FOOTBALL OFFERS NATO RESPITE FROM UGLY DIVISIONS

Brussels: Football came to the rescue of tense NATO leaders at a summit on Wednesday, providing them with a welcome diversion from the tensions roiling the transatlantic military alliance. The group is facing one its most difficult meetings in years due to US President Donald Trump’s criticism of the organisation and his targeting of German leader Angela Merkel. But with the Cup semi- finals in Nato’s traditional adversary Russia made up exclusively of members of the western military alliance, the heads of state and government in Brussels were able to turn to football to lighten the atmosphere.