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After a two-year trial for Internet voting, Norway is pulling the plug.

The country's Office of Modernization said in a statement that there's no evidence that online voting, tested in elections in 2011 and 2013, improved turnout. It also said that "political disagreement" over the issue, along with voters' fear that ballots might not be secure, could undermine the democratic process.

The office said it had "decided that the attempt with voting over the Internet should not be promoted."

The idea of online voting has been in the ether for as long as the Internet, so Norway's experience might be relevant elsewhere.

It seems to have worked in a few places, such as Estonia, where citizens have been clicking to vote since 2005. According to Thad Hall, a political scientist quoted by The Washington Post: "Surveys have found that Estonians view their system as being very effective. ... They have high confidence in it. They like it."

And, the question of whether it's also a viable option for the United States has come up in numerous articles over the years.

David Jefferson, a computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, wrote in 2011 that "computer and network security experts are virtually unanimous in pointing out that online voting is an exceedingly dangerous threat to the integrity of U.S. elections.

"There is no way to guarantee that the security, privacy, and transparency requirements for elections can all be met with any practical technology in the foreseeable future," he says.

And in 2012, the MIT Technology Review published a paper titled "Why You Can't Vote Online," in which it concluded that fundamental security problems had yet to be solved.

"The unsolved problems include the ability of malicious actors to intercept Internet communications, log in as someone else, and hack into servers to rewrite or corrupt code," wrote the paper's author, David Talbot.

"While these are also big problems in e-commerce, if a hacker steals money, the theft can soon be discovered. A bank or store can decide whether any losses are an acceptable cost of doing business," he said. "Voting is a different and harder problem. Lost votes aren't acceptable."

And, just this month, an unofficial referendum on freedoms in Hong Kong was criticized by Beijing for (among other things) being open to manipulation because it has an online voting option.

SANDY, Utah (AP) — Utah authorities have captured a mountain lion that startled shoppers but didn't hurt anybody Friday morning at a shopping center in a Salt Lake City suburb.

Sandy police Sgt. Dean Carriger says the mountain lion was spotted walking across a street and into Jordan Commons in Sandy, Utah, just before 8 a.m.

Officers found the cat hunkered down at the entrance of a steakhouse. Some people were taking pictures and videos while others were unaware the cat was there.

When the cat came running out, an officer fired one shot but missed. The mountain lion ran away and hid in brush near a commuter train line.

Wildlife officers shot the cat with a tranquilizer gun there, about an hour and a-half after it was first spotted.

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.

With an incomparable voice few could match, Womack was a stirring singer and guitarist in his own right and a powerful songwriter whose hits like "Across 110th Street," "If You Think You're Lonely Now" and "I Wish He Didn't Trust Me So Much" captured the imagination of future stars in rock 'n' roll and R&B.

"He had a style that nobody else could ever capture," longtime friend, gospel singer Candi Staton, said in a statement. "I loved him and I will miss him so, so very much."

Womack's death comes as something of a surprise. Though he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease two years ago and overcame addiction and multiple health issues, including prostate and colon cancer, recently, he seemed in good health and spirits when he performed earlier this month at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival.

He told the BBC in 2013 the Alzheimer's diagnosis came after he began having difficulty remembering his songs and the names of people he had worked with.

And there have been many. The soul singer cut a wide path through the music business as a performer and songwriter in a career that spanned seven decades. Womack was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009, long after he'd lost his fortune and his career to addiction.

He spoke of kicking his substance abuse problems in a 2012 interview with The Associated Press and all the friends he'd lost to drugs over the years.

"I think the biggest move for me was to get away from the drug scene," Womack said. "It wasn't easy. It was hard because everybody I knew did drugs. ... They didn't know when to turn it off. So for me looking at Wilson Pickett, close friends of mine, Sly Stone, Jim Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and I can go on and on and on, and I say all of them died because of drugs."

According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website, Womack was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and sang gospel music at a young age, performing with his brothers in The Womack Brothers. Under the influence of gospel and R&B legend Sam Cooke, who signed the group to his personal label, Womack moved into secular music. In the early 1960s his group recorded "It's All Over Now," which was covered and by the Stones and became the band's first number-one hit.

His songs have been recorded by multiple artists, and he played as a session musician in Memphis in the 1960s.

Albarn and XL Recordings president Richard Russell helped Womack regain his career with 2012 comeback album "The Bravest Man in the Universe." The album was a departure for Womack, full of electronic music and beats. But it was lauded by critics for a simple reason: That distinctive voice of his still brought chills.

"I don't think he ever really thought that he would do anything again," Albarn said of Womack in March. "Watching his rehabilitation and watching his ability to confront new material and new challenges was nothing short of miraculous at the time, and he still today continues to battle his demons and his illness. But he's a beautiful person and when he opens his mouth and that voice comes out, it is something that is somehow touched by God."

