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Brazilian opposition efforts to unseat President Dilma Rousseff advanced on Wednesday when the speaker of lower house of Congress opened impeachment proceedings against her, a move that threatens to mire the government in political wrangling as the economy nosedives.

Opposition parties filed the request in September, accusing the unpopular president of violating Brazil's fiscal laws and manipulating government finances to benefit her reelection campaign last year. Lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha said he had agreed to open proceedings.