U.S, EAVESDROPPING ON GERMAN CHANCELLOR'S CALLS

US President Barack Obama had assured German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the US is not monitoring her communications, according to the White House spokesman.Carney's statement on Wednesday comes in response to the German government's announcement that it has obtained information suggesting the US may have tapped Merkel's mobile phone. Merkel called Obama to demand an immediate clarification. However, Carney did not specifically say that the US had never monitored or obtained Merkel's communications.The news broke as Secretary of State John Kerry, on a visit to Rome, faced fresh questions about mass spying on European allies, based on revelations from Edward Snowden, the fugitive ex-US intelligence operative granted asylum in Russia.French President Francois Hollande is pressing for the US spying issue to be put on the agenda of a summit of European leaders starting on Thursday. French newspaper Le Monde reported earlier this week that the National Security Agency (NSA) had collected tens of thousands of French phone records. Just four months ago, Obama defended US anti-terrorism tactics on a visit to Berlin, telling Germans at a news conference with Merkel that Washington was not spying on ordinary citizens.