Senate votes to put President Rousseff on trial

The Brazilian Senate voted in the early hours of Wednesday to put suspended President Dilma Rousseff on an impeachment trial. At the end of a lengthy session that lasted more than 15 hours, senators voted 59 to 21 to approve the trial, surpassing the 41 votes needed to open the trial.

Rousseff is accused of committing fiscal fraud to balance the 2014 budget. The trial was expected to begin in late August or early September.

The opposition said that the president committed a crime of financial responsibility by resorting to fiscal maneuvers to balance the budget, which is written in the country's law and punishable by impeachment.