After a vote on Wednesday in Brazil's Chamber of Deputies Michel Temer, avoided being put on trial for charges of corruption. The vote, which saw 251 out of 513 deputies vote in favour of Temer, went in his favour despite low approval rates. Temer got to power after Dilma Roussef's impeachement in August, but has since been plagued by scandals. The charges of corruption emerged out of a national inquirery into corruption among Brazil's political class, which has seen dozens of politicians accused and tried already. This might also be why Temer secured the vote, as many of the deputies themselves stand accused of corruption too.

The result of the mid-term congressional elections of Monday ended in a victory for presindent's Mauricio Macri's coalition. The vote comes as another blow for the left-wing governments which were prominent in Latin-America for a long time. After Brazil's president Dilma Roussef and the severe pressure on president Maduro in Venezuela, this turn in government in Argentina is a peaceful one though. The centre-right His Cambiemos (Let's Change) movement won in 13 of Argentina's 23 provinces, including the five most populous urban areas. The president promised reforms but still needs alliances in the congress, as his movement is still a minority bloc. The split in the opposition, however, seems to give him space to get on with his legislative reformist agenda.

Following the promise of president Trump to renegotiate NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Association, trade talks have begun on Wednesday. President Trump has called the agreement bad for the USA and wants to get more favourable conditions, even if this might mean stepping out the association. Trade is foundational pillar of Trump’s foreign policy, as he sees the free trade agreements like NAFTA and TTP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) as a threat to USA’s welfare and trade balance. His aim is to renegotiate such trade agreements or to step out if the demands of the USA are not met.

After weeks of coalition talks the liberal FDP walked away from the table, saying it was ‘better not to govern than to govern in a bad way’. The failure of the talks is Germany’s biggest political upheaval in many years. The talks collapsed as the parties could not reconcile their ideas on energy and above all, migration. As the ‘Jamaica coalition’ of the Greens, FDP and Merkel’s CDU was the only logical outcome of the elections this year, an uncertain time for Germany and indeed Europe has arrived.

After the Catalan parliament declared its independence from Spain on Saturday following the outcome of the referendum earlier this month, the Spanish federal government stripped the Catalonian government of its powers and autonomy. The referendum was ruled unconstitutional by Spain’s highest court and the Spanish government blocked several voting stations. The Catalonian government ignored the calls from Madrid and pushed ahead with a secret vote anyway, prompting Spain’s government to act.

After a record 225 day formation following the March parliamentary elections Mark Rutte’s third term cabinet was sworn in on the 26^th of October. The coalition of four parties took long to form and relies on a 1 seat margin and replaces the ‘Grand Coalition’ of the past four years.