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The voting at the website is accomplished in the following way: the user has an opportunity to cast a vote for any Forex company only once in 24 hours. This restriction was introduced in order to create maximally competitive conditions for all Forex-rating participants and avoid the churning of votes. As Forex brokers rating is absolutely independent project, we demonstrate both positive and negative responses to the Forex companies activity.

We hope that all information placed in the resource will help the traders to choose their broker for operating in the international currency market Forex and the brokers to find out the clients opinion about the company.

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Should the U.S. Treasury sell annuities?

Here’s an out-there idea whose time has probably not come, at least not yet: What if, instead of (or in addition to) floating bonds, the federal government sold retirement annuities?

That may sound like a wild idea, especially in an era when policymakers are talking about privatizing Medicare. But it has advocates within the retirement industry. The upside, according to Martha Tejera, a veteran retirement plan consultant, is that retirees who bought annuities guaranteed by Uncle Sam would feel like their retirement funds were secure. They wouldn’t have to worry about managing their own nest egg, running out of money, or handing their funds over to a Madoff-style crook.

“I think we are creating a whole generation of retirees who are just going to be preyed upon, by both legitimate and non-legitimate sellers of financial products and advice,” she says.

I spoke to Tejera while I was researching today’s Stern Advice column about the changing debate surrounding 401(k) accounts. Instead of focusing on the ability of workers to build enough savings in those accounts, retirement industry experts like Tejera are starting to focus on what happens to that money when workers retire. Asking individuals who aren’t financial professionals to manage their nest egg for a lifetime might be asking a lot. “If you hand them $200,000 all at once, it can go poof! pretty quickly,” she says.

The government-as-annuity-seller idea was raised recently by a couple of well-known professors in a New York Times opinion piece. University of Texas Law School professor Henry T. C. Hu and University of California Berkeley finance professor Terrance Odean argued that having the federal government guarantee inflation-adjusted annuities would help people cope with the possibility of outliving their savings, and would also earn the Treasury some tidy deficit-reducing profits.

In their view, having the federal government guarantee annuities will reassure workers that the insurance companies selling them lifelong income streams will still be around when the money is needed. It will allow the insurance industry to create and manage the annuities, so it won”t wipe out that sector altogether”. It would reduce federal reliance on Chinese (and other foreign) bond buyers. “Our proposal is a winner for everyone,” they said.

Of course, a few questions remain. One that springs to mind is: Isn’t that what Social Security already is? Not exactly, as Social Security is not a self-funded and dedicated annuity, but a more broad-based pay-as-you-go retirement security program. The annuity plan could be invested by the insurance industry in instruments yielding more than the Treasury bonds that the Social Security program relies on.

Here’s another question: Do that many retirees really need annuities? That’s a whole other question for a whole other blog post. Watch this space.

Should the federal government sell retirement annuities?

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Housing crash: Is it time to buy low?

True confessions: I live in a bubble. Washington, D.C., the area I call home, appears to be one of the only two places in the country (the other being Seattle) where real estate is doing very well, thank you. So around me, I see home prices stable and rising, and houses getting sold within days of going on the market.

That’s not the case in most of the country, where home prices on average fell 0.8 percent in March, according to the S&P/Case Shiller survey released this morning. “Home prices continue on their downward spiral with no relief in sight,” David Blitzer of S&P, said in a statement. Home prices are at their lowest post-crash levels, with some areas retracing all the way back to 2002 levels.

And so, all morning analysts are saying things like “Maybe people just don’t want to own houses any more.” David Streitfeld of The New York Times wrote: “The desire to own your own home, long a bedrock of the American Dream, is fast becoming a casualty of the worst housing downturn since the Great Depression.”

And now two more disclaimers: I believe in homeownership and own two homes myself. And I think the most dangerous words in investing are: “This time it’s different.” I don’t think the desire to live in a home you own has disappeared from the nation’s psyche — it’s more likely that home prices grew to levels that were unaffordable for more and more people. Until there are more better-paying jobs, higher incomes and more family formations, housing may not recover.

So, I’m not going to say it’s time to run out and buy a house right now. But I do believe that “This time it’s the same” and the most enduring, useful and hard-to-follow financial advice is ”Buy low and sell high.” And that the combination of home prices and interest rates are probably nearer their 21st century lows than their highs.

Most knowledgeable experts, and surveyed Americans, believe home prices could continue to decline or flatten and then bounce along the bottom for at least a couple of years, and possibly much longer. So if you’re thinking of flipping a condo for a quick profit, fuhgetaboudit. If you’re planning to relocate within five years, buying could be riskier than renting. But if you’re raising a family and renting, and have a solid job, you could look back on 2011-2012 as your greatest opportunity to buy your dream kitchen and fave family room.

Here are some things you can do with a home you own:

– Eventually actually own something. The great loss of home equity that started in 2006 and is still occurring is an anomaly. It is possible that houses will be worth less in 10, 20, and 30 years than they are now, but that’s highly, highly unlikely. In the meantime, you can pay off your mortgage and be done with monthly payments at some point in the future. When you buy a house, you buy a house. When you rent, you’re not buying anything.

– Paint it whatever color you’d like. And change the kitchen cabinets or put on a screened porch. That doesn’t just improve your quality of life, it adds to the value of your home. Renovations don’t get you all of your money back when you sell your home, but many of them get you most of your money back.

– Make some money. If you own your home, you can (1) rent out a room or a floor to pull in extra money; or (2) swap homes with people all over the world for rent-free vacations; or (3) go solar and sell power back to your energy company.

As for me and my personal disclosures, here is one more: If I had the cash, I’d be shopping for home number three right about now

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Lockheed's cyber cops sift through hacker evidence

Last week's attack on Lockheed Martin Corp's computer networks has galvanized dozens of cyber "detectives" at the company's cavernous security intelligence center outside Washington.

The U.S. government and Lockheed, the world's biggest military contractor and the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier, have said the unknown hackers did not seize any sensitive information in the May 21 attack, but government and industry experts are still working feverishly to isolate the origins of the attack.

Lockheed, which is also the U.S. government's biggest information technology provider, opened the 25,000-square-foot, $17 million center in 2008. It opened a sister site in Denver last year to help deal with the growing workload and take over if the main center is knocked off line.

