New York axes marathon, but some electricity returns

NEW YORK (AFP) - New York's mayor cancelled the city's marathon on Friday, bowing to public and private pressure, as problems in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy saw frustrated motorists fight over meager fuel supplies.

Even though electricity finally returned to swaths of the Big Apple, parts of the city continued to struggle to recover from the devastation wreaked by Sandy, which left at least 95 dead in 15 states and in Canada.

The toll in New York City alone rose to 41 and at least 14 died in neighboring New Jersey, where searches of isolated areas are ongoing.

There was a glimmer of good news in the return of power to 90,000 customers in Manhattan, amounting to almost half of the residences still left in the dark there since Sandy struck. Full power was expected to return to the city's richest and most densely populated borough over the weekend.