NEWS LITE : MANDELA CAVED IN TO PUBLIC PRESSURE.

Nelson Mandela says he tied the knot with Graca Machel under ``unbearable'' pressure from friends.

The South African president's relationship with Machel was out in the open for two years before their surprise wedding July 18. Members of the clergy complained the couple set a bad example by not getting married.

``Even in Parliament in my country, deputies told me I should get married,'' Mandela said Monday. ``The pressure became unbearable.''

Machel delayed marriage because she didn't want to give up her work and her status in her native Mozambique as the widow of another president.

Mandela said they kept the wedding secret because they wouldn't have known which of the numerous friends who have helped South Africa should be invited, and to avoid clogging the streets with traffic.

Jon Stewart latest late-night flavor

The late-night turnstile took another turn Tuesday when Jon Stewart was named host of Comedy Central's ``The Daily Show.''

He will replace Craig Kilborn in January. Kilborn will take over for Tom Snyder at CBS' ``Late Show.''

``There's really only five of these jobs available,'' Stewart told reporters. He said he was especially happy to be taking a job ``where I don't feel like I'm pushing the guy out.''

Stewart, who had his own syndicated late-night show in 1994-95, most recently appeared as himself on ``The Larry Sanders Show'' on HBO.

Diana's sons won't run mom's charity

Princes William and Harry won't become involved in running a charity set up by their mother, Buckingham Palace said Tuesday.

Newspapers had speculated that the boys they would be asked to become patrons of the Princess of Wales Charities' Trust, a foundation worth about 1 million pounds, or $1.63 million.

Princess Diana's trust gave to more than 100 charities, including a domestic violence project and a women's center.

Sarah McLachlan survives geekiness

What a difference a decade makes.

Now 30, Lilith Fair leader Sarah McLachlan says she was a gawky, anxious teen-ager growing up in Canada's Nova Scotia.

``It took me a long time to get over the `you're ugly and stupid' thing,'' she told USA Weekend in the Aug. 14 issue. ``From age 13 to 18, it was consistent in my life, from my peers. You want desperately to fit in, and I tried hard, but I didn't.''

`Puffy' Combs not hurting for dinero

Hip-hop guru Sean ``Puffy'' Combs signed a six-figure deal with Ballantine Books to do his autobiography. His collaborator will be Rolling Stone's Mikal Gilmore, whose own 1995 autobio, ``A Shot in the Heart,'' won critical acclaim. Gilmore's brother, Gary, got the death penalty for murder in 1977.

The Combs book is due out in fall 1999. Lord knows, he doesn't need the money. He's about to get a $40 million bonus for his good work with Bad Boy Entertainment. Plus, he'll soon star opposite Al Pacino in a pro football movie directed by Oliver Stone titled ``Any Given Sunday.''

Barrymore adores her actor boyfriend

Drew Barrymore has snared another, but this time it's different - really. See, she's not living with actor Luke Wilson, 26, which, the actress notes, makes their thing ``much more sensual and interesting.''

Also, she's been quietly seeing him for two whole years. ``I had to kiss a lot of frogs,'' said Barrymore, 23. ``Then I met my boyfriend, and frankly I couldn't wait to kiss him.

``He's dreamy, and it didn't hurt that he's adorable. . . . Now I'm like one of the normal people.'' Bummer!

Russians brave downpour to see Rolling Stones

Strutting and sneering as always, Mick Jagger brought the Rolling Stones to their first concert in Russia, playing through a driving rain before an appreciative crowd of tens of thousands.

The Stones first applied to perform in Moscow more than 30 years ago, but did not receive permission until Tuesday night's concert at Moscow's Luzhniki sports stadium.

The band came on stage playing the classic ``Satisfaction,'' then mixed other old standards such as ``Honky Tonk Woman'' and ``Start Me Up'' with such recent material as ``Anybody Seen My Baby?'' and ``You'll Never Make a Saint Out of Me.''

The crowd was composed mostly of young Russians, but also included plenty of middle-aged fans and boys who sang along in English.

Heavy rain started shortly after the concert began, drenching the fans as well as the Stones in the partly covered stadium. The only concession to the weather came when Jagger and Ron Wood put on hats.

Jagger pranced from one end of the stage to the other, at one point removing a female backup singer's shoe and sucking on her toe in the middle of ``Miss You.''

The ITAR-Tass news agency estimated more than 70,000 people attended the concert. Russian TV showed fans who said they had come from as far as Siberia to attend the show, part of the Stones' ``Bridges to Babylon'' tour.

``It's our youth,'' pop singer Alla Pugachova, Russia's most famous contemporary entertainer, said before entering the stadium. ``It's a wonderful time.''

The Stones first applied for permission to play in the Soviet Union in 1967. Soviet officials went to watch them play a concert in Warsaw, Poland, and didn't like what they saw.

``They thought the show was so awful, so decadent, that they said this show would never happen in Moscow,'' Jagger told a news conference Monday.

``Anyway, things have changed,'' he added. ``We're thankful to be here at last.''

News Lite is compiled from Daily News staff and wire reports

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1) South African President Nelson Mandela married Graca Machel on July 18.

Max Nash/Associated Press

(2) First lady turns into wave rider

Former first lady Nancy Reagan waves from a van in Nantucket, Mass. Reagan has been a guest aboard Steve Forbes' 151-foot motor yacht, The Highlander, which was tied up at Straight Wharf on the island.

Vincent Dewitt/Cape Cod Times

(3) STEWART