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Germany Summons U.S. Ambassador Over Merkel Phone Tapping Claim
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<b id="yiv9636594534yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382564076733_101764" style="color:#333333;">Top News: </b>German authorities <a rel="nofollow" id="yiv9636594534yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382564076733_101766" target="_blank" href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/52543e98c16bcfa46f6d17c016uu6.bu3/UmkdPeYQbGdeEzB_B9beb" style="color:#000066;font-weight:bold;">summoned</a>
the U.S. ambassador Thursday to demand a full explanation for claims
that the United States had tapped German Chancellor Angela Merkel's
cellphone, an allegation that has sparked deep outrage in Germany and
revived uncomfortable memories of the extensive intelligence apparatus
of East Germany.
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On Wednesday, Merkel <a rel="nofollow" id="yiv9636594534yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382564076733_101827" target="_blank" href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/52543e98c16bcfa46f6d17c016uu6.bu3/UmkdPeYQbGdeEzCAB6d51" style="color:#000066;font-weight:bold;">called</a>
President Obama to air out her concerns about the allegations and
received a promise that the United States is not monitoring her calls
and will not do so in the future. That assurance, however, did not
adress whether the United States had in fact monitored Merkel's calls in
the past. Merkel's spokesman said the chancellor "views such
practices... as completely unacceptable." "Among close friends and
partners, as the Federal Republic of Germany and the US have been for
decades, there should be no such monitoring of the communications of a
head of government," Steffen Seibert, the spokesman, said in a
statement.
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According to White House spokesman Jay Carney, the United States "is not
monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor."
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Wednesday's phone call was the second time in 48 hours that the
president found himself on the phone with a European leader furious with
America's intelligence agencies. Earlier in the week, Obama <a rel="nofollow" id="yiv9636594534yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382564076733_101821" target="_blank" href="http://link.foreignpolicy.com/52543e98c16bcfa46f6d17c016uu6.bu3/UmkdPeYQbGdeEzCBBaa11" style="color:#000066;font-weight:bold;">found himself</a>
on the phone with French President Francois Hollande after allegations
surfaced that the National Security Agency had collected French phone
calls on a massive scale.<br><br><br><a href="http:///">http://us-mg6.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=d9jl53r3e8hhl#</a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>