Hundreds of millions without power in India

Hundreds of millions of people have been left without electricity in northern and eastern India after a massive power breakdown. More than half the country was hit by the power cuts after three grids collapsed - one for a second day. Hundreds of trains have come to a standstill and hospitals are running on backup generators. The country's power minister has blamed the crisis on states drawing too much power from the national grid. The breakdowns in the northern, eastern, and north-eastern grids mean around 600m people have been affected in 20 of India's states. Traffic jams In a statement on national TV on Tuesday evening, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said he had appealed to states to stop trying to take more than their quota of power.