Lionel Messi is the "greatest" footballer of all time, ahead of even Diego Maradona, Napoli coach Gennaro Gattuso said on Monday ahead of his side's Champions League clash with Barcelona.
The 32-year-old Messi scored four goals at the weekend in Barcelona's 5-0 win over Eibar and has now been involved in more than 1,000 goals in his career, scoring 696 and assisting another 306.
Gattuso was quick to praise Messi, comparing the Barca star to Napoli legend Maradona.
"He's the greatest and an example for everyone," said Gattuso ahead of the sides' last-16 first leg on Tuesday.
"He never says anything inappropriate. He does things that only exist on the Playstation, unthinkable things.
"But I saw him (Maradona) on VHS, or DVD. I never saw him up close, at a stadium.
"I know the champion he was and I know I missed something wonderful. I regret it. Today I see Messi doing things that Maradona was doing."
Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne was not so keen to accept that Messi has reached greater 

Messi 'greatest' ahead of Maradona, says Napoli boss Gattuso

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Wall Street stocks plunged in opening trading on Monday, joining a global equity selloff on mounting worries that the spread of the new coronavirus will derail global growth.
Just after the opening bell, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 28,015.53, down 3.4 per cent or nearly 1,000 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 dove 3.2 per cent to 3,232.63, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index sank 4.2 per cent to 9,178.24.

US stocks open down more than 3% on virus fears

Sport in Italy is being heavily disrupted by a surge in the number of new coronavirus cases but Napoli's Champions League match against Barcelona in the south of the country on Tuesday is not at risk.
Italy reported its fifth death from the virus on Monday and it has the most confirmed cases in Europe.
A surge in infections at the weekend forced the postponement of four Serie A football matches in the north of the country where the outbreak is concentrated in two regions.
The game between Torino and Parma in Turin was called off as well as the matches between title-chasing Inter Milan and Sampdoria, Atalanta and Sassuolo, and Hellas Verona and Cagliari.
AC Milan also announced the postponement of their women's team's match against Fiorentina on Sunday.
The government announced on Sunday that all sporting events in two northern regions would be suspended, with Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora saying the government had "a duty to be prudent and responsible".
Napoli's last 16 Champions 

Coronavirus hits Italian sport hard

Anirban Lahiri could not build on a positive start in the final round of the Puerto Rico Open as the Indian golfer finished Tied 44th, with an eight-under 280, here.
At three under through five holes, it was the kind of a start that produces low scores. Yet, as so often in recent times he let that slip by and ended with a two-under 70 for the fourth successive time.
Two double bogeys, once on the second day and once on the final day spoilt his card. He had 20 birdies but gave away two doubles and eight bogeys.
Arjun Atwal shot 69 in the final round to finish seven-under 281 and T-50, while Daniel Chopra (76) was T-69.
Lahiri birdied first and second and added a third on fifth. Three pars and a bogey on ninth seemed to break that momentum and he had his second double bogey of the week.
That caused a lot of damage and even though he had three birdies and a bogey in last four holes, it was a fourth straight card of 70.
Norwegian Viktor Hovland, playing only in his 17th event on the PGA ..

Lahiri finishes 44th at Puerto Rico Open, Hovland takes title

The disruption caused by the virus outbreak in China will have an effect on the US economy, but the magnitude of the hit remains uncertain, a White House economist said Monday.
With the death toll worldwide reaching 2,600, the official cautioned that other illnesses such as influenza are responsible for far more fatalities annually than the COVID-19 virus that originated in central China.
Global stock markets were reeling Monday amid renewed fears about the spread of the virus, with Italy, Iran and South Korea emerging as new hotspots.
"The real threat, I think, is obviously the coronavirus. We don't know yet, but we're taking a wait and see approach," said Tomas Philipson, acting director of the White House Council of Economic Advisors.
"That doesn't mean that economic effects from all the shutdowns in China won't have any impact. They will," he told a conference of the National Association for Business Economics.
With the outbreak showing little sign of easing, investors are ...

China shutdowns to impact economy: White House economist

Greece will sign a wide-ranging defence deal with France in coming months, the two countries' defence ministers said Monday, months after a similar agreement between Athens and Washington.
"We have decided to reinforce bilateral defence and security cooperation in a very significant manner," French Defence Minister Florence Parly told reporters after talks with her Greek counterpart Nikos Panagiotopoulos in Athens.
The agreement to be signed by June will include joint naval and land exercises, defence industry cooperation and an "increased" French naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean, Panagiotopoulos said.
Parly said French Rafale fighters will take part in Greece's annual air force exercise, code-named Iniochos, in May.
Greece is keen to enlist the support of EU and NATO partners amid rising tension with neighbouring Turkey, fuelled by energy exploration rivalry and migration concerns.
Paris has publicly expressed exasperation with Ankara over its energy exploration off ...

