Roma

U.S. billionaire Dan Friedkin has signed a deal worth more than $700 million to purchase the Italian Serie A soccer club AS Roma, the club said on Thursday.

Roma said in statement that formal contracts with the Houston, Texas-based Friedkin Group were signed on Wednesday for a transaction valued at 591 million euros.

"We look forward to closing the purchase as soon as possible and immersing ourselves in the AS Roma family," Friedkin said in a statement on the club website.

Born in Rome on Nov. 10, 1928, legendary composer Ennio Morricone died in Rome on July 6, 2020, at the age of 91. Morricone composed over 400 scores for cinema and TV, but it’s his score for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly that’s considered “one of the greatest and most original” in film history.

For our younger readers, you’ll likely recognize one of the tracks — “The Ecstasy of Gold” — from the introduction to Jackass Number Two.

Italy's top-flight Serie A soccer league has been given the go-ahead to restart on June 20 following the novel coronavirus stoppage, sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora said on Thursday. He added that there was a possibility the resumption of the season, which was suspended on March 9, could be preceded by Italian Cup matches one week earlier. 

"Italy is starting up again and it's only right that football can also get going," he told reporters after a conference call with representatives from the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). 

After weeks of wrangling, with several U-turns on the way, Italy is due to decide on Thursday if and when its top-flight Serie A soccer league can resume after the coronavirus stoppage. 

Possibly encouraged by seeing how Germany's Bundesliga has restarted without problems so far, the Italian government appears to have relaxed its position recently. 

Italy's Serie A clubs voted in a favor of restarting the season on June 13 during a general assembly on Wednesday, if the government allows. 

The Italian top flight has been suspended since March 9 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and, although the government has authorized teams to hold collective training sessions from next Monday, it has not yet decided if and when the championship can resume. 

The companies holding the broadcasting rights to Italy's top-flight Serie A soccer championship, including Comcast's unit SKY, have not paid the last installment of the 2019-20 season, which has been halted due to the coronavirus outbreak, three sources familiar with the matter said. 

AS Roma legend Francesco Totti made headlines this week when he discussed his acrimonious exit from his boyhood club with Luca Toni on Instagram Live.

After 25 seasons with I Giallorossi, Totti retired at the age of 40 in 2017 as the club's all-time leading scorer with 307 in 785 appearances. The club legend and long-time captain had intended to keep playing, but felt he was forced out, saying the club hierarchy took the decision out of his hands and reneged on promises they had made him.

The players and coaching staff at Serie A side AS Roma have agreed to go without four months' salary to help the club through the crisis caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Serie A has been suspended since March 9 and it is not known if or when the season will be able to re-start. 

The players and staff at Serie A clubs should be tested for coronavirus and then isolated in training camps when they begin preparing for the re-start of the season, the Italian football federation (FIGC) recommended on Wednesday. 

The recommendation will be among the guidelines drawn up by the FIGC's medical committee so that the season, on hold since March 9 because of the coronavirus outbreak, can safely restart, the FIGC said in a statement.