BRUSSELS: The leaders of several EU countries said they are mulling whether to expel Russian diplomats or take other steps to support Britain following a nerve agent attack on a former spy.
European Union leaders returned to summit talks on Friday after uniting behind British Prime Minister Theresa May in blaming Russia for the attack in England, and agreeing to recall the bloc’s ambassador to Moscow for consultations.
Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats they said were spies, and has been pressing EU allies to follow suit despite Moscow’s warning against confrontational steps.
The leaders of former communist member states the Czech Republic and Lithuania as well as Denmark and Ireland said they were considering further unilateral steps, including expelling diplomats.
“I think national measures will be applied already starting from next week... from a lot of countries,” Lithuania’s outspoken President Dalia Grybauskaite said before joining the second and last day of the summit in Brussels.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis told the CTK news agency that Prague may expel several Russian diplomats over the poisoining of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
“Yes, we will probably move in this direction,” Babis said, adding he will discuss expulsions with his cabinet members on Monday.
Ireland’s Prime Minisster Leo Varadkar said his government would decide early next week whether to expel diplomats following a security assessment.
“We are not going to randomly expel people who are genuine diplomats,” Varadkar told reporters.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said his government heard the “strong signal” from the bloc’s leaders who agreed with Britain’s assessment that Russia was to blame for the attack.
He said he would hold consultations with members of his government.
“My government will then in the next coming days very seriously consider to take further steps,” Rasmussen said.
A French presidency source said Thursday that Paris was also ready to act.
The poisoning has heightened worries across Europe about Russian meddling — from repeated cyberattacks to what the EU has called an “orchestrated strategy” of disinformation aimed at destabilising the bloc.
During a visit to Hanoi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that British officials “are feverishly trying to force allies to take confrontational steps.”
Lavrov, quoted by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, said London was trying to make the “crisis as deep as possible.”
EU nations mull expelling Russian diplomats after spy attack
EU nations mull expelling Russian diplomats after spy attack
Coach Anton Dubrov on the secret behind Aryna Sabalenka’s return to No. 1 spot in women’s tennis
- ‘I think she’s more mature, to understand what you need to do to be on this level … with all the stress at this level) you always have to be consistent, or even higher, all the time,’ says Dubrov
- He adds that one of her strengths is that she is very open to making changes to her game as long as she has been convinced such tweaks will help her improve
Aryna Sabalenka’s last order of business in Riyadh, before she officially wrapped up her 2024 season and hopped on a plane to go on vacation, was a photoshoot with the trophy for being world No. 1.
The Belarusian fell to Coco Gauff at the semi-final stage of the WTA Finals last week but still left Saudi Arabia with some valuable silverware, having achieved one of her biggest goals: finishing the year at the summit of the rankings.
Sabalenka occupied the top spot for eight weeks last year but could not hold off Iga Swiatek, who reclaimed the No. 1 position in the closing week of the season to finish 2023 at the top.
This time, Sabalenka managed to cap an incredible campaign. during which she won two Grand Slams, the Australian Open and US Open, and two WTA 1000 crowns in Cincinnati and Wuhan, by clinching the year-end No. 1 ranking and the trophy that goes with it.
“I’m proud of myself this season. I think I achieved a lot,” Sabalenka said after her last match in Riyadh. “There is no room for disappointment.”
As she begins her second stint as world No. 1, she believes she is “mentally, more ready” for her position at the top of the rankings. Her coach, Anton Dubrov, agrees.
“I don’t think you can hold the No. 1 ranking, to be honest, but I think she’s more mature, to understand what you need to do to be on this level,” Dubrov told Arab News in Riyadh last week.
“Because to hold it, you cannot hold it. The only thing you can do is your next match. And this is the thing: because you’re No. 1, everyone plays against you like they have nothing to lose. They can play the best game they can do. And you, with all the stress and all this level, you always have to be consistent, or even higher, all the time.
“I think, for her it’s about finding the way to adapt to all the situations. She is much better at doing that right now. She understands, even if she’s not at her best level. I think that’s what happened in China; she wasn’t playing her best tennis, it’s end of the season, she’s tired. But she adapted to the situation and accepted that she can even play not the best game and still find the way.”
