College Football Playoffs, And Other Stories

In NCAA football, the FBS conference championships have been played, and the playoff participants have been determined.  Numbered from one to four, the teams are Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia and Alabama.  The first three teams all have records of 12-1, while Alabama's is 11-1.  Georgia and Alabama are in the same conference (the SEC).  Georgia defeated Auburn in the SEC title game, after Auburn upset Alabama in the their annual game, known as the Iron Bowl, thus winning their division.  Here are a few related stories:

From CBS Sports, Alabama gets the fourth spot over Ohio State, who beat previously undefeated Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game.

From The Roanoke Times, how the playoff rankings will affect Virginia Tech's bowl destination.

And from The Daily Caller, the playoff should have eight teams.  (Since expanding the championship from a single game with two teams to a four-team playoff doesn't seem to have decreased the controversy over who deserves to be in, I'm not sure that expanding the playoff to eight teams would do much better.  It would just kick the controversy down to who should be ranked eighth instead of fourth.)

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In other stories:

From the Sunday Express, the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD) says that Germany "cannot tolerate another Merkel government".

From Sputnik International, Chancellor Merkel's staff rules out AfD being in any coalition.

From Voice Of Europe, the eastern part of Europe "holds the key".  (The writer is a British man married to a Polish woman.)

From WestMonster, according to one poll, most British want to let President Trump have his state visit.

From the Mirror, Trump will visit the United Kingdom this coming February.

From Russia Today, former President Obama speaks to an elite group in Paris.

From Townhall, seven things conservatives can learn from Trump's first year in office.

From the Hindustan Times, a suicide bomber blows himself up outside a soccer stadium.

From Al Arabiya, Hamas threatens an "intifada" if the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

From Arutz Sheva, the decision to possibly relocated to Jerusalem might be decided very soon.

From AOL, drugstore chain CVS is set to acquire health insurer Aetna.

From the New York Post, today's game between the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots was interrupted by a strange but familiar object.

From The Times Of India, five times when a cricket match was weirdly interrupted.

And from TechSideline, Virginia Tech finds out which bowl game they will play in.