Cream vocalist, bassist dies at 71

Cream vocalist, bassist dies at 71

LONDON

Musician Jack Bruce, best known as the bassist from the 1960s group Cream, has died. He was 71.

A statement released by his family announced the death Saturday, saying “the world of music will be a poorer place without him but he lives on in his music and forever in our hearts.”

Publicist Claire Singers said Bruce died at his home in Suffolk, England.

Cream, which also included guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker, sold 35 million albums in just over two years and was awarded the world’s first platinum disc for its album “Wheels of Fire.”

Iran hangs woman convicted of killing purported rapist

TEHRAN, IRAN

Iran hanged a woman Saturday who was convicted of murdering a man she alleged was trying to rape her, drawing swift international condemnation for a prosecution several countries described as flawed.

Reyhaneh Jabbari was hanged at dawn for premeditated murder, the official IRNA news agency reported. It quoted a statement issued by the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office on Saturday that rejected the claim of attempted rape and said that all evidence proved that Jabbari had plotted to kill Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former intelligence agent.

The United Nations as well as Amnesty International and other human rights groups had called on Iran’s judiciary to halt the execution, which was carried out after the country’s Supreme Court upheld the verdict.

2 arrested in killing of 9-year-old girl

ANAHEIM, CALIF.

Two gang members were arrested in the killing of a 9-year-old Anaheim girl who was hit by stray gunfire while playing outside her apartment, police said Saturday.

Ricardo Cruz, 19, of Buena Park and Alfredo Miguel Aquino, 20, of Anaheim were arrested late Friday and booked on suspicion of murder in the death of Ximena Meza.

Ximena was playing with her sisters and other children outside the apartment Wednesday evening when a white car pulled up and a man got out and opened fire on a group of men nearby. Ximena was struck in the chest by a single bullet and later died. The intended targets ran, and the shooter and a driver fled in the car. No other gunshot victims were found.

Canada reopens Parliament Hill

OTTAWA, ONTARIO

Canadians returned to the reopened grounds of Parliament Hill on Saturday just three days after a gunman shot and killed a soldier at the national war memorial and then stormed Parliament before he was gunned down.

House Speaker Andrew Scheer said tours of Parliament will resume Monday, but visitors can expect to see a heightened Royal Canadian Mounted Police presence at building entrances.

Counseling sessions will be provided for Commons staff, he said.

The reopening comes at a time when Canadians are debating how to balance homeland safety and freedoms in a country that treasures its image as an orderly, open society, a place where the seat of government welcomes weekly public yoga sessions on its front lawn beneath a monument called the Peace Tower.

Associated Press