Paraguay's Senate rejects president's request to extend time for preparing impeachment defense.

Paraguay’s Senate rejected President Santiago Peña’s request for an additional 72 hours to prepare his impeachment defense, keeping a vote on his removal set for Friday evening. The lower house had earlier voted 78-0 to open impeachment proceedings amid protests triggered by the Ueno Bank crisis. Peña had submitted his resignation, but the joint congressional session called to accept it lost quorum and adjourned, after which he said he would face impeachment and defend himself. The interior minister and central bank governor have resigned, eight Ueno executives have been arrested, and prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into whether Peña bears responsibility for the bank’s irregularities, which he denies. The case matters because it leaves the president’s political survival in the Senate’s hands while the bank crisis tests institutional stability. What to watch next is the Friday Senate vote and the outcome of the criminal probe.