US embassy cables: UN seeks answers from Washington

The senior American diplomat at the UN tonight defended her team after WikiLeaks disclosed a US spying operation targeting the UN's secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, and members of the security council. Susan Rice, the US ambassador appointed to the UN by Barack Obama last year, appeared uncomfortable and, at times, exasperated as she took questions from the media at the UN today. She denied US diplomats were engaged in spying. "Let me be very clear: our diplomats are just that," she said. "They are diplomats. That is what they do every day. They get out and work with partners here at the UN and around the world." Rice was questioned about a leaked US cable showing diplomats were asked to find personal financial details about the UN leadership, including credit card information, passwords for their communications systems and frequent-flier membership. Ban's office hit back at the US with a warning that any violation of UN "immunity" may breach international law. Rice, speaking after a meeting of the security council today, three times declined to deal directly with questions about the spying. She insisted the job of US diplomats at the UN and around the world was to "build relations, negotiate, advance our interests and work to find common solutions to complex problems. That's what they do and they do it extremely well, with great integrity, with hard work."