Brazil. The Senate votes to impeach President Dilma Rousseff for 180 days. The impeachment request is based on several factors, including Dilma’s manipulation of public finances to hide a deficit in the state budget and thus secure re-election in 2014. Besides the recession, the other real sword of Damocles hanging over Brasilia is the major corruption investigation stemming from bribery at the state-owned oil company Petrobras. This investigation affects not only former President Lula da Silva, who as of today returns to being an ordinary citizen under investigation by the Curitiba prosecutor’s office, but also members of the nascent governing majority.
