Brazil Snubs US Over NSA Spying

Brazil has just exacted a bit of diplomatic revenge over the news that the NSA was reading the emails of President Dilma Rousseff, other Brazilians, and the state oil company Petrobras. President Dilma Rousseff has made the rare decision to scrap a state visit to Washington planned for next month, reports the Wall Street Journal. What's more, her move came after a personal phone call from President Obama yesterday.

Both countries are portraying the decision as mutual in order to give the US time to investigate the NSA eavesdropping revelation made public by Edward Snowden. But Reuters sees it as a "big blow to relations between the two biggest economies in the Americas." And the BBC explains that Rousseff was under tremendous political pressure back home given the depth of anger at the US spying. By calling off the trip, she might taken a big step toward re-election next year, writes Wyre Davies. (More Brazil stories.)