WORLD DIGEST || Singer-songwriter Womack dies at 70

Singer-songwriter Womack dies at 70

Bobby Womack, a colorful and highly influential R&B singer-songwriter who influenced artists from the Rolling Stones to Damon Albarn, has died. He was 70.

Womack’s publicist Sonya Kolowrat said Friday that the singer had died, but she could provide no other details.

Womack was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease two years ago and dealt with a number of health issues.

According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website, Womack was born in Cleveland and sang gospel music at a young age, performing with his brothers in The Womack Brothers.

His hits included “Across 110th Street,” “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” and “I Wish He Didn’t Trust Me So Much.”

Aereo suspends service after ruling

NEW YORK

Online-streaming service Aereo Inc. is temporarily closing down its operation, three days after it was dealt an unfavorable ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court dealt Aereo, backed by Barry Diller, a major setback Wednesday in ruling that the television-over-the-Internet service operates much like a cable TV company. As a result, the service violates copyright law unless Aereo pays broadcasters licensing fees for offering TV stations to customers’ tablets, phones and other gadgets.

Pro-Russian rebels free 4 observers

MOSCOW

Pro-Russian insurgents on Saturday released a second team of observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, who had been held captive since the end of May, the organization said.

OSCE spokesman Michael Bociurkiw said that the four observers were released and met by an OSCE official in the eastern city of Donetsk.

OSCE lost contact with four monitors from its Donetsk team and four monitors from its Luhansk team in late May. The members of the Donetsk team were freed earlier in the week.

Mars ‘flying saucer’ splashes down

LOS ANGELES

A saucer-shaped NASA vehicle launched by balloon high into Earth’s atmosphere splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Saturday, completing a mostly successful test of technology that could be used to land on Mars.

Since the twin Viking spacecraft landed on the red planet in 1976, NASA has relied on the same parachute design to slow landers and rovers after piercing through the thin Martian atmosphere.

The $150 million experimental flight tested a novel vehicle and a giant parachute designed to deliver heavier spacecraft and eventually astronauts.

US man rows across Atlantic in 128 days

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico

Three times, Victor Mooney tried to row across the Atlantic. Three times he failed. One boat sank. Another lost its freshwater system.

A third sprang a leak and left him drifting on a life raft for two weeks. As he planned for a fourth attempt, his wife made it clear it would be the last.

Now the 48-year-old Brooklyn native has finally completed the roughly 3,000-mile journey.

Mooney was recovering Saturday in the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Maarten, a day after reaching shore and ending a 128-day ordeal during which he lost 80 pounds.

The trip was fueled by his desire to bring attention to the need for HIV testing and to honor a brother who died of AIDS in 1983.

Associated Press