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Jaycee Dugard kidnap suspects have fully confessed, attorney says PLACERVILLE — Phillip and Nancy Garrido have confessed to their roles in the abduction and years-long sexual bondage of Jaycee Dugard near Antioch, with Nancy Garrido giving one interview to investigators while Dugard sat in the room, Nancy Garrido's lawyer said Monday outside court.power balance He confirmed that she confessed that she was the one who snatched Jaycee off the street. Before a bank of TV cameras, Stephen Tapson appealed to Dugard, now 30, to weigh in on a sentence in the abduction of 11-year-old Jaycee off her South Lake Tahoe street in 1991 and hold her in confinement for years. "Jaycee, please talk," he said in a direct plea for leniency. Tapson said El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson has offered a sentence of 241 years to life to Nancy Garrido, 55, in a plea deal that would spare Dugard and her two teenage daughters — fathered by Phillip Garrido — from testifying at a trial. The deal for Phillip Garrido amounts to 440 years to life in prison, Tapson said. Nancy Garrido participated in the kidnapping and false imprisonment of Dugard, but never physically in the sexual abuse, he said. "She was their mother. She delivered the kids. She fed them, took them places," Tapson said. "She's guilty, obviously, of kidnapping and a bunch of other charges, (but) she should at least be able to walk the beach with a walker at some time." Pierson declined to comment following a brief court hearing Monday afternoon in which Judge Douglas Phimister postponed an arraignment for Phillip Garrido, 59, until March 17. Nancy Garrido already has pleaded not guilty to an 18-count indictment that includes several counts of kidnapping, kidnapping for sexual purposes, forcible rape and forcible lewd acts upon a child. It also includes 13 special allegations. The interview of Nancy Garrido in Dugard's presence took place several months ago in a sheriff's bureau office in Placerville. Dugard was described as an observer who could verify the accuracy of Nancy Garrido's statements. They had not seen each other since police arrested the Garridos at a Concord parole office in August, 2009. Nancy Garrido was in tears when she saw Dugard, Tapson said. A source familiar with the investigation said Dugard has moved on from the couple, for whom she lied to police before their arrests. "She does not have any feelings at all for them and probably will never again," the source said. "She's strong."power balance bracelet wholesale Tapson said the Garrido's made their confessions "frankly, in the hope for mercy." Without a deal, he said, he would likely argue at trial that Nancy Garrido fell under her husband's mind control. Authorities say the couple held Dugard captive for 18 years in a hidden warren of sheds, tents and outbuildings that state parole officials monitoring Phillip Garrido never found. They claim that Phillip Garrido videotaped Jaycee's sexual abuse over the course of several years following her abduction and into the start of her first teen pregnancy. Neither girl ever received formal schooling or medical care. Earlier this month, Phillip Garrido's lawyer stipulated to his mental competency, waiving a jury trial on the issue. Discussions then began for a plea deal. Phillip Garrido continues to cultivate a salt-and-pepper beard and wore orange jail scrubs Monday, sitting in the back row of the jury box with his lawyer. Several seats away sat his wife, who has taken to shielding her face from media with her graying mane. El Dorado County Judge Douglas Phimister earlier this month suspended monthly phone chats between them from the Placerville jail, where they have remained since their arrests. On Monday, Phimister refused to unseal grand jury transcripts and other court records. Bay Area News Group and other media are seeking the documents, which include Phillip Garrido's mental health records and detailed testimony that Dugard gave to the grand jury. Phimister, in a 10-page ruling, found that releasing the transcripts and health records before jury selection would prejudice the couple's right to a fair trial. Phillip Garrido, a convicted rapist on lifetime parole, had visited the UC-Berkeley campus with the two girls a day before the arrests, seeking a permit to espouse his unique religious views on campus. Two wary campus officials ran a check and called his parole officer. He showed up at the parole office with his wife, Jaycee and the two girls, leading to hours of questioning and, ultimately, the couple's arrest. power balance yellow

China campaigners plan new rallies after clampdown Organisers of an online campaign to pressure China's government on Monday condemned Beijing's tough security response to their call for weekly rallies nationwide and announced new action on March 6.Coach Hobos Bags The anonymous campaigners behind the so-called "Jasmine rallies" -- a reference to the "Jasmine revolution" in Tunisia that sparked unrest across the Arab world -- said their movement had support in dozens of cities. The new statement -- posted on Facebook, Twitter and other foreign social networking sites officially blocked in China -- came one day after security personnel turned out in force to thwart gatherings in Beijing and Shanghai. Advertisement: Story continues below "According to the feedback we received, on Feb 27, 2011, this movement spread to over 100 cities, largely exceeding our initial expectations of 27 cities," it said, calling for people to "walk" for change again on March 6. "We send our salutations to all Chinese citizens supporting and participating in this