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Several German news sources are questioning how much President Obama knows about US spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 'Spiegel' magazine reported that USA's National Security Agency (NSA) started tapping Ms Merkel's mobile telephone in 2002, under George W. Bush administration. It says President Obama knew that tap was still in place as early as 2010, before he visited Berlin in June of that year to tell Germans of warm friendship that existed between their two countries. A newspaper reported that contents of Ms Merkel's SMS messages and phone calls went straight to White House. The US Embassy in Berlin was used as base for surveillance.

spying allegedly began when former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder was in office. US intelligence sources were suspicious of his refusal to support second Iraq War. Obama told Ms Merkel last week that he had not known of bugging. However, media report cites an NSA official who said Mr Obama ordered programme to be escalated. document from NSA warned of "grave damage for relations" if its spying programme was discovered. Ms Merkel is shocked that USA may have engaged in sort of spying she thought was relic of the Cold War. She was also spied on in former East Germany, before fall of Berlin Wall and collapse of communism in Eastern Europe.