Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba is bemused as to why he remains a constant source of criticism despite missing most of the campaign through injury.
The 27-year-old has been restricted to just eight appearances this season due to a persistent ankle injury.
Former Liverpool captain and manager Graeme Souness has been one of the most outspoken critics of Pogba since he returned to United from Juventus for a then world record 89 million pound ($112 million) fee in 2016.
However, Pogba claimed he did not even know who Souness was.
"I didn't even know who he was, really," Pogba told the official Manchester United podcast. "I heard he was a great player and stuff like that. I know the face but (not) the name.
"Like I said I'm not someone that watches a lot of (punditry), I watch a lot of football but I don't stay after the game to listen to what they say about why they did this, or why they did that. I like to focus on football."
Souness - who won three European Cups, and five league 

'They miss me', Pogba puzzled by critics like Souness

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Around 117 million children worldwide risk contracting measles because dozens of countries are curtailing their vaccination programmes as they battle COVID-19, the United Nations warned on Tuesday.
Currently 24 countries, including several already dealing with large measles outbreaks, have suspended widespread vaccinations, the World Health Organisation and the UN's children's fund UNICEF said.
An additional 13 countries have had their vaccination programmes interrupted due to COVID-19.
In a joint statement, the Measles and Rubella Initiative (M&RI) said it was vital that immunisation capacity was retained during and after the current pandemic.
"Together, more than 117 million children...could be impacted by the suspension of scheduled immunization activities," it said.
"The M&RI supports the need to protect communities and health workers from COVID-19 through a pause of mass campaigns, where risks of the disease are high. However, this should not mean that children ...

117 million children face measles risk from COVID-19 response: UN

Britain's economy could shrink by 13 per cent in 2020 in the case of a three-month coronavirus lockdown, according to a scenario published Tuesday by fiscal watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility.
"The resulting 13 per cent fall in annual GDP in 2020 would comfortably exceed any of the annual falls around the end of each world war or in the financial crisis," the OBR said.

Coronavirus could see UK GDP fall 13 per cent in 2020: watchdog

The novel coronavirus has killed more than 120,000 people worldwide, nearly 70 percent of them in Europe, according to a tally compiled by AFP at 1100 GMT Tuesday from official sources.
A total of 120,013 deaths have now been recorded since the epidemic first emerged in China in December, 81,474 of them in Europe.
The figures were collated using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

More than 120,000 killed by coronavirus worldwide

Spain's death toll from the novel coronavirus topped 18,000 on Tuesday, as the rise in new infections dropped to its lowest level since the country imposed a nationwide lockdown last month.
The 567 new deaths reported by the health ministry were slightly up from Monday's death toll and they take the total number of fatalities to 18,056 --- officially third in the world behind the United States and Italy.
The number of new infections rose by just over 3,045, or 1.8 percent, to 172,451, the smallest increase since the country of around 47 million people imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 14 to curb the spread of the virus.
Health authorities say Spain has overcome the peak of the coronavirus, after registering its highest death toll of 950 people on April 2.
"The trend is good, in line with what we have seen in recent weeks," the health ministry's emergencies coordinator, Fernando Simon, told a press conference to discuss the latest coronavirus figures.
But while the fall in the ...

Spain's virus death toll tops 18,000

French automaker Renault said Tuesday that it would start building only electric vehicles for China's huge passenger car market, dropping conventional internal combustion engines as well as its joint venture with local manufacturer Dongfeng.
The strategy shift comes after years of sluggish sales in China, where Renault hoped its 50-50 venture with Dongfeng, announced in 2013 and focused on a factory in Wuhan, would allow it to  make inroads quickly.
But the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan forced the factory to shutter, just as Renault was wrestling with slowing growth worldwide and a cashflow squeeze that has prompted ratings agencies to cut its credit ratings to "junk" status.
"We are opening a new chapter in China. We will concentrate on electric vehicles and light commercial vehicles, the two main drivers for future clean mobility," Renault chairman for China operations, Francois Provost, said in a statement.
The automaker will transfer its stake in the DRAC venture to Dongfeng, ...

