Protesters gathered across Russia to support opposition leader Alexei Navalny's call to boycott the March presidential election, and Mr Navalny himself was arrested while walking to the Moscow demonstration.

Mikhail Gorbachev, who resigned as Soviet president 20 years ago, has urged Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin to follow his example and step down.

HAS Vladimir Putin lost his touch?

Eduardo Duhalde, an old-style populist from the Peronist party, was sworn in as Argentina’s fifth president in two weeks today - and immediately lashed out at the unbridled free market policies he blames for the country’s economic chaos.