People in the News

From The Associated Press

Irish rock star and global humanitarian Bono became a knight of the British empire Thursday — and joked that his youngest son, John, thought he was about to become a Jedi instead.

Bono, 46, was named a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in an informal, laugh-filled ceremony in the Dublin home of British Ambassador David Reddaway.

Because he is an Irish citizen, Bono won’t have the title of “sir” before his name. That honor is reserved for citizens of the United Kingdom or British Commonwealth countries. Ireland left the Commonwealth when it became a republic in 1949.

Eric Clapton is having a jam session with more than a dozen of his favorite guitar-playing pals, and everyone is invited.

Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival, scheduled July 28 in Chicago, will benefit Crossroads Centre, the drug-rehab facility he founded in Antigua a decade ago. Tickets go on sale Saturday.

Scheduled performers include B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Jeff Beck and John Mayer.

Jennifer Lopez, who has proudly declared herself “just a girl from the Bronx,” delighted fans in her old neighborhood by appearing at a local record store to sign autographs and promote her first all-Spanish album.

A crowd of 500 gathered in front of the store to see Lopez, who was accompanied by her husband, Marc Anthony.

“I want to say thank you to everyone for coming to celebrate with me this very special day for me,” Lopez, a New Yorker of Puerto Rican origin, said in Spanish. Continuing in English, she said, “It touches my heart to be able to bring this album back to my neighborhood, back to my home.”

The album, “Como Ama una Mujer,” or “How a Woman Loves,” was released Tuesday and was mainly produced by her husband.

Ernest Hemingway wrote letters so filled with longing and devotion to actress Marlene Dietrich —sometimes signing off “I kiss you hard”—that it is difficult to believe the pair never became lovers.

The correspondence between the icons, who met aboard an ocean liner in 1934, reveals a complex, flirtatious relationship in which they propped each other up and spoke unvarnished truth about each other’s romantic relationships, work and friends.

Thirty letters, cards and a telegram Hemingway wrote to the German-born actress and singer _ whom he called “my little Kraut” and “daughter” —between 1949 and 1959 were made publicly available for the first time Thursday at the Ernest Hemingway Collection at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

The letters were donated to the library in 2003 by Dietrich’s daughter, Maria Riva, on the condition that they be kept private until now.

Crime fiction writer Walter Mosley, author of “Devil in a Blue Dress,” is being sued by his ex-wife for money she says he agreed to pay out of income from several of his books.

Joy Kellman says in court papers that Mosley owes her at least $500,000, plus interest, from earnings on 11 books as provided by their divorce agreement. Some of the books were published after their divorce.