Dozens of highly trained analysts work at the center in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where green plants and a Feng Shui-styled decor beckon visitors to a public collaboration space that looks like a high-tech university campus.

The real work, though, goes on in a large, dimly lit internal security center only open to critical personnel. Flickering wall-sized flat screens continuously update activity on Lockheed's mammoth worldwide computer network while monitoring data transmissions by 126,000 employees and outsiders trying to get access to the system.

A Defense Department spokeswoman, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel April Cunningham, said on Saturday that the Pentagon was working with Lockheed to gauge the scope of the attack.

Some top defense officials were on site last week to assess the wider impact, a defense official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters on Thursday.

Just two weeks ago, Lockheed advertised for a "lead computer forensic examiner" for the center, saying it needed someone who could work in a fast paced environment, understood "attack signatures, tactics, techniques and procedures associated with advanced threats," and was able to "reverse engineer attacker encoding protocols."

Lockheed builds advanced satellites, fighter jets and warships for the U.S. military, but also provides information technology services to the Justice Department, Federal Aviation Administration, Social Security Administration, and other federal agencies. It even ran the latest U.S. national census, which is only conducted once a decade, for the government.

Seeking to recruit the best cyber analysts on the market, Lockheed last year released a YouTube video, which portrays the cyber security problem as a complex chess match, or a sophisticated war game, between U.S. government and industry on one side, and a host of smart attackers from nation states and criminal groups on the other.

"It is a cat-and mouse game between the two sides," Eric Hutchins, a Lockheed cyber intelligence analyst, told Reuters during a visit to the center in March 2010. "They're constantly trying to develop new ways of attacking us and we're constantly trying to develop new ways of defending us."

Hitchens said Lockheed analysts processed 1 million "incidents" a day, sorting through the "white noise" to identify possible attacks and likely targets.

Another analyst featured in the Lockheed video compared his work to that of "CSI-style" detectives in reference to crime scene investigators who focus on forensic evidence and have been popularized by the CSI group of TV shows. "We go right to the scene of the crime and we look for evidence of the attack," he said.

It says they use techniques far beyond anything available in the wider commercial world.

The video makes the center seem like it is out of a movie like "Minority Report", describing hackers as "adversaries," "the enemy" or "bad guys" whose onslaught needs to be repelled. It ends with a flourish as one forensic analyst declares: "This is the fight we fight."

Cyber experts are now scouring the network to find any "electronic DNA" left behind by the hackers -- time-intensive work that may eventually help pinpoint the source of the attack, said one former senior government official.

"Everything leaves electronic DNA if you can find it," said the official, who was not authorized to speak on the record. "It's like digging for old bones."

Lockheed officials say they responded almost immediately to the May 21 attack, which was first reported by Reuters on Thursday, averting the loss of any customer, program or employee personal data.

Loren Thompson, a defense analyst who does consulting work for Lockheed and other military contractors, said the attack was "fairly subtle" but it underscored the growing information security challenges facing the U.S. government and industry, and validated Lockheed's ability to detect intrusions.

The next test is how quickly experts will be able to identify the source of the attack, and in particular whether it can be traced to a foreign power.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa)

(Additional reporting by Jim Wolf. Editing by Martin Howell)

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Greek debt fears weigh on euro, curb world stocks

The euro slipped and world stocks were stuck on Monday with fears of a Greek debt default undimmed and U.S. and UK market holidays keeping many investors on the sidelines.

The shared currency was down 0.4 percent and European shares were flat in anemic trade, although German utilities sagged after Berlin's decision to shut all nuclear reactors by 2022 in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster.

German utilities RWE and E.ON were among the biggest fallers, down by around 2.4 and 1.7 percent respectively, while shares in renewable energy companies rose.

Greece's debt crisis continued to deter investors from searching out higher risk assets.

European Union and International Monetary Fund officials are expected to deliver their verdict this week on Greece's faltering drive to bring its budget deficit under control.

Prime Minister George Papandreou has failed to win backing from the opposition to adopt fresh austerity steps, as demanded by the EU and IMF, raising concerns over whether Greece will receive its next tranche of bailout loans.

Adding to the pall of debt gloom, a government minister in Ireland said it may have to ask for another loan from the EU and IMF because it will struggle to return to debt markets to raise funds next year.

The euro fell to $1.4280. Traders said it faced resistance around $1.4350 and above.

"The market is a bit hesitant about picking up the euro and taking it past the mid-May highs of $1.4345 given uncertainty whether Greece will receive its next tranche from the IMF/EU," said Niels Christensen, FX strategist at Nordea.

German government bond futures were little changed, with investors reluctant to stray from safer harbors.

The Greek/German 10-year bond yield spread was 20 basis points wider on the day at 1,387 bps.

"We have headline risk out of Greece and it could go either way, but on balance risk is off as the situation is unclear," said Rainer Guntermann, strategist at Commerzbank.

WEAK DATA HAMPER DOLLAR

Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was trading near the 75 line, just shy of a two-week trough hit on Friday.

A batch of weak U.S. data last week raised expectations that the Federal Reserve may keep interest rates near zero well into 2012, undermining the dollar's appeal.

U.S. Treasury bond yields held near six-month lows, with 10-year yields at 3.07 percent compared with 3.29 percent at the start of the month.

World stocks as measured by the MSCI All-Country World Index were up 0.1 percent.

Japan's Nikkei ended down 0.2 percent, while the MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan found a footing after falling for five consecutive weeks.

Brent crude fell below $115 a barrel, weighed down by expectations that OPEC's oil output in May would come in higher than April, while investors also kept an eye on demand from the United States as the summer driving season begins.

Gold held steady, buoyed by the debt crisis in the euro zone.

(Additional reporting by Anirban Nag and Marius Zaharia in London, Masayuki Kitano in Tokyo; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

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Shares in Slim's Telmex slump after TV bid rejected

Shares in tycoon Carlos Slim's phone company Telmex headed for their worst one-day loss in more than a year on Monday after the Mexican government rejected the firm's bid to provide TV services late on Friday.

Shares in Telmex (TELMEXL.MX), Mexico's biggest fixed-line telephone and Internet provider, fell 4.97 percent to 10.33 pesos. The shares were on track to post their biggest one-day percentage loss since February 4, 2010.

