US Signals Green Light For No-spying Deal With Germany

Berlin, Nov 3, IRNA -- The United States has reportedly agreed to sign a no-spying agreement with Germany following recent revelations about US mass spying in Berlins government district, the Duesseldorf-based daily Rheinische Post said Saturday. A rough draft of such an accord could be ready as early as this Christmas, the paper cited high-ranking government circles as saying after their talks in Washington. Chancellor Angela Merkel whose cell phone was wiretapped by the NSA, had pressed Washington to sign such a deal by the end of the year. Merkel first raised the possibility of a no-spying agreement with American President Barack Obama during his visit to Berlin in June this year, but nothing came of it. The United States has a no-spying accord with Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, a pact dubbed Five Eyes that was struck in the wake of World War II. /end