Renault shifts to all-electric cars for China

A decision on whether to go ahead with June's French Formula One Grand Prix behind closed doors or to postpone or scrap the event will be made in the coming days, organisers said.
The grand prix scheduled for June 28 is the first race on the revised Formula One world championship calendar with nine races already scrapped or suspended as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Following French President Emmanuel Macron's announcement Sunday that the lockdown in France will be extended until May 11 and public gatherings banned until mid-July, a spokesman for the race organisers told AFP that they "have been studying all scenarios" including postponement or staging the event behind closed doors.
F1 sports director Ross Brawn said last week he could envisage the start of the F1 season in Europe in July with a race excluding the public.

French Grand Prix decision expected in days - organisers

Iran said on Tuesday that the number of lives lost in the country to the novel coronavirus dropped to double figures for the first time in one month.
Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said 98 deaths from the COVID-19 disease were recorded in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall toll to 4,683.
"Unfortunately, we lost 98 of our compatriots infected with the disease... but after a month of waiting, this is the first day that the death toll has been double figures," he told a televised news conference.

Iran says virus deaths drop below 100 for first time in month

South Africa's central bank Tuesday slashed its main interest rate by a full percentage point, the second such cut in less than a month, as the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic deepens.
"The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the South African Reserve Bank decided to cut the repo rate by 100 basis points. This takes the repo rate to 4.25 per cent per annum," the bank said in a statement.
This is the third cut this year.
On March 19, the bank cut the rate by one percentage point following a 0.25 percentage point cut in January.  South Africa, which has recorded the highest numbers of infection in sub-Saharan Africa, slipped into a recession during the final quarter of 2019.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the country has risen to 2,272, including 27 fatalities.
The virus outbreak prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa to impose a total lockdown which kicked into action on March 27 and is due to run to end of April.

S Africa further cuts interest rate amid virus pandemic

Spain reported Tuesday 567 deaths from the new coronavirus, a slight increase after a one day decline, bringing the total number of fatalities to 18,056 --- officially the third highest in the world behind the United States and Italy.
The number of new infections rose by 1.8 percent to 172,541 cases, according to the health ministry, the smallest increase since the country imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 14 to curb the spread of the virus.

Spain's virus death toll tops 18,000: official

Malta on Tuesday urged the European Union to launch an "immediate humanitarian mission" in Libya to help stem the flow of illegal migrants during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Mediterranean island nation's foreign minister said the EU teams should distribute food and medical supplies worth at least 100 million euros ($110 million).
Evarist Bartolo's letter to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell came a day after border guards reported locating four dingies between Libya and Malta with a reported 258 people on board.
Both Malta and Italy have closed their ports to migrants to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Germany's Sea-Watch International said it feared that one of the boats carrying 85 people had actually capsized and those aboard had drowned.
"Malta denies us safe harbour," the group said on Tuesday. "We demand safe harbour."
The Spanish rescue agency Salvamento Maritimo Humanitario said the migrants it had been in contact with came from sub-Saharan Africa.
The Maltese foreign ...

Malta calls for EU humanitarian mission in Libya

Fast asleep, swaddled in a towel and snug in a pink beanie, a baby born during a pandemic in a Thai hospital needs one last item to ensure its health -- a face shield.
Bangkok hospitals are using the shields on newborns in their maternity wards to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Thailand has detected 2,613 cases of the virus, with 41 deaths -- a relatively low number despite being the first country outside China to record an infection.
Bangkok is now under an effective lockdown -- silencing the usual boistrous and boozy Thai new year Songkran festival this week -- while an overnight curfew has kept all but essential vehicles off the streets.
Extraordinary measures have also been rolled out at Praram 9 Hospital, where newborns are being fitted with face shields, a precaution taken at other maternity wards across the capital.
The tiny face guards have been designed by the hospital for use when the baby makes its first journey home.