noble movement!" Online protest appeals have urged citizens to gather for subtle "strolling" demonstrations each Sunday in cities across China to highlight public anger with the government. Hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes police smothered Beijing's designated rally site on the Wangfujing shopping street Sunday, aggressively pushing away foreign reporters with cameras and briefly detaining several. Similar scenes took place at the Shanghai protest site near the city's People's Square. Bloomberg News said one of its correspondents in Beijing was kicked and punched by at least five men in plainclothes -- apparently security personnel -- who also took his video camera. The journalist required medical treatment. Those behind the call for Chinese "Jasmine rallies" have not urged participants to take any overt protest action, but merely to turn out in force. Chinese authorities have reacted nervously, rounding up more than 100 known dissidents and rights advocates while blocking references to the rallies on websites and search engines, rights groups and activists have said.Coach Business Bags "We issue our strongest condemnation of the Chinese government; the government arrests innocent people and obstructs global information flow," said the statement from the organisers. "We believe these deeds cannot stop the development of the Chinese Jasmine Revolution." Ahead of Sunday's events, Premier Wen Jiabao promised action on top public concerns including soaring inflation, runaway economic growth, and official corruption in an online chat with Internet users. China has a history of inflation-triggered public unrest, and Wen vowed the government would ramp up supplies of affordable housing, punish property speculators, and ensure output of grains and other key goods. "Rapid price rises have affected the lives of the people and even social stability," the premier said. The protest appeal -- seen on overseas Chinese-language websites but blocked by censors in China -- demanded government transparency and accountability to the people to prevent frequent abuses. Following attacks on the Boxun website -- where the calls for "Jasmine rallies" first appeared -- organisers have set up new rally information sites on other platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Blog, they said. Such sites are normally blocked in China, but are accessible for those with software able to circumvent China's Internet censorship system, known as the "Great Firewall". US embassy spokesman Richard Buangan issued a statement calling on Beijing to protect foreign reporters working in China, and to "respect internationally recognised fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression". ? 2011 AFP This story is sourced direct from an overseas news agency as an additional service to readers. Spelling follows North American usage, along with foreign currency and measurement units. Coach Purses

Christie Leads U.S. Governors to Fractious Statehouse Politics Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Barely 400 days into a tenure that began with his squeaking into office with 49 percent of the vote, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is emboldening other Republican chief executives to challenge the compact between governments and their workers.Coach Business Bags The 48-year-old former U.S. attorney once was a singular voice of pugnacity. Now the Christie style is gaining disciples. Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio have seen protests as Republican governors take on public-sector unions for cutbacks or restrictions on collective bargaining. They chose the same target at which Christie took aim last year. “I’ve never been a wallflower,” Christie told reporters Feb. 26 at the National Governors Association winter meeting in Washington. “I talk about the things I want to talk about.” Christie is a provocative presence on YouTube, where he has his own channel, often seen attacking teacher unions in public forums. He has visited Washington three times in the past month. In a Feb. 16 speech to the American Enterprise Institute, he threatened to campaign against House Republicans who he said need to “put up or shut up” on fighting the cost of government entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare. Christie filled the cover of this week’s New York Times Magazine. At the weekend governors’ meeting he was a magnet for reporters seeking his opinion on the Wisconsin labor battle. His high profile among the governors has fed speculation he will run for president in 2012, though he has denied such ambitions. No Romance Here He mixes it up with other governors, such as Maryland Democrat Martin O’Malley, who said Christie is “abusive toward public employees” and that he is a budget hypocrite for skipping the state’s $3 billion pension bill payment. “If he doesn’t like my style then we don’t have to date,” Christie said in Washington. “It’s OK by me.” After taking office Christie identified government unions - - especially the New Jersey Education Association -- as an element driving up taxes. When a teacher complained to Christie about her salary at a public event last May, Christie told her, “Well, you know what? You don’t have to do it.” Overflowing Bitterness The exchange drew national attention. “I think this represents the heightened political rhetoric that is spilling out of Washington, and I also would warn you that there are a number of politicians, some of whom are governors, who may be running for president,” Connecticut’s Democratic Governor Dan Malloy said in an interview in Washington.Coach Leather Hangbags Partisan gridlock hasn’t been good