Blackout in eastern Cuba after grid fails

Four of eastern Cuba's five provinces suffered a blackout on Thursday, the national power company said, blaming a transmission failure for the latest outage as the island reels from a US energy blockade.

The provinces of Holguin, Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo were plunged into darkness "due to a fluctuation in the transmission lines" that severed electricity supplies from three power plants, Union Electrica de Cuba said.