Brazil speaker launches impeachment procedure against prez

Brazil's lower house speaker triggered impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff, setting the stage for a political battle that could see the country's first female leader forced from office.
"It's to authorise the initiation (of impeachment), not to judge on its merits," Speaker Eduardo Cunha told journalists after officially accepting an impeachment petition, which now goes to a committee which will decide whether or not to authorise a trial.