The Communications and Transport Ministry ruled on Friday that Telmex had not yet met the regulatory requirements for a TV concession.

Telmex will appeal the ruling, a company spokesman told Reuters.

Slim has been trying to win approval to offer TV services for years. But authorities demand Slim first take further steps to loosen his grip on the telecoms market, such as reducing charges made to rivals to connect calls.

Some analysts said Telmex stock will not be too badly hurt going forward.

"People think they will eventually give him (a TV license)," said Carlos Alonso, head of stock trading at brokerage Interacciones in Mexico City.

Recently, Slim has seen a string of setbacks, including a $1 billion dollar fine against his flagship firm, America Movil, for allegedly abusing its market power in Mexico's mobile phone market. That decision is also under appeal.

Shares in America Movil (AMXL.MX), which controls Telmex, traded flat on Monday.

America Movil recently fell to its lowest price since March 2010 on concerns that regulators will try to further curb the power of Slim's companies.

"It is clear the government is strongly against Slim. The whole monopoly issue could have a negative effect on America Movil," Alonso said.

(Reporting by Michael O'Boyle and Anahi Rama, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

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Obama picks warrior-scholar Dempsey for top military job

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday nominated Army General Martin Dempsey, a warrior-scholar who commanded troops in the Iraq war, as the top U.S. military officer.

Dempsey, whose pick requires Senate confirmation, would replace Admiral Mike Mullen as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he steps down on October 1.

At a White House ceremony, Obama hailed Dempsey as "one of our nation's respected and combat-tested generals."

Obama announced the choice for the high-profile post just before heading to Arlington Cemetery outside Washington for a wreath-laying and remarks to honor America's war dead on Memorial Day.

The nomination was the latest move in an overhaul Obama's national security team.

In April, Obama announced he had chosen CIA Director Leon Panetta to replace the departing Robert Gates as defense secretary. Army General David Petraeus, commander of the Afghanistan war effort, was chosen to replace Panetta as head of the CIA.

Obama said it was essential to ensure that the transitions are "seamless and that we stay focused on the urgent national security challenges before us."

Dempsey is currently Army chief of staff, a job he has served in only a month. Obama named General Raymond Odierno to succeed Dempsey in the Army job.

Admiral James Winnefeld, commander of U.S. Northern Command, was nominated as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The Defense Department picks come as Obama is facing growing pressure to accelerate a troop drawdown in Afghanistan and is preparing to complete a withdrawal from Iraq.

The Obama administration is also facing questions about the U.S. military involvement in Libya.

Calls for a stepped-up pace of withdrawal from Afghanistan have increased after the May 2 killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a U.S. commando raid in Pakistan.

PRESSURE FOR PENTAGON BUDGET CUTS

Another top issue facing the U.S. military is pressure for budget cuts in the Department of Defense at a time when the United States is grappling with a $1.4 trillion budget deficit and soaring debt levels.

Echoing remarks Dempsey himself has made to U.S. soldiers, Obama vowed: "We will provide whatever it takes to achieve our objectives in the current fight."

Until about a week and a half ago, many assumed that the top U.S. military job would go to General James Cartwright, the current vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was described in journalist Bob Woodward's book "Obama's Wars" as the president's favorite general.

But questions arose about Cartwright's leadership style, and mistrust of him among the Pentagon's top brass derailed his chances. Neither Gates nor Mullen endorsed Cartwright for the Joint Chiefs job, according to a U.S. official.

Dempsey was an instructor and assistant professor in the English Department at the West Point military academy earlier in his career.

He commanded the 1st Armored Division in Iraq shortly after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and headed the effort to train Iraqi security forces from 2005 to 2007.

From 2007 to 2008, he was the No. 2 and then acting commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also led the U.S. Army's training effort.

Dempsey told a Senate hearing in March that he views the massive U.S. debt and deficits as a threat to national security.

"He's somebody with very broad capability as a manager," said Anthony Cordesman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

"He understands resources. He's worked on new concepts of warfare, so you have a very practical grounding but also the capability to look forward and do so with a great deal of personal experience," Cordesman said.

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DIARY - Economic Indicators in Germany from May 31

 For euro zone economic data, please double-click on:

 EUROLANDMAY for indicators released this month or

 EUROLANDJUN for indicators released next month

 For other related diaries, please double-click on:

 [CEN/DIARY] - Major central bank events for 2011

 [M/DIARY]   - Top economic events worldwide,

 [IND/DIARY] - Index of  all Reuters diaries.    

 [MI/DIARY]  - Highlights of today's top events of interest

               to money markets.    

  -----------------------------------------
GMT   GMT/LOCAL    INDICATOR                      PERIOD      MEDIAN       PRIOR
DATE                                                          F'CAST         
31May 0600/0800 DE Retl sls m rl                    Apr        1.5%       -2.1%
31May 0600/0800 DE Retl sls y rl                    Apr       -0.1%       -3.5%
31May 0800/1000 DE Unemp chng sa                    May        -30k        -37k
31May 0800/1000 DE Unempl't nsa                     May        2.9m        3.1m
31May 0800/1000 DE Unemp rate sa                    May        7.0%        7.1%
31May 0800/1000 DE Unempl't sa                      May           m      2.970m
01Jun 0753/0953 DE Mfg PMI                          May        58.2        58.2
03Jun 0753/0953 DE Mark svcs PMI                    May        54.9        54.9
07Jun 1000/1200 DE Ind ords mm                      Apr           %       -4.0%
08Jun 0600/0800 DE Trd bal,euros                    Apr           b       15.2b
08Jun 0600/0800 DE Exports m/m                      Apr           %        7.3%
08Jun 0600/0800 DE Imports m/m                      Apr           %        3.1%
08Jun 1000/1200 DE Totl Ind P mm                    Apr       -0.5%        0.7%
10Jun 0600/0800 DE CPI final mm                     May           %           %
10Jun 0600/0800 DE CPI final yy                     May           %           %
10Jun 0600/0800 DE HICP final mm                    May           %        0.3%
10Jun 0600/0800 DE HICP final yy                    May           %        2.7%
13-17 0600/0800 DE Wholesale prc idx mm             May           %        0.2%
13-17 0600/0800 DE Wholesale prc idx yy             May           %        9.2%
20Jun 0600/0800 DE PPI mm                           May           %        1.0%
20Jun 0600/0800 DE PPI yy                           May           %        6.4%
21Jun 0900/1100 DE ZEW index                        Jun                     3.1
21Jun 0900/1100 DE ZEW current cnd                  Jun                    91.5
23-29 0600/0800 DE Import prc mm                    May           %        0.3%
23-29 0600/0800 DE Import prc yy                    May           %        9.4%
23Jun 0728/0928 DE MFG Flash PMI                    Jun                      
23Jun 0728/0928 DE ServFlash PMI                    Jun                      
23Jun 0728/0928 DE CompFlash PMI                    Jun                    56.4
24Jun 0800/1000 DE Ifo bus. climate                 Jun                   114.2
24Jun 0800/1000 DE Ifo current cnd                  Jun                   121.4
24Jun 0800/1000 DE Ifo expect                       Jun                   107.4

  ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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numbers. Reuters Diary Desk Germany, tel +49 30 2888 5000, or e-mail
ursula.deubach-hinze@thomsonreuters.com, or via Reuters Messaging at
ursula.deubach-hinze.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net

NOTE: The inclusion of diary items does not necessarily mean
that Reuters will file a story based on the event.

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About The Forex Time Zone Converter The foreign exchange ("forex" or "FX") currency market is not traded on a regulated exchange like stocks and comm

What are the most active forex trading hours?

Generally speaking, the most active forex trading hours all around are between the London markets opening around 8:00 GMT and end with the markets in the US closing around 22:00 GMT. The absolute busiest time in the forex markets are during the London to US overlap between 13:00 GMT to 16:00 GMT. These are the hours that are the most liquid or when the most traders are in the markets making trades. If your intention is to do daytrading, these are key hours!

What are the major sessions for forex trading?

There are 3 major sessions each day in the forex markets. They are the London session, the US session, and the Asian Session.

The London Session
The London session starts around 8:00 GMT and winds down around 1600 GMT. The currencies that are the most active during these hours are EUR, GBP, and USD.

The US Session
The US session starts around 1300 GMT and winds down around 22:00 GMT. The currencies that are the most active during these hours are AUD, EUR, GBP, JPY, and USD.

The Asian Session
The Asian session is a reasonable quiet session on most days. All pairs are pretty slow moving and it is not a good time to day trade. The only real currency that has noteworthy activity is the JPY and the activity is slow unless a major financial event happens.

ip 4. Always take a look at the time frame larger than the one you've chosen to trade with

Tip 1. Gamblers go to casino. All unproved, spontaneous actions in Forex trading — are a part of pure gambling.

How to use the Forex Market Time Converter

The forex market is available for trading 24 hours a day, five and one-half days per week. The Forex Market Time Converter displays "Open" or "Closed" in the Status column to indicate the current state of each global Market Center. However, just because you can trade the market any time of the day or night doesn't necessarily mean that you should. Most successful day traders understand that more trades are successful if conducted when market activity is high and that it is best to avoid times when trading is light.

Here are some tips for using the Forex Market Time Converter:

• Concentrate your trading activity during the trading hours for the three largest Market Centers: London, New_York, and Tokyo.
• Most market activity will occur when one of these three markets open.
• Some of the most active market times will occur when two or more Market Centers are open at the same time. The Forex Market Time Converter will clearly indicate when two or more markets are open by displaying multiple green "Open" indicators in the Status column.

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Styles Of Advertising In Trade Shows,Trade Show Emporium Announces Xpressions Xpressions SNAP! and Xpressions Xpress trade show display kits have been

Trade Show Emporium is proud to announce Xpressions trade show displays to their line of products. Xpressions are a 3-dimensional, stunning and unique display. They are extremely lightweight and portable, making it the perfect choice for trade shows, media presentations, showrooms, sporting events, corporate meetings and conventions and more.

Possibly one of the easiest trade show displays to assemble, Xpressions SNAP! displays have pre-attached fabrics and strong magnetic connectors, locking the frame automatically. Set up is extremely effortless and no tools are required. Changeable graphics are printed on durable stretch fabric. The dye sublimation printing process results in brilliant color saturation and excellent image quality. Plus, the fabric is completely machine washable.

For a complete display on the go, the Xpressions Xpress kits are offered in four different kits, with two 1x3 frames, several Xpression graphic skins, plus a case in wheels with maximum storage. It quickly converts to a podium with a huge graphic case wrap, making it a functional and attractive part of the display. Perfect for a 10x10 space, or combine two for a 10x20 space.

The trade show industry is making a turn for the better, as many products are emerging made with recycled and environmentally friendly materials. The Xpression displays are no exception. Trade Show Emporium also offers an alternative "green" recycled fabric option for Xpression kits. The fabric is made from recycled soda bottles and is completely recyclable when no longer needed.

To learn more about Xpression trade show displays and many other options available for trade shows, contact Trade Show Emporium.

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Forex Trading Hours, Forex trading hours are continous from 22:05 GMT Sunday to 22:00 GMT Friday as the forex market travels from Sydney to Hong Kong

Forex trading hours are continous from 22:05 GMT Sunday to 22:00 GMT Friday as the forex market travels from Sydney to Hong Kong and from Hong Kong to Europe and from their it closes a trading day in the US. This is more or less irrelevant to the retail trader as what is important is that through online forex he is enabled to access the online markets 24 hours a day with no limitations and with opportunities for spontaneous reactions to breaking news that can hit the headlines at any time of the day around the clock.

Forex trading hours are continous from 22:05 GMT Sunday to 22:00 GMT Friday as the forex market travels from Sydney to Hong Kong and from Hong Kong to Europe and from their it closes a trading day in the US. This is more or less irrelevant to the retail trader as what is important is that through online forex he is enabled to access the online markets 24 hours a day with no limitations and with opportunities for spontaneous reactions to breaking news that can hit the headlines at any time of the day around the clock.

Due to the 24 hour nature of the foreign exchange will allow the online trader to engage in selling and trading at any time of the day therefore allowing him to capitalize on information, news or political changes regardless if business hours in his jurisdiction are in sleeping hours making forex trading hours a term that more or less cannot be touched upon. The average trading volume of the forex market in a whole is estimated to exceed the figure of 4 trillion dollars which is several times larger than all the US stock markets combined and with the basic and primary difference that the large majority of this figure being speculative due to the high liquidity which is available in the foreign exchange.

