NAMES & FACES

Wentzes Welcome Baby Bronx

It's a boy for songstress Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, 24, and her husband, Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz, 29.

Bronx Mowgli Wentz arrived Thursday night. A rep for the couple told the Associated Press that all three Wentzes are "healthy and happy, and thank everyone for their well wishes."

The baby is the first for Wentz and Simpson-Wentz, who married earlier this year.

Juanes: Peace, Music and Obama

You can do it all: Win a boatload of Grammys, start your own foundation, travel across continents to speak with dignitaries -- but this year, what everyone really wants to know is what you think of Barack Obama.

So it was for Colombian rocker/humanitarian/dreamboat Juanes, in town Thursday to accept a Trust for the Americas award for his work with Mi Sangre, the foundation he created to help eradicate Colombia's land mines and rehabilitate their victims. In a room packed with breathless Spanish-language journos at the Organization of American States, the 36-year-old -- fresh from picking up five Latin Grammy Awards last week -- spoke plaintively through an OAS interpreter about his work and his childhood.

"I was born in 1972, and I have not yet felt what it is to live in a region with peace," Juanes said, later citing the violence and kidnappings he saw as a youth. "You don't know how hard it was to grow up in Medellin in the '80s."

Then came a deluge of Obama questions: Are you happy he was elected? "I am very happy. [It's] a victory for the whole wide world." Are you coming to the inauguration? No, but "I would really love to. I have been a big fan of Obama. I read his book and followed his campaign." Would you please get into politics? "No, no -- I really can't." Ever the swoon-worthy wordsmith, he said he regarded music and humanitarian work as "an honest space I have built for myself."

Before ducking out to meet with the OAS secretary general, Juanes -- jeans, black blazer, short spiky do, perfectly scruffy facial hair -- offered one last message, for the youths: "Maybe we are too rational and forget there is a world of sensitivity in music. It is one of the ways we can vanquish inequality." "Que lindo," one woman cooed. How beautiful.

Madonna's Divorce Is Finalized

Madonna and Guy Ritchie's marriage is over after nearly eight years, ending yesterday without much fanfare in a London courtroom.

The case of Ciccone M.L. v. Ritchie G.S. was one of 17 divorce decrees granted by a judge during a brief hearing, the AP reports. Neither Madonna, 50, nor Ritchie, 40, attended the hearing; court papers signed by Madonna in Los Angeles indicated that the queen of pop petitioned for divorce on the basis of Ritchie's "unreasonable behavior."

End Notes

Splitting: "Full House" alum Jodie Sweetin, 26, and hubby of 16 months, set designer Cody Herpin, 31, People magazine reports. The pair have a daughter, 7-month-old Zoie. No word on how this will affect plans for their upcoming reality show.

Spotted: Maya Angelou at the Hay-Adams on Thursday night, reading from her new book, "Letter to My Daughter". . . . Smashbox Cosmetics co-founder Dean Factor giving a talk at American University on Thursday afternoon.

-- Marissa Newhall, from staff, wire and Web reports