FRENCH PM DEFENDS 350,000- EURO PRIVATE FLIGHT
PARIS: French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe defended on Wednesday his decision to charter a private aircraft at a cost of 350,000 euros ($ 415,000) to bring him and a delegation back from Tokyo earlier this month. Agence France- Presse disclosed late Tuesday that Philippe’s office had hired an Airbus A340 with first- class seats to fly from Japan to Paris on December 6 instead of using an A340 army transport plane flying the same route at roughly the same time. The prime minister’s office has argued that Philippe needed to be back in Paris urgently because President Emmanuel Macron was leaving the country and that the air force plane was too uncomfortable for a night flight. “It’s complicated to move the prime minister around and it’s expensive,” Philippe told RTL radio on Wednesday. “I understand both the surprise and the questions that French people are asking themselves.” Asked if it had been a mistake, he replied: “I take responsibility for this decision completely, I take responsibility to such an extent that I want to explain it.” Philippe was returning from the far- flung French Pacific territory of New Caledonia on December 5 along with a 60- strong delegation of officials and ministers.
AFTER US VETO, UN ASSEMBLY TO VOTE ON JERUSALEM RESOLUTION
UNITED NATIONS, United States: to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital after the United States vetoed the measure at the Security Council. Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN reacted angrily to the move, tweeting: “On Thurs there’ll be a vote criticizing our choice. The US will be taking names,” in rhetoric reminiscent of her boss’s threatening style. Turkey and Yemen requested the urgent meeting of the 193- nation assembly on behalf of the Arab group of countries and the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The two countries circulated a draft resolution on Tuesday that mirrors the vetoed measure, reaffirming that any decision on the status of Jerusalem has no legal effect and must be rescinded. Egypt had put forward the draft at the council, which was backed by all 14 other Security Council members in the vote on Monday.
MEXICO BUS CRASH KILLS 12 TOURISTS INCLUDING FOREIGNERS
MEXICO CITY: A bus carrying tourists from US cruise ships to an archeological site in Mexico crashed on Tuesday after running off the road, killing at least 12 people including several foreigners, state authorities said. The crash, which left another 18 injured, happened on a highway in the state of Quintana Roo, located on the eastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula and well known as home to the Caribbean resort city of Cancun. The dead and injured included “citizens of the United States, Sweden and Brazil,” a brief statement said without further information on numbers from each country, or their ages. The bus was carrying 31 passengers on a straight stretch of road with little traffic. The cause of the accident was not immediately known. Twenty- three of the passengers had arrived on the ships Celebrity Equinox and Serenade of the Seas, cruise owner Royal Caribbean Cruises told Agence France- Presse. Mexican authorities said that they did not have further details of the nationalities of those killed.