Power Outages Sweep Across Washington, Darken White House, Capitol

WASHINGTON - Scattered outages in the U.S. capital on Tuesday cut power to several government buildings, including the White House, State Department, Capitol and Justice Department.

The State Department's daily news briefing was suspended after power was lost. A department announcement said the main building and other nearby buildings were affected because electricity feeders were down.

The U.S. Capitol complex was operating using a backup generator, one congressional aide said.

Some metro stations in Washington were running on emergency lighting, according to the city's transportation authority.

Power company Pepco was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Emily Stephenson)