Brazil moves to remove its own president, put her on trial

The extraordinary political turmoil in Brazil reached a watershed on Wednesday as members of the Senate neared a final vote to suspend President Dilma Rousseff from office for up to six months and put her on trial for alleged misdeeds in economic policy.

Even as the nation watched agog as a full day of mostly sober debate was broadcast on live television before a final vote expected later in the evening, it appeared all but certain that a simple majority in the upper chamber would be mustered to take the movement to remove Ms Rousseff to the next step.

“There is no path for us but opposition,” the most senior Senator of the President’s ruling Workers Party, Senator Humberto Costa told reporters, essentially acknowledging that a loss for the president and himself was nigh.

UPDATE: Brazil's Rousseff loses last-ditch move to stop impeachment

Brasília (AFP)  Brazil's Supreme Court on Friday rejected a last-ditch attempt by President Dilma Rousseff to halt the impeachment process against her, clearing the way for a key vote in Congress.

Justices refused a request for an injunction against proceedings that the government lawyer called "Kafkaesque" and said amounted to denying Rousseff the opportunity to defend herself.

The ruling in an emergency Supreme Court session that began late Thursday and went well past midnight in the capital Brasilia paved the way for Sunday's vote by the lower house of Congress, which is due to decide whether to send Rousseff to an impeachment trial.

Worst defeat in 100 years: Brazil plead for forgiveness

Belo Horizonte - Brazil's World Cup dream was smashed into oblivion Tuesday as majestic Germany ran riot to win an extraordinary semi-final 7-1, sending the hosts crashing to the worst defeat in their 100-year footballing history. Germany scored five goals in 18 astonishing first-half minutes on their way to a 7-1 semi-final mauling of Brazil on Tuesday setting a string of records and leaving the host nation's fans angry and bewildered.

Germany will meet Argentina or the Netherlands in Sunday's final in Rio de Janeiro after an unbelievable performance in which striker Miroslav Klose became the tournament's highest scorer of all time with his 16th World Cup goal.  Fireworks boomed across the city, and fans in the German capital took up the refrain chanted by the German supporters in Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte, Brazil: “What a day! So beautifully wonderful is today!” Their national team had stunned the world, including Germany itself, with a 7-1 trouncing of Brazil to reach its eighth World Cup final.