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Obama 'approved tapping Merkel's phone'

Barack Obama was told three years ago that the National Security Agency was monitoring Angela Merkel's communications and allowed it to continue, a German newspaper has reported.

Barack Obama has been dragged into the row over the tapping of world leaders' phones. Credit: REUTERS/Grigory Dukor

Bild am Sonntag claimed the US President allowed intelligence officials to listen to calls from the German Chancellor’s mobile phone after he was briefed by NSA chief Keith Alexander in 2010.

However, an NSA spokeswoman said Alexander never discussed the alleged bugging of Merkel's phone with Obama.