strand

At times, however, the passages quoted from letters and memoirs come so thick and fast that they threaten to overwhelm the connecting strand of Mr. Hart’s own chronological narrative.

Some are still stuck there, and Vilnius has accused Minsk of "blackmail" over millions of euros in stranded goods.

The border closure in late October caused tensions between Vilnius and Minsk, and left around 2,000 Lithuanian trucks stranded in Belarus.

In Sri Lanka meanwhile, the government called for international aid and used military helicopters to reach people stranded by flooding and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah.

Heavy monsoon rain overwhelmed swaths of Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia this week, leaving thousands of people stranded without shelter or critical supplies.