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FIUGGI, Italy (AP) — Foreign ministers from the world’s leading industrialized nations expressed cautious optimism Monday about possible progress on a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The top diplomats met for the final time before a new U.S. administration takes office with wars raging in the Mideast and Ukraine. “Knock on wood,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said as he opened the Group of Seven meeting outside Rome. “We are perhaps close to a ceasefire in Lebanon," he said. "Let's hope it's true and that there's no backing down at the last-minute.” A ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon was foremost on the agenda of the G7 meeting in Fiuggi, outside Rome, that gathered ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, in the last G7 encounter of the Biden administration. For the first time, the G7 ministers were joined by their counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, the so-called “Arab Quintet,” as well as the Secretary General of the Arab League. “Everyone favors a ceasefire in both scenarios,” Tajani told reporters, adding that Italy had offered to take on an even greater peacekeeping role in Lebanon to oversee any ceasefire deal. As the ministers arrived in Italy, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Mike Herzog, told Israeli Army Radio on Monday a ceasefire deal to end fighting between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah could be reached “within days.” Several Arab ministers reiterated calls for a ceasefire in both Lebanon and Gaza during a G7-affiliated conference in Rome. “We need a ceasefire, a permanent ceasefire. That will stop the killings and stop the destruction and restore a sense of normalcy to life,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told the conference. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, for his part, reaffirmed that Cairo would host a minister-level conference next Monday on mobilizing international aid for Gaza. The so-called “Quintet” has been working with the U.S. to finalize a “day after” plan for Gaza. There is some urgency to make progress before the Trump administration takes over in January. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to pursue a policy that strongly favors Israel over the aspirations of the Palestinians. Tajani added another item to the G7 agenda last week after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief. Italy is a founding member of the court and hosted the 1998 Rome conference that gave birth to it. But Italy’s right-wing government has been a strong supporter of Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, while also providing humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza. The Italian government has taken a cautious line, reaffirming its support and respect for the court but expressing concern that the warrants were politically motivated. The United States, Israel's closest ally, has called the warrants “outrageous.” Tajani acknowledged consensus hadn't been reached among the G7 members but hoped for agreement to have a unified position. He noted that all sides need Netanyahu to make any deal. “We can also not agree with how his government has led the reaction after the massacre of Oct. 7, but now we have to deal with Netanyahu to arrive at peace in Lebanon, peace in Palestine,” Tajani said. Nathalie Tocci, director of the Rome-based Institute for International Affairs think tank, warned that inserting the ICC warrant into the G7 agenda was risky, since the U.S. is the lone member that is not a signatory to the court and yet tends to dictate the G7 line. “If Italy and the other (five G7) signatories of the ICC are unable to maintain the line on international law, they will not only erode it anyway but will be acting against our interests,” Tocci wrote in La Stampa daily this weekend, recalling Italy’s recourse to international law in demanding protection for Italian U.N. peacekeepers who have come under fire in southern Lebanon. The other major talking point of the G7 meeting is Ukraine , and tensions have only heightened since Russia attacked Ukraine last week with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strike was retaliation for Kyiv’s use of U.S. and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory. The G7 has been at the forefront of providing military and economic support for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and G7 members are particularly concerned about how a Trump administration will change the U.S. approach. Trump has criticized the billions of dollars that the Biden administration has poured into Ukraine and has said he could end the war in 24 hours, comments that appear to suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. “It’s hugely important that this G7, that all colleagues across the G7 continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it lasts,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said as he arrived. He announced new sanctions on vessels of Russia's “shadow fleet” of ships that are evading sanctions to export Russian oil. “And we are confident that Ukraine can have the funds and the military equipment and kit to get through 2025,” Lammy said. The G7 foreign ministers’ meeting, the second of the Italian presidency after ministers gathered in Capri in April , is being held in the medieval town of Fiuggi southeast of Rome, best known for its thermal spas. On Monday, which coincides with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, ministers were attending the inauguration of a red bench meant to symbolize Italy’s focus on fighting gender-based violence. Over the weekend, tens of thousands of people marched in Rome to protest gender-based violence , which in Italy so far this year has claimed the lives of 99 women, according to a report last week by the Eures think tank.WASHINGTON , Nov. