Brazil's new leader Michel Temer began his presidency in earnest Thursday vowing to heal the crisis-stricken Latin American giant after senators fired his defiant rival Dilma Rousseff in an emotional impeachment trial.
Temer, 75, was sworn in shortly after a majority of senators voted Wednesday in a highly charged session to remove the leftist Rousseff, 68, on grounds that she illegally manipulated the state budget.
Rousseff's successor shrugged off her claims that he had led a "coup" to seize power from her Workers' Party government, which has ruled Brazil for 13 years.
Sworn in to serve out the remainder of Rousseff's four-year presidential term up to the end of 2018, Temer vowed to create jobs in the recession-stricken country and guarantee "political stability" to lure investors.
"My only interest is in handing over to my successor a country that is reconciled, pacified and growing economically," he said in a pre-recorded television address, aired as he headed off to China for a G20 summit.
Rousseff told supporters at the Alvorada presidential palace on the outskirts of the capital Brasilia that she had committed no crime.
"They have convicted an innocent person and carried out a parliamentary coup," she said, defiantly vowing that she'd "be back."
In the day's surprise twist, a separate vote to bar Rousseff from holding any public office for eight years failed to pass, meaning she could in theory re-enter political life.
- Cheers, cries, protests -
Rousseff was accused of taking illegal state loans to patch budget holes in 2014, masking the country's problems as it slid into economic disarray.
Pleading her innocence during a marathon 14-hour session on Monday, she said that abuse of the impeachment process put at risk Brazil's democracy, restored in 1985 after a two-decades-long military dictatorship.
She recalled how she was tortured and imprisoned in the 1970s for belonging to a leftist guerrilla group.
Cheers mixed with cries of disappointment erupted in the blue-carpeted Senate chamber Wednesday as the impeachment verdict flashed up on the electronic voting screen.
In the streets around the Congress, a few dozen Rousseff supporters protested -- a fraction of the crowds her party once mobilized.
"We are protesting against the coup and fighting for democracy," said 61-year-old farmer Orlando Ribeiro.
In Sao Paulo, riot police fired tear gas to disperse crowds of protesters.
A few hundred protested peacefully in central Rio de Janeiro, waving flags and yelling "Temer out!"
- Decline of left -
Under Rousseff and her more popular predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 29 million Brazilians were lifted from poverty. But their Workers' Party became bogged down in corruption and a deep economic slump.
Huge anti-Rousseff street demonstrations over the past year reflected nationwide anger at Rousseff's management of a country mired in double-digit unemployment and inflation.
Temer had already begun drawing up market-friendly austerity reforms after taking over in an interim role after Rousseff's initial suspension in May.
He is planning to pass a spending cap and a sensitive pensions reform.
- High emotion -
On the Senate floor, emotions crackled in the run-up to the vote, then boiled over as senators made their final speeches.
Senator Aecio Neves, Rousseff's narrowly defeated center-right opponent in her 2014 re-election, pronounced triumphantly: "The constitution won. Brazil won!"
Pro-Rousseff senator Lindbergh Farias yelled: "This is a farce, a farce, a farce!"
Rousseff's lawyer Jose Eduardo Cardozo said he would bring a legal challenge against the impeachment to the high court.
Senator Romero Juca from Temer's center-right PMDB party said he expected an appeal to the decision to allow Rousseff to eventually re-enter politics.
Law professor Silvana Batini of the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio told AFP that Rousseff could run for office again but faced uncertainty with the appeals and other court cases pending that could affect her political fate.
"Rousseff can run in the 2018 elections for deputy, senator, governor, state legislator, but not for president because she has just served two consecutive terms," Batini said.
"But she could be a candidate (for president) in 2022."
Lula wants to run for president in 2018 but could trip up too. He is being investigated for alleged crimes linked to a vast scandal over state oil firm Petrobras. Several of Temer's top allies are implicated too.
AFP
Thu Sep 01 2016
View of a Brazilian national flag reading 'Temer out' during a protest of supporters of Dilma Rousseff against new Brazilian President Michel Temer at the Paulista Avenue, in Sao Paulo, Brazil on August 31, 2016. - AFP PHOTO
Polis siasat dakwaan buli di sekolah berasrama penuh di KL
Polis sedang menjalankan siasatan berhubung dakwaan berlaku kejadian buli membabitkan anak seorang penyanyi dan beberapa individu lain di sebuah sekolah berasrama penuh di ibu negara.
Peruntukan tebatan banjir Sungai Damansara diluluskan, kurangkan risiko di Sungai Buloh
Peruntukan berjumlah RM481 juta bagi Projek Tebatan Banjir Sungai Damansara telah diluluskan sebagai usaha mengurangkan risiko banjir di kawasan Parlimen Sungai Buloh.
