Final bowl projections [news]

Final bowl projections[news], Six teams clinched an automatic bid to a BCS bowl between Thursday and Saturday: Alabama, Stanford, Wisconsin, Kansas State, Florida State and Louisville.

Of those six, Louisville is the only team whose BCS bid has yet to be made official. Due to the logjam of 5-2 teams atop the Big East, Louisville must wait until the final BCS rankings are released Sunday evening; the Big East champion will be the team with the highest ranking. Louisville entered this week ranked No. 26, and after beating No. 27 Rutgers should have no trouble taking home the Big East's BCS bid.

Alabama's going to play for it all after defeating Georgia in the SEC title game. Where does Georgia go? From within five yards of Miami on Jan. 7 to outside the BCS picture altogether. The Bulldogs will likely play in the Cotton Bowl.

Stanford and Wisconsin clinched BCS berths against UCLA and Nebraska, respectively - one by a field goal, one by 13 field goals (39 points). Kansas State's win over Texas gave the Wildcats the Big 12 title, thanks to their head-to-head tiebreaker against Oklahoma.

Florida State sewed up the ACC crown in a sloppy 21-15 win over 6-7 Georgia Tech. Much of the BCS dance card has already been punched. How many spots are left after the automatic bids are spoken for? Just three: one in the Fiesta and either two in the Sugar or one in the Sugar and one in the Orange. The Sugar Bowl will have at least one spot open because the SEC winner, Alabama, will play in the BCS championship game.

Let's fill in the rest of the blanks. Who's going where? With the standings set to be released on Sunday, here are our final BCS bowl projections.

BCS National Championship Game: Notre Dame vs. Alabama

The Irish were in last Saturday, when they clinched a 12-0 season by beating USC. Alabama is No. 2 after squeezing past Georgia 32-28. We knew heading into the SEC title game that the winner would meet Notre Dame.

Rose Bowl: Stanford vs. Wisconsin

We're no longer surprised when Stanford reaches a BCS bowl. Nor should anyone be surprised when Wisconsin heads to Pasadena in January. While the Rose Bowl might have preferred Nebraska, the Badgers always put on a good show.

Fiesta Bowl: Kansas State vs. Oregon

At one point in November, this was your national championship game. Instead, this will be the premier bowl game of the season outside Notre Dame and Alabama. Can Kansas State's defense keep pace with the Ducks?

Sugar Bowl: Florida vs. Louisville

Since the Sugar Bowl can't get Alabama, the SEC champs, it'll opt for the next-best thing in 11-1 Florida. The Gators will face Louisville, so we'll get to see former Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong go up against his former team.

Orange Bowl: Florida State vs. Northern Illinois

This all hinges on one factor: Northern Illinois' ranking in the human polls. More specifically, the Huskies' BCS chances depend on how far Nebraska plummets after Saturday's loss to Wisconsin.

Consider last week's BCS standings. NIU was No. 21. A win over No. 17 Kent State should move NIU ahead of No. 20 Boise State (which beat Nevada) and No. 19 Michigan (which was idle). No. 18 Texas lost. Kent State lost, obviously. No. 16 UCLA lost to Stanford.

Nebraska was No. 12 before giving up 70 points to Wisconsin. If enough voters knock Nebraska below NIU in the polls, the Huskies could get enough of a boost to move up to No. 16 in the final standings. If NIU is No. 16, it would earn an automatic at-large BCS bid because it has a higher ranking than the winner of an automatically qualifying conference (either Wisconsin or Louisville). Make sense?

Highway tunnel collapse news

Highway tunnel collapse news, At least seven people were feared missing Sunday after about 150 concrete panels fell from the roof of a tunnel on the main highway linking Tokyo with central Japan.

Efforts to rescue any survivors trapped inside the tunnel were hindered by heavy smoke after one vehicle caught fire inside the Sasago Tunnel, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) outside Tokyo.

Rescuers also temporarily suspended work because of fears of a further collapse. They were attempting to reach at least several vehicles believed buried in the rubble, including a truck whose driver was trapped inside and had called his company for help.

"I could hear voices of people calling for help, but the fire was just too strong," said a woman interviewed by public broadcaster NHK after she escaped from the tunnel.

Local media reported that at least three bodies had been found inside the tunnel. However, Norio Furusawa, a spokesman for the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, said he could not confirm that information.

Executives for Central Japan Expressway Co. said the company was investigating why the concrete panels had given way. A check of the tunnel's roof in September and October found nothing amiss, they said.

A woman who escaped from a rental car that was trapped in the 4.7-kilometre (3-mile) tunnel told authorities that she was unsure about the condition of five other people who had been in the vehicle with her. Two other vehicles were known to be buried in the rubble, suggesting at least seven people were trapped inside, according to a statement by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

It said two people were confirmed injured, one of them moderately.
The tunnel, which opened in 1977, is one of many in mountainous Japan. The location of the collapse, about 1.7 kilometres (a mile) inside the tunnel, was complicating rescue efforts, reports said.

Police vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances were massed outside the tunnel's entrance.

Cabbie voodoo trick

Cabbie voodoo trick, Tweeps are praising a West African cabbie who may have thwarted a tragic school shooting today by convincing a pistol-wielding teen he had voodoo medicine.

The anonymous New Jersey driver told reporters he picked the teen up outside Trenton Central High School for a roundtrip fare.

