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From the BBC:-
Blackouts cause North America chaos
Work has been going on through the night to restore power after massive blackouts crippled major cities in the eastern United States and Canada.
The power failures caused chaos as they spread from New York to Detroit, and Toronto to Ottawa.
Traffic lights failed, underground railways were evacuated and people were trapped in lifts in offices and apartments.
Canadian officials said a fire at a power plant near the upstate New York town of Niagara caused the outage, but US officials disputed that theory, although they insisted terrorism was not to blame.
The US Department of Homeland Security said it was investigating the cause of the blackouts but US officials - who dispute the Niagara theory - have said there is no evidence terrorism is to blame.
Power is slowly returning to the affected areas - thought to encompass more than 50 million people - but full restoration will take much longer, officials say.
The blackout trapped thousands of people in subways and triggered some panic on the streets.
"Everybody just flipped out," said nurse Mary Horan, outside Grand Central Station.
"Suddenly you start thinking about 11 September."
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission spokesman Bryan Lee said the outage destabilised the power grid, cascading up and taking "a loop around the Great Lakes into Canada".
But US officials were looking at a power transmission problem from Canada as the most likely cause of the biggest outage in US history, said a spokeswoman for New York Governor George Pataki.
In other developments:
Nine nuclear reactors in four US states were taken offline, the nuclear regulator said.
The US Federal Aviation Administration halted flights into six airports - three in the New York area, one in Cleveland, and two in Canada.
Sporadic looting was reported in at least four areas of the Canadian capital, Ottawa.
Twenty-six people were arrested for looting in Brooklyn, New York, Reuters news agency quoted police as saying
In New York City, tourists were trapped in lifts in the Empire State Building, the city's tallest skyscraper.
The blackout closed the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, which 27,000 vehicles use daily.
President George W Bush said the outages were not a terrorist act and added: "We're slowly but surely coping with this massive national problem."
Lights out
The BBC's John Terrett in New York says the city is waking up to an unusual sight - thousands of people lying on the pavements, propped up against shop fronts, lounging on the edge of fountains, huddled round small clusters of night lights chatting.
He says the authorities promised to restore power for rush hour but while electricity is returning slowly to the suburbs, the island of Manhattan remains in the dark.
As dusk faded into night, New York's famed skyline was shrouded in darkness and residents turned to candles and torches for light.
Times Square was plunged into darkness as giant billboards and television screens went black, while the lights also went out on Broadway, forcing theatres to cancel shows.
Many workers left their offices early, walking across bridges out of Manhattan, choking pavements and roads.
Civilians manned intersections directing gridlocked traffic after traffic signals failed, while on the pavements dozens of people queued up to use payphones after mobile phone networks broke down.
'Antiquated system'
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said power was starting to come back from the north and from the west but would take hours not minutes.
He told New Yorkers to treat Friday "as a snow day. It wouldn't be the worst thing to take a day off," he said.
In an effort to calm frayed nerves, he cautioned New Yorkers to stay cool and drink fluids.
New York emergency services had no reports of anyone injured during evacuations from tall buildings or underground subways, although the New York Times newspaper said a woman died before an ambulance could reach her amid the chaos.
Power to many hospitals and prisons was also reported to have failed but key institutions were working on back-up generators.
Critics said the crisis demonstrated the need to modernise America's electricity system.
"We're the world's greatest superpower, but we have a Third World electricity grid," former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said.
Searing heat
The BBC's Lee Carter, in Toronto, says the lights went back on in the centre of the city just after 2300 local time (0300 GMT). The city's landmark, CN Tower, was once again illuminated, but power is returning very slowly to the city, with most areas still reportedly in darkness.
As in New York, the blackout hit Toronto, Canada's commercial and financial centre, right at the beginning of rush hour.
Trams and underground trains in the city came to an abrupt halt.
The situation was made more uncomfortable by the 90F (32C) heat in New York and Toronto.
