Facebook, the world’s most popular social network, and its Instagram photo-sharing site were interrupted temporarily Tuesday, provoking panic, rumours of a hack, and jokes of how more than one billion users were struggling to cope.

The fake televised arrest of Frenchwoman Florence Cassez is at the heart of a final bid to overturn her 60-year sentence for kidnapping in Mexico, sparking new debate about media “trials” here.

Argentina’s President Cristina Kirchner is on course for a landslide reelection, buoyed by strong growth, a weak opposition, and public sympathy a year after the death of her husband.

In Mexico’s oldest port of Veracruz, known for outdoor squares which turn into late night dancehalls, balaclava-wearing soldiers patrol the country’s newest drug war front line.