Dubrov saw Sabalenka play for the first time when she was 14 years old, at a European team championship in Minsk.
“I think my grandpa was a captain of the team,” Dubrov recalls. A year later, he started to see her more often because she was training at the national academy, and they went on their first trip abroad, for International Tennis Federation tournaments in China, when she was about 16.
“I think it’s more than 10 years we have known each other,” he said.
Did he expect her to have such a great career when he first met her as a teenager?
“Firstly, what everyone would tell you is that you can hear that she’s hitting really hard,” he said. “She’s trying really hard. You never see her like, not trying. No matter how she is playing — she can play incredible, she can play not great — but she still will fight for it.
“And I wasn’t the guy who was like, ‘OK, she will be, like, No. 1 or, like, top 100.’ No, I wasn’t like this.
“When she was 16, I could see the biggest improvement because of her approach to herself. If someone will tell her that she needs to do something, and she agrees, she’s the one who the very next day will do it, and she will do it not just in the practice, she will do it actually when she’s going to play points.
“Most of the players, they still go into old habits more often. I would say she’s doing it less. If she agrees with you, she accepts it, even if it’s a new technique. And this is the worst one for tennis players because it’s really sensitive how you are used to doing something with a specific technique. So I think this is her talent, that if she accepts the thing, she’s doing it straight away.”
Dubrov said that to this day, Sabalenka remains very open to making changes as long as she has been convinced and shown evidence that such tweaks will make her game better.
“You need to show her why and then, definitely, she will do it,” he added.
Having previously worked with Sabalenka as a hitting partner, Dubrov was hired to be her coach in 2020. It has been a successful four-year partnership so far, during which she has claimed three majors and reached the top of the rankings twice.
“Thinking about a tennis coach, always I was looking for not, like, big names because sometimes big names are just big names,” Sabalenka said, reflecting on her decision to work with Dubrov.
“I was looking for someone smart and someone who will always be looking for something, and who's going to always search for stuff, who’s open to talk to whoever, you know, who is ready to receive any sort of advice.
“And of course, knowing my emotions, I was looking for someone who can understand that even if I go crazy on court, it’s nothing personal. It’s just like the way I am, throwing out all that negative stuff in my head so I can keep focusing on the game.”
Dubrov is on exactly the same page, which perhaps explains why they have enjoyed so much success together. He says irrespective of how well they get along, the most important thing is that he can help her improve her game; everything else is secondary to that.
“We had this conversation a lot during the 2022 season, when she served a lot of double faults. So we found Gavin (MacMillan, a biomechanics coach) to help us,” said Dubrov.
“We always need to find a way to improve, otherwise why are we doing something together? So if we are still working together, doing something, first it should be about your tennis. OK, it’s great, it’s a safe environment, that’s awesome. But the main thing is your tennis.
“So if we can cover this part and we still see progression, great, we can still keep working. If not, we need to talk, need to find a new approach, need to find something. You need to find maybe some other guy to join, to replace or something.
“Because your career, we have to think really quick, because it’s changing really quick and with tennis, you have to prove every week that you’re No. 1.”
Dubrov notes that the biggest improvement Sabalenka made to get back to the top of the rankings was her ability to focus on “how to do it, not thinking about just the outcome.” Coming to an understanding that the “how” is directly within her control while the outcome is not has worked wonders for the 26-year-old, and now she and Dubrov are looking forward to 2025 with that mindset.
This year, Sabalenka lost in the quarter-finals of the French Open while dealing with a stomach bug that hampered her progress, and she missed Wimbledon with a shoulder injury.
She told Arab News recently that she has every reason to believe she can translate her success in hard-court Grand Slams to the clay of Roland Garros and the grass of Wimbledon.
“I think this is, for us, the biggest challenge as a team: to manage that, with preparation mostly,” said Dubrov. “Because it’s a really tight time between Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and they are different surfaces. So I think this is more about how we can manage the calendar, preparation and her adaptation to different things.
“But she’s doing that much better. And yes, she has those chances on all the surfaces. But we need to focus on what we have to do for this and start with the managing before the tournament. Then we have the chances.”
