Many parts of Delhi were also plunged into darkness because of a breakdown in the power transmission grid.

BBC: India cold snap kills hundreds

The breakdown was not thought to pose any immediate danger, operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said.

BBC: Fukushima nuclear plant: Cooling system power restored

Certainly there is a suspiciously close correlation between the rise in women's employment and their earning power relative to that of men on the one hand, and the rise in marital breakdown on the other.

ECONOMIST: I do, I can, I will

Only time will tell if other kinds of devices are at risk from those little metal particles that tainted many a laptop cell, but if we had to proffer a guess, we'd say it's pretty unlikely that the QA breakdown which allowed so many batteries to become fire hazards was limited only to the manufacturing processes for notebook power packs.

ENGADGET: CPSC: Sony recall will include laptop batteries only