Merkel declines to confirm report she has decided to fire top spy

Reuters
FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz give a statment to the media in the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, September 16, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Angela Merkel said on Monday she had nothing to add to what she had already said about Germany's embattled domestic intelligence chief after newspaper Die Welt reported the chancellor had decided he must go. Merkel said on Friday that her coalition would not break apart over the future of Hans-Georg Maassen, who has come under fire after he cast doubt on the authenticity of video footage showing far-right protesters chasing migrants after the fatal stabbing of a German man. Asked if the report in Die Welt was correct, Merkel told a news conference: "I can only repeat what I said on Friday, which remains valid and there is nothing more to add." (Reporting by Lamine Chikhi; Writing by Michelle Martin; Editing by Joseph Nasr)