One Direction spokesman won't confirm hiatus report

LONDON — A spokesman for One Direction is declining to comment on a report that the chart-topping boy band will take an indefinite break starting next March.

Publicist Simon Jones says he won't comment on "speculation."

The Sun newspaper reported Monday that band members would go separate ways after finishing a tour this autumn and promoting their fifth album.

One Direction formed in 2010 after five teenagers — Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik — auditioned individually for the British TV talent show "The X Factor." Simon Cowell had the idea of putting them together as a boy band.

Speculation about a split grew after Malik quit the group earlier this year.