The 24 hours customer support desk is also available so feel free to send an email, talk to live chat or request a call back for further help in regards to any questions or queries you might have. During the hours that the dealing desk is closed the trading platform cannot execute trades and its features are available only for viewing which can be used for familiarization with features or offerings of the trading platform itself.

Asian Trading Session

The Asian Trading session is the first major money center to open and therefore the start of the first major session in the forex market. This is in line with the start of business hours in Tokyo which is 7pm Eastern Time on Sunday. Only approximately 7.6% of forex transactions go through Tokyo trading desks, so it is clear that the Asian trading session is the least active of the three major sessions. The most actively traded currency pairs during this session are Yen based ones with relatively little other trading on the other currency pairs, and it is for this reason that many hedge funds and large banks will use this session to try to push the market in their favor.

European Trading Session

The next trading session to begin is the European trading session which begins with the start of London business hours at 2 AM Eastern Standard Time. It should be noted that while New York is considered by many to be the largest financial center in the world, London is still the main player of the FOREX market with over 32% of all forex transactions carried out there. Prior to the introduction of the Euro there were more than a dozen other currencies in Europe making foreign exchange practically a necessity for both businesses and individuals operating in the region. Further to this, London’s time zone is very well placed in terms of business hours for both eastern and western economies. The high activity during the London session means that it is also the most volatile for all of the currency pairs.

US Trading Session

Finally, there is the US session which begins with the start of New York business hours at 8 AM Eastern Standard Time. In terms of forex trading volumes, New York is a distant second to London with roughly 19% of all FOREX transactions flowing through New York Dealing Rooms. The most active time for the forex market is approximately from 8am to 12pm when both London and New York trading desks are open. This is when there is generally the highest volatility in the market as it is also when the majority of the major US economic announcements are released. The trading day winds down after 12pm New York time with the majority of electronic trading platforms closing for business at around 4 PM Eastern Standard Time on Friday.

During forex trading hours customers can place orders through out the day and additionally use the features incorporated in our platform to support limit, stop and trailing stop orders. You have the benefit of trading via telephone by speaking directly to one of the dedicated dealers available around the clock to assist you, help you or execute orders you cannot due to internet connectivity problems or mobility issues.

Please note that once a trader opens a position it will remain open until the time a matching close trade is executed; positions that are open are valued at market price and update your trading account in real time numbers.

Forex Trading Hours and Phone Trading

If you may be away from your computer or you might be experiencing mobility issues you may select to reach the dealing desk by phone and further more discuss your
requested orders. Make sure to have your account login info available in order for the dealing desk to be able to accommodate your orders.

If you wish to close a position, set a take profit or stop loss order on an existing position you will additionally be requested to provide the ticket number. In case of unsuccessful password authorisation or if you refuse to go through this process, your instructions will not be accepted. Once all security checks are successful you can ask for a two-way quote for a particular pair of currencies but you will have to specify the size of the transaction. For example: “I would like a Dollar Japanese Yen quote for 10 lots please”.

What are the most active Forex trading Hours?

Although both the markets and trading-point.com are open 24 hours a day during the trading week, there are forex trading hours which have a greater volume of trade, thereby increasing the opportunities to make a profit. For traders who wish to engage in day trading, the most productive hours are between the opening of the London markets at 08:00 GMT and the closing of the US markets at 22:00 GMT. The peak time for trading is when the London and US markets overlap from 13:00 GMT until 16:00 GMT. The main sessions of the day are the London, US and Asian markets. Some currencies are more active during particular trading sessions than others and understanding this will allow traders to make the most of the market.

• The London session is open from 08:00 GMT until 16:00 GMT and the most active currencies are the EUR, GBP and USD.
• The US session is open from 13:00 GMT until 22:00 GMT and is an active market for the USD, EUR, GBP, AUD and JPY.
• The Asian session is a relatively slow market for all currency pairs and not generally suitable for day trading.

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Investing in a U.S. budget meltdown? Good luck,By Nick Olivari NEW YORK – The previously unthinkable, a U.S. debt repayment crisis, is now giving ser

Financial advisers are starting to grapple with the issue of what might happen if the titanic Congressional debate becomes a full-blown debt repayment showdown.

“Politicians are fiddling while this thing is starting to burn around us,” said William Nobrega, managing partner of the Miami, Florida-based Conrad Group, an investment and strategic advisory services firm.

Demand has remained strong for the staggering $14.3 trillion in debt outstanding. Despite huge issuance in recent years, U.S. bonds have held up well and rates have stayed near historic lows, helped by Federal Reserve buying.

The debt issued by the United States is perceived as having the lowest default risk of any nation. And the Treasury market has already weathered its share of budget battles and shutdowns – five over the past three decades.

The difference now is that the economy is struggling to regain its footing from the crisis of 2008, with the added weight of monumental debt on its shoulders.

“We’ve never been in worse shape,” said Jacob Gold, president of Scottsdale, Arizona-based Jacob Gold & Associates, Inc., which provides high net-worth individuals and companies with investment strategies and wealth management solutions. “I don’t feel that there is a comparison of U.S. finances in the past.”

As a result, financial advisers and investors may have to prepare for a wide range of scenarios, from total government shutdown to a longer, drawn-out period of uncertainty. Here are some ideas.

INVESTING ABROAD

The obvious investment play is to move away from U.S. government assets. But it’s not that simple.

The economies most accessible to global investors are also the most troubled. In Europe’s monetary union, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain grapple with sovereign debt crises. Japan was already in the grips of economic stagnation when the March earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant catastrophes pushed it back into its second recession in three years.

One alternative is to move into commodity-based economies that might hold up best. A financial crisis that pushes the dollar lower might well favor the South African rand, the Canadian dollar, the Australian dollar and or the Brazilian real, said The Conrad Group’s Nobrega.

An Australian government 10-year bond yields 5.23 percent, a Canadian 10-year bond 3.06 percent, the South African 10-year 8.215 percent and the Brazilian Real 10-year government bond 12.49 percent.

The caveat, of course, is that the United States is so deeply integrated with the global economy that a U.S. debt crisis would hit many nations. Even countries with vibrant and growing economies like China would be hit, as the largest U.S. debt holder and trading partner.