Ben & Jerry’s says parent Unilever silenced it over Gaza stance
- The ice cream maker has sued Unilever for selling its business in Israel to its licensee there
NEW YORK: Ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that parent company Unilever has silenced its attempts to express support for Palestinian refugees and threatened to dismantle its board and sue its members over the issue.
The lawsuit is the latest sign of the long-simmering tensions between Ben & Jerry’s and consumer products maker Unilever, which is planning to spin out its ice cream business next year.
The spin-out would include the top-selling Vermont-based maker of Chubby Hubby, although experts on corporate governance said the brand’s board, a centerpiece of the new lawsuit, could present challenges to the deal.
A rift first erupted between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever in 2021 after the ice cream maker said it would stop selling its products in the Israeli-occupied West Bank because it was inconsistent with its values, a move that led some investors to divest Unilever shares.
The ice cream maker then sued Unilever for selling its business in Israel to its licensee there, which allowed marketing in the West Bank and Israel to continue. That lawsuit was settled in 2022.
In its new lawsuit, Ben & Jerry’s says that Unilever has breached the terms of the 2022 settlement, which has remained confidential. As part of the agreement, however, Unilever is required to “respect and acknowledge the Ben & Jerry’s independent board’s primary responsibility over Ben & Jerry’s social mission,” according to the lawsuit.
But, according to the lawsuit, “Ben & Jerry’s has on four occasions attempted to publicly speak out in support of peace and human rights. Unilever has silenced each of these efforts.”
In response to Reuters’ story, Unilever said in an emailed statement: “Our heart goes out to all victims of the tragic events in the Middle East. We reject the claims made by B&J’s social mission board, and we will defend our case very strongly.”
“We would not comment further on this legal matter,” it added.
Ben & Jerry’s said in an email: “We are confident that these issues will ultimately be resolved. Due to the ongoing nature of the litigation, we are unable to comment on the specifics.”
The lawsuit was filed in New York federal court.
Minor Myers, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law, said the tension between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever would be top of mind in a deal, particularly if Unilever’s ice cream brands are acquired by a private equity firm or competitor company.
“The Ben & Jerry’s situation would be front of mind of any possible buyer,” Myers said. “To the extent that Ben & Jerry’s or a subsidiary wants to be liberated to say (what they want, it) may impact the sales of the flagship ice cream brand.”
That would result in a lower valuation for Unilever’s ice cream brands, Myers said.
There are fewer concerns if the ice cream brands become a separate publicly traded company, Myers said.
Ben & Jerry’s said in the lawsuit it has tried to call for a ceasefire, support the safe passage of Palestinian refugees to Britain, back students protesting at US colleges against civilian deaths in Gaza, and advocate for a halt in US military aid to Israel, but has been blocked by Unilever.
The independent board separately spoke out on some of those topics, but the company was muzzled, the lawsuit says.
Ben & Jerry’s said that Peter ter Kulve, Unilever’s head of ice cream, said he was concerned about the “continued perception of anti-Semitism” regarding the ice cream brand voicing its opinions on Gazan refugees, according to the lawsuit.
Unilever was also required under the settlement agreement to make a total of $5 million in payments to Ben & Jerry’s for the brand to make donations to human rights groups of its choosing, according to the lawsuit.
Ben & Jerry’s selected the left-leaning Jewish Voice for Peace and the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, among others, the filing says.
Unilever in August objected to the selections, saying that Jewish Voice for Peace was “too critical of the Israeli government,” according to the lawsuit.
Ben & Jerry’s has positioned itself as socially conscious since Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield founded the company in a renovated gas station in 1978. It kept that mission after Unilever acquired it in 2000.
Unilever’s dozens of products include Dove soap, Hellmann’s mayonnaise, Knorr bouillon cubes, Surf detergent and Vaseline petroleum jelly.
Where We Are Going Today: Raoul’s at VIA Riyadh
Raoul’s at VIA Riyadh transports diners to France with its elegant menu of French-inspired bites and desserts. The restaurant’s attention to detail and dedication to authentic flavors makes it a standout for those seeking a refined dining experience.
