{"id":128043,"date":"2015-06-25T05:50:23","date_gmt":"2015-06-25T05:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=128043"},"modified":"2015-06-25T05:53:52","modified_gmt":"2015-06-25T05:53:52","slug":"obama-us-no-longer-spying-on-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/06\/obama-us-no-longer-spying-on-france\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama: US no longer spying on France"},"content":{"rendered":"
President Obama has assured his French counterpart Francois Hollande that the US is no longer spying on France.<\/p>\n
Mr Obama spoke to Mr Hollande following reports on the Wikileaks website that the US National Security Agency (NSA) spied on successive French presidents.<\/p>\n
The White House said after the two leaders’ phone call “we are not targeting and will not target” Mr Hollande’s communications.<\/p>\n
French intelligence officials are due to travel to Washington for more talks.<\/p>\n
Wikileaks reported that the NSA had intercepted communications from President Francois Hollande and former leaders Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac between 2006-12.<\/p>\n
The allegations prompted a backlash from the French government, with Mr Hollande saying he would “not tolerate” acts that threaten France’s security.<\/p>\n
He called two emergency meetings, the first with France’s top security officials and another with leading legislators.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Manuel Valls urged the US to quickly repair “damage” to its relationship with France.<\/p>\n
The US Ambassador Jane Hartley was also summoned to the foreign ministry in Paris to discuss the latest claims, French officials said.<\/p>\n
The NSA has previously been accused of spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and on Brazilian and Mexican leaders.<\/p>\n
A statement released by the French presidency after the phone call (in French) said Mr Obama had pledged to “finish with practices that have taken place in the past”.<\/p>\n
The conversation between Mr Hollande and Mr Obama had focused on “the principles that should govern relations between allies on intelligence matters”.<\/p>\n
French aware?<\/strong><\/p>\n Wikileaks began publishing the files on Tuesday, under the heading “Espionnage Elysee” – a reference to the French presidential palace.<\/p>\n It said the secret files “derive from directly targeted NSA surveillance of the communications” of the three French presidents as well as French ministers and the ambassador to the US.<\/p>\n The Wikileaks files have now been published by France’s Liberation newspaper and the Mediapart investigative website.<\/p>\n