BUY PROTECTION

“There is clearly a possibility that the U.S., as with many sovereign issuers, may have a technical default,” said Tim Haywood, London-based investment director for fixed income at GAM where he co-manages $11.4 billion.

He said this would be “a monumental shock” to investors. Treasuries play “the role as the globally-accepted risk-free categorization.”

A technical default, a breach of some aspect or condition of the loan rather than a failure to make payment, would clearly indicate fiscal problems, and undermine that view.

The ramifications are so dire that most analysts expect U.S. and other global monetary officials will take every step to avoid it. Some big investing firms like Haywood’s have bought some insurance, using credit default swaps to protect against U.S. problems.

“We have bought credit protection on banks across the world, including some in the U.S., since the wider finance sector would be injured by this unlikely event,” said Haywood.

But such hedges are imperfect at best, and impractical for smaller investors.

Funds like Eaton Vance Global Macro Absolute Return take long and short positions in a wide range of countries to hedge risk. Direxion Monthly 10 Year Note Bear 2X Mutual Fund is one of a number of risk-leveraged funds that gain value as U.S. Treasury rates rise, but lose when rates fall.

NO WAY TO GAME IT?

Investors should not spend too much time worrying about dubious hedging strategies for a full-on U.S. debt default, said Guy Stern, head of Multi-Asset Management, who helps oversee Edinburgh-based Standard Life Investments Global Absolute Return Strategies (GARS) portfolio. SLI oversees $251 billion in total assets.

“We think the best way to construct portfolios is not to position for a specific event, or to hedge against a specific event,” Stern said. “What we try to do is look at the economic and market environment we expect and access returns from really diverse resources.”

He said investing in one scenario, such as buying bonds of fiscally disciplined Germany, while selling fiscally-stressed Japan’s bonds, would offer solid returns in any event, but in the event of a U.S. sovereign debt crisis, would provide exceptional returns.

With the risk of debt calamity in the air, some say that fund investors should look beyond yields at safety features. Tony Crexcenzi, Pimco’s executive vice president, market strategist and portfolio manager, said it’s prudent to find funds that offer a half-point lower overall yield, but offer to hedge against risk of ‘tail’ events, the so-called 100-year storms.

THE DOLLAR FALL, ALL OVER AGAIN

The wild card for investors is the weakening dollar, a byproduct of the U.S. fiscal impasse. The currency has lost 37 percent of its value since its last peak in mid-2001. While the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has fallen below its 2000 peak, commodities and emerging markets have enjoyed positive returns.

In the absence of widespread global uncertainty or volatility, Mauro F. Guillen, director of the Lauder Institute at the Wharton School in Philadelphia, expects the dollar to depreciate another 10 to 20 percent against the euro EUR over the next few years.

“If you are a Japanese, European or Chinese investor, you want returns in yen, euros or renminbi and you have to think very carefully about the value of the dollar,” Guillen said.

The 19-commodity Reuters-Jefferies CRB index is up 69 percent from when the dollar index peaked in 2001. The PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking DBC is an ETF made up of 14 futures contracts tracking the broad commodity sectors.

DOWN BUT NOT OUT

Amid all the rhetorical arguments on spending versus taxes coming out of Washington, D.C. as the U.S. butts against the debt ceiling, the overwhelming fact is that the U.S. has created as much national debt over the last seven years ($7 trillion) as it’s ever had historically. The good news is, if there is political will, there’s a way out of the doom-and-gloom scenario.

Despite the size of the U.S. debt, “I don’t feel like there will be a collapse in confidence in the U.S.,” said Jacob Gold.

Gold advised diversification and said it would be unwise to bet completely against the U.S., although the government will have to find solutions to the debt and deficit issues.

“There is absolutely a place, within a portfolio, for long-term U.S. Treasuries,” said Gold, advising some intermediate and long-term U.S. Treasuries for a portion of the portfolio.

His picks, even in a rising rate environment, include The Pimco Real Return Fund LP, Fidelity Inflation Protected Bond Fund LP, and the Fidelity Strategic Income Fund LP.

The deepest recession since the 1930s and two wars have blasted big holes in the government’s budget and pushed deficits in recent years to 10 percent of gross domestic product. A stronger economic recovery could certainly help.

“The least controversial way to reduce the deficit is to get the economy growing again,” says Lauder Institute’s Guillen.

© Thomson Reuters 2011

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Market sell-off enters new, more dangerous phase, Investors scramble as economic concerns mount and selling pressure builds.

The correction I've been warning about entered a new, more dangerous phase Monday as reality began to set in among even the most ardent bulls. With just five weeks left in the Fed's $600 billion QE2 initiative, seen by many as a panacea for all the world's ailments, investors are beginning to worry. And they're beginning to sell.

As a result, the sell-off that was relegated to commodities, energy stocks and foreign shares has started to pull the major U.S. averages through major technical support levels and down out of multi-month trading ranges. Even defensive stocks in areas like health care and consumer staples, which have been market leaders recently as savvy traders looked for protection, are plunging along with the overall market.

There are many catalysts. For one, there is no doubt that the eurozone debt contagion is mutating into something so virulent that it now threatens not only Greece and Ireland but also Spain, Italy and Belgium. Japan, the world's third-largest economy, has plunged back into recession. And here at home, the economy is stalling badly just as rising inflation and unsustainable debt levels force the Federal Reserve and Washington to back off on stimulus measures.

Here's a look at the situation, along with two new trade recommendations discovered with the help of Fidelity's ETF screener.

The fact that defensive, non-cyclical stocks like Kraft (KFT) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) are now participating in the decline has pushed the major stock market averages below important technical levels. That's the trouble will getting bullish about these types of stocks, which have been on a tear over the last two months.

Defensive tend to outperform cyclical stocks like materials and energy for a short while on the upside before the overall market tips lower. The bulk of the time defensives enjoy relative outperformance is on the downside. In other words: The big advantage to non-cyclical stocks is that they don't drop as much as the rest of the market during prolonged selloffs.

I said as much way back in February when I first warned of trouble for stocks and again in late April.

Now, things have changed. And for most investors, we've entered a period where a large cash position is probably the best bet. The traditional safe haven, Treasury bonds, look vulnerable to a pullback as the United States moves closer to a possible technical default in August if Republicans and Democrats can't agree on a way to get the country back on a sustainable fiscal footing.