After US, Greece to sign defence deal with France: officials

Qatar's ruler offered 10,000 new jobs specifically for Jordanians during a two-day visit to Amman, Qatar News Agency said Sunday, a sign of warming relations between the two states.
Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani announced the creation of "10,000 jobs in Qatar for our Jordanian brothers, in addition to the 10,000 jobs already announced in August 2018", state-run QNA wrote on Twitter.
Lacking in natural resources and reliant on foreign aid, Jordan's unemployment rate is 18.5 percent and the poverty rate over 15 percent, according to official figures.
The kingdom reduced its diplomatic presence in Doha in June 2017 after Saudi Arabia and its allies Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting "terrorists" and of being too close to Iran.
The Qatari emir, who arrived in Jordan earlier Sunday, also pledged "USD 30 million in assistance" to the kingdom's military pension fund, QNA added.
King Abdullah II and the emir ...

Qatar offers 10,000 jobs to Jordanians

Spinner Poonam Yadav claimed three wickets as India defeated Bangladesh by 18 runs in a Group A match of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup here on Monday.
Invited to bat, India posted a competitive 142 for 6 and then returned to restrict Bangladesh to 124 for 8 to notch up their second successive win in the showpiece event.
Chasing 143 to win, Murshida Khatun compiled a 26-ball 30 after her opening partner Shamima Sultana was sent packing in the second over by Shikha Pandey.
Once Khatun was removed by Arundhati Reddy, Nigar Sultana (35) tried to keep them in the hunt but Bangladesh struggled against the quality spin bowling of Poonam Yadav, who claimed three wickets to derail Bangladesh's chase.
Arundhati Reddy (2/33) and Pandey (2/14) took two wickets each, while Rajeshwari Gayakwad (1/25) accounted for one wicket.
Earlier 16-year-old opener Shafali Verma gave India a rollicking start, smashing a 17-ball 39 which contained two fours and four sixes.
Jemimah Rodrigues also scored a crucial 

India beat Bangladesh by 18 runs in Women's T20 World Cup

Fighting in northwest Syria is coming "dangerously close" to encampments with around a million displaced people, risking an imminent "bloodbath", the UN said on Monday.
Mark Cutts, the UN's Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, also said the UN was trying to double aid deliveries across a border crossing from Turkey from 50 to 100 trucks a day.
"The fighting is now coming dangerously close to an area where more than a million are living in tents and makeshift shelters," Cutts told reporters in Geneva.
Cutts warned there was a risk of "a real bloodbath".
A months-long offensive by Russia-backed Syrian troops against rebels backed by Turkey in northwest Idlib has seen hundreds of thousands of people flee the violence.
As a result of the escalation, Cutts said the UN was revising up its funding appeal for the crisis from USD 330 million to USD 500 million (462 million euros), adding that there was a shortfall of about USD 370 million.
The UN sent 1,200 aid trucks 

UN warns of 'bloodbath' risk in northwest Syria

Sri Lanka will deploy troops to help police control worsening traffic congestion in the capital, the army said on Monday.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a retired army officer, ordered the military to assist traffic officers at the main entry and exit points to Colombo, a city which nearly a million people enter or leave daily, a spokesman said.
The military police will also lend support "in any other area where their services are required", spokesman Chandana Wickremasinghe added.
Traffic slows to a snail's space in Colombo during the morning and evening rush hours making it one of the slowest road systems in South Asia.
Recent studies have shown average speeds drop below seven kilometres (4.3 miles) an hour in the morning and the evening.
The capital does not have a mass transit system, forcing many to use their own transport that chokes the narrow streets.
But Sri Lanka began work on its first light rail transit system last year at an estimated cost of USD 1.5 billion. The ...

Sri Lanka deploys troops to control worsening traffic

Nature experts and government delegates gather this week in Rome to thrash out an international deal for endangered species, trying to avoid a mass extinction event caused by human activity.
Having been hastily relocated from Kunming in China following the coronavirus outbreak, negotiators from more than 140 countries have until February 29 to study a draft text.
The 12-page document, which focuses on goals to be met by mid-century and envisages a stock-take in 2030, should be adopted at the COP15 summit on biodiversity in October.
The United Nations biodiversity panel IPBES last year warned that up to one million species face the risk of extinction as a result of humanity's insatiable desire for land and materials.
"I cannot underscore enough the importance of making progress at this meeting," said Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, acting executive secretary for the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity.
"The world is eagerly waiting out there for demonstrable progress towards a clear, ...

