French President François Hollande says he wants all the information from Berlin after reports that Germany's foreign intelligence network spied on French Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius.

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Such practices should not exist between allies, Hollande declared at the EU-Africa migration conference in Malta on Thursday.

Although he had been assured that such spying had been completely stopped, he wanted to "see the proof", he said, adding that he was confident that the German chancellery would to everything possible to explain the circumstances.

German public radio on Thursday claimed that Germany's spy service, the BND, had listened in on Fabius.

Other targets included the International Court of Justice at The Hague, the UN's World Health Organisation, the UN's children fund (Unicef), the US's FBI, Voice of America radio and "numerous European and American companies, including US arms manufacturer Lockheed".

in 2013 German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke sternly to Washington after it emerged that the US's National Security Agency had bugged her cellphone.

German media later revealed that the BND had spied on allied countries on behalf of the NSA as well as for its own purposes.

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