Cuba's blackout problem has worsened in the month since the US cut off oil shipments to the island. Its grid was fragile even before a critical transmission line failure in early December temporarily severed the link between Havana and the Caribbean country's primary thermoelectric power plants in Matanzas.

HAVANA, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Cubans from all walks of life are hunkering into survival mode, navigating lengthening blackouts and soaring prices for food, fuel and transport as the U.

KYIV, Ukraine -- Olena Janchuk spends another day of freezing isolation in her high-rise apartment. The former kindergarten teacher suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis, and has been trapped for weeks on the 19th floor of her Kyiv tower block, 650 steps from the ground.