For the risk takers out there, here are two new trades that I've recommended to my newsletter subscribers to help profit from the broad market weakness.

ProShares UltraGold (UGL)

Despite the dollar's recent gains, gold has been stabilizing and moving higher over the last two days. This suggests that the tight correlation between gold and the dollar is breaking down -- freeing the yellow metal to trade based on its own supply-demand fundamentals. It's worth remembering that the long-term fundamentals for precious metals were quite positive -- as I outlined in my Apr. 21 column "Why gold could hit $5,000."

Gold in particular looks very strong as global risks ratchet higher. And most of the speculative hot air in the precious metals was relieved by silver's dramatic plunge this month. With sentiment low, I'm looking for gold to push higher as investors look for safety. The ProShares UltraGold should be a big beneficiary of this.

ProShares UltraShort Semiconductors (SSG)

Chip stocks resisted the selling pressure that plagued energy and materials stocks earlier this month. They can resist no more as broad selling takes down the entire market. The sector, as illustrated by the Semiconductor Holders (SMH) in the chart above, is falling out of a four-month topping pattern and should be good for a retest of its March lows.

Semiconductor stocks are among the most sensitive to fluctuations in the economy cycle. If growth is indeed stalling, chip stocks will be among the hardest hit. The UltraShort Semiconductors ETF, which returns twice the inverse daily return of Dow Jones U.S. Semiconductors Index, will move higher as chip stocks move lower.

Disclosure: Anthony has recommended SSG and UGL to his newsletter subscribers.

Check out his new investment advisory service, The Edge. A two-week free trial has been extended to MSN Money readers. Click here to sign up.

The author can be contacted at anthony@edgeletter.c​om and followed on Twitter at @EdgeLetter. Feel free to comment below.

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The GBP/USD pair ran in circles Friday, eventually finishing slightly up. The market looks very choppy, and although it has a bullish bias – this pair

GBP/USD Daily Fundamental Analysis for May 23, 2011

With no fundamentals from the UK and US, the pair may witness calm movements on Monday trading. Fears regarding the outlook of the British economy may push the pair to the downside, where on the other hand there are some worries that the Fed may keep lose monetary policy for a while to boost recovery.

Consequently, the outlook for the pair remains to the downside as the end of the US $600 billion bond-purchase program in June may lower the supply of dollar from markets and thereby give support to the green currency.

USD/CAD Technical Analysis for May 23, 2011

The USD/CAD pair fell, and then rose later in Friday trading as the market began to fear issues in Europe. While this isn’t necessary an indictment on the Canadian dollar, it was more a symptom of people simply wanting to buy the USD in general. The 0.97 area is still a massive cluster, and should be watched. For the time being, we can’t help but notice how much trouble this pair has staying above it for any length of time. If we break higher, we will look to sell again near parity. If we break lower – the trend continues and we are short. 0.97 is becoming more and more important in our eyes now.

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The USD/CAD pair fell, and then rose later in Friday trading as the market began to fear issues in Europe. While this isn’t necessary an indictment on

The USD/CAD pair fell, and then rose later in Friday trading as the market began to fear issues in Europe. While this isn’t necessary an indictment on the Canadian dollar, it was more a symptom of people simply wanting to buy the USD in general. The 0.97 area is still a massive cluster, and should be watched. For the time being, we can’t help but notice how much trouble this pair has staying above it for any length of time. If we break higher, we will look to sell again near parity. If we break lower – the trend continues and we are short. 0.97 is becoming more and more important in our eyes now.

The USD/CAD pair fell, and then rose later in Friday trading as the market began to fear issues in Europe. While this isn’t necessary an indictment on the Canadian dollar, it was more a symptom of people simply wanting to buy the USD in general. The 0.97 area is still a massive cluster, and should be watched. For the time being, we can’t help but notice how much trouble this pair has staying above it for any length of time. If we break higher, we will look to sell again near parity. If we break lower – the trend continues and we are short. 0.97 is becoming more and more important in our eyes now.

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Doing Business in China

Doing Business in China
Routledge | 2008-12-03 | ISBN: 0415436311 | 304 pages | PDF | 1,1 MB

Aimed specifically at Western and non-Chinese businesses and managers this book offers a theoretical framework for understanding Chinese business culture and a practical guide to business practices, market conditions, negotiations, organizations, networks and the business environment in China and the factors that can lead to business success. The authors guide the reader through the processes of market entry, marketing and managing operations in this unique social and cultural context by including: case studies and examples of business ventures as diverse as ornamental lamps, car washes, sausages and outdoor clothing; discussions of the issues surrounding products, pricing, distribution and advertising; advice on choosing business partners, negotiating and entering Chinese Overseas markets; and, guides to further resources in local cultures to help businesses tailor their strategies to local conditions.Building on the strengths of the first two editions with new case studies, updated discussion of the evolving marketplace and its interactions with government and a new chapter on business law, the third edition of "Doing Business in China" will continue to be the number one resource for students of international business and managements studies and practitioners with an eye on China.

Enjoy this great book! Brought to you by SMIRK

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Jeffrey Donovan and Gabrielle Anwar Giving Us Their Burn Notice By Jay S. Jacobs

They are the hottest former spies on TV. Jeffrey Donovan and Gabrielle Anwar are the stars of the USA Network’s mega-popular series Burn Notice playing an agent left out in the cold in sunny Miami and his just slightly-crazed mercenary ex-lover.

The cool cocktail of action, comedy and romantic tension has made Burn Notice one of the hottest shows on basic cable, recently being picked up for a fourth season.

Donovan, an actor and martial artist, has become a star from the series, after over a decade of fine work on TV series like Touching Evil, Crossing Jordan, Spin City and films like Hitch and Changeling. Meanwhile, Anwar has finally found the role to return her to the early career buzz she had built up in the 90s with the movies Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken, The Three Musketeers and Scent of a Woman.

A few days before Burn Notice was about to air the last few-episode arc of the third season, Donovan and Anwar agreed to sit down in a conference call with us and several other websites asking questions about the finale of the third season.

Are you surprised at the success of this show? I know at times, for a cable series on the USA Network, the show is either competitive with NBC ratings-wise or sometimes even passing them. Are you surprised with the following that it's gotten over the years?

