complete

The PM says the part of the plan on south of the Litani River is ‘only days away from completion’.

Lebanon is close to completing the disarmament of Hezbollah in the south of the Litani River before a year-end deadline as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel, according to Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

Saturday’s statement comes as the country races to fulfil the key demand in the US-backed deal agreed in November last year and ended more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The agreement requires the disarmament of the Iran-aligned Lebanese armed group, starting in areas south of the river adjacent to Israel.

Lebanese authorities, led by President Joseph Aoun and Salam, tasked the US-backed Lebanese army on August 5 with devising a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms by the end of the year.

“Prime Minister Salam affirmed that the first phase of the weapons consolidation plan related to the area south of the Litani River is only days away from completion,” a statement from his office said.

“The state is ready to move on to the second phase – namely [confiscating weapons] north of the Litani River – based on the plan prepared by the Lebanese army pursuant to a mandate from the government,” Salam added.

Committee meeting

The statement came after Salam held talks with Simon Karam, Lebanon’s top civilian negotiator on a committee overseeing the Hezbollah-Israel truce.

In a meeting on Friday, the committee focused on how to return displaced people to their homes, addressing civilian issues to help prevent renewed war if the year-end deadline to disarm Hezbollah is not met.

The 15th meeting of the committee reflected a longstanding US push to broaden talks between the sides beyond monitoring the 2024 ceasefire.

At Friday’s meeting in the southern Lebanese coastal town of Naqoura, civilian participants discussed steps to support safe returns of residents uprooted by the 2023-24 war and advance economic reconstruction, the US Embassy in Beirut said.

Since the ceasefire, Israeli warplanes have repeatedly targeted parts of Lebanon, mostly southern Lebanon, but sometimes even the capital.

Israel says it is questioning the Lebanese army’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim armed group, has tried to resist the pressure – from its mainly Christian and Sunni Muslim opponents in Lebanon as well as from the US and Saudi Arabia – to disarm, saying it would be a mistake while Israel continues its air strikes on the country.

Israel has publicly urged Lebanese authorities to fulfil the conditions of the truce, saying it will act “as necessary” if Lebanon fails to take steps against Hezbollah.

Dec. 16 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered “a total and complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers going to or from Venezuela, raising already high tensions between Washington and Caracas by going after the South American nation’s main revenue source.

Trump has sought to oust Venezuela’s authoritarian president Nicolas Maduro since his first term and has ratcheted up the pressure on the socialist leader since returning to the White House in January.

He has accused Maduro of sending an invasion of criminals to the United States and of being the leader of a narcotics trafficking organization, allegations that U.S. intelligence agencies have not publicly supported.

An armada of U.S. naval vessels has been deployed to waters near Venezuela, and the U.S. military has been attacking civilian ships in the region the Trump administration alleges are trafficking drugs to the United States, drawing domestic and international condemnation.

“Today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” Trump announced in a statement on his Truth Social media platform.

“America will not allow Criminals, Terrorists or other Countries, to rob, threaten or harm our Nation, and, likewise, will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land or any other Assets, all of which must be returned to the United States IMMEDIATELY.”

It was not immediately clear what U.S. land or assets Trump was referring to, though he has repeatedly stated that the United States has been wrongly denied access to Venezuela’s oil reserves.

“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land and other Assets that they previously stole from us,” Trump said.

Trump accused Maduro in the statement of using oil revenues to finance drug terrorism, human trafficking and murder.

Venezuela rejected Trump’s demands and called on the residents of the United States and the rest of the world to do likewise, saying the South American nation will “never again be a colony of any empire or foreign power.”

“The President of the United States intends to impose, in an absolutely irrational manner, a so-called blockade on Venezuela with the aim of stealing the wealth that belongs to our Homeland,” Venezuela’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

GUINNESS has opened a £75million brewery in London offering exiting new beers and even the chance to take a stout selfie – stoutie.

The new Open Gate Brewery will instead brew a range of new experimental beers alongside tours, a gift shop and plenty of chances to try a pint of the famous stout.

The Covent Garden site cost just under £75 million and spans several Victorian warehouse-style buildings where four core beers will be brewed on site – a London porter, lager, IPA and pale ale.

There will be seven more beers which will be exclusive to the new brewery including the Winter Warmer and Apricot Sour.

The beer made on site is exclusively available in the tasting room, restaurants and bars on site and the drinks are named in honour of the local area – Convent Classic IPA, Old Brewer’s Yard Porter and Piazza Pale Ale.

Dublin-brewed Guinness will still be on tap of course, and visitors can even have their selfies or “stouties” printed on the head of their beers for a truly personal pint.

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The site itself has been used for brewing on and off for three centuries and will be the first UK-based Guinness brewery open to the public.

Previously, the stout was brewed at Park Royal in West London until 2005 but the Open Gate location is both a micro-brewery and attraction.

The new location will

Barry O’Sullivan, the managing director of Diageo Great Britain, said: “London has played a critical role in Guinness’s success throughout its history, and two centuries after the black stuff arrived in the UK capital, one in seven pints poured in the city is now a Guinness.”

He added that he expects to see half a million punters walk through the gates in the first year and that the venture is a “vote of confidence” in London’s hospitality industry.

Mr O’Sullivan said the new brewery will create 250 jobs.

Heading up the restaurants is executive chef Pip Lacey – who previously worked under Gordan Ramsay.

Her debut restaurant won rave reviews and she will be at the helm of three different food stops – a seafood restaurant on the fifth floor, “grilled feasting” on the ground floor and a casual pie place on in the courtyard.

Mr O’Sullivan and Diageo’s global director for beer, vodka, liqueurs and convenience, Gráinne Wafer, hope for the brewery will have a ripple effect for hospitality across the city.

Iconic London pubs like Soho’s the Devonshire are already in talks with the team to get something in the pipeline.

O’Sullivan said: “I live in Soho, and there’s a really special relationship with everything we do.”

Whilst this is London’s first public Guinness brewery, Open Gate sites have opened up in Baltimore and Chicago and both report uplift across the city, in Guinness sales and the wider hospitality sector.

For a look inside the factory, visitors can take a £30 tour of the brewery or for something more special a £95 “Guinness masterclass”.

The “Open Gate Experience” at £30 includes a behind-the-scenes look at the micro-brewery and promises to be a “tasting adventure never experienced before”. The tour is 90 minutes and incudes a tasting flight.

The £95 “Guinness Masterclass” includes a complementary engraved glass as well as a masterclass and trip into the brewery’s archives. The experience allows punters to “get closer to Guinness than you’ve even been before”.

The masterclass is available on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 3pm only, starting in February.

Visitors can pour their own pint and sip it – or split it – in Bar 232, named in honour of the temperature that the barley is roasted at for the iconic stout.

The gift shop at the end of the tour offers G-branded glasses, football shirts, beer towels, golf balls, chocolates and for those short feeling festive, Guinness Christmas jumpers.

The brewery officially opened its gates on December 11 and looking ahead it seems it will be a lovely day for a Guinness.