Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff calls off US trip

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has called off a state visit to Washington next month over allegations of US espionage.

The US National Security Agency (NSA) has been accused of intercepting emails and messages from Ms Rousseff, her aides and state oil company, Petrobras.

The allegations were based on documents leaked by fugitive former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

President Barack Obama had promised to investigate the incident.

The White House said Mr Obama had telephoned Ms Rousseff on Monday to discuss the matter.

"The president has said that he understands and regrets the concerns [that] disclosures of alleged US intelligence activities have generated in Brazil and made clear that he is committed to working together with President Rousseff and her government in diplomatic channels to move beyond this issue as a source of tension in our bilateral relationship," the White House said in a statement.

This was to be the first state visit by a Brazilian president to the US since 1995. It was due to begin on 23 October.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said that the US-Brazil relationship was so important, President Obama "agrees with this decision that they made together to postpone this visit".

"This relationship should not be overshadowed by any bilateral issue," he said.

The Brazilian government said it hoped the state visit would take place "as soon as possible", once the issue had been "resolved properly".

(Published by BBC - September 17, 2013)