Unions rebuff new Brazilian leader

RIO DE JANEIRO — Two of Brazil’s biggest unions refused an invitation to meet with acting president Michel Temer on Monday, underscoring the challenges facing the interim leader of Latin America’s largest nation amid a divisive impeachment process. Four other unions sent representatives to meet with Temer in Brasilia.

Temer, who had been vicepresident, took over the presidential powers last week after President Dilma Rousseff was impeached by the Senate and suspended for allegedly employing accounting tricks to hide gaping deficits in the federal budget.

Rousseff has said she has done nothing wrong and will fight during a Senate trial to take place within six months. Temer will be president while that process takes place, and he will finish Rousseff’s term that runs through 2018 if she is convicted and permanently removed.