NEWS LITE : MACHO, MACHO MAN; BRAZILIAN GROUP `HONORS' CLINTON.

While President Clinton's alleged extramarital affairs are causing scandal in the United States, in Brazil they are cause for admiration - for some, at least.

The Macho Movement of the southeastern state of Minas Gerais named Clinton on Wednesday as its Macho of the Year.

``He is the first foreigner to receive this honor,'' said Luiz Mario Ladeira, the group's president. ``Over the past year, no other public figure has honored the traditions of machismo as much as Bill Clinton.''

He said the group plans to send a diploma to the Brazilian embassy in Washington and hopes it will eventually be delivered to the White House.

In 1994 the Macho of the Year award went to former Brazilian President Itamar Franco, who was photographed during carnival festivities with an underwear-less model.

Another winner was former Justice Minister Bernardo Cabral for his 1991 romance with Zelia Cardoso de Mello, then economy minister.

The 5,000-member group was founded 15 years ago ``as a good-humored response to the growing influence of feminists in Brazil,'' Ladeira said.

Harrelson weds mom

of his kids

Woody Harrelson and Laura Louie, who have been involved romantically since 1990 and have two daughters together, recently tied the knot, a publicist disclosed Wednesday.

The two were wed in a private ceremony Jan. 11 in Costa Rica, spokesman Simon Halls said.

Their older daughter, Deni Montana, was their flower girl. Their 16-month-old, Zoe Giordano, slept through the ceremony in a nearby hammock, Halls said.

Harrelson, whose latest film in release is ``Wag the Dog,'' met Louie in 1987 and worked with her for three years before they became lovers, Halls said.

Queen Mother up after hip surgery

The Queen Mother practiced walking and entertained a clutch of royal visitors Wednesday, just three days after surgeons replaced her injured left hip.

Not bad for a 97-year-old, her eldest grandson, Prince Charles, was quick to point out.

``She is feeling very much better, totally indomitable as usual,'' the heir to the British throne told reporters waiting outside London's King Edward VII hospital.

Charles, who spent more than a half-hour with his grandmother, said she was ``absolutely determined to get home very soon.''

Queen Elizabeth II's mother fractured her left hip Sunday in a fall while inspecting horses.

Writer loses suit vs. `Twister' team

Steven Spielberg, author Michael Crichton and other Hollywood heavyweights were found not guilty Wednesday of pirating a man's screenplay to make the 1996 hit movie ``Twister.''

Stephen Kessler had claimed Spielberg, Crichton, Crichton's wife, Anne-Marie Martin, Warner Bros. and Universal Studios used his screenplay, ``Catch the Wind,'' to make ``Twister.''

He had sought all of the movie's profits, which his lawyer had estimated to be around $150 million. Spielberg, who produced ``Twister,'' estimated his agency made $20 million to $80 million from the movie about tracking devastating tornadoes in Oklahoma.

After the verdict was read in St. Louis, Kessler attempted to shake Crichton's hand, but Crichton refused.

As he left the courthouse, Crichton restated his innocence.

``I've never heard of this person until the lawsuit came out,'' he said.

Crichton said he's faced similar accusations in the past and always has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Kessler said he would appeal.

The verdict brings to close a three-week trial that at times had turned nasty.

In his closing statement, Kessler's lawyer, Martin Green, had accused Crichton of making a career out of taking parts of novels and movies written by others and incorporating them into his own works.

``But, in this case, he took a little bit too much from `Catch the Wind,' '' Green said.

Crichton's lawyer, Jim Zapp, said Crichton and Martin have never seen Kessler's script, and camee up with the script for ``Twister'' on their own.

Zapp admitted that Crichton and Martin used several resources to develop the plot for the movie, but that Kessler's script was not one of them. He also stressed that the couple added their own comic and romantic twists.

``Two writers could have come up with the same idea and written about it,'' Zapp said. ``It happens every day.''

Spielberg, testifying before the 10-member jury, said he had never seen or heard of Kessler's script.

James Brown faces gun, drug charges

Soul singer James Brown is in hot water again.

The hardest-working man in show business was arrested Tuesday on marijuana and weapons charges, an Aiken, S.C., sheriff's spokesman said Wednesday.

Sheriff's deputies found a small amount of marijuana and evidence rifles had been fired in Brown's Beech Island, S.C., home near Augusta, Ga., when the singer was detained and transported to a local hospital under a court order Jan. 15.

``The deputies observed the weapons and some expended shells indicating the weapons had been fired, and they also found a small amount of marijuana,'' said Lt. Michael Franks.

Brown, 64, surrendered to police on one count of misdemeanor marijuana possession and two counts of use of a firearm while under the influence of drugs. He was freed on bond and faces up to $2,000 in fines and up to two years in prison on the weapons charges, Franks said.

Brown seemed unrepentant, telling the Augusta Chronicle: ``I've got to have protection. I have guns, and I'm going to keep on having guns. Thank God it's a free country.''

Brown, who served three years in prison for a 1988 conviction on weapons and assault charges, also said he smokes a small amount of marijuana for medicinal purposes. ``I have bad eyes,'' he said.

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

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos

PHOTO (1) Harrelson: Gets hitched

(2) President Clinton appears Wednesday at the University of Illinois.

Associated Press

(3) Brown

(4) Crichton