1.   The Las Vegas area experienced its first power blackouts on Monday.

2.   There have been growing signs since Wednesday when the first blackouts occurred in Northern California that residents are making conscious efforts to reduce their electricity consumption.

3.   California cut off power to hundreds of thousands of people Wednesday in the first rolling blackouts imposed during its electricity crisis.

4.   Television and radio were knocked off the air, although some stations transmitted via generators in the first major blackout since airstrikes began.

5.   The first blackouts since January lasted four hours and were spread from San Francisco to San Diego and for the first time into the suburbs of Los Angeles.

6.   The first mandatory blackouts came Wednesday, also in northern and central California.

7.   When the blackout first hit on Friday night, Auckland Hospital was plunged into darkness while surgery was underway in three operating theaters.

8.   When the blackout first hit on Friday night, Auckland Hospital was plunged into darkness while surgery was under way in three operating theaters.