Berlin

GERMANY has curbed its cooperation with US intelligence, pushing back against a key ally amid new revelations of spying on Germans and other Europeans that have set off a domestic firestorm.

The decision to limit Germany's collection of information as part of joint intelligence efforts signals a breach in a long and close relationship - one that until now had been protected by Chancellor Angela Merkel, even when documents revealed in 2013 that US surveillance in Europe was so extensive it had swept up her cellphone number.