NEWS LITE : POPE MEETS STARS DOING MOTHER TERESA TRIBUTE.

Pope John Paul II received British film star Ben Kingsley, Indian television actor Kabir Bedi and Argentine model Valeria Mazza, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

The three were recording a television program at the Vatican on Mother Teresa, the Macedonian-born nun famous for her work for the poor in India, who died a year ago.

Kingsley is famous for his 1982 film portrayal of Indian pacifist Mahatma Gandhi, while Bedi acted in the Indian TV series ``Sandokan.'' Mazza, though of Argentine origin, is well-known in Italy.

Pope John Paul II urged Italians on Sunday to turn to prayer rather than psychics and astrology for spiritual guidance - a tough message in a nation preoccupied with horoscopes and lotteries.

John Paul, speaking from a window at his summer retreat at Castle Gandolf outside Rome, noted that it is a time of year when many people are returning to school or work and laying plans for the future.

``If we want to plan our lives well, we must learn to decipher the design written in the mysterious signals that God has put in our daily stories,'' the pope said in his weekly Sunday speech. ``For this, neither horoscopes nor magic forecasts work. What works is prayer, real prayer, coupled always with a choice of life that conforms with the law of God.''

Maze of corn salutes god of Aztec lore

Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent of Aztec and Toltec tradition, lurks in a cornfield near Albuquerque, N.M., and it's enough to confuse even its makers.

The public was admitted this weekend to a maze cut through the maize, two miles of twisting, turning, brain-addling trails laid out in the outline of the legendary figure.

The puzzle path was hewn through the forest of 8-foot-tall cornstalks by Wyman Edwards and Jim Malone, who work for Rio Grande Community Farms, a nonprofit group that preserves and rebuilds agricultural lands. It was designed by professional maze-maker Adrian Fisher of Portsmouth, England.

It should take people about two hours to work their way through, said Lois Vermilya, a spokeswoman for the farms.

But there's help for anyone who gets lost.

People are sent into the maze in groups of 25 every 15 minutes. Every group carries a flag so their progress can be monitored by helpful volunteers stationed on a bridge overlooking the field.

Maze-wanderers also are given maps, and there are color-coded clues at dead-ends and along the paths.

The maze will be open every weekend through Halloween. After that, the corn stalks will be cut down, a few at a time, to allow sandhill cranes to stop and feed during their migration south.

Ex-Bundy bimbo tries another side

Christina Applegate has news for America. Oversexed bimbo Kelly Bundy from ``Married . . . With Children'' isn't really her.

Applegate transforms herself from the caricature role she's best known for into a smart, single mom in her new TV show, ``Jesse.''

``Some people will be surprised, and some people already knew I was just playing a character all those years,'' Applegate says in the Sept. 11 Entertainment Weekly.

As Jesse, Applegate also wants to make sure she doesn't slip into a new stereotype a la ``Suddenly Susan'' or ``Caroline in the City.''

``It's not about a young career woman in her late 20s to early 30s who's neurotic,'' Applegate said. ``It's more of a family-oriented comedy.''

Ford motors along in sitcom territory

The grind of doing a sitcom for 10 years didn't fatigue Faith Ford.

The ``Murphy Brown'' co-star, who played perky newswoman Corkie Sherwood until the show's demise last season, is back working the same long sitcom hours on her own show, ``Maggie Winters.''

``You'd think I was an eager beaver,'' Ford says in the Sept. 11 Entertainment Weekly. ``But actually I'm a creature of habit. I found a medium I love, and I didn't want to leave it behind.''

Ford plays a woman returning home to live with her mother after leaving an unfaithful husband.

Model shares pain of brother's cancer

Supermodel Cindy Crawford knows how childhood cancer can change people's lives forever. Her younger brother died of cancer when she was 8.

Crawford, 32, told families of childhood cancer patients Saturday the odds of survival are greater than they were for her brother more than 20 years ago, thanks to medical advances.

``Yes, my brother died,'' she said, ``but for the parents who are getting the news that their child has cancer or leukemia, it doesn't have to mean they're going to lose their child.''

Crawford spoke at a reunion of about 700 former and current child cancer patients and their families at the University of Wisconsin.

Dutch royals have 3 reasons to party

Holland's House of Orange had three royal reasons to party over the weekend: the 72nd birthday of Prince Claus and two landmark coronation anniversaries.

The birthday Sunday of Claus, husband of the current monarch, Queen Beatrix, coincided with the 100th anniversary of the crowning of Queen Wilhelmina and the 50th anniversary of the day her daughter, Princess Juliana, became queen.

The German-born prince was marking his birthday quietly at home with family and close friends, Dutch media reported. He is said to have fully recovered from emergency surgery in June to treat an enlarged prostate.

News Lite is compiled from Daily News staff and wire reports

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Hirsute pursuit

Camela Paladino, left, fastens the ends of Paul Boschert's moustache to a measuring tape Sunday in Pforzheim, Germany. Boschert and 19 other men had their whiskers knotted together to form a hairy line more than 50 feet long, or 30 inches per moustache.

Michael Latz/Associated Press

(2) APPLEGATE