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My Tennis Maestro review – unforced errors keep Italian coming-of-age comedy from grand slam

Venice film festival Pierfrancesco Favino is a robust lead as a teenage tennis hopeful’s charming yet flawed new coach in a film that’s too long and too indecisive to stand up to recent big hitters We have had some sparky tennis movies recently, such as Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers and Reinaldo Marcus Green’s King Richard , and it seemed at first as if this coming-of-age comedy from Italian actor turned director Andrea Di Stefano could be joining them. But despite a very robust lead performance from Pierfrancesco Favino, the enjoyably grizzled alpha male of Italian cinema, this completely runs aground in the third act, quite unable to decide if it should offer the traditional comeback story of an underdog sports movie, or if it should pursue its implied repudiation of the win-at-all-costs ethic. The other issue is whether its young hero should ignore what his dad has to say in favour of an attractive, if flawed, new mentor. The film does in fact appear finally to get off the fence ...

JB Pritzker calls for resistance to Trump’s Chicago crackdown

President is preparing for controversial federal takeover of US city in crusade against immigration ‘sanctuary cities’ Illinois ’s governor JB Pritzker has called on “all to stand up” to Donald Trump as the US president prepares to launch a federally led immigration crackdown across Chicago , a plan which has been met with widespread backlash from local leaders and the public. Pritzker’s comments come as White House officials vow to target Chicago next in its sweeping immigration crackdowns across the country. Recently, the White House requested that a US military base on the outskirts of Chicago assist with immigration operations as the Trump administration plans a broader takeover of Democratic-run “sanctuary cities”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/n3x4rUI

Ruben Amorim ‘loves’ his players again after their effort in Burnley win

‘When they put the effort in, I always love them’ Scott Parker unhappy with VAR decision for penalty Ruben Amorim has said he loves his Manchester United squad after their hard-fought victory over Burnley thanks to a late Bruno Fernandes penalty. The head coach had admitted on Friday he “sometimes hates” his players but their hard work on Saturday was rewarded with affection, having recovered from Wednesday’s Carabao Cup embarrassment at Grimsby . United should have won more easily, instead being reliant on a controversial intervention from the video assistant referee in second-half injury time when the referee, Sam Barrott, wandered over to the pitchside monitor and decided Jaidon Anthony pulling back Amad Diallo’s shirt, which started outside the area, was worthy of a penalty. United had led twice through a Josh Cullen own goal and Bryan Mbeumo’s first Old Trafford strike but Lyle Foster and Anthony equalised as Burnley looked set for a point until Fernandes intervened. Con...

The week around the world in 20 pictures

Russian airstrikes on Kyiv, mourning in Gaza, wildfires in California, and the Notting Hill Carnival: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/35NpGf9

Democrats seek ‘immediate answers’ after reported arrests of firefighters by US border agents

Senator Patty Murray calls Trump’s immigration policy ‘fundamentally sick’ after incident in Washington state Patty Murray, the Washington senator, has called for the Trump administration to provide “immediate answers” about reports that two firefighters were detained by border agents as they were responding to a wildfire in the state. Federal immigration authorities on Wednesday staged an operation on the scene of the the Bear Gulch fire, a nearly 9,000 acre blaze in the Olympic national forest, where they arrested two people who were part of a contract firefighting crew, the Seattle Times first reported. The fire is the largest currently burning in the state. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/woFeVUi

Beach returned to First Nation after 170 years following Canada legal battle

Stretch of Lake Huron shore was promised to Saugeens in 1854 treaty with Crown but wrongly omitted from map A stretch of beach will be returned to a First Nation in Canada 170 years after it was mistakenly omitted from its reserve. The sandy sliver of land measures less than two miles long, but has nonetheless sparked an outsized battle, with a nearby resort town claiming the case sets a foreboding precedent for property rights in the country. Canada’s supreme court said on Thursday that it would not hear a challenge from the town of South Bruce Peninsula, which is contesting a lower court’s ruling that the Saugeen First Nation’s reserve was erroneously smaller than promised. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/nK2gTJM

Overdiagnosis of children overlooks that growing up is ‘messy and uneven’, says Jeremy Hunt

Former health secretary wants to see an overhaul of special educational needs and disabilities system in England Children and young people are being overdiagnosed with mental health conditions in a society that has lost sight of the reality that child development is “messy and uneven”, the former health secretary Jeremy Hunt has said. He is the latest senior figure to add his voice to calls for a radical overhaul of the special educational needs and disabilities (Send) system in England. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/jVJlwhm