Caracas, Jan. 4 -- Venezuela's Supreme Court has directed Vice President Delcy Rodriguez to assume the role of acting president following the removal of President Nicolas Maduro by the United States, a move that has sharply intensified the country's ongoing political crisis.

The ruling, announced late Saturday local time, concluded that Maduro is in a "material and temporary impossibility to exercise his functions," CNN reported.

The decision was delivered during a televised court session, formally triggering constitutional provisions related to presidential absence.

Reading the order, Supreme Court Justice Tania D'Amelio said Rodriguez would "assume and exercise, as acting president, all the powers, duties, and faculties inherent to t...