US 'refuses to hand over CIA agents' to Germany

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US authorities have told Germany they will not hand over 13 suspected CIA agents sought over the alleged kidnapping of a German citizen in 2003, an official said.
In response, the German government has dropped its extradition demand, according to an issue of German magazine Der Spiegel due to appear Monday.
"To avoid an open conflict with the American authorities, the German government will not follow up the demand by the prosecutors in Munich to proceed with the arrest of 13 CIA agents," the weekly magazine said.
The decision was taken after US authorities ruled out "provisionary detention of extradition" of the suspects, Der Spiegel reported.
A German justice ministry spokeswoman, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to the Associated Press that the US administration told Berlin it would not hand over the group.
The German request came after Khaled el-Masri, a Lebanese-born German, was taken from the Macedonian capital, Skopje, on New Year's Eve, 2003.
The 44-year-old unemployed former car salesman and father of six, says he was abducted by US agents and flown to a prison in Afghanistan for interrogation.
El-Masri says he was drugged and tortured, before being released five months later in Albania.
He said his captors told him he was seized in a case of mistaken identity.
El-Masri has filed a suit in the US against his detention, but it was rejected by an appeals court on the grounds of national security.
Human rights campaigners have focused on el-Masri's story in pressing the US to stop flying terrorism suspects to countries other than the US where they could face abuse - a practice known as 'extraordinary rendition'.
US officials have declined to address the case in public. However, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has said that the US has acknowledged making a mistake with el-Masri.