Europeans Furious Over U.S. Spying, 21 Nations Prepare to Take Action

◼ Europe fell in love with Obama the moment he was elected, celebrating his message of diplomacy and mutual trust among nations. The relationship has since grown cold, amid allegations that the U.S. has been spying on its European allies all along. - IJ Review

When asked about allegations that the U.S. spied on Chancellor Merkel, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney would neither confirm nor deny the action.

European lawmakers stated that they knew that America was spying on them but until this week’s revelations, they did not know that it was to such a large extent. Earlier this week, European lawmakers voted to strengthen measures to protect citizens from NSA snooping.

◼ German papers are increasingly turning their fire on US President Barack Obama over claims that the National Security Agency has monitored Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone. - BBC

..."Obama's aura is gone," reads the headline of a front-page commentary in the daily Die Welt....

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung takes a similar line. "Does Obama not realise how much trust he has lost in this country?" a front-page commentary by Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger asks....

"Obama wanted to know everything about Merkel," Bild's online headline reads. The US president's reported denial that he had not been aware of the spying "is at best a diplomatic white lie", the paper says.

◼ NSA: New reports in German media deepen US-Merkel spy row - BBC

President Barack Obama apologised to the German chancellor and promised Mrs Merkel he knew nothing of the alleged phone monitoring and would have stopped it if he had, Der Spiegel reports.