Life is good these days for Simon Cowell.

"America's Got Talent," which he created and produces, reigns as summer's top-rated program and was renewed Sunday for a 10th season by NBC. It's part of a "Got Talent" franchise seen in 62 countries which, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, makes it the most successful reality show yet.

Linda Stein wants people to armor themselves in her art.

She creates full-length wearable sculptures embedded with all manner of found objects, including driftwood, engraving plates, steel wire, zippers, pebbles and comic book imagery of superheroes.

Germany midfielder Christoph Kramer's head injury in the World Cup final on Sunday has revived concerns about the way football deals with concussions.

It was the latest in a series of head injuries at the World Cup that raised questions about the sideline medical checks.

Battered and bloodied, Bastian Schweinsteiger kept fighting. No Argentine tackle or foul would keep the German midfielder from lifting the World Cup trophy.

Schweinsteiger battled through the final and Germany won its fourth title with a 1-0 win over Argentina on Sunday at the Maracana.

Brazil's World Cup organizers can say it now: "Esta tudo bem" — it's all OK. What was everyone so worried about?

After being plagued by doubts over whether the stadiums would be ready and stay standing, and if Brazil's people would join in the fun or try to spoil it, their tournament is a winner. Even if the Brazilian team fell disastrously short.

The roadblocks and sandbags are back, cafes and hotels are nearly empty and many of the tourists are gone.

Anxiety is gripping Lebanon following a spate of suicide bombings, and an ongoing security sweep targeting militants — some of them who had been staying in four-star Beirut hotels — has triggered a wave of cancellations of hotel and flight bookings in a country already on edge.

LG Display Co. has developed an 18-inch flexible display that can be rolled into the shape of a thin cylinder, a step toward making a large display for flexible TVs.

The South Korean display panel maker said Friday the flexible display has a resolution of 1200 pixels by 810 pixels and maintains its function when it is rolled up.

Unseasonably cool weather will arrive next week in the Midwest and as far south as Arkansas and Oklahoma.

It is not, however, the second coming of a polar vortex, a phrase the National Weather Service's Chicago office tweeted earlier this week to describe the upcoming sweater weather. The office quickly learned that wasn't such a good idea, said Amy Seeley, a weather service meteorologist who spent a good chunk of Friday morning fielding a flood of telephone calls from the media.

If you've seen a lot of long-haired men on Alaska's Kodiak Island, this might be the reason.

A new study finds the City of Kodiak has the priciest men's haircut in the nation, on average at $26.67 a cut. The national average is $13.95 a cut.

Federal agents inspecting a couple's belongings at an Arizona entry port on the U.S.-Mexico border found two live parrots hidden inside an Elmo doll.

The Customs and Border Protection says agriculture specialists found the birds on July 1 after cutting open the doll when an X-ray revealed something unusual about the contents.