AWANI 7:45 [05/10/2024] – Tunggu perkenan Majlis Raja-Raja | Inflasi dan gaji jadi tumpuan | Kes terpencil | Zionis terus angkuh
- Tiga negeri fatwakan GISB sesat, siasatan libat 10 peruntukan
- Belanjawan 2025 tumpu isu inflasi dan naik gaji
- Kekecohan libat warga Palestin mungkin sebab stress, ATM tangani dengan profesional
- Gaza hancur lebur, Beirut hampiri kemusnahan
- Belanjawan 2025 tumpu isu inflasi dan naik gaji
- Kekecohan libat warga Palestin mungkin sebab stress, ATM tangani dengan profesional
- Gaza hancur lebur, Beirut hampiri kemusnahan
Pekebun boleh kemuka tuntutan akibat serangan haiwan liar
Pekebun yang mengalami kerugian hasil tanaman akibat ancaman haiwan liar boleh mengemukakan tuntutan pampasan terhadap kerosakan yang berlaku.
AWANI Ringkas: GISB Holdings | Kes tembakan di Song | PR1MA
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari di Astro AWANI menerusi AWANI Ringkas.
Lelaki rugi RM224,000 terperdaya skim pelaburan tidak wujud
Seorang lelaki warga tempatan berputih mata apabila kerugian RM224,000 setelah terperdaya dengan skim pelaburan tidak wujud yang diiklankan menerusi aplikasi WhastApp.
#AWANIRingkas 5 Oktober 2024 | 9 PM
Berikut merupakan rangkuman berita setakat 9 malam, 5 Oktober 2024
1️⃣ Siasatan membabitkan 10 peruntukan undang-undang
2️⃣ KDN sahkan seorang anggota polis terlibat
3️⃣ Projek sakit dijangka siap menjelang hujung 2024
#awaniringkas
1️⃣ Siasatan membabitkan 10 peruntukan undang-undang
2️⃣ KDN sahkan seorang anggota polis terlibat
3️⃣ Projek sakit dijangka siap menjelang hujung 2024
#awaniringkas
Serangan gajah: Perhilitan terus pantau Kampung Basung
Perhilitan Terengganu akan meneruskan pemantauan di Kampung Basung di Kuala Berang bagi mengesan gajah liar yang menyebabkan kematian warga emas hari ini.
Ekonomi penjagaan berpotensi hasil pendapatan baharu untuk negeri - Saarani
Kerajaan Perak melihat potensi ekonomi penjagaan sebagai satu daripada pendapatan baharu yang berdaya maju untuk negeri itu, kata Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad.
Polis tahan pegawai tentera kerana cabul kakitangan bawahan
Seorang pegawai tentera ditahan kerana disyaki mencabul kakitangan bawahannya sebanyak beberapa kali di sebuah premis kerajaan di Kok Lanas, Kota Bharu.
Hampir 200 aktivis alam sekitar dibunuh pada 2023
Hampir 200 pejuang alam sekitar dibunuh di seluruh dunia pada 2023, lapor Agensi Berita Jerman (dpa), memetik pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) Global Witness pada Selasa.
Bluesky kini mempunyai lebih 9 juta pengguna
Penambahan drastik kebelakangan ini berlaku apabila platform X dihalang di Brazil, menyebabkan ramai beralih ke Bluesky.
Bekas ketua pasukan Brazil, Menezes ambil alih Fluminense
Bekas pengurus pasukan kebangsaan Brazil, Mano Menezes telah bersetuju dengan kontrak selama enam bulan sebagai ketua jurulatih Fluminense.
Copa America: Paraguay jadi mangsa aksi garang Brazil
Brazil bangkit daripada persembahan hambar sebelum membelasah Paraguay 4-1 dalam pertembungan Kumpulan D, Copa America.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Brazil dipilih sebagai tuan rumah Piala Dunia Wanita FIFA 2027
Brazil akan menjadi tuan rumah Piala Dunia Wanita Persekutuan Bola Sepak Antarabangsa (FIFA) 2027 selepas undian di Kongres FIFA ke-74 pada Jumaat.
Angka kematian akibat bencana alam di Brazil meningkat kepada 151
Dalam tempoh 24 jam lepas, bilangan mangsa yang meninggal dunia telah meningkat dari 149 ke 151 orang.
Angka kematian akibat bencana alam terburuk di Brazil meningkat kepada 143
Institut Meteorologi Kebangsaan meramalkan hujan lebat akan berterusan sehingga Isnin di negeri paling selatan Brazil itu.
Penang FC yakin kemampuan Neto Oliveira
Akmal Rizal berkata pemain kelahiran Brazil berusia 26 tahun itu berkemungkinan besar akan disenaraikan dalam kesebelasan utama.
Vinicius Junior menangis jawab isu penderaan perkauman
Penyerang sensasi Real Madrid, Vinicius Junior, menangis dalam sidang media selepas ditanya mengenai isu perkauman yang melibatkan dirinya.