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BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Power failed in parts of 11 Brazilian states Tuesday, affecting more than 2 million people in a blackout that lasted about 40 minutes.
Officials said the power failure was caused by a short circuit in a transmission line in the state of Tocantins, but they did not yet know what caused that line to fail.
The failure hit southeastern states and parts of Brazil's two biggest cities, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Power outages used to be more frequent in Brazil and energy rationing was imposed for a time a decade ago. Improvements in infrastructure have been made in the energy sector, but major power outages still happen a few times a year.
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