Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

America ‘may quit spying on allies’

America ‘may quit spying on allies’

The US is considering ending its eavesdropping on friendly foreign leaders, confronted with a flood of revelations about its spying.

A final decision has not been made, according to one security source.

The administration is trying to repair damage from the months-long scandal – including the most recent disclosure that the National Security Agency monitored the communications of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

President Barack Obama said the government was conducting “a complete review of how our intelligence operates.”

Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the White House had told her that “collection on our allies will not continue”.

The security source said that was not accurate, but added that some unspecified changes already had been made and more were being considered, including terminating the collection of communications from friendly heads of state.

Reports based on new leaks from former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden indicate that the NSA listened to Mrs Merkel and 34 other foreign leaders.

“With respect to NSA collection of intelligence on leaders of US allies – including France, Spain, Mexico and Germany – let me state unequivocally: I am totally opposed,” Ms Feinstein said.

She added that the US should not be “collecting phone calls or e.mails of friendly presidents and prime ministers “unless in an emergency with approval of the president”.

In response to the revelations, German officials said that the US could lose access to an important law enforcement tool used to track terrorist money flows.

Meanwhile David Cameron did not receive a USB stick reportedly used by Russia’s secret services to spy on world leaders at the G20 summit last month, Downing Street has said.

But No 10 did not rule out the possibility that officials were given one of the pen drives that is said to have contained a Trojan horse programme allowing sensitive documents stored on laptops to be accessed.

Italian media claimed yesterday that heads of state were given the devices at the acrimonious meeting in St Petersburg last month along with mobile phone recharging devices said to allow e.mails, text messages and telephone calls to be tapped.