Nations seek biodiversity accord to stave off mass extinction

The museum of the Nazi German Auschwitz death camp is objecting to a scene in a new Amazon TV series that shows a murderous game of human chess being played there, insisting that no such thing took place at the camp.
The museum that guards the Auschwitz-Birkenau site in southern Poland, its historic facts and the memory of the victims tweeted about the scene in Amazon's series "Hunters."
It said inventing fake scenes is "dangerous foolishness and caricature," encourages Holocaust deniers and is disrespectful of the camp's more than 1 million victims. Most of the victims were Europe's Jews. They died in the camp's gas chambers or from starvation, disease and forced labor.
Museum spokesman Pawel Sawicki said Monday that authors and artists have a special obligation to tell the truth about Auschwitz, and that the Hunters authors did not contact the museum for facts.
"If anyone wants to show human tragedy in Auschwitz it is enough to reach for the thousands of sources (survivors' ...

Auschwitz Museum upset at scene in Amazon series "Hunters"

French former prime minister Francois Fillon and his wife Penelope appeared in court on Monday over claims they embezzled over one million euros in an alleged fake-jobs fraud.
The couple made no statement as they entered the Paris courthouse under police escort, as dozens of lawyers massed outside in the latest protest over plans to merge their pension scheme into a single system.
The eagerly-awaited trial of the former presidential hopeful and his wife had been due to start Monday but the court granted their request to delay the opening until Wednesday in solidarity with the lawyers' strike.
Investigators suspect that Fillon, 65, hired his Welsh-born wife Penelope as his parliamentary assistant between 1998 and 2013, without having her do any actual work.
The allegations that Penelope, who is also charged in the case, was paid up to 10,000 euros (USD 10,800) a month for little to no work emerged in January 2017 and quickly snowballed into a scandal that cost Fillon his shot at the ...

French court delays fraud trial for ex-premier Fillon

US President Donald Trump, seeking re-election, on Monday criticised the Opposition Democratic Party, some 13,000 kilometres away from America in India, and suggested that Senator Bernie Sanders could be his likely rival in the presidential poll in November.
Trump, who is on a 36-hour visit to India commented on the ongoing  Democratic Party nomination race and said, "It could go to the convention, it really could."
"They are going to take it away from Crazy Bernie, they are not going to let him win...I actually think he would be tougher than most of the other candidates because he is like me but I have a much bigger base," Trump told reporters as he flew on Air Force One from Ahmedabad to Agra, according to CNN.
Trump's comments on the American political scene came a day after Sanders, 78, comfortably won the crucial Nevada Democratic Caucus, giving a big boost to his campaign for the 2020 White House bid.
Earlier in the day, 73-year-old Trump, a Republican, tweeted that he has ...

President Trump weighs in on Democratic presidential race while in India

Libya's warring sides have proposed a draft ceasefire agreement that would see the United Nations monitor the safe return of civilians to their homes, the UN said Monday.
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said it would facilitate the ceasefire process alongside a military commission with members from both sides.
The announcement came after a second round of indirect military talks in Geneva between Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) and eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar's forces.
The talks, mediated by UN envoy Ghassan Salame, are aimed at brokering lasting ceasefire to fighting that has left more than 1,000 people dead and displaced some 140,000 since last April, according to the UN.
Several rounds of talks focused on economic issues, including fairer distribution of Libya's oil wealth, have also taken place in Egypt and Tunisia, and talks towards a political solution are scheduled to start in Geneva on Wednesday.
UNSMIL said it and the two parties 

Libya's warring sides propose draft ceasefire deal: UN

Suspended Kenyan Olympic 1,500 metres and three-time world champion Asbel Kiprop has announced he is turning his back on athletics to try his hand at motorsport.
The controversial athlete, who is serving a four-year doping ban imposed in April 2019 after he tested positive for EPO, has joined a Nairobi motor-rallying academy with the hope of honing his motorsport skills.
"I am ready to begin again in a sport that doesn't have doping conspiracy," the 30-year-old Kiprop, who waged a long battle to prove his doping innocence, said on Twitter.
"I will be patient again to be able to be champion. I will be climbing this ladder hoping to learn the next game."
Kiprop is known for being a fast driver, resulting in a road crash in November 2013 when he lost control of his vehicle that left him with a few bruises.
Kiprop's entry into motorsport comes only five months before Kenya welcomes the return of the World Rally Championship -- the Safari Rally in July.