for Congress, “so I can’t imagine that it’s good anywhere else,” Malloy said. Christie dismisses such talk. States are under financial stress and need tough measures fast, he said. Confronting unions on pension and health-care costs is part of that strategy, Christie said. New Jersey had the highest state and local tax burden for fiscal 2009, according to the Tax Foundation. On Feb. 22, he proposed a $29.4 billion budget that would give residents property-tax credits if lawmakers pass his plan for all public workers to pay 30 percent of the cost of their health benefits. “We’ve been taking on the unions in New Jersey for the last year and that’s gotten a lot of attention, too. So everybody is doing it their own way,” Christie said yesterday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” ‘About Time’ In Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker has gone further than Christie by pushing the elimination of most collective- bargaining rights for public sector workers, an idea that caused protesters to occupy the Capitol in Madison. Walker, who didn’t attend the governors’ meeting because of the standoff, said he has consulted with Christie on budget issues. And like Christie, Walker talks bluntly. “It’s about time somebody stood up and told the truth in this state and said ‘Here’s our problem, here’s the solution,’ and act about it,” Walker, 43, said yesterday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I need to do what no other governor is doing across this country,” Walker said. The Christie approach appears to draw from the anti- government, anti-union line of conservative talk radio, said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, which covers the industry. Voices Carry Amid budget deficits, the appeal of that message has grown, Harrison said in a telephone interview from Springfield, Massachusetts. “These governors have found out that it resonates with their constituencies,” Harrison said. Newly elected Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich, 58, served 18 years in Congress. After he left in 2001 he became a talk-show host for six years on Fox News with a program called “The Heartland with John Kasich.” John Green, a political scientist at the University of Akron in Ohio, said in a telephone interview the aggressiveness of some Republican governors reminds him of President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats after the 2008 election. They, too, believed they had a mandate, he said. Fights with unions “did start with the defiant tone of Governor Christie,” Green said. “He made a real point of standing up to people on one side and it resonated with people on the other side.” --With assistance from Mark Niquette and William Selway in Washington. Editors: Stephen Merelman, Mark Tannenbaum. To contact the reporter on this story: Timothy Jones in Chicago at tjones58@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net Coach Wallets Outlet

Natalie Portman Wins Best Actress Oscar For 'Black Swan' A visibly nervous and very pregnant Natalie Portman was near tears after winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the Oscars Sunday night (February 27) for her performance as a ballerina on the verge of a mental breakdown in Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan."coach outlet "Thank you. Thank you so much. This is insane!" the 29-year-old first-time Oscar winner enthused after taking the stage. "I truly and sincerely wish that the prize tonight was to get to work with my fellow nominees." Although just the second-youngest of her co-nominees, Portman was previously nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Closer" and has been working with some of the best directors in the business since childhood — and in a rambling speech she nearly managed to thank all of them. "Luc Besson, who gave me my first job [in 'The Professional']," Portman began. "['Closer' director] Mike Nichols, who has been my hero. And to everyone who's ever hired me!" "Darren Aronofsky, you are a visionary," she added of her "Black Swan" director. "I am so blessed to have gotten to work for you." coach backpacks Portman saved her most effusive gratitude, however, for her parents, who were in the audience, and especially for her fiancé Benjamin Millepied, with whom she is having a child. "I want to thank my parents for giving me the opportunity to work from such an early age. My beautiful love, Benjamin, who has now given me my most important role of my life," she gushed. "Most importantly, my family, my friends, and my love, thank you so much." Check out everything we've got on "Black Swan." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. Stick with MTV News on Oscar night and beyond for red-carpet fashion coverage, analysis of the winners, plus interviews, photos and more from your favorite Hollywood stars! Coach Handbags

