Kerry and Fabius meet amid tensions over surveillance

US Secretary of State John Kerry had a working breakfast on Tuesday morning with his French counterpart, Laurent Fabius, at the French Foreign Ministry in Paris. 
          
Kerry arrived in the French capital on Monday amid anger over reports that a National Surveillance Agency (NSA) program collected more than 70 (m) million French telephone records over 30 days.         

Kerry's visit to Paris was an unrelated and previously scheduled trip for talks on the Middle East.                         

The French government summoned the US ambassador on Monday for an explanation and promises that the snooping would stop.                       

Later on Monday, President Barack Obama called President Francois Hollande to discuss France's anger over the reported NSA surveillance tactics.         

Obama told the French president that the US was reviewing its intelligence-gathering to ensure a balance between security and privacy.   

The French president's office said in a statement that Hollande told Obama he strongly condemned the practices and found them unacceptable between allies.                   
Hollande also asked Obama to specify all the information that former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden may possess.           

Documents leaked by Snowden have been behind a series of revelations about NSA surveillance programs.         

The White House said both presidents agreed they should continue diplomatic discussions about the issue.


AP