Major blackout hits several western Balkan countries

 A major power outage hit Montenegro, Bosnia, Albania and most of Croatia's coast on Friday, disrupting businesses, shutting down traffic lights and leaving people sweltering without air conditioning in the middle of a heatwave.

Montenegro's energy minister said the shutdown had been caused by a sudden increase in power consumption brought on by high temperatures, and by the heat itself. Albanian Energy Minister Belinda Balluku said there had been a breakdown in an interconnector between Albania and Greece.

(Reuters)