PEOPLE : PRECIOUS CELLO LEFT IN N.Y. TAXI.

It was the day the music almost disappeared.

Musician Yo-Yo Ma forgot his $2.5 million, 266-year-old cello in the trunk of a taxi on Saturday, but police tracked it down at a garage in Queens in time for his evening concert.

``I did something really stupid,'' Ma said sheepishly after he got the instrument back. ``I was in such a rush, I was so exhausted, I'd given a concert at Carnegie Hall last night. I just forgot.''

Grinning with relief, he explained how police used the taxi receipt to find the driver within hours.

``Somehow magic happened, and I have my cello,'' Ma said. ``The instrument is my voice. So I need it. . . . I would be crying right now'' if it hadn't been recovered.

Ma, who lives in Cambridge, Mass., put his cello in the taxi's trunk as he rode from Central Park West to the Peninsula Hotel on Fifth Avenue to prepare for a Saturday night concert at the Anchorage in Brooklyn, he said.

After the cab pulled away at 1:20 p.m., he realized he'd forgotten the cello, which was made in Venice in 1733. He declined to estimate the value of the instrument, but a police source said it was worth between $2 million and $2.5 million.

He notified Peninsula security, and they called police, said Inspector Thomas Purtell, commanding officer of the Midtown North precinct.

Police, working with officers from the Taxi and Limousine Commission, found the taxi's medallion number and discovered it was based at a garage in Queens.

Police had the cello back to Ma by 5:15 p.m., just in time for him to make it to his show beneath the Brooklyn Bridge.

``Luckily, luckily I had the receipt, so, all of you, take the receipt,'' Ma said.

`Xena' star gives birth to baby girl ?6

``Xena: Warrior Princess'' Lucy Lawless and her husband, Rob Tapert, the TV show's executive producer, have a new baby warrior.

Eight-pound, 13-ounce Julius Robert Bay Tapert was born Saturday morning in New Zealand, said Leah Krantzler, the actress's Los Angeles spokeswoman.

Lawless, 31, and Tapert, 44, were married in March 1998. Lawless has a daughter, Daisy, 11, from a previous marriage.

Guenter Grass tells of his obsession

Writers share ``a certain obsession,'' Nobel laureate Guenter Grass said.

``A writer is someone who writes books because he must,'' said Grass, winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize in literature. ``It's an obsession to turn a private experience into a universal experience.''

Despite the media focus on ``The Tin Drum'' as his most distinguished work, Grass said at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Friday that he was gratified that the Nobel Academy took into account his body of writing in its two-page prize justification. ``I very happily read the text,'' he said.

The author celebrated his 72nd birthday at the book fair on Saturday.

Shannen's life `Charmed' for now

Shannen Doherty says her new ZIP code is permanent.

The former ``Beverly Hills 90210'' star said Friday that if producers asked her to return for a guest spot, she'd probably turn them down.

``Leaving `90210' was the best thing I ever did,'' she said. ``We were all labeled teen-agers as a result of that show, and it was very hard to play down.''

Doherty, 28, said she has ``too many other passions in my life at this point.''

She now stars on the WB's drama ``Charmed,'' a story about three sisters who are witches.

Gates explains how to aid democracy

Bill Gates thinks if anyone wants to take over the world, it's the man who accused him of wanting to - media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.

In an interview with the BBC scheduled to air this weekend, the Microsoft Corp. chairman said: ``He's hiding behind me. He's your man.''

Gates said running Microsoft is ``not like owning a newspaper,'' referring to Murdoch's News Corp. empire, which includes newspapers in the United States, England and Australia, as well as the 20th Century Fox movie studio, Fox Television, the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team and satellite TV networks on several continents.

``Someone who owns a newspaper can pick up the phone to the editor and say, run headlines I like,'' Gates said. ``What we do is create tools like a word processor that lets people express their ideas, and we're not at all involved in how they choose to use it.

``The thing we're involved with has democratized communications, and anyone can publish on the Internet. You don't have to own a TV channel or a newspaper.''

News Lite is compiled from Daily News staff and wire reports

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3 photos

Photo: (1) GATES

(2) LAWLESS

(3) CIVIL WAR MUSTER

Trevor Nick, 7, carrying drum, and Philip Gilbert, 5, with rifle, wait as members of the American Civil War Association aim their rifles in formation during the organization's annual Civil War battle re-enactment, presented Saturday at San Francisco's historic Fort Point.

Dan Krauss/Associated Press