Pep Guardiola’s joy at winning the Champions League may have been trumped by a message of congratulations from one of his idols Julia Roberts. Manchester City said on social media that “@PepTeam will be buzzing at this!” after Hollywood star Roberts used Instagram to applaud the Spaniard for masterminding Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Inter Milan. “Congratulations @pepteam for leading your team to be UCL champions. #pep #soccermom” said the Ocean’s Twelve and Pretty Woman actor. It is the acknowledgement that Guardiola has been desperately seeking after he revealed in March the angst caused when Roberts once chose to visit Manchester United rather than watch his City team. “If I win the Champions League three times in a row I will be a failure,” said Guardiola after RB Leipzig had been thrashed 7-0 to secure a place in the quarter-finals. “I have three idols in my life. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Julia Roberts. These are my three idols. “Julia Roberts years ago came to Manchester – not in the 90s when Sir Alex (Ferguson) was winning titles and titles and titles. She came in the period where we were better than United, in these four or five years, right? “And she went to visit Man United. She didn’t come to see us. That’s why even if I win the Champions League it will not compare for the fact that Julia Roberts came to Manchester and didn’t come to see us. “Even if I win the Champions League it will not compare to this disappointment I had.” Gareth Southgate believes England can benefit from Manchester City’s clinching the Champions League for the first time. Southgate has included five members of Pep Guardiola’s side in his squad for this month’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia, with John Stones, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips all due to join up with the squad after enjoying their celebrations. With City’s success coming after Declan Rice lifted the Europa Conference League with West Ham earlier in the week, Southgate said it can be good for the national team. “It’s absolutely brilliant for all our guys who have been involved,” boss Southgate said in a video on England’s social media. “To start with Declan, his first experience of lifting a trophy so… fabulous for him. You can see the emotion having been at the club for so long and what it meant to him. “Then the boys at Manchester City have had a phenomenal season, an absolutely incredible season, and of course that’s been the Holy Grail for them to get this final trophy that they hadn’t won up until now. “I’m delighted for all of them. It’s great to see them enjoying themselves and also it’s brilliant for us as a group. “We’ve got so many experiences now of individual players winning big trophies, and that’s so important for our development as a team. It’s fantastic on all counts.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Tottenham progressing in bid to sign Brentford goalkeeper David Raya Sir Alastair Cook strikes 74th first-class century as Essex dominate Somerset French Open day 15: Major history for Djokovic, third final defeat for Ruud

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President Joe Biden is set for talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday, welcoming the far-right leader who has won praise from the U.S. administration for her strong backing of the U.S.-led effort to assist Ukraine as it tries to fend off the Russian invasion. The warm reception comes after initial trepidation in the Biden administration about Meloni, who rose to power last year as the head of Italy’s most far-right government since the end of World War II. Biden administration concerns about her ideology have been eased by her support for Ukraine and her seeming openness to pull back from Italy's participation in China's infrastructure-building Belt and Road Initiative. Her visit comes as Italy prepares to take up the presidency next year of the Group of Seven industrialized nations. White House officials said that in addition to discussing Ukraine and China, the two leaders were expected to discuss migration from North Africa to Europe's southern shores. More than 1,900 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean so far this year, bringing the total of dead and missing since 2014 to 27,675, according to the International Organization for Migration. “On issues of foreign policy, there’s been a lot of overlapping and mutually reinforcing approaches that we’re taking on with Italy,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. “Italy is a NATO ally and they are a very competent NATO ally and they’ve been a tremendous supporter of Ukraine.” The Biden administration viewed Meloni's predecessor, economist and former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, as an intellectual force and one of its strongest allies in Europe. Soon after Meloni's victory last September, Biden warned about the rise of hard-right populism in Europe and in the United States. “You just saw what’s happened in Italy in that election,” Biden said in an address to the Democratic Governors Association after Meloni’s victory last September. “You’re seeing what’s happening around the world. And the reason I bother to say that is we can’t be sanguine about what’s happening here either.” Meloni became Italy’s first far-right leader to hold the premiership in Italy’s post-World War II republic after the Brothers of Italy party she co-founded more than a decade ago emerged as the largest vote-getter in the September 2022 elections. Her Brothers of Italy party, named after the first words of Italy’s national anthem, has roots in a party founded by nostalgists for fascism following the demise of dictator Benito Mussolini’s regime. But Meloni brushes off any insinuation that she is nostalgic for Mussolini, writing in her autobiography, “I don’t hold the cult of fascism.” Since coming to power, Meloni has faced criticism for her government's direction that city halls stop automatically registering both parents in same-sex couples but instead limit recognition of parental rights only to the biological parent of the child. When Meloni ran for the premiership, she called for a naval blockade of northern Africa to thwart smugglers’ boats overcrowded with migrants determined to reach Europe’s southern shores. But once in office, she quickly dropped talk of any blockade. On the eve of Meloni's visit, the White House sought to stress the U.S. and Italy's close cooperation on Ukraine. Kirby noted that Meloni has been one of the European Union’s most vocal supporters of Ukraine's sovereignty, and Italy has hosted some 170,000 Ukrainians who have fled the war. Meloni has also been a champion of a stronger NATO and views the trans-Atlantic alliance as the linchpin of traditionally strong U.S.-Italian relations. “From a foreign policy lens, the Biden administration sees this is better than what they could have possibly expected or hoped for,” said Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The prime minister has also expressed skepticism about Italy's ties with China through the Belt and Road Initiative. In 2019, Italy became the first and only G7 nation to join China’s ambitious infrastructure building effort, despite objections from the United States. The project was launched by Beijing in 2013 by President Xi Jinping to link East Asia and Europe through physical infrastructure. The ambition for the project has expanded to Africa, Oceania and Latin America, significantly broadening China’s economic and political influence. Italy must either renew or abandon the accord by early next year. Kirby called Italy's decision on whether to stay in Belt and Road a “sovereign decision” but added that “it's becoming increasingly obvious that more and more countries around the world are seeing the risks, and quite frankly lack of reward for economic partnerships with China.” Meloni is also scheduled to meet with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday at the U.S. Capitol. ___ D'Emilio reported from Rome. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide One of Libya’s rival prime ministers returns to Tripoli on 1st commercial flight from Italy in years Italy's Meloni opens conference that aims to stanch flows of migrants to Europe with aid to Africa Rights activists fear Tunisia deal will be model for bartering EU money for migrants' lives