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The United States Postal Service is primed and ready to deliver exceptional service during the 2024 holiday rush thanks in large part to the investments and strategies identified in its 10-year Delivering for America plan. Today, the Postal Service provided updates on its peak holiday season preparations, as well as its readiness to deliver another successful holiday season of extraordinary service. "Thanks to the substantial progress we have made under the Delivery for America plan, we are ready and confident to handle the holiday surge," said USPS Chief Retail and Delivery Officer and Executive Vice President Dr. Joshua Colin . "Our ability to move packages and mail throughout our network has never been stronger. USPS continues to be the most affordable and reliable way to ship packages and mail this holiday season and year-round." Throughout the year, USPS has maintained strong service performance while engaging in numerous transformational initiatives across the organization and the country. Because of the ongoing implementation of the Delivering for America strategic plan, 98 percent of the nation's population currently receives their mail and packages in fewer than three days. The nation's postal network is operating effectively without any major reported disruptions. "The United States Postal Service's portfolio of shipping products make holiday shipping easy," said Steve Montieth , USPS chief customer and marketing officer and executive vice president. "Both USPS Ground Advantage and USPS Priority Mail are priced lower than competitors, meaning customers can save more this holiday season. So, ship early and enjoy your holiday season." Key Investments Ahead of 2024 Peak Season Specifically, key Delivering for America investments in the Postal Service's workforce, package processing, and delivery operations ahead of the 2024 peak holiday season include: Using 83 revitalized sorting & delivering centers: In alignment with the Delivering for America plan, the Postal Service is revamping its network of nearly 19,000 delivery units, which are the final stop for mail and packages before they are delivered by letter carriers. These revitalized sorting and delivery centers have allowed USPS to expand its daily package processing capacity, increase its efficiency and deliver more value to its customers. Implementing 506 new package sorting machines: These new machines are strategic investments in the local community's postal infrastructure, enabling postal workers to sort and process packages of all sizes more quickly and reliably. Since the previous peak season, 158 new sorting machines have been installed across the nation. This is part of the organization's $40 billion investment in new technology and facilities under the Delivering for America plan. Increased daily processing capacity to approximately 60 million: An expanded daily processing capacity, stabilized workforce, improved operating precision, and well-planned transportation practices has allowed for packages to move through the postal network more quickly and helps eliminate the need for short-term annexes. Moving more than 95 percent of volume via more reliable ground transportation: More precise operating and logistical strategies have positioned the Postal Service to handle the high mail and package volumes anticipated during the peak holiday season. USPS continues to transition more volume from expensive air transportation to its redesigned ground transportation network. Currently, nearly 95 percent of First-Class Mail and more than 95 percent of first-class packages are moved through the improved, more reliable ground transportation system. Hiring 7,500 seasonal employees: Because of its experienced and stable workforce, USPS anticipates the need for less seasonal employees this holiday season. The initial release of the new next generation delivery vehicles: This holiday season will also mark the initial release of the brand-new BEV Next Generation Delivery Vehicles, which will be on select roads and routes this winter. Additionally, this holiday season, there will be more than 27,000 new commercial off-the-shelf vehicles on the road with more than 500 being battery-electric. USPS Makes Holiday Shipping Easy for Consumers In addition to key investments, USPS is simplifying the process and reducing customers' cost to ship packages this holiday season. USPS Ground Advantage: This enhanced shipping solution provides a simple, reliable and more affordable way to ship packages this holiday season in just 2-5 business days across the contiguous United States . USPS Ground Advantage provides America's businesses and the public with a compelling ground shipping option, using the Postal Service's unparalleled last-mile delivery route system and improving the integrated mail and package postal logistics network. The most affordable rates: Priority Mail is an offering included in USPS Ground Advantage that provides a fast and affordable way to deliver mail to every address in the United States . During peak season, priority mail offers a price that is on average 35 percent lower than similar competitor services. For tips on preparing shipments, including recommended mailing and shipping dates, packaging guidelines, ordering free shipping supplies and information on local Post Office location hours, visit usps.com . Please Note: The United States Postal Service is an independent federal establishment, mandated to be self-financing and to serve every American community through the affordable, reliable and secure delivery of mail and packages to 169 million addresses six and often seven days a week. Overseen by a bipartisan Board of Governors, the Postal Service is implementing a 10-year transformation plan, Delivering for America , to modernize the postal network, restore long-term financial sustainability, dramatically improve service across all mail and shipping categories, and maintain the organization as one of America's most valued and trusted brands. The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. For USPS media resources, including broadcast-quality video and audio and photo stills, visit the USPS Newsroom . Follow us on X , formerly known as Twitter, Instagram , Pinterest , Threads and LinkedIn . Subscribe to the USPS YouTube Channel and like us on Facebook . For more information about the Postal Service, visit usps.com and facts.usps.com . Contact: Jonathan Castillo [email protected] usps.com/news SOURCE U.S. Postal Service
