Brazil's Dilma Rousseff Heads to US amid Impeachment Fight

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff will travel to New York Thursday to sign a global climate change pact amidst a bruising impeachment fight back home.

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Rousseff's trip will mean that Vice President Michel Temer, whom she accuses of conspiring to oust her, will be in charge of the country until her return.

An aide in her office told AFP that the 68-year-old leftist leader would be back in Brasilia late Friday or early Saturday.

More than 160 nations will gather at the headquarters of the United Nations on Friday to sight the climate pact that was agreed in Paris in December.

Rousseff could use the international stage to denounce her possible impeachment, which she has decried as a "coup" bid by Temer and other members of the centrist PMDB party, her former coalition partner.

The lower house of Congress overwhelmingly voted on Sunday to send impeachment proceedings to the Senate, which is expected to vote in mid-May on whether to put Rousseff on trial.

If a simple majority approves the trial, Rousseff would be suspended for up to 180 days and Temer would replace her during that time.

A two-thirds majority would then be needed in the Senate to permanently remove her from office, leaving Temer at the helm until her term ends in late 2018.