Oscars 2011: highs and lows Of course, the high point of the Oscars night was the success of The King’s Speech. Out of 12 nominations the British film one four, including Best Picture. coach purses Colin Firth won his first Oscar for his role as King George VI, “I have a feeling my career has just peaked,” he said with typically deadpan delivery. He dedicated the award to his wife, Livia, “for putting up with my fleeting delusions of royalty,” he added. Tom Hooper won Best Director and talked again of the “triangle of man love” he has formed with Firth and Geoffrey Rush. Hopper made a touching speech about his mother - who attended a fringe theatre reading of an unknown play called The King’s Speech in 2007. She rang Hooper when she got home and said, “Tom, I think I’ve found your next film.” The British presence on the red carpet provided a few less earnest moments too: Dame Helen Mirren’s curves; Russell Brand who bought is mother, “Babs”; Christian Bale’s cockney accent and Helena Bonham Carter’s devil-may-care attitude to the whole affair. “I thought it would be nice to celebrate film rather than fashion,” Bonham Carter said of the constant scrutiny of her red carpet fashions this awards season. Unfortunately she lost out the Best Supporting Actress award to Melissa Leo (The Fighter), who dropped the f-word spectacularly during the live telecast. 2011 coach outlet “Bloody hell... what the hell am I doing here,” said Christian Bale after winner Best Supporting Actor also for The Fighter. Best screenplay went to David Seidler of The King’s Speech, “My father always said I would be a late bloomer, I believe I am the oldest person to win this award,” he said. (He was born in 1937). Natalie Portman, heavily pregnant, won the Best Actress award for her role as a psychologically disturbed ballerina in Black Swan. James Franco and Anne Hathaway, the youngest ever Academy Awards hosts, fell flat with their opening monologue in which they entered Alec Baldwin’s dreams to learn the secret to hosting the awards. It seemed Baldwin wasn’t eager to give it up. At one point, Franco appeared on stage in drag, as Marilyn Monroe, in pink taffeta: “I just got a text message from Charlie Sheen,” he said. But there’s no getting away from the fact that it was a turgid, more than three hour-long slog through the year’s best movies. It was rumoured Banksy (his documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, was nominated but didn’t win) was going to turn up in a gorilla suit: now, that would have been worth waiting up for. coach outlet 2011

China to target slower growth through 2015: Wen HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — China will target slower economic growth over the next five years than it has in the past five, as part of efforts to improve the quality of that growth and ease inflationary pressures, Premier Wen Jiabao said over the weekend, according to reports. power balance yellow The country, which displaced Japan as the world’s second largest economy last year, will aim to grow its gross domestic product by 7% annually in the period from 2011 to 2015, compared with its targeted growth of 7.5% in the previous five years, Wen reportedly told internet users in an online chat on Sunday. China’s GDP target usually serves as a floor for the pace at which the country grows. The nation’s economy steamed ahead at the rate of 11.1% between 2006 and 2010, according to data cited by The Wall Street Journal. “This new target should be seen as a signal of Beijing’s intentions over the medium term,” Royal Bank of Canada economists wrote in a note to clients. The comments were consistent with statements made by officials over several years, highlighting the “need to move China away from a reliance on low-value-added, heavy-polluting industries — often geared to the export market — and to promote greater domestic consumption,” RBC said. In his comments over the weekend, Wen also said China will punish abuse of power and resist calls that it enable its currency to strengthen sharply, media reports said. The official said the government would boost grain output, control property prices — by increasing affordable housing and combating speculation — punish the hoarding of goods, and reduce the money supply, reports said. Meanwhile, online postings were calling for rallies in China, inspired by the revolutions sweeping through the Arab states of the Middle East and North Africa, reports say. Those Mideast revolts reflect public anger at, among other things, soaring food prices and government corruption. News agencies reported that on Sunday, Chinese police patrolled a major shopping street in Beijing, the area where the protests were called for. In Shanghai, foreign journalists were forced to leave the protest areas or their movements were restricted, the reports said. Growing inequality threatens stability in Chinese society, Wen was quoted as saying. power balance. China’s consumer price index rose 4.9% in January from a year earlier, less than expected. But the price rises still portended controls on inflation, including interest-rate increases and a stronger currency, some analysts say. Wen said a stronger yuan is in the interest of the country’s economy and people. But he also said such strengthening must be gradual because a spike in the currency would bankrupt a number of Chinese enterprises. RBC economists said that while the comments on the currency revaluation were just a reiteration that the yuan moves would be gradual, Wen “also made it clear that he sees the currency moving in only one direction, noting that [yuan] appreciation benefits China’s economy.” The economists said the yuan’s 20% appreciation against the U.S. dollar between 2008 and 2008 put the business model of low-margin Chinese manufacturers under stress. But at the same time, it also helped “to shift resources into other parts of the economy.” “Indeed, the extent to which Beijing allows the currency to appreciate in coming years will serve as a key litmus test to how serious policy makers are in rebalancing the economy, though the pace of this process will continue to be affected by external developments,” they said. China has been accused of keeping the yuan artificially weak to help its exporters. A weaker local currency keeps exported products cheaper for overseas buyers. Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau. Robert Daniel is MarketWatch's Middle East bureau chief, based in Tel Aviv. coach outlet store