Brazilian senator recommends impeachment trial for Rousseff

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's chances of remaining in office plummeted on Wednesday after a key senator recommended the leftist leader face an impeachment trial and a top prosecutor said she should be included in a vast corruption investigation.

Rousseff, whose popularity has fallen in the last year due in large part to a deepening economic recession, is expected to become the first Brazilian president to fail to complete a presidential term in more than 20 years.

But Rousseff vowed to "keep fighting... to come back to government if the impeachment request is accepted".

She is accused of manipulating government accounts, which she denies.

The Senate will decide whether to start an impeachment trial next week. If that happens she will be suspended from office for 180 days.

Senator Antonio Anastasia, an opposition member tasked with recommending whether to put Rousseff on trial in the Senate for breaking budget laws, told a 21-member Senate committee that the charges were serious enough to remove her from office.

The committee is expected to vote overwhelmingly on Friday to send his recommendation to the full chamber.

"We are looking at a complaint centered on evidence of irregularities that can put fiscal responsibility at risk," Anastasia, a member of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), told the committee.