MSN connection problems

Is anyone else experiencing connection problems with MSN?

I know that the entire MSN network is not down because my friend who is on a Windows box is able to be on MSN right now. I have tried every mac-compatible program to support MSN (adium, fire, aMSN, the microsoft-released MSN client) that I can find and, with one exception, none of them are working. MSN is also not working on my partner's Ubuntu computer. I can get logged into Mercury Messenger, but it shows all of my contacts as blocked and I cannot make it unblock them. AIM, YIM and GoogleTalk are all working in adium for me.

Does anyone have any idea what's going on? Yes, I've updated everything. No, I had not updated anything immediately prior to this occurring.

Messenger Problems

I've had the same problems...I can log into my hotmail account through Firefox, but for a couple of days now my messenger spins up but cannot connect. Tried changing the password and also reloading the messenger software, but still the same problem.
My local friendly mac dealer says I'm not the only one, and not only is there a problem in Spain, but must be being blocked at their server end...dont know why tho, and it doesnt help.
I've seen the forum info for Adium and am going to give it a go, but if it is the server end it will probably still not work.
Sorry, but I've no answers, but youre not the only one...lol