Nothing to see here: how the World Cup distracts from major news stories

Russia raised its retirement age, Saudi-led troops attacked in Yemen and Iran arrested a human rights lawyer – all while their teams were playing soccer

As Cristiano Ronaldo scored his third goal for Portugal against Spain, he must have known he would be covering back pages across the globe – and front pages back home.

Ronaldo’s hat-trick was not the only story that emerged about the Portugal star on Friday. Just hours before he took the field in Sochi, it was confirmed he had to a $21.8m (€18.8m) fine and suspended jail term to settle . While there was nothing to suggest Ronaldo masterminded the timing of the news, no prizes for guessing which story got top billing.

In the World Cup, it’s often said, “the world is watching”. But for countries seeking to bury controversial news or unpopular policies, another way to put it is that the world is looking the other way.

A number of nations at the World Cup have made announcements that would usually bring condemnation, either at home or internationally, to coincide with kick-offs in Russia.

As Russia celebrated their first game, for example, news broke that the Kremlin was planning to increase the national retirement age by five years, to 65 for men and 63 for women. Prime minister Dmitry Medvedev also announced a 2% raise in VAT. He said he expected parliament to vote on both measures before summer recess, meaning that, if approved, they would become law before the World Cup is over.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/16/world-cup-russia-saudi-arabia-news

I am not into soccer, at any level.....................but reading what just these three countries are doing................