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump doesn't think much of Joe Biden's foreign policy record. The Republican president-elect frequently casts the outgoing Democratic president as a feckless leader who shredded American credibility around the world during his four-year term. But a funny thing happened on Trump's way back to the White House: The Biden and Trump national security teams have come to an understanding that they have no choice but to work together as conflicts in Gaza , Syria and Ukraine have left a significant swath of the world on a knife's edge. It's not clear how much common ground those teams have found as they navigate crises that threaten to cause more global upheaval as Trump prepares to settle back into the White House on Jan. 20, 2025. “There is a deep conviction on the part of the incoming national security team that we are dealing with ... and on our part, directed from President Biden, that it is our job, on behalf of the American people, to make sure this is a smooth transition,” Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during a weekend appearance at a forum in California. “And we are committed to discharging that duty as relentlessly and faithfully as we possibly can.” To be certain, Trump and his allies haven't let up on their criticism of Biden, putting the blame squarely on the shoulders of Biden and Democrats for the series of crises around the globe. The president-elect says Biden is responsible for the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, arguing that policies under his watch led to Hamas and Russia becoming emboldened. And shortly before Syria's Bashar al-Assad's government collapsed last week, Trump blamed Biden's old boss, former President Barack Obama, for failing to enforce his own “red line” in 2013 after Assad deployed chemical weapons that killed hundreds of civilians, and laying the groundwork for Islamic militants to establish a beachhead in the country. But amid the hectoring of Biden, Trump team officials acknowledge that the Biden White House has worked diligently to keep Trump's circle apprised and help ensure there is a smooth handoff on national security matters. “For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity that they can play one administration off the other, they’re wrong, and we are — we are hand in glove," Mike Waltz, Trump's pick for national security adviser, said in a Fox News interview last month. “We are one team with the United States in this transition.” While Trump rarely has a good word for the Democratic administration, there's an appreciation in Trump world of how the Biden White House has gone about sharing critical national security information, according to a Trump transition official who was not authorized to comment publicly. The coordination is precisely how lawmakers intended for incoming and outgoing administrations to conduct themselves during a handover when they bolstered federal support for transitions. It's already the most substantive handoff process since 2009, aides to Biden and Trump acknowledged, surpassing Trump's chaotic first takeover in 2017 and his wide refusal to cooperate with the incoming Biden team in 2021. Trump's pick to serve as special envoy to the Middle East , Florida real estate developer Steve Witkoff, consulted with Biden administration officials as he recently traveled to Mideast to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly about the sensitive talks and spoke on condition of anonymity. Sullivan, who was to travel to Israel on Wednesday for talks with Netanyahu, has in turn kept Waltz in the loop about the Biden administration's efforts at getting a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza before Trump's inauguration. Biden administration officials say that the two national security teams have also closely coordinated on Ukraine and Syria, though they have provided scant detail on what that coordination has looked like. “Let me put it this way: Nothing that we’re doing and nothing that we’re saying are coming as a surprise to the incoming team,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said. "They will decide for themselves what policies they might want to keep in place, what approaches they might want to continue and which ones they won’t." Trump made clear during his campaign that he would move to end the war in Ukraine quickly once he came to office. He called on Russian leader Vladimir Putin earlier this week to act to reach an immediate ceasefire with Ukraine . But the Biden White House has begun gently — and publicly — making the case for how continued support for Ukraine lines up with Trump's priorities. On Saturday, Sullivan pointed to comments made by Trump on social media to buttress the case that Biden’s push for continued support of Ukraine falls in line with the incoming president’s thinking. Trump earlier that day had noted that Assad’s rule was collapsing because Russia “lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine, where close to 600,000 Russian soldiers lay wounded or dead, in a war that should never have started, and could go on forever.” “Russia and Iran are in a weakened state right now, one because of Ukraine and a bad economy, the other because of Israel and its fighting success,” Trump said in the posting on Truth Social. Sullivan underscored that Biden and Trump are in agreement that there should be no American boots on the ground in Syria and that the war in Ukraine was a major factor in Assad’s fall. “I was a little bit struck by it — earlier in the post, he said part of the