Belarus isolation grows after arrest of dissident

Belarus's regime was increasingly isolated yesterday as Europe cut air links and calls grew for more action over its diversion of an airliner and arrest of a dissident on board. After weathering a wave of protests and Western sanctions last year, President Alexander Lukashenko was facing extraordinary new pressure over Sunday's rerouting of the Ryanair flight to Minsk and arrest of opposition journalist Roman Protasevich. More Western leaders joined calls demanding Protasevich's release, after the European Union agreed at a summit on Monday to ban Belarusian airlines from the bloc and called on EU-based carriers not to fly over its airspace.