Bono denies ordering silence for poverty

Bono has denied reports circulating on the internet that he ordered a crowd of 30,000 people to be silent to draw attention to the issue of poverty in Africa.

The singer was alleged to have silenced the audience at a gig in Glasgow and begun clapping slowly, saying: "Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies."

A member of the crowd was then rumoured to have shouted: "Well, stop doing it then!"

The reports have appeared in newspapers around the world over the last two years, but are believed by some to have originated with an advert for the 2005 Make Poverty History campaign. The commercial featured a number of stars clicking their fingers to represent dying children.

However, Bono's representative said he had no idea how the claims had started, telling the New York Daily News: "He's never even done the clapping thing."