Banned Kenyan runner Asbel Kiprop to turn to motorsport

Iran's government vowed Monday to be transparent after being accused of covering up the deadliest coronavirus outbreak outside China, dismissing claims the toll could be as high as 50.
The authorities in the Islamic republic have come under mounting public pressure since it took days for them to admit to "accidentally" shooting down a Ukrainian airliner last month, killing 176 people.
The government said on Monday that Iran's coronavirus death toll had jumped by four to 12 - by far the highest outside China -- as its neighbours closed their borders and imposed strict quarantine measures.
But Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani, a lawmaker from the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, alleged the government was "lying" about the full extent of the outbreak.
The ILNA news agency, which is close to reformists, said the lawmaker spoke of "50 deaths" in Qom alone.
"The rest of the media have not published this figure, but we prefer not to censor what concerns the coronavirus because people's lives are .

Iran denies virus coverup and claim of 50 deaths

Togo's President Faure Gnassingbe on Monday hailed a crushing election victory that gave him a fourth term in office, as his main rival insisted he had won and called on people to "defend" their votes.
The incumbent leader took 72 percent of the vote in the first round of Saturday's presidential poll, the election commission said overnight, far ahead of former prime minister Agbeyome Kodjo on 18 per cent.
The opposition alleged widespread fraud including ballot stuffing and the use of fake polling stations to skew the results in Gnassingbe's favour.
The widely expected win extends more than a half century of dynastic rule over the former French colony by Gnassingbe's family despite broad disillusion over its failure to drag many out of poverty.
"The truth has just come to light after the announcement of the results which place us far ahead of our adversaries," Gnassingbe, 53, told celebrating supporters.
"Those who wanted to get agitated got agitated, they announced imaginary figures, 

Togo leader hails vote win as opposition urges 'resistance'

The remaining parties to the Iran nuclear deal will meet in Vienna on Wednesday, the EU's diplomatic service announced, after Britain, France and Germany launched a dispute process over Iran's successive pullbacks.
The office of EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell -- who is tasked with convening the commission under the dispute mechanism -- said the get-together would be chaired on his behalf by senior official Helga Schmid.
The meeting comes as the European parties try to find a way to persuade Iran to come back into line with the deal after Tehran made a series of steps away in protest at the US pulling out and reimposing sanctions.
The 2015 agreement to curb Iran's nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief has been slowly crumbling since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018, describing the accord signed by his predecessor Barack Obama as a bad deal.
The EU has led efforts to try to save the deal, arguing that it is vital for international security, but after 

Iran nuclear deal commission to meet in Vienna

London-born midfielder Nico Yennaris, the first naturalised footballer to play for China, was surprisingly dropped from new coach Li Tie's national squad on Monday.
The 26-year-old was not named in Li's squad for a training camp in the UAE ahead of World Cup qualifiers in Thailand next month against the Maldives and Guam.
It was not immediately clear why Yennaris, who now goes by the Chinese name Li Ke and plays for Beijing Guoan, misses out.
The former Arsenal and England youth player made history when he made his debut for China in June last year. Yennaris, whose mother is Chinese, has won five caps.
Brazil-born forward Elkeson, the first player with no Chinese blood to represent China, was included in Li's 26-man squad and will hope to win his fifth and sixth caps against Maldives on March 26 and Guam on March 31.
Also included is Espanyol forward Wu Lei, widely regarded as China's best player.  The World Cup qualifiers -- Li's first matches since being permanently named as coach ..

History-maker Yennaris dropped from China football squad

Football chiefs in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland on Monday announced a ban on heading in training for children up to the end of primary school, to take place with immediate effect.
The three football associations issued a statement confirming changes to their heading guidance, which followed a study that showed former footballers were 3.5 times more likely to die from neurodegenerative disease.
The changes stated there would be no heading at all in the "foundation phase" -- for primary school children -- and a graduated approach to heading in training in under-12s to under-16s football.
There will be no change in terms of heading in matches, taking into consideration the limited number of headers.
The study, led by the University of Glasgow, did not state that heading a ball was the cause of the increased prevalence of neurodegenerative conditions among footballers, but the decision to update the guidelines has been taken to "mitigate against any potential risks", the FA said 

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