Chinese factories, households face power cuts

Chinese factories and households are facing rolling power cuts on Tuesday to meet official energy efficiency and pollution targets and to reduce strain on utilities that are being squeezed by high coal prices.

Last week, one northeastern suburb of the Shenyang city suffered unexpected blackouts that shut down traffic lights and clogged roads. Several Shenyang suburban districts would be subject to rolling blackouts this week. Factories have been ordered to suspend production, threatening to disrupt global flows of smartphones and other goods made in China.