Power cuts strike western Europe

Power cuts have struck several countries in western Europe, leaving millions of people without electricity.

Power companies said the outage started in Germany with a surge in demand prompted by cold weather, and then spread to other parts of Europe.



Some five million people in France lost power, mainly in the east of the country and including parts of Paris.

"We weren't very far from a European blackout", a senior director with French power company RTE said.

Italy, Belgium and Spain were also affected by the power cuts.