Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

Notre Dame still has a large and rabid fan base, but it's recruits were not born last time the Irish claimed a national title.Or a title of any kind.Even Northwestern can claim a more recent share of a Big Ten title.Maybe it is time for the Irish to examine the prospect of joining a conference.All Irish sports apart from football are a part of the Big East, a league that geographically Notre Dame doesn't fit.A better logistical fit, as well as competitively and from a rivalry standpoint would be the Big Ten.In the Big Ten, Notre Dame would also find a partner who may need them more.Once the toast of the athletic world, the Big Ten has fallen on hard times Only Ohio State is consistently challenging for a title. At that the Buckeyes have beenembarrassed in several BCS bowls.The Big Ten has found little success out-of-conference as well. Top to bottom, the league may rival the Big East as the weakest automatic qualifying conference.Having 11 rather than 12 teams also prevents the conference from splitting into two divisions, and holding an annual Championship game that not only increases attention and revenue, but gives it's contending teams an all-important extra week of practice and another game leading into Bowl season.Plus head to head Notre Dame fits well with other schools in the league. Already annually playing Purdue, Michigan, and Michigan State, and having long time rivalries with Penn State and Northwestern, Notre Dame would fit well into the Big Ten landscape.The Irish also do compete heavily in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Indiana with their Big Ten rivals.True, Notre Dame is a much more national school than any Big Ten school apart from Ohio State, and currently draws much moretalent from Florida, California, and Texas. Rivalry games against Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue mean more than just winning a megaphone.Being in a conference may become a recruiting tool, with the potential to get into a title game for the conference and the Rose Bowl if you can win the conference.It also to a point balances the schedule.Playing a national schedule has it's benefits, national exposure, visibility...But it's not without it'spitfalls.Playing teams from multiple conferences that rotate annually reduces familiarity It also makes Notre Dame a target for every school it faces.

One way rivalries are hard for the school that everyone wants to beat. Even in down times, a win over Notre Dame is something to make your season.The University of Connecticut feels their win over the Irish a few weeks ago is the biggest in Huskies history.Playing the same schools year in and year out takes some of that target off the Irish back. It also makes playing a 2-8 team in November a big game because it's still part of winning a conference, or standing in a conference.Plus, despite adding potential annual tilts with Penn State and Ohio State, Notre Dame also gets usually softer Big Ten bottom-dwellers like Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota.Notre Dame can keep it's non-conference rivalry with USC, and still play Navy annually. The Big Ten only plays eight league games per year, so four non-conference games are still to be scheduled.In the end, I doubt that Notre Dame will seriously entertain joining a conference, yet.They are committed to games for six years from now, and it's unlikely that they would like to break those commitments. They are also contracted with NBC until 2013, and it's VERY unlikely that they would give up that deal to be a part of the Big Ten Network.Still the problems at Notre Dame may extend deeper than coaching, and being a part of the Big Ten may be a part of a solution.And that is at least worth discussing.. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Intel (INTC.O) slipped 4 percent to $14.75 in premarket trade on Wednesday after the chip maker cut its fourth-quarter revenue outlook.

Every fantasy owner should be aware that DeAngelo Williams is officially listed as "inactive" and should be immediately placed on your bench.Obviously, the next guy in line in Carolina, Jonathan Stewart, takes an immediate value boost, especially with a very friendly matchup with the horrible Tampa Bay Buccaneers' run defense.However, not everyone has the luxury (or smarts) to hold onto Stewart as a hand-cuff, in case of this type of emergency.The following players are suitable replacements and are vouched by this week by NFLSoup : Rock Cartwright (Washington Redskins)Cartwright is once again handling a full loadwith Clinton Portis out this week, and he has a quality matchup against a New Orleans Saints' run defense that keeps giving up big numbers to even the most average of running backs. Start him with confidence. Jerious Norwood (Atlanta Falcons)Norwood may not get you the points of a RB1 like Williams, but he is the expected starter, and, despite a reasonably tough matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles, he should get enough total touches to produce decent results. Chris Brown (Houston Texans)Brown, like Jonathan Stewart, is starter by default (due to injury) and has tremendous value going into today's game, especially with the Indianapolis Colts' run defense being less than dominant. Brown should get at least 12 carries, while giving way to Ryan Moats for some carries, but as the top goal-line back, could so some serious damage in a spot-start. For all your other fantasy needs and breaking NFL news, go to NFLSoup .. Yingli Green Energy Announce Completion of Acquisition of Cyber Power andEntering into a Convertible Note TransactionBAODING, China, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ Yingli Green EnergyHolding Company Limited (NYSE: YGE) ("Yingli Green Energy" or the "Company"),one of the world's leading vertically integrated photovoltaic ("PV") productmanufacturers, today announced it has completed the acquisition of Cyber PowerGroup Limited ("Cyber Power").To fund the acquisition the Company usedavailable cash on hand and committed to issue senior secured convertible notesdue 2012 (the "Notes") to Trustbridge Partners II, L.P. ("Trustbridge").Pursuant to a share purchase agreement (the "Agreement") entered intobetween Yingli Green Energy and Grand Avenue Group Limited ("Grand Avenue"), acompany controlled by Mr.

