Photo Gallery: Spying on Merkel?

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Angela Merkel speaks on her mobile phone at an EU summit in Brussels in December 2011. Such communications were thought to be private, but suspicions that the US has been listening in on her calls led Merkel to raise the issue with US President Barack Obama.

REUTERS

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In the conversation between the two leaders, Merkel "made it clear that, if the indications prove to be correct, she unequivocally disapproves of such practices, and considers them totally unacceptable," according to German government spokesman Steffen Seibert.

DPA

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Obama arrives at the Brandenburg Gate while on a visit to Berlin in June 2013. The alleged eavesdropping on the chancellor's cell phone by the US National Security Agency could lead to a diplomatic confrontation between Berlin and Washington.

Getty Images

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The accusations could also damage the personal relationship between Merkel and Obama in the long term. Here, the two leaders raises their glasses for a toast on Obama's first visit to Berlin as president.

DPA

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Obama and Merkel also walked alongside each other at the G20 summit in St. Petersburg in September. Merkel has become one of Obama's key contacts for questions regarding the European economy.

REUTERS/ RIA Novosti

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Two years ago, Obama invited Merkel to the White House to award her the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor of the United States.

AP

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Merkel's Chief of Staff Ronald Pofalla was the first government representative to declare the spying scandal over. His statement that the "alleged comprehensive spying in Germany" was off the table was ridiculed on the Internet.

DPA

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Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich also said in August that the "suspicions" had "dissolved into air" and that there were no indications that German government agencies had been spied on.

DPA

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The NSA is the largest of the 16 intelligence services in the United States, and is responsible for the collection and evaluation of electronic communications worldwide. Here, the agency's entrance sign in Fort Meade, Maryland.

AP

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Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked tens of thousands of classified documents on the agency's spying practices to the media, causing outrage across the globe.

REUTERS/ The Guardian

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NSA Director Keith Alexander was called to testify before Congress in the wake of the Snowden leaks. He sought to reassure his employees and their families in a letter, saying the media had "sensationalized" the matter. It was recently reported that Alexander will leave his post in the spring of 2014.

AP/dpa

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The NSA headquarters in Fort Meade. The agency has 40,000 employees and a budget of between $8 billion and $10 billion. According to recent allegations, the NSA collects and collates phone, Internet, bank, flight and insurance data on individuals, creating comprehensive personal files.

AP

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The NSA is the largest collector of information in the world. Here, an aerial view of the agency's Utah Data Center, where the information is stored on massive servers. The complex cost $2 billion.

AP