After stopping at the boy's house, the kid got back in with bloodshot eyes and shaking, pulling out a gun and saying he was going to kill classmates in the cafeteria.

The quick-thinking cabbie stayed calm, falsely persuading him he'd been a rebel fighter and telling the teen if he could wait until 3 p.m., he'd give him medicine to make him "disappear." It worked — not quite voodoo but pretty magical negotiating skills.

Miami bus crash

Miami bus crash, A bus slammed Saturday into an overpass at Miami's airport, killing two passengers, authorities said.

The driver of the tour bus mistakenly drove the wrong route -- on the lower level for arrivals rather than a higher one for departures, which buses could clear -- when it crashed into the 8-foot, 6-inch high overpass, Miami International Airport spokesman Greg Chin said.

The Miami-Dade Police Department explained, in a news release, that "the bus driver was not familiar" with the airport when the crash occurred around 7:25 a.m. Saturday. Signs in the area clearly mark bus restrictions in the airport, according to Chin.

Miami-Dade police "immediately began to remove injured passengers from a window" until firefighters arrived.

Except for one person who died at the scene, all 31 others aboard the bus were transported to local hospitals, according to police. One of them later died at a hospital.

The two victims were men, identified by police as 86-year-old Serafin Castillo and 56-year-old Francisco Urana, both of Miami.

Investigators said the bus was chartered by a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, on its way to an assembly about 75 miles north in West Palm Beach.

The bus driver was among those hurt, suffering what police described as "minor injuries."

Authorities addressed and assessed the situation all morning, with the bus finally removed and the area cleared around 2 p.m., said Chin. Vehicles were moving through the area by late afternoon.

Officials will check the integrity of the overpass to make sure the crash didn't cause any significant structural damage, Chin said.

Red Sox sign Gomes

Red Sox sign Gomes, The Boston Red Sox have signed outfielder Jonny Gomes to a two-year contract through the 2014 season, the team said on Saturday.

Financial terms were not announced. Boston media reported Gomes, who has played in the Major Leagues for 10 years, will earn $10 million over two years.

"I see him playing a lot of left field - we think his bat fits well in the lineup, in the ballpark," Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington told Major League Baseball's website.

Gomes, 32, played for the Oakland Athletics last season, hitting .262 with 18 home runs and 47 runs batted in 99 games for the American League West champions. (Reporting by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina; Editing by Julian Linden)

Highway House Bulldozed

Highway House Bulldozed, A five-storey home marooned in the middle of a new road in China for more than a year because its owner refused to leave has finally been demolished. BBC Reported

The road, in China's's eastern Zhejiang province, was built around the house because duck farmer Luo Baogen was holding out for more compensation.

Mr Luo, 67, said he had just finished the home at a cost of $95,000 and had been offered only $35,000 to move.

Officials say he finally accepted $41,000, and the bulldozers moved in.

Media attention
The home had earned the nickname "nail house" because, like a stubborn nail, it was difficult to move.

China's official Xinhua news agency said Mr Luo and his wife had accepted the new compensation offer and had moved to a relocation area with the help of relatives on Saturday morning.

The agency described the situation as "bizarre" and having "achieved notoriety" because of images posted online.

It quoted Mr Luo as saying: "It was never a final solution for us to live in a lone house in the middle of the road. After the government's explanations, I finally decided to move."

Xiayangzhang village chief Chen Xuecai told the Associated Press news agency Mr Luo had grown tired of the media attention, saying the home owner "had received dozens of people from the media every day".

The road is a key infrastructure project - linking the city to a new railway station on the outskirts.

Mr Luo was the only owner of 459 households to reject the relocation plans.

The case has highlighted what is a major cause of unrest in China, as huge infrastructure and real estate developments spark hundreds of thousands of relocations.

Many people come under extreme pressure to leave, although Mr Luo has said this has not been his experience.

Rockwell Fetches $2.8 Million

Rockwell Fetches $2.8 Million, Norman Rockwell’s World War Two painting “Willie Gillis Food Package from Home” fetched $2.8 million from a private buyer at an auction in Chicago on Saturday, the auction house said. Reporte cnews.canoe.ca

The winning bid for the iconic artwork was less than the up to $5 million estimated ahead of the auction, said Emily Betts Susanin, director of marketing and communications for Susanin’s Auctions in Chicago.

But it was “great news” nonetheless, she said, adding that no other painting had ever fetched more at a Chicago auction.

Renowned American artist Rockwell did a series of Willie Gillis paintings for the cover of the Saturday Evening Post magazine, starting with the “Package from Home” on Oct. 4, 1941, and continuing through “Willie Gillis in College” on Oct. 5, 1946.

“Package from Home” had been privately held in Chicago for decades. Susanin did not disclose the identity of its new owner.

As America entered World War Two, Rockwell introduced Willie Gillis, a fictional character, as an enlisted man surrounded by fellow servicemen, receiving a food package from home. Rockwell was most known for his cover illustrations of everyday life he created for the Post over 47 years.

The Willie Gillis series is among Rockwell’s best-known work but other famous paintings include “Rosie the Riveter,” “Saying Grace” and the “Four Freedom” series.

Rockwell’s “Rosie the Riveter” sold at auction in 2002 for nearly $5 million. In 2006, Rockwell’s “Breaking Home Ties” fetched a record $15.4 million from an anonymous buyer.

The previous record high for a painting sold at a Chicago auction was set in 1991 when Vincent van Gogh’s “Still Life with Flowers” brought $1.43 million.