Obama assures Merkel that US not monitoring her communications

U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by telephone regarding allegations that the U.S. National Security Agency intercepted Merkel's communications, the White House announced here Wednesday. The White House said in a statement that Obama "assured the Chancellor that the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of Chancellor Merkel." "As the President has said, the United States is reviewing the way that we gather intelligence to ensure that we properly balance the security concerns of our citizens and allies with the privacy concerns that all people share," the statement affirmed. The statement noted that "both leaders agreed to intensify further the cooperation between our intelligence services with the goal of protecting the security of both countries and of our partners, as well as protecting the privacy of our citizens." "The United States greatly values our close cooperation with Germany on a broad range of shared security challenges," the statement affirmed