NEWS LITE : NAMES IN THE NEWS CAMERON'S FUTURE LOOKING GREENER.

James Cameron has three Oscars, but he still doesn't have his paycheck for his work on ``Titanic.'' However, that might not be the case for much longer.

20th Century Fox, which released ``Titanic'' along with Paramount Pictures, is reportedly negotiating a multi-picture deal with Cameron that would include ``Titanic'' compensation. Cameron recently said that he has yet to be paid anything for his work on the film.

Cameron gave up his profit participation in ``Titanic,'' as well as his upfront producing, directing and writing fees, when it became apparent that the $200 million romantic-disaster epic was running drastically over budget.

Cameron still hasn't let go of ``Titanic,'' either. Backstage at the Oscars, he said he plans to release a director's cut of the film, probably on laserdisc or DVD.

``People were asking me about a director's cut after very early screenings,'' Cameron said. ``When they said that to me after a three-hour, 14-minute version, I knew I was in Fat City. We will add about 15 or 20 minutes. Don't expect a seven-hour movie.''

At least, not this time around.

- Glenn Whipp

He came, sawed, but couldn't cut it

Cutting taxes is harder than it looks.

To call attention to his proposal that the entire tax structure be junked, Pennsylvania Rep. Phil English on Monday tried to cut through the 5,000-page U.S. tax code with a chain saw.

The chain saw knocked the book off the table. The congressman tried again and knocked it onto the floor again.

Then he put the book on the sidewalk in front of the federal courthouse in Erie, where he was holding a news conference. Still no luck. He made only a nick.

English then joked about how tough it is to enact tax reform.

``The tax code is one million words and 5,000 pages,'' the Republican said. ``America needs a tax code that is simpler and fairer. One that spurs economic growth.''

English wants to repeal the current tax code and start over by the end of 2001.

Urich in fine form year after cancer

Robert Urich is back on track and looking forward to the debut of a TV series and his third child.

Urich, 51, said Monday that he celebrated his first anniversary of being cancer-free this month.

``I really recommend this. We need to celebrate life,'' he said at a benefit for a domestic violence program in Holland, Mich.

Eighteen months ago, Urich was diagnosed with synovial cell sarcoma. After chemotherapy, two operations and radiation treatment, he said he's healthy and looking forward to a big April.

Urich's wife of 25 years, Heather Menzies, is due in three weeks, and ``The Love Boat: The Next Wave'' premieres April 13.

Teen princes brave horde of adoring Vancouverites

The future king of England got a reception fit for a rock star Tuesday during a visit to a space center in Vancouver, British Columbia.

About 150 people, mostly screaming teen-age girls, were beside themselves when Britain's 15-year-old Prince William and his 13-year-old brother, Prince Harry, arrived at the museum during a visit this week to Canada.

Their father, Prince Charles, was busy with official functions.

Harry smiled at the crowd, but William looked aghast at the commotion.

Shannon Raimondo, 14, was near tears because she didn't get close enough to William to deliver a bouquet and teddy bear.

``I love him so much,'' she said. ``He's royalty. He's so hot.''

Caroline Carter, 14, skipped school to get a look at the princes. She even planned to go to Whistler, a ski resort north of Vancouver, where the royal trio are planning to vacation until Saturday.

``Not to harass him,'' she said. ``Just to look for him - and make a huge effort to see him.''

Wolf whistles and delighted screams also greeted William when he got to a downtown hotel Monday, shortly after Charles and Harry arrived for a dinner with the lieutenant governor.

The princes skied with their father in Switzerland earlier this winter.

Author first noncitizen to get prize

British author Penelope Fitzgerald was a surprise winner Tuesday night of the National Book Critics Circle fiction prize.

She defeated such heavily favored writers as Don DeLillo, Philip Roth and Charles Frazier.

``It was a very, very, very difficult choice,'' NBCC President Art Winslow said after the ceremony in downtown Manhattan.

Fitzgerald's win of the 21st annual award was made possible by the organization's decision this year to allow non-U.S. citizens to compete. Another foreign writer, Peruvian-born Mario Vargas Llosa, received the criticism prize for ``Making Waves.''

Fitzgerald was cited for ``The Blue Flower,'' a historical novel set in 18th century Germany. It tells the story of a young artist, later to become the poet-writer-philosopher Novalis, and his romance with a 12-year-old girl.

The book received strong reviews, but not the kind of attention in the United States that went to DeLillo's ``Underworld,'' Roth's ``American Pastoral'' and Frazier's ``Cold Mountain,'' a debut work that won the National Book Award.

Chris Carduff, Fitzgerald's editor at Houghton/Mariner, accepted the prize for the London-based author and said she had considered winning an ``improbable occasion.''

``I can almost hear Penelope telling me tomorrow on the phone when I give her the good news what she told me when I called her to tell her she was nominated,'' Carduff said. ``She'll say, `Why, Chris, I feel rather world-class.' ''

James Tobin, author of ``Ernie Pyle's War: America's Eyewitness to World War II,'' won in the category for biography and autobiography. The general nonfiction prize went to Anne Fadiman for ``The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down,'' a chronicle of an Asian-American family and their epileptic daughter. Charles Wright's ``Black Zodiac'' was the poetry winner.

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

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) Princes Harry, left, and William at a Vancouver museum Tuesday.

Associated Press

(2) CAMERON

(3) URICH