EU imposes sanctions on Belarus over Protasevich arrest

The EU places sanctions on Belarus and bans it from using the bloc's airspace. [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [View in your browser]( [Top of The World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- What The World is following EU imposes sanctions on Belarus over Protasevich arrest [German Chancellor Angela Merkel departs after an EU summit in Brussels, May 25, 2021.] Credit: Olivier Hoslet/AP Belarus The European Union has [agreed to impose sanctions]( on Belarus, in response to President Alexander Lukashenko’s forced diversion of a commercial flight to detain activist and opposition journalist Roman Protasevich. [It has also banned]( Belarus’ airlines from using EU airspace and airports, and urged European airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace. On Monday, Protasevich appeared in a video, [in what his father described as under duress](, confessing to charges of organizing protests. The Ryanair flight was on its way to Lithuania from Greece on Sunday, but was redirected by a military jet to Belarus’ capital, Minsk. Blinken in the Middle East US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the Middle East following a deadly 11-day war between Israel and Hamas and [vowed to aid Gaza](. The fighting, which killed more than 250 people, mostly Palestinians, caused widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip. “We have to use the space created to address a larger set of underlying issues and challenges. And that begins with tackling the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza and starting to rebuild,” [he said](. George Floyd anniversary Tuesday [marks one year]( since the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd’s death sparked a global movement against police brutality that led to demonstrations in cities around the world. Then-officer Derek Chauvin had pinned down Floyd’s neck with his knee for more than nine minutes. Chauvin was convicted of murder in April and faces sentencing on June 25. [The intersection where Floyd was killed]( has been turned into an outdoor festival [to mark the anniversary](. “We're going to be turning mourning into dancing,” [rapper Nur-D tweeted](. “We're going to be celebrating 365 days of strength in the face of injustice.” --------------------------------------------------------------- From The World [Lukashenko presents 'real threats to European security,' says analyst]( [A woman holds a poster that reads, "Where is Roman?" as she waits to see passengers of the Ryanair plane in outside Vilnius, Lithuania, May 23, 2021.]( Credit: Mindaugas Kulbis/AP Katia Glod, a Belarus analyst with Center for European Policy Analysis, told The World's Carol Hills that the arrest of Belarusian dissident Roman Protasevich doesn't change much for Belarusians inside the country, but it puts the government of President Alexander Lukashenko onto a new level of priority, and [creates a moral dilemma for the European Union](. "[Sunday's] incident has shown that now Lukashenko's regime became a real threat to international norms, and real threats to European security," she said. --------------------------------------------------------------- Discussion [A deepening coronavirus crisis in Latin America]( [A cemetery worker paints numbers on crosses to be used as grave markers, at the Inahuma cemetery in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, amid the coronavirus pandemic, April 28, 2021.]( Credit: Bruna Prado/AP Latin America and the Caribbean now register a million new COVID-19 infections about every six days. With the vaccine rollout lagging and lives and livelihoods hanging in the balance, what is next for the region? As part of The World's series of conversations on the pandemic with Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, reporter Elana Gordon will take your questions and moderate a discussion with demographer Marcia Castro, on [Tuesday, May 25, 2021, at 12 p.m. EST.]( [As demand grows to cancel Tokyo Olympics, who has the power to call it off?]( [Demonstrators protest against the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, May 17, 2021.]( Credit: Koji Sasahara/AP According to the latest polls, 83% of people in Japan think the Games should be postponed or scrapped entirely. But there’s been a lack of clarity on [who gets to make that decision](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Bright spot In the latest [jaw-dropping auction for a nonfungible token]( (NFT), the famous meme from the YouTube video where a young British boy cries out, "Charlie bit my finger," will now be taken down forever from the video platform after selling for $760,999. [Watch the original video here]( while you still can. [Screen shot from BBC News tweet]( Credit: Courtesy of Twitter --------------------------------------------------------------- In case you missed it from The World --------------------------------------------------------------- - [Samoa’s first-elected female prime minister locked out of parliament]( - [Food hero memorialized in China]( - [Extreme weather hits ultramarathon race in China, killing 21]( - [Secretary Blinken heads to the Middle East]( - [Local governments act on ending ICE contracts with county jails]( - [Will the world move forward with a pandemic treaty?]( - [Italy wins Eurovision Song Contest]( - [EU considers sanctions after ‘hijacking’ of Ryanair flight]( - [Belarus forces down passenger plane and arrests dissident]( Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: [RadioPublic](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Stitcher](, [Soundcloud](, [RSS]( [The World logo]( [The World on Facebook]( [The World's Twitter account]( [Donate]( | [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [Edit your subscription]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [View in your browser]( Top of the World is written weekday mornings by the team at [The World](. 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