Liansheng Miao, Chairman and Chief Executive Officerof the Company, Yingli Green Energy acquired 100 of the issued andoutstanding share capital of Cyber Power.Cyber Power, through Fine SiliconCo., Ltd. "We believe havinga fully integrated business model will not only help us secure high qualitypolysilicon to meet our customers' demands for top quality PV products butalso help control our silicon costs and improve our margins."The Company also entered into a note purchase agreement with Trustbridge,an affiliate of Gold Sight International Limited ("Gold Sight"), the formerminority shareholder of Cyber Power, for up to US$50.0 million in Notes,US$20.0 million of which will be issued in connection with the financing ofthe Cyber Power acquisition.The US$20 million tranche of the Notes areexpected to be issued on or about January 16, 2009.The Notes will carry aninterest rate of 10 and will be convertible at any time into the Company'sordinary shares at an initial conversation rate of 17,699 ordinary shares perUS$100,000 principal amount of Notes (based on US$5.65 per American depositaryshare, the volume weighted average price of the Company's American depositaryshares over the past 20 trading days on the New York Stock Exchange), subjectto adjustment under the terms of the indenture governing the Notes.The Notesare guaranteed by Mr Miao and Yingli Power Holding Company Ltd ("YingliPower"), a company controlled by Mr. Miao and the controlling shareholder ofthe Company, and secured by a pledge by Yingli Power of a fixed number ofordinary shares of the Company it holds (with no obligation to deliveradditional shares of collateral nor any default tied to the trading price ofthe American depositary shares of Yingli Green Energy).Yingli Green Energy expects that the Cyber Power acquisition will enableit to have a more secure and stable supply of polysilicon that is lessdependent on market conditions, and allow it to further vertically integrateits manufacturing processes and improve margins.In a concurrent transaction, Grand Avenue purchased from Gold Sight all ofGold Sight's 30 equity interest in Cyber Power, enabling Grand Avenue to thensell 100 of the issued and outstanding share capital of Cyber Power to theCompany to complete the acquisition.Under the terms of the note purchaseagreement, subsequent proceeds received by Gold Sight from the sale of GoldSight's 30 equity interest in Cyber Power will be applied by Trustbridge orits affiliate toward the purchase of up to an additional US$30.0 million ofthe Notes.Yingli Green Energy expects to use the proceeds from theadditional US$30.0 million tranche of the Notes for general corporatepurposes.The Cyber Power acquisition received final approval from the Company'sboard of directors and audit committee in accordance with its corporategovernance requirements.About Yingli Green EnergyYingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited is one of the world's leadingvertically integrated PV product manufacturers.Through the Company'sprincipal operating subsidiary in China, Baoding Tianwei Yingli New EnergyResources Co., Ltd., Yingli Green Energy designs, manufactures and sells PVmodules and designs, assembles, sells and installs PV systems that areconnected to an electricity transmission grid or operate on a stand-alonebasis.With 400 MW of total annual production capacity in each of polysiliconingots and wafers, PV cells and PV modules, Yingli Green Energy is currentlyone of the largest manufacturers of PV products in the world as measured byannual production capacity.Additionally, Yingli Green Energy is one of alimited number of large-scale PV companies in the world to have adopted avertically integrated business model.Through its wholly owned subsidiary,Yingli Energy (China) Co., Ltd., Yingli Green Energy currently plans to expandannual production capacity of polysilicon ingots and wafers, PV cells and PVmodules to 600 MW in the third quarter of 2009.The Company, through FineSilicon Co., Ltd., its wholly owned subsidiary, also plans to begin productionof solar-grade polysilicon in second half of 2009.Yingli Green Energy sellsPV modules under its own brand name, Yingli Solar, to PV system integratorsand distributors located in various markets around the world, includingGermany, Spain, Italy, South Korea, Belgium, France, China and the UnitedStates.For more information, please visit http:// .Safe Harbor StatementThis press release contains forward-looking statements. These statementsconstitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 21E ofthe Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S.Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-lookingstatements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects,""anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" andsimilar statements. Such statements are based upon management's currentexpectations and current market and operating conditions, and relate to eventsthat involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, all ofwhich are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond Yingli GreenEnergy's control, which may cause Yingli Green Energy's actual results,performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.