Brazil's Rousseff suspended; to face impeachment trial

Brazil President Dilma Rousseff has been stripped of her duties for at least six months after the country's senate voted to for impeachment and put her on trial for allegedly manipulating figures to hide the size of the public deficit ahead of her election in 2014..

Senators voted to suspend her by 55 votes to 22 after an all-night parliamentary session. A trial could last 180 days.

Vice-President and former coalition partner Michel Temer will assume the role of acting president. Rousseff has accused him of plotting her downfall.

Temer will start appointing ministers to his government. He leads the centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement party.

Rousseff denies the charges against her. She has become an increasingly unpopular leader as the once thriving economy has slid into recession. It is an unwelcome spotlight on the country which will host the Olympic Games this summer and is already battling with the effects of the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

Brazil is also plagued by endemic political and corporate corruption. The state-run oil firm Petrobras is mired in a kick-back and bribery scandal, and 33 of the senators who took part in Thursday's impeachment vote have been charged or under investigation by prosectors.