Start with the braised lamb, served on a crisp parmesan cookie and topped with a touch of tomato jam. This combination brings rich, savory flavors with a slight sweetness, capturing the essence of French cuisine.
The beetroot, feta and avocado mini-tart adds a refreshing, colorful bite to the meal, while the crispy crab beignets are light yet packed with flavor, offering a perfect contrast to the heavier dishes.
For dessert, Raoul’s sticky date pudding pops, coated in warm toffee sauce, provide a cozy, nostalgic sweetness, while raspberry profiteroles with a crispy biscuit finish the meal on a light, fruity note.
The drinks menu complements the French flavors, featuring options such as the Kir Royal, a sparkling blend of wine with cherry cordial, and the Pink Promise, which mixes sour soup juice, rose water, hibiscus tea and lime juice for a floral, refreshing taste. The ambiance is relaxed and sophisticated, with live music adding a touch of elegance to the dining experience.
However, parking at VIA Riyadh is not complimentary, which may be inconvenient for some diners. Despite this, Raoul’s dedication to authentic French techniques and modern twists makes it a fantastic choice for an elegant night out, offering dishes that are both classic and inventive.
For more information, check Instagram @raoulsrestaurant.sa
US urges vigilance on Chinese investment as Xi opens Peru port
- The $3.5-billion complexis a symbol of the Asian superpower’s growing influence on the continent as it prepares to face off with a new Donald Trump administration
- China's President Xi vowed in his speech to “promote connectivity” between China and South America.
LIMA: As China and Peru launched South America’s first Beijing-funded port in Chancay, Peru, on Thursday, the United States called on Latin American nations to be vigilant.
The $3.5-billion complex, located 80 kilometers north of Lima, is meant to serve as a major hub for Chinese trade at a time the Asian giant is under threat of major tariff hikes after Trump reenters the White House for a second term.
The port was officially opened in a ceremony attended virtually by China's President Xi Jinping and Peruvian counterpart Dina Boluarte from Lima, where they will attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on Friday and Saturday.
Xi vowed in his speech to “promote connectivity” between China and South America.
Peru — one of Latin America’s fastest-growing economies over the past decade — is China’s fourth-largest Latin American trading partner, with bilateral flows of nearly $36 billion in 2023.
Amid the celebration, Brian Nichols, the top US diplomat for Latin America, spoke out. “We believe it is essential that countries across the hemisphere ensure that PRC economic activities respect local laws as well as safeguard human rights and environmental protections,” he said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Pointing to the long US relationship with Peru, Nichols said: “We’ll be focused on building those relations and making sure that Peruvians understand the complexities of dealing with some of their other investors going forward.”
He said that the United States has also recently provided support to Peru, including train donations to the city of Lima, space cooperation led by NASA and the donation of nine Black Hawk helicopters to help police battle transnational crime.
Dan Kritenbrink, the top US diplomat for East Asia, said that the United States came with an “affirmative agenda” and was not seeking to force countries to choose between rival powers.
“We do want to make sure that countries have choices and they were able to make them freely without coercion,” Kritenbrink told reporters.
The United States for two centuries has considered Latin America its sphere of interest, but it has faced increasing competition around the world, especially in the economic sphere, from China.
US policymakers often highlight debt associated by Chinese projects and China’s use of its own workers in mega-projects.
The port will allow South American nations to skirt ports in Mexico and the United States as they trade with Asia.
Xi is set to meet on Saturday in Lima with outgoing US President Biden in their likely final encounter before Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Fortune Global Forum to be held in Riyadh in 2025
RIYADH: The Saudi capital will welcome world business elites next year as the Fortune Global Forum makes its first appearance in Riyadh.
The forum, which is organized by Fortune magazine, brings together top business leaders from across the globe on the dynamic frontiers of global enterprise.
Fahd bin Abdulmohsan Al-Rasheed, the chairman of the Saudi Convention and Exhibitions General Authority, said the forum has in the past 30 years brought together “the titans of industry around the world to the forefront of economic development.”
“And that forefront today is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Al-Rasheed told the forum in New York, where delegates have been taking part in the three-day gathering, which concluded on Tuesday.
He urged delegates to come to the Kingdom’s business epicenter to engage and explore what Saudi Arabia has to offer.
