Can’t sign in to hotmail.

All afternoon today I have been unable to log into my hotmail (live) account.  I just get the message  'sorry, there seems to be  a problem with hotmail right now'  Before that when composing an e-mail the service became very sluggish and then I could not save drafts, send e-mail or look at contacts.  Then I couldn't relog in at all.  Why and when will this be fixed - I just can't do any work.  My internet connexion is just fine - except for hotmail.  Using Chrome on a desktop PC - latest version of chrome on windows XP.