BERLIN: Germany took the dramatic step Thursday of asking the top US intelligence official in Berlin to leave the country, following two reported cases of suspected US spying and the yearlong spat over eavesdropping by the National Security Agency.
The move reflects growing impatience in Germany at what is perceived as US nonchalance about being caught spying on a close ally.
“The representative of the US intelligence services at the United States Embassy has been asked to leave Germany,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement.
“The request occurred against the backdrop of the ongoing investigation by federal prosecutors as well as the questions that were posed months ago about the activities of US intelligence agencies in Germany,” he said. “The government takes the matter very seriously.”
Seibert said Germany continues to seek “close and trusting” cooperation with its Western partners, “especially the United States.”
Shortly before the decision was announced, Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters that Germany and the United States had “very different approaches” to the role of intelligence agencies.
She stressed the need for greater trust between allies, a position she has repeatedly voiced since reports last year that the National Security Agency eavesdropped on her cellphone.
In separate cases over the past 10 days, one man has been arrested and an investigation against another has been launched on suspicion that they worked for foreign intelligence. German media have reported that the men are suspected of passing secrets to the US
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that the scope of the cases and who was involved are not yet clear, but that talks are taking place with the United States at various levels.
“If the situation remains what we know now, the information reaped by this suspected espionage is laughable,” de Maiziere said in a statement. “However, the political damage is already disproportionate and serious.”
Germany asks top American spy to leave the country
Germany asks top American spy to leave the country
Guterres warns UN risks ‘imminent financial collapse’
- “Member States must fundamentally overhaul our financial rules to prevent an imminent financial collapse,” Guterres wrote
- Trump has often questioned the UN’s relevance and attacked its priorities
UNITED NATIONS: United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Friday warned that the world body is on the brink of financial collapse and could run out of cash by July, as he urged countries to pay their dues.
The UN faces chronic budget problems because some member states do not pay their mandatory contributions in full, while others do not pay on time, forcing it into hiring freezes and cutbacks.
“Either all Member States honor their obligations to pay in full and on time — or Member States must fundamentally overhaul our financial rules to prevent an imminent financial collapse,” Secretary-General Guterres wrote in a letter.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has in recent months reduced its funding to some UN agencies and has rejected or delayed some mandatory contributions.
Trump has often questioned the UN’s relevance and attacked its priorities.
The organization’s top decision-making body, the Security Council, is paralyzed because of tensions between the United States and Russia and China, all three of which are permanent, veto-wielding members.
Trump also launched his “Board of Peace” this month, which critics say is intended to become a rival to the UN.
- ‘Untenable’ -
Although more than 150 member states have paid their dues, the UN ended 2025 with $1.6 billion in unpaid contributions — more than double the amount for 2024.
“The current trajectory is untenable. It leaves the Organization exposed to structural financial risk,” Guterres wrote.
The UN is also facing a related problem: it must reimburse member states for unspent funds, Farhan Haq, one of the Guterres’ spokespeople, said during a press briefing.
The secretary-general also highlighted that problem, writing in the letter: “We are trapped in a Kafkaesque cycle; expected to give back cash that does not exist.”
“The practical reality is stark: unless collections drastically improve, we cannot fully execute the 2026 program budget approved in December,” Guterres’ wrote, adding: “Worse still, based on historical trends, regular budget cash could run out by July.”
Guterres, who will step down at the end of 2026, this month gave his last annual speech setting out his priorities for the year ahead and said the world was riven with “self-defeating geopolitical divides (and) brazen violations of international law.”
He also slammed “wholesale cuts in development and humanitarian aid” — an apparent reference to deep cuts to the budgets of UN agencies made by the United States under the Trump administration’s “America First” policies.