Blackouts cause North America chaos
Work has been going on through the night to restore power after massive blackouts crippled major cities in the eastern United States and Canada.
The power failures caused chaos as they spread from New York to Detroit, and Toronto to Ottawa.
Traffic lights failed, underground railways were evacuated and people were trapped in lifts in offices and apartments.
Canadian officials said a fire at a power plant near the upstate New York town of Niagara caused the outage, but US officials disputed that theory, although they insisted terrorism was not to blame.
The US Department of Homeland Security said it was investigating the cause of the blackouts but US officials - who dispute the Niagara theory - have said there is no evidence terrorism is to blame.
Power is slowly returning to the affected areas - thought to encompass more than 50 million people - but full restoration will take much longer, officials say.
The blackout trapped thousands of people in subways and triggered some panic on the streets.
"Everybody just flipped out," said nurse Mary Horan, outside Grand Central Station.
"Suddenly you start thinking about 11 September."
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission spokesman Bryan Lee said the outage destabilised the power grid, cascading up and taking "a loop around the Great Lakes into Canada".
But US officials were looking at a power transmission problem from Canada as the most likely cause of the biggest outage in US history, said a spokeswoman for New York Governor George Pataki.
In other developments:
Nine nuclear reactors in four US states were taken offline, the nuclear regulator said.
The US Federal Aviation Administration halted flights into six airports - three in the New York area, one in Cleveland, and two in Canada.
Sporadic looting was reported in at least four areas of the Canadian capital, Ottawa.
Twenty-six people were arrested for looting in Brooklyn, New York, Reuters news agency quoted police as saying
In New York City, tourists were trapped in lifts in the Empire State Building, the city's tallest skyscraper.
The blackout closed the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, which 27,000 vehicles use daily.
President George W Bush said the outages were not a terrorist act and added: "We're slowly but surely coping with this massive national problem."
Lights out
The BBC's John Terrett in New York says the city is waking up to an unusual sight - thousands of people lying on the pavements, propped up against shop fronts, lounging on the edge of fountains, huddled round small clusters of night lights chatting.
He says the authorities promised to restore power for rush hour but while electricity is returning slowly to the suburbs, the island of Manhattan remains in the dark.
As dusk faded into night, New York's famed skyline was shrouded in darkness and residents turned to candles and torches for light.
Times Square was plunged into darkness as giant billboards and television screens went black, while the lights also went out on Broadway, forcing theatres to cancel shows.
Many workers left their offices early, walking across bridges out of Manhattan, choking pavements and roads.
Civilians manned intersections directing gridlocked traffic after traffic signals failed, while on the pavements dozens of people queued up to use payphones after mobile phone networks broke down.
'Antiquated system'
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said power was starting to come back from the north and from the west but would take hours not minutes.
He told New Yorkers to treat Friday "as a snow day. It wouldn't be the worst thing to take a day off," he said.
In an effort to calm frayed nerves, he cautioned New Yorkers to stay cool and drink fluids.
New York emergency services had no reports of anyone injured during evacuations from tall buildings or underground subways, although the New York Times newspaper said a woman died before an ambulance could reach her amid the chaos.
Power to many hospitals and prisons was also reported to have failed but key institutions were working on back-up generators.
Critics said the crisis demonstrated the need to modernise America's electricity system.
"We're the world's greatest superpower, but we have a Third World electricity grid," former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said.
Searing heat
The BBC's Lee Carter, in Toronto, says the lights went back on in the centre of the city just after 2300 local time (0300 GMT). The city's landmark, CN Tower, was once again illuminated, but power is returning very slowly to the city, with most areas still reportedly in darkness.
As in New York, the blackout hit Toronto, Canada's commercial and financial centre, right at the beginning of rush hour.
Trams and underground trains in the city came to an abrupt halt.
The situation was made more uncomfortable by the 90F (32C) heat in New York and Toronto.
