Mbappe, PSG Coach Face Backlash for Laughing off Private Jet Question

05 September 2022, France, Saint-Germain-En-Laye: Paris Saint-Germain coach Christophe Galtier attends a press conference at Ooredoo Center ahead of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League Group H soccer match against Juventus. (dpa)
05 September 2022, France, Saint-Germain-En-Laye: Paris Saint-Germain coach Christophe Galtier attends a press conference at Ooredoo Center ahead of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League Group H soccer match against Juventus. (dpa)
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Mbappe, PSG Coach Face Backlash for Laughing off Private Jet Question

05 September 2022, France, Saint-Germain-En-Laye: Paris Saint-Germain coach Christophe Galtier attends a press conference at Ooredoo Center ahead of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League Group H soccer match against Juventus. (dpa)
05 September 2022, France, Saint-Germain-En-Laye: Paris Saint-Germain coach Christophe Galtier attends a press conference at Ooredoo Center ahead of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League Group H soccer match against Juventus. (dpa)

Paris St Germain coach Christophe Galtier and striker Kylian Mbappe were facing a backlash on Tuesday for laughing off a question about why the team took a private jet for a short trip to a game in Nantes at the weekend.

"Are you serious, responding like this???," Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo tweeted. "Wake up guys???"

Quizzed on PSG's jet trip to Nantes at a news conference on Monday, Galtier and Mbappe looked at each other and the World Cup winner burst out laughing as his coach responded with a quip.

"This morning we talked about it with the company which organizes our trips and we're looking into travelling on sand yachts," Galtier said. Asked for his views on the matter, Mbappe said he did not have any.

A video of their comments immediately went viral, triggering angry responses from social media users, environmentalists and ministers.

Photoshopped memes of Mbappe and Galtier on sand yachts could be seen across social media and the controversy occupied the top three tending topics on Twitter in France on Tuesday.

"I love Mbappe, we can all have the giggles at the least opportune moment and it really was the least opportune moment," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told BFM TV on Tuesday.

"But we all have to take climate change seriously," he said, adding that Galtier's irony had been "out of place".

PSG were not immediately available for comment.

Nantes is about two hours by high-speed train from Paris.

The use of private jets has been a much-discussed topic both in France and globally this summer, with social media users tracking - and criticizing - their use amid a series of heatwaves, droughts and floods triggered by climate change.

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday told a news conference that "everyone has to do their bit" to fight climate change.



Severe Storms in New York City Area Kill Two in New Jersey Floods

 A woman walks along the Hudson River, with the Jersey City skyline in the background, in New York City, US, July 14, 2025. (Reuters)
A woman walks along the Hudson River, with the Jersey City skyline in the background, in New York City, US, July 14, 2025. (Reuters)
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Severe Storms in New York City Area Kill Two in New Jersey Floods

 A woman walks along the Hudson River, with the Jersey City skyline in the background, in New York City, US, July 14, 2025. (Reuters)
A woman walks along the Hudson River, with the Jersey City skyline in the background, in New York City, US, July 14, 2025. (Reuters)

Two people were killed in New Jersey during flash flooding as severe storms lashed the New York City area on Monday night into Tuesday, submerging cars and flooding subway stations.

The intense rainfall caused widespread travel disruption across the region's airports, highways and railways.

More than 2 inches (5 cm) of rain were recorded in a single hour in Manhattan's Central Park, the second most for a 60-minute period in history, according to Mayor Eric Adams.

Videos showed flooding in several subway stations on Monday evening, including a geyser of water spewing into a station on Manhattan's West Side.

Officials said the subway system was simply overwhelmed by the amount of rainfall in such a short amount of time. The antiquated sewer system can handle around 1.75 inches (4.44 cm) of rainfall per hour, Rohit Aggarwala, the city's environmental protection commissioner, told reporters on Tuesday, compared with a rate of more than 4 inches an hour at the storm's peak.

"I probably don't recall seeing that level of rain before," Adams said.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency and said two people died in Plainfield when their vehicle was swept away by floodwaters.

The victims were found in a submerged car, Murphy told reporters.

Murphy said that some places got 6 inches (15.25 cm) of rain in less than 2.5 hours and that it appeared some locations experienced flooding for the first time. The governor blamed climate change for the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.

"That's the new reality," he said.

In Westchester County, north of the city, authorities conducted multiple water rescues as cars were submerged and highways shut down due to flooding. In nearby Rockland County, the suburb of Nanuet recorded more than 5 inches (12.7 cm) of rain, according to the National Weather Service.