started as a joke by Brittany's mother, Corrie, who suggested they form the Pump Girls as a takeoff on the Spice Girls.

Spielberg's work made idol feel sick

Steven Spielberg said Sunday that filmmaker Stanley Kubrick ``gave us complete environmental experiences that got more, not less, intense the more you watched his pictures.''

The Washington Post pointed out that Kubrick was not such a fan of Spielberg's work. In a 1987 interview, Kubrick said he turned away from ``The Color Purple'' after 10 minutes ``because it made me so nauseated.''

`ER' doc to marry cosmetics stylist

Noah Wyle, Dr. John Carter on TV's ``ER,'' has announced he'll wed makeup stylist Tracy Warbin, 32. The actor, 28, met her on the set of ``The Myth of Fingerprints.''

Prisoner gnaws off fingerprints

Juan Raul Benaviedez nibbled for naught.

He chewed off his fingerprints while in an El Monte jail so police could not identify him, authorities said. But it didn't work, police say, because officers still managed to get a set of usable prints and found out he uses nine aliases and has five outstanding warrants.

Benaviedez, 25, was arrested Saturday on a domestic abuse warrant under the name Christian Cordovea but while being booked gave different names to the officers, police said.

A jailer noticed Benaviedez chewing on his fingers in the holding cell but thought he was biting his nails. Benaviedez told police he didn't chew off the skin but scraped his fingertips on the screen in the cell. But officers said they would have noticed that.

Benaviedez, 25, faces charges of falsely representing himself to an officer, spousal abuse and being under the influence of drugs.

Mutilation is her fashion statement

Alex Kingston, ex-wife of actor Ralph Fiennes, is quite defiant about making the worst-dressed lists. Kingston, who stars as the British doctor on ``ER,'' tells USA Weekend, ``In Los Angeles, you're singled out for being different. What annoys me the most is that I was accused of trying to copy Madonna. Excuse me. I've lived my life in Europe. Madonna is the one who looks to Europe for fashion ideas.'' Kingston's most painful fashion statement: a pierced navel.

``It was the first thing I did when Fiennes left me. I actually wanted to chop all my hair off. It was me wanting, in some way, to mutilate myself. A lot of women, at the end of a relationship, cut off their hair. But my agent is like a surrogate mother. She said, Don't you dare cut your hair! Pull yourself together!''

No rehearsals, but good hair day

Roger Moore found being honored by Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday a little more nerve-wracking than dodging bullets in her majesty's service.

``I was a bit nervous, mainly because you don't get a rehearsal for this and I am used to having rehearsals before I perform,'' he said after the queen gave him the Commander of the Order of British Empire medal.

Moore, 71, may be most famous as James Bond, but it was his UNICEF campaign for children that won him the queen's recognition. He has been a special ambassador for the U.N. children's charity for almost a decade.

``Working with UNICEF made me grow up and recognize how fortunate I am,'' Moore said.

Tom Jones was honored for his services to music and entertainment and received an Officer of the Order of British Empire medal from the queen.

``I didn't bring a hat,'' the 58-year-old singer joked, ``because I thought it might mess up my hair.''

Getting preggers with a little help from the friends

Getting pregnant in the Norwegian town of Sel has become a community affair.

Like many towns in Norway, Sel wants the country's first baby of 2000 to be a local and some town boosters are making efforts to help prospective parents get their timing right.

A local nursery school will stay open on the weekend of April 10-11 to give parents time to get in the mood without being interrupted, the newspaper Verdens Gang reported Tuesday.

The Nordlandia Hotel in Sel, 125 miles north of Oslo, has also gotten behind the hoped-for Jan 1, 2000, baby boom, although it believes the best date to get pregnant is March 30.

On that day, the hotel is offering free rooms to couples.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

PHOTO (1) Actor Roger Moore shows off his Commander of the Order of British Empire medal.

(2) With insulin pumps for diabetes, the Pump Girls - from left, Brittany Rausch, Sara Cronstedt, Colleen Cottrell and Janelle Munion - sing Tuesday at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

(3) Sara Cronstedt, 14, right, talks with a patient, 13.