Erin Elizabeth Coors, who is playing Barbie since her live show's opening in Columbus, Ohio, this past Saturday, has short, brown hair under the flowing, blond wig that she wears during the performance.

After 47 years as a plastic prop and six as an animated fairy-tale princess on TV, Barbie is breathing, singing, dancing and even flying across the stage in her first live show.

"Barbie Live in Fairytopia" is Mattel's latest effort to buttress the brand which has been battered by competition in recent years. The show will travel to Boston, Los Angeles, Muncie, Ind., Springfield, MO. and New York City's Radio City Music Hall sometime in 2007 with the average ticket costing around $25

While Washington steps up pressure on Beijing to revalue its currency with the US commerce secretary's (Carlos Gutierrez) visit there last week, many economists say that even dramatic gestures by China would do little to reverse the imbalance on the $201 billion US trade dificit with China.

About half of Chinese exports to the US fall into three categories -- office machines, clothing and footware and toys and other plastic goods. These represent just 4% of US manufacturing production. If the US didn't buy these goods from China, it would have to buy them from abroad anyway, as a result, the impact on the deficit would be minimal.

Resulting from this understanding, Senators C. Schumer and L Graham may have already decided to postpone their bill to impose tariffs on Chinese imports.

In 2000 Amazon signed an agreement with Toys "R' Us, one of the first with a major brick-and- mortar, to sell its toys, games and baby products on its site. Toys "R' Us would transfer its entire online presence to Amazon as its exclusive provider of those goods in exchange for a $50 million payment from Toys "R' Us.

In 2004 Toys "R' Us sued Amazon for $65 million in fees and lost sales, claiming that it had breached the exclusivity of its agreement.

On March 3rd, the judge hearing the case in New Jersey, where Toys "R' Us is headquartered, ruled to dissolve the 10 year agreement but awarded no monetary restitution. Toys "R' Us' general counsel indicated that they were pleased with the verdict saying "our goal was to protect the Toys "R' Us brand while continuing to provide a positive shopping experience for our online customers, this ruling allows us to do that.

If you expect a refund after filing your 2005 Income Tax Return, here are two tips for making the most of your tax refund:

1. File electronically for a speedier refund (two-weeks versus six to eight, when filed via regular mail).

2. Invest your refund in a great value, closeouts investment with BlueRibbon for the most return on your money!

That’s all for this issue.

Thank you for your attention and all the best!

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