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Can you tell what The Rock is cooking? Well, listeners to the latest Joe Rogan Experience episode certainly could, as one of the most famous movie stars in the world met with the podcast host. The actor, real name Dwayne Johnson, spoke with Rogan for three hours over the course of the interview in another lengthy instalment of the podcast. The pair talked about everything from the wrestler-turned-actor’s early ambitions in life to his thoughts on politics and much more in between. Here are six things we learned from the episode. He had dreams of being a country music singer He looks like he was born to be a wrestler, and with a personality to match his frame it’s no surprise he became a huge movie star too – but it turns out Johnson had dreams of becoming a country music star before his career took off. Johnson spoke about his early life, revealing that he was hanging out in Nashville at the age of 15 in pursuit of his dream. “It was downtown Nashville… I had no business being in a bar on Lower Broadway, because I had this fantasy in my head that I was gonna be a country music singer,” he said. That didn’t quite work out – and he’s probably quite glad things transpired for him the way they did. This crazy story about his first car Joe & The Rock: "What Was Your First Car?" www.youtube.com Johnson shared a tale about his first car, which he had for a matter of hours. “I would go down to these honky tonks, so I was down there with a buddy of mine named Downtown Bruno, who’s still one of my best friends today, and a drunk walks in and says “Hey, who wants to buy a car?” he said. “I had no car at that time, no money, we had just got evicted out of Hawaii and I said “I’ll buy it”, and I had no money. I said ‘How much?’ He said ‘$75, 80 bucks’ and I said ‘Cool’.” “I tell Bruno ‘How much money you got?’ He said ‘I only got $40’ I said ‘Give me $40’. The actor went on to say: “So I give it to the drunk, who’s probably high too as well, and I said’“Here, I’ll come back and give you the other $40.’ Speaking of cool cars, it was a ’77 Thunderbird. Blue… It was a hunk of sh**. “Give the drunk $40 bucks, I said ‘Hey, I’ll come back and give you the rest tonight.’ I get in the vehicle, I start driving down the road, Downtown Bruno is following me in his car, I’m like ‘F*** I got my first car.’ You know how it is when you’re a kid, right, you’re like this is it brother. This is it.” “I’m driving down the road, on I-65 down in Nashville, and I hear a lot of noise, some rustling. You know on those big bodies they have the backseat and the floor is really wide? There was another f***ing drunk on the floor… I was like ‘What the f***?’ He’s in the car. The story went on: “So I pull over and he’s just high as f***, probably a crackhead, and I said ‘Dude, I bought the car, you’ve gotta get out.’ He gets out. “Then the next day I go to put gas in the car, by the way, I’m 15, I have no f***ing papers, the car is probably stolen. I try to put gas in it and the guy, the drunk, the crackhead, didn’t give me the gas key. Remember those old school that had the gas key? “So I ditched it at a f***ing Burger King. That was my first car.” The Rock has never heard of the Cybertruck Sorry Elon Musk bros – The Rock has never heard of the Cybertruck, despite Rogan waxing lyrical about it, and he doesn’t own a Tesla either, because he only drives pick-up trucks. Dismisses a run for President The Rock Running as President? Approached by a Political Party | Joe Rogan Experience www.youtube.com Not long ago, when Trump was in power and the likes of Oprah Winfrey and other celebs were being touted for president, there were plenty of people clamouring for Johnson to get into politics. However, the actor has revealed that it will never happen – despite the fact one of the two main parties in the US previously approached him. He said that he wouldn’t run because “things are so f***ed up”, before detailing his meeting with the unnamed party. “So one of the parties came to visit me at the end of last year asking for me to run for President,” he said. “First of all, incredibly f***ing surreal cause I was the guy wrestling in flea markets years ago looking for free corn dogs and hot dogs and s***. Selling my headshots for five bucks trying to make money and all of a sudden I’m having that conversation.” He added: “It was so incredibly surreal but also so incredible that they had all this data that they had said if this happens here’s the result. It was really f***ing deep. And then I started to think, again surreal because that’s never been my goal, right? “I appreciate it and I’m f***ing honored but it made me think, this is either an incredible thing and I’ve got some pretty decent leadership skills, or things are so f***ed up.” He also said he has “never been in to politics. As a matter of fact, there’s a lot about politics that I hate”. Claims he nearly turned to MMA in the 90s He’s one of the wrestling greats, but Johnson claims he had ambitions to switch to MMA in the 90s. Claiming he came close to signing with Japanese MMA promotion company PRIDE. He also said at one point he didn't think he'd make it in the WWE because people were "booing" him during matches, and he also wasn't happy with the money he was earning. "I had this idea in my head - maybe I should train [for] MMA and go to PRIDE." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

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