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AP Music Writer Mesfin Fekadu in New York and Don Schanche contributed to this report.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Play-by-play man Tom McCarthy was the only Phillies announcer who brought his glove with him for a special broadcast from the center-field stands Friday night.

Good thing he did, because it sure came in handy.

McCarthy simultaneously called and caught Freddie Freeman's three-run homer for the Atlanta Braves in a 4-2 victory over Philadelphia.

"It was just really cool. The most unimaginable thing that could happen," McCarthy said. "It was a remarkable sequence of events. The biggest thing is, I was trying to call the play. Then I said, 'Please don't drop it.'"

McCarthy was broadcasting the game from center field along with analysts Matt Stairs and Jamie Moyer, both former Phillies. While neither Stairs nor Moyer brought a mitt, McCarthy had one that he uses to play catch with his two teenage boys.

"Just jokingly brought it out, more for show than anything," he said. "There's no way I would've caught it without the glove."

Moyer threw his arms in the air after the grab. Then he and Stairs encouraged McCarthy to follow a Citizens Bank Park tradition in tossing the opponent's home run ball back onto the field.

McCarthy threw it back, making sure, he said, to avoid hitting center fielder Ben Revere.

The announcer received congratulatory text messages from his boys and their friends.

"They thought it was awesome," he said.

Freeman went deep in the first inning and Julio Teheran (7-5) struck out nine to hold a struggling Phillies lineup in check.

"I felt good out there. I just wanted to get ahead in the counts and make my pitches. That's my mentality," Teheran said.

The right-hander allowed two runs — one earned — and six hits in seven innings. He walked none and retired his final seven batters for Atlanta, which had lost six of 10 beginning with Philadelphia's three-game sweep at Turner Field last week.

"We knew that getting four in the first couple innings, that would probably be enough, the way he pitches," said Freeman, who also doubled and drove in all four Atlanta runs. "He goes out there and shuts down hitters every single time he goes out."

Craig Kimbrel pitched a scoreless ninth for his 23rd save in 27 chances.

Revere had three hits, including a triple, for the Phillies, who have lost five of seven.

The Braves jumped on Kyle Kendrick in the first inning thanks to Freeman's three-run drive. Freeman's RBI double in the second boosted Atlanta's lead to 4-0 before Kendrick settled down.

"This shows how he can carry a ballclub," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.

Kendrick (3-8) tossed a season-best eight innings, giving up four runs and nine hits with eight strikeouts and two walks.

"If it's a strike, I'll swing," Freeman said. "I'm not a guy who's going to let a strike go by. So I just swung and got lucky, connected a couple times."

But the early damage was too much to overcome for Philadelphia's sagging offense, which entered ranked 11th in the NL in batting average at .241. The Phillies scored three runs or fewer for the 39th time this season and dropped to 7-32 in those games.

Philadelphia manager Ryne Sandberg said winning without consistent offense is tough.

"That can be difficult," he said. "The guys are grinding it. We're giving ourselves some opportunities, not as many tonight."

The Phillies scored twice in the fourth on Jimmy Rollins' RBI groundout and Marlon Byrd's RBI single.

They threatened in the eighth against reliever Jordan Walden, placing runners on first and second with two outs, but Walden fanned Ryan Howard on a 97 mph fastball to end the inning.

"We just couldn't get the big hit," Sandberg said.

Philadelphia put a runner in scoring position in the ninth. Byrd drew a leadoff walk, but Kimbrel struck out Cody Asche before John Mayberry Jr. flied out to the wall in left-center. Domonic Brown, out of the starting lineup for the second straight day and third time in five games, struck out as a pinch-hitter to end the game.

Gerald Laird replaced Evan Gattis behind the plate for the Braves after the top of the first. Gattis struck out swinging in the first and left the game due to back spasms.

Laird went 1 for 3 with a double. Gattis said afterward he would have a better idea of the extent of the injury on Saturday.

NOTES: Philadelphia placed catcher Carlos Ruiz on the seven-day DL with concussion-like symptoms. Ruiz was hit in the head by A.J. Ramos' pitch Thursday against Miami. ... The teams play a day-night doubleheader Saturday, with Atlanta RHP Ervin Santana (5-5, 4.15 ERA) facing RHP Roberto Hernandez (3-6, 4.41) in the opener, followed by RHP David Hale (3-2, 2.72) against Philadelphia RHP Sean O'Sullivan in the nightcap. O'Sullivan will be making his first start of the season after getting called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. ... The Phillies recalled right-hander Luis Garcia from Triple-A Lehigh Valley after the game.

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