Bono meets with Australian minister

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CANBERRA, Australia, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd said he met Sunday with U2 front man Bono to discuss poverty and aid to developing countries.

Tim Costello of Christian organization World Vision and Andrew Hewett from Oxfam also attended the meeting, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Bono, who holds no governmental title but frequently meets with heads of state offering his views, discussed Australia's efforts to reduce rates of HIV and malaria in developing countries and congratulated Rudd on the country's pledge of 0.5 percent of its gross national income to foreign aid.

In 2007 Bono and the rest of U2 moved part of their multimillion-euro song catalog from Ireland to Amsterdam six months before Ireland ended a tax exemption on musicians' royalties.

Bands have low to no tax rates in the Netherlands. In 2008 Bono was one of several super-rich figures whose tax arrangements were singled out for criticism in a report by the charity Christian Aid.

The Irish Parliament allegedly offered stunning criticism, which U2 countered by stating 95 percent of their business took place away from Ireland.