Thai hospitals protect babies born in a pandemic with face shields

Asian markets posted gains on Tuesday as better than expected Chinese trade data suggested a rebound from the economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
China has largely brought the disease under control within its borders since the coronavirus outbreak first emerged in the city of Wuhan late last year.
But it came at the cost of drastic measures that shuttered much of the economy and cordoned off tens of millions of people at the epicentre of the outbreak.
With much of the country returning to work and travel restrictions eased across industrial hub Wuhan, Tuesday's data beat market expectations.
Exports fell 6.6 per cent and imports dropped 0.9 per cent in March on a yearly basis, according to official figures -- falls that were well below the dire 10 per cent or more forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
But Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics warned "the worst is still to come" for China's export businesses, with more economic headwinds likely in ...

Asia markets rise as China trade data beats forecasts

Former Manchester United star Marouane Fellaini was discharged on Tuesday after three weeks in a Chinese hospital being treated for coronavirus, his club said.
The 32-year-old Shandong Luneng midfielder, the only player known to have contracted the disease in the Chinese Super League (CSL), will now spend 14 days in quarantine for further observation.
The Belgium international said on March 22 that he had tested positive for the virus, having just returned to China, but assured fans that he was feeling fine.
While in hospital in the city of Jinan, Fellaini posted videos of himself on Instagram exercising in his room.
"Fellaini was assessed and was deemed to have recovered, and was discharged today," Shandong said in a brief statement.
China, where the outbreak emerged in December, says that it has curbed the illness at home but is now worried about a second wave of infections from overseas.
Fellaini's positive test dealt a blow to the CSL's hopes of starting the season any time soon, .

Fellaini out of Chinese hospital after coronavirus scare

The forces of Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar rained rockets on the capital Tripoli early Tuesday after being ousted by government loyalists from a string of towns to its west.
Salvo after salvo of rockets caused loud explosions throughout the night, AFP correspondents reported.
Several homes were hit around Mitiga airbase in the eastern suburbs, the capital's sole if intermittently functioning airport.
There was no immediate word on any casualties.
The UN-recognised Government of National Unity, which has been battling an offensive against the capital for just over a year, accused Haftar's forces of taking revenge against Tripoli's civilian population following their losses on Monday.
"The criminal militia and mercenaries have taken out their anger on residential neighbourhoods of Tripoli to avenge their defeat, firing dozens of rockets and missiles on the capital indiscriminately," spokesman Mohamad Gnounou said.
On Monday, the unity government recaptured the coastal cities 

Haftar forces pound Libya capital after losing towns

The French economy is expected to contract a worse-than-expected eight percent this year, reflecting the impact of an extended coronavirus lockdown until May 11, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday.
Le Maire had previously targeted a six percent GDP decline for this year but that was based on a lockdown that lasted just one month, instead of the two-month period announced by President Emmanuel Macron in a televised address Monday night.
Le Maire told BFM television that the eight percent forecast would be included in a new 2020 budget programme set to be unveiled this week.
But he cautioned that given the uncertain outlook for economies across the globe, not least in the United States and Asia, "these forecasts need to be considered with caution."
The massive relief effort for bars, restaurants, hotel, shops and other businesses closed during the lockdown will push France's budget deficit up to nine percent of GDP this year, Budget Minister Gerald Darmanin said separately in .

France sees 8% GDP drop this year after lockdown extension

A furious, aggrieved President Donald Trump has dismissed rumours that he was going to fire his top medical advisor on the coronavirus pandemic but launched new fights with the Democrats and the media ahead of the high-stakes reopening of the shuttered US economy.
Unusually, the evening briefing at the White House began with a statement by the internationally renowned Dr Anthony Fauci, seeking to defuse speculation that he had fallen out with the Republican president.
Referring to a CNN interview on Sunday in which he said that earlier mitigation measures would have dampened the escalation of the COVID-19 crisis in the United States, Fauci explained that he'd been answering a "hypothetical."
Fauci explained his reference in the interview to "pushback" against shutting down the economy -- a remark interpreted widely as signalling that Trump was reluctant to take drastic action -- as the "wrong choice of words."
Trump, who on Sunday fuelled speculation by retweeting a critical comment ..

