MICHIGAN

Cody Simpson, an Australian pop singer who has captured the hearts of tweens all over the globe, is 15 years old.

Amir Mirza Hekmati was sentenced to death by an Iranian court on Monday, on espionage charges. Iran has accused Hekmati of spying for the CIA. Here are eight things you should know about the Iranian-American facing death.

Pierre Prosper, a high-profile attorney advising Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, was hired by Amir Mirzaei Hekmati’s family to seek the release of the American ex-Marine sentence to death in Iran for spying.

The labels being attached to Republican U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney seem to be straight out of the Democrats' playbook.

Nguyen Duy Hai, 31, is in stable condition after a tumor twice his weight was removed from his right leg. The operation, headed by U.S. surgeon McKay McKinnon, successfully removed the tumor after 12 hours in the OR. But how did the tumor get to be that size? According to McKinnon, Hai has neurofibromatosis, a disease that causes disfiguring tumors to form on nerves throughout the body.

The split goes all the way back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad in the year 632 and it had to do with succession.

The Obama administration on Friday opted against closing a loan of as much as $730 million for steelmaker Severstal North America, whose financing bid to expand a plant for auto-steel production drew the attention of congressional investigators looking at U.S. Energy Department loan programs.

If Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination, he'll not only be the first Mormon to do so: he'll also be the first presidential candidate whose father was born in Mexico. Much of his family still lives across the border in Colonia Dublan, where Romney's grandfather fled to avoid being prosecuted for polygamy. Romney's relatives down south hope that as the election continues, he will embrace both his Mormonism and his Mexican background more openly.

Criss, of Glee fame, made his Broadway debut on Tuesday as J. Pierrepont Finch in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, taking over for Daniel Radcliffe. But Criss, who honed his acting chops crafting musicals for Chicago group StarKid, hopes to bring his own musical, Starship, to Broadway in the next five years.

ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe has seen herself become a hot topic after getting caught shoving another reporter out of the way in order to interview Michigan coach Brady Hoke.

In the Sugar Bowl, defense has ruled so far, though the offenses did perk up just a bit before the half -- Wolverine style. Michigan scored its first points on a touchdown pass with just 49 seconds remaining in the half, and added another another field goal as time expired for the half after a crazy string of plays to take a 10-6 lead into the locker room. Denard Robinson threw the touchdown pass, while balancing on one foot, to Junior Hemingway for 45 yards and a score.

The game features two of the better defensive teams in the country. Virginia Tech is ranked 13th in the nation, allowing just 313.9 yards per game, while Michigan ranked 18th in defense nationally, giving up 317.6 yards per game.

Two evenly matched teams square off in the Big Easy.

Higher ranked teams were passed up for the Sugar Bowl 2012, but try telling #11 Virginia Tech and #13 Michigan they don't belong. The Sugar Bowl committee opted to go with the two teams that give in the long run the best opportunity to put together a match-up that will provide a very exciting football game, said the bowl's CEO, and the teams say they want to deliver.

The focus of the U.S. political world is on Iowa and its caucuses, as it marks the first, popular-based data point of the 2012 campaign for president of the United States. But that does not mean Iowa is predictive.

Along with mother's cooking and the family dog, regular exercise is too often among the childish things young adults leave behind when they make the move from home to college.

A magnitude-4.0 earthquake shook eastern Ohio at 3:05 p.m. on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The recent quake was the 11th during the last eight months in Mahoning County.

Occupy this: the trash bin. At least, so say students at Michigan's Lake Superior State University who released an annual list of words they deem so misused, overused and cliched they should be banished in the year ahead.

General Motors Co is recalling 4,873 of its current year Chevrolet Sonic subcompact cars in the United States and Canada for possible missing front brake pads, the company and federal safety regulators said on Friday.

New claims for jobless benefits rose last week but the underlying trend pointed to an improving labor market, while regional factory data showed the economy gaining momentum as the year ended.

With the Iowa caucuses just five days away, a new poll shows Ron Paul and Mitt Romney in a statistical dead heat for first place and Rick Santorum, against all odds, in third place. Newt Gingrich, who held a wide lead last month, has fallen into fourth place.