In crushing defeat, Brazil's Rousseff moves close to impeachment

Demonstrators look on at a big screen showing a session to review the request for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment in Brasilia, during a protest against her at Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo, Brazil, April 17, 2016.

BRAZIL: Brazil's leftist President Dilma Rousseff suffered a humiliating loss in a crucial impeachment vote in the lower house of Congress on Sunday and is almost certain to be forced from office months before the nation hosts the Olympics.

Fireworks lit up the night sky in Brazil's megacities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro after the opposition comfortably surpassed the two-thirds majority needed to send Rousseff for trial in the Senate on charges of manipulating budget accounts.