Inflation in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, edged fractionally higher in June after reaching its lowest rate in four years the previous month, final data showed on Friday. 

According to data calculated by the federal statistics office Destatis, German inflation rose to 1.0 percent this month from 0.9 percent in May, its lowest level since February 2010.

The United States on Thursday refused to break its silence about a spying row which led a furious Germany to expel the CIA station chief in Berlin, but concern deepened among lawmakers about damage to relations with Europe's dominant power.

Germany's decision was a stunning show of discord between two such close allies and a signal that Washington has failed to quell anger over revelations about its espionage tactics in Germany, which has been building for more than a year.

Germany on Thursday expelled the CIA station chief in Berlin in an escalating row over alleged spying by the U.S. that has opened the worst diplomatic rift in years between the Western allies.

The expulsion comes after two suspected U.S. spy cases were uncovered in less than a week in Germany, where anger still simmers over the NSA surveillance scandal sparked by revelations from fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

Fresh spying accusations are undermining U.S. efforts to mend fences with Germany, only two weeks after both allies launched a diplomatic initiative to overcome the NSA surveillance row.

The White House on Wednesday stayed mum on the alleged espionage, as German lawmakers vented their anger during a visit to Washington and criticized perceived indifference on this issue in the United States.

Many Germans still love to bask naked on the beaches of Spain and France but at home, long the land of the all-over tan, the nudist movement is in decline.

For almost a century, German sun-worshippers have been known to rip off their clothes at the first sighting of the country's all-too-rare summer rays.

The second case within days of alleged U.S. spying in Germany on Wednesday threatened to further strain transatlantic ties already frayed by the NSA surveillance scandal.

German authorities said police had searched the Berlin-area home and office of a man who, local media reported, is a German military employee accused of passing secrets to the United States.

Rebel strongholds in eastern Ukraine braced for more fighting on Wednesday as European leaders prepared to pile new pressure on President Petro Poroshenko for a truce with pro-Russian separatists.

French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were expected to push the Western-backed leader on a ceasefire in three-way telephone talks but Kiev has until now shrugged off calls to halt an offensive that has reclaimed a string of key rebel towns.

Germany debated retaliatory measures against the United States on Tuesday after reports of an alleged double agent stoked still smoldering public anger over the NSA scandal.

The case of a German intelligence operative suspected of spying for Washington drew a fierce response from Berlin, where indignation against one of its closest allies has run high since reports last year that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) tapped Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel raised the issue of human rights publicly in China on Tuesday -- unlike many Western visitors -- invoking the fall of the Berlin Wall and telling students their country needed "free dialogue".

The German leader, who grew up in the former East Germany, noted in her carefully worded remarks at the elite Tsinghua University in Beijing that China and Germany have a forum to discuss rights.

The United States Monday refused to comment on reports that a German man was arrested for working with American spy agencies, but offered to work with Germany to resolve a new espionage row.

"We are going to work with the Germans to resolve this situation appropriately," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest, saying Washington was aware of the report but could not comment on intelligence matters.