reason this is happening is because of Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Sullivan said of Trump. “And I think he even referenced the sheer scale of the casualties that Russia has suffered in Ukraine, and for that reason, they’re not in a position to defend their client, Assad. And on that point, we’re in vigorous agreement.” Two days later in Washington, Sullivan made the case that Trump should bolster the little-known U.S. International Development Finance Corporation that was created during the Republican’s first term. The push for reauthorizing the foreign aid agency comes as Trump has promised to make massive cuts to the federal bureaucracy. Trump signed into law the agency's authority -- tucked into a five-year reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration — to provide $60 billion in loans, loan guarantees and insurance to companies in developing nations. Sullivan called the agency an effective tool for private-public partnerships, before allowing that “maybe I shouldn’t be the one” making the case “since I’m leaving, but I will give my advice anyway.” “It was created as we’ve all noted, under the Trump administration,” Sullivan said in remarks at the agency’s annual conference. “It has been strengthened under the Biden administration. And as we look to DFC reauthorization next year, it has to remain a bipartisan priority.” After Assad's government fell, the Biden administration issued a warning to Iran not to speed up its nuclear program after one of its closest allies was toppled, declaring “that’ll never happen on our watch.” The U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic, hinted at coordination on the matter with the Trump team. The official said there had been “good discussions” with the incoming administration on the matter and there was an expectation the same policy would carry over. Biden has also approved a new national security memorandum that is meant to serve as a road map for the incoming Trump administration as it looks to counter growing cooperation between China, Iran, North Korea and Russia, the White House announced Wednesday. Biden administration officials began developing the guidance this summer. It was shaped to be a document that could help the next administration build its approach from Day 1 on how it will go about dealing with the tightening relationships between the United States’ most prominent adversaries and competitors, according to two other senior administration officials. One of those officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, sought to assure the incoming Trump team that the Biden White House effort “isn't trying to box them in or tilt them toward one policy option or another.” Instead, the official said, it's about helping the next administration build “capacity” as it shapes its policies on some the most difficult foreign policies it will face.Pep Guardiola admits he is questioning himself after Manchester City’s latest defeat left them in danger of missing out on the Champions League knockout stages. City slumped to their seventh defeat in 10 games in all competitions as they were beaten 2-0 at Juventus in their latest European outing on Wednesday. Second-half goals from Dusan Vlahovic and Weston McKennie at the Allianz Stadium left Guardiola’s side languishing in 22nd place in the standings. Juventus beat Man City ? #UCL pic.twitter.com/H4KL15iCke — UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) December 11, 2024 With just two games of the league phase remaining, a place in the top eight and automatic last-16 qualification looks beyond them and they face a battle just to stay in the top 24 and claim a play-off spot. City manager Guardiola said: “Of course I question myself but I’m stable in good moments and bad moments. “I try to find a way to do it. I’m incredibly honest. If we play good (I say) we played good and today I thought we played good. “Our game will save us. We can do it. We conceded few chances compared to the Nottingham Forest game that we won. We’re making the right tempo. “We missed the last pass, did not arrive in the six-yard box (at the right time) or have the composure at the right moment. “But I love my team. This is life, it happens. Sometimes you have a bad period but I’m going to insist until we’re there.” Weston McKennie celebrates scoring Juventus’ second (Fabrizio Carabelli/PA) Guardiola accepts the top 24 is now the only aim. He said: “It’s the target. We need one point or three points. We go to Paris to try to do it and the last game at home.” Veteran midfielder Ilkay Gundogan said after the game he felt City were suffering from a loss of confidence but Guardiola dismissed his player’s comments. “I am not agreeing with Ilkay,” he said. “Of course it is tough but, except one or two games in this period, we’ve played good.” City now face a further test of their resolve as they host rivals Manchester United in a derby on Sunday. “We played well” Pep Guardiola trusts in his squad despite 2-0 loss to Juventus... ? @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/VrmTzcTrEF — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 11, 2024 Gundogan told TNT Sports: “It (confidence) is a big part of it. That’s a mental issue as well. “You can see that sometimes we miss the ball or lose a duel and you see that we drop immediately and lose the rhythm. They (the opponents) don’t even need to do much but it has such a big effect on us right now. “Even more you have to do the simple things as good as possible and create and fluidity, then it’s work hard again. This is how you get confidence back – do the small and simple things, (but) in crucial moments at the moment we are always doing the wrong things.” Juventus coach Thiago Motta was pleased with the hosts’ performance, which boosted their hopes of making the top eight. “It was a deserved victory,” he said. “We had to defend as a team and be ready to attack with quality. “We have shown we can compete at this level and now we have to do it consistently.”