Angry Trump denies plan to axe coronavirus doctor but signals new fights

Every day, Pawel Sawicki, head of social media at the Auschwitz Museum, posts several photos of victims of the former Nazi German death camp on a Twitter account that has become a powerful tool in Holocaust education.
A recent post to the account, which has a million followers, featured a photo of a baby girl in a knitted woollen dress, adorned with a large white collar.
"8 April 1940 | French Jewish girl Jacqueline Benguigui was born in #Paris. She arrived at #Auschwitz on 25 June 1943 in a transport of 1,018 Jews deported from Drancy. She was among 418 people murdered in a gas chamber after the selection," reads the caption.
"We show people on their birthday and provide biographical information," Sawicki told AFP.
"It's important for us to show the fates of individuals because it is sometimes difficult to fathom the scale of the crime."
This year marks 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Nazi Germany's most notorious twin death camp where over 1.1 million people, ...

Auschwitz online: raising Holocaust awareness in the digital age

Vietnam will urge Southeast Asian leaders to set up an emergency fund to tackle the coronavirus at a summit held online on Tuesday, as the pandemic ravages the region's tourism and export-reliant economies.
Hanoi is chairing an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting on COVID-19, with the country touting its success so far in containing the virus with extensive quarantines and social distancing.
Vietnam has 265 virus cases and no deaths, while Thailand has officially also kept its numbers relatively low at just over 2,500 cases with 40 deaths.
The situation is mixed elsewhere across the region, with fears that limited testing in Indonesia has played out into the low caseload -- and under 400 deaths -- for a country of 260 million.
Similarly, threadbare health systems from Myanmar to Laos are widely believed to be missing the true scale of infections, while a recent surge in cases in Singapore has raised fears the pandemic could rebound in places which had batted back ...

ASEAN leaders meet online to tackle coronavirus

Retired track star Usain Bolt showed he's still a few steps ahead when he posted an AFP picture of him outstripping his rivals at the Beijing Olympics with the cheeky caption: "social distancing".
Bolt's post, featuring a picture by AFP photographer Nicolas Asfouri of the 2008 Olympics 100m final, blew up on social media, drawing more than half a million likes and 90,000 retweets.
It showed the Jamaican crossing the finish line at the Bird's Nest stadium in a then-world record time of 9.69sec, glancing round from lane four as his despairing competitors trail two paces behind.
"Savage", commented one Twitter user, while New York Times journalist Christopher Clarey posted another picture of Bolt out in front on his own, captioned "self isolation".
Bolt's chest-thumping celebration in Beijing added to a legend that grew further when he won the 200m in another world-record time. He retired in 2017 with eight Olympic gold medals and the current 100m mark of 9.58sec, set in 2009.
Bolt, 33, .

Bolt goes viral with 'social distancing' Olympic photo

China's foreign trade fell again in March even as businesses returned to work after the coronavirus outbreak, with the global pandemic weighing on the manufacturing powerhouse's outlook.
Exports fell 6.6 percent in March from a year earlier and imports dropped 0.9 percent, according to Customs data released Tuesday.
The contraction was less than a Bloomberg economist forecast that predicted a 10 percent or more decline in both figures, and well below the 17.2 plunge in exports seen in the first two months of the year.
But analysts warned that a broader recovery would be hamstrung for as long as the viral pandemic ravaged China's trading partners.
"The worst is still to come for China's export sector," warned Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics.
China's trade surplus with the United States -- a key point of contention in the bruising trade war between the world's top two economies -- narrowed again in March by 25.3 percent on-year to $15.3 billion.
January's phase one trade ...

AFP

AFP

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