ENTERTAINMENT

U2's Bono meets French President Macron to discuss poverty

The Associated Press Published Monday, July 24, 2017 2:15PM EDT

Gayle Smith CEO of the non-governmental organization ONE, left, Brigitte Macron the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, center, and founder of the non-governmental organization ONE, U2 singer Bono, pose for the media after a meeting at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, France, Monday, July 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

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PARIS -- French President Emmanuel Macron has received pop singer and philanthropist Bono at the Elysee Palace in Paris for talks about poverty.

Bono met with Macron for over an hour Monday to discuss the U2 front man's non-governmental organization ONE, which -- its website says -- takes "action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa."

Accompanied by French first lady Brigitte Macron afterward, Bono said one of the main issues in the fruitful talks was the education of girls and women in Africa.

Bono, a high-profile activist, is no stranger to the French presidential palace, having met former Presidents Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande.

The singer was awarded the Legion of Honor, the highest French order of merit for military and civil merits, in 2003.