Jeffrey Donovan: Well, I think that all you can hope for is that you make something that people want to watch and then somehow keep integrity while doing that. So we're very happy with the ratings definitely. We work really hard, so surprised…? Yes, we're always surprised when anything succeeds in this day and age.

Can you talk about your characters and the evolution that we've seen in your characters? Are you happy with where you guys have ended up with your characters? Also, if you're in charge of everything, where would you like to see them go this season or in the future?

Gabrielle Anwar: Do you think we've evolved?

I'm sure you could always do it better, I mean everybody's got to have that feel for their character.

Gabrielle Anwar: I don't know where we're going. Where are we going, Jeffrey?

Jeffrey Donovan: Well, I'll speak for Gabrielle. I know from talking with all the other cast mates, we're very happy with where it's going. But sometimes Matt Nix and all the other writers keep us slightly in the character dark, not because they don't trust us with the knowledge, but they're just trying to figure it out as well along the way. When you're dealing with espionage and covert affairs, sometimes the secret is more exciting than the knowledge. If we were both in charge, I would love a deeper insight into Michael's past, that's for me. I don't know about Gabrielle. What would you like?

Gabrielle Anwar: I'm quite happy with Fiona's enigmatic state of being. I don't think I need to know more about [it]. I'd love to know more about where you're from, absolutely, but I quite like not knowing. I don't like to know who I am.

Jeffrey, I read online that in an upcoming episode, Michael will be going somewhere other than Miami and that he won't be alone. Can you tell us where your characters going and why, as well as who's going with him?

Jeffrey Donovan: Well, obviously I can't. It's the season finale, and it's really literally in the last five minutes of the show. It's a bit of a cliffhanger. Michael's been stuck in Miami for quite some time, and there's a couple of psychopaths on his tail, and things come to a hilt. By the end of the show, Michael is actually transported out of Miami, but I can't tell you where. It's a bit of a cliffhanger.

Well that's good enough, yes, we wouldn't want to give everything away. Okay, and then my next question is for both of you, when my husband and I saw the previews for Burn Notice before its first season, the thing that first caught our eye was you, Jeffrey. We've been huge fans of yours since we saw you in Touching Evil, which we loved.

Jeffrey Donovan: Thank you.

The other things that caught our attention were the plot and that it was on USA, which we feel is a terrific network for bringing out new and extraordinarily interesting shows and characters. So for both of you, what first drew you to the show and to your characters?

Jeffrey Donovan: Gabrielle?

Gabrielle Anwar: I was drawn to the character, Fiona. I just thought it was so brilliantly written. It was sparingly written, but so insightful. I couldn't believe that a man had actually written the script, I mean at least her character. When I first met Matt Nix, who created and wrote the script, I actually said to him, you must have a remarkable relationship with your wife, because you have such incredible insight. So that was what intrigued me about playing a character. When you sign up for a TV show, you don't know if it's going to be for a pilot or for the rest of your life, so I wanted to play a character that I enjoyed thoroughly, and there weren't that many of them out there. So that's why I clasped onto this script with great hope.

Jeffrey Donovan: I got hooked on the voiceover. The first page is a voiceover, it says, "You know what it's like to be a spy?" I love the idea that not only do I get to play a spy, I get to play a burn spy. And on top of that, I can talk to the audience about what it's like being a spy. I thought I had never seen anything like that on television, so that's what hooked me.

Could you tell us anything about the rest of the upcoming episodes this season, especially “Good Intentions”?

Jeffrey Donovan: It's difficult, because the penultimate episode and then the finale have a lot of cliffhangers and a lot of reveals. So without giving too much away, Gilroy, who's basically a psychopath controlling Michael's actions, has to deliver a plane that has a secret piece of cargo in it and needs Michael's help to do it. When that happens, you find out it actually is someone quite dangerous, and Michael unfortunately allows him to escape. Then the finale is about trying to capture this psychopath that's loose.

Alright, and what was it like working with Carlos Bernard in the episode?

Jeffrey Donovan: Gabrielle?

Gabrielle Anwar: Fantastic. He's such a wonderful man and a fantastic actor. It was an absolute pleasure.

Jeffrey Donovan: I didn't really work with him much, so it was all Gabrielle and Carlos. I only met him in brief, I think at the lunch table.

You both obviously had success in film. A lot of times when that happens, people are less likely to want to do television. What do you like about this particular medium and why do you keep coming back to television? What do you like about this?

Jeffrey Donovan: I think that, especially with cable, it's an avenue to be creative. I think why people are drawn more now to cable shows than ever is that they take more risks, they're creatively pushing the envelope. The networks have to answer to a bigger advertising calling, whereas the smaller cables have lower ceilings that they can bump their heads on. So that's why I keep being drawn back to television, because I think it's one of the most creative outlets. If you think about it, we make sixteen one-hour movies a season. You don't get any opportunity like that in movies. I mean, I can't say I'll be able to do sixteen movies in the next year, and so that's how I see it. How about you, Gabrielle?

Gabrielle Anwar: I like the stability, the continuity of having a lifestyle where I know I can pay my rent at the end of each month. Also I have these children that I am raising and it's nice for all of us to sort of know that we're going to be in a specific place for a certain amount of time. I've never known that in my career. So I'm really quite grateful at this point that I get to have the sort of double existence and I can rely on both.

Gabrielle, take us a little bit inside Fiona's mind with regard to Michael's pursuit of the truth of trying to erase the burn notice. What is her threshold? How long can she wait for him to sort of fulfill this quest that he's on?

Gabrielle Anwar: I don't know. It's really not up to me is it? I have my own personal threshold and it was at the end of season one.

Jeffrey Donovan: Wow, wow.

Gabrielle Anwar: I think it's going to be a real testament to have patience and adoration of Michael, which I don't think she would admit either.

One of the strengths of the show is that each of the three major characters is capable of assessing the strength and weaknesses of an opponent or an ally. What I'd like is if you would put yourselves in the mindsets of your characters and then assess your own characters and each others.

Gabrielle Anwar: Whoa.

Jeffrey Donovan: Well, Dr. Freud, I would say that Michael is probably some sort of borderline personality disorder who grew up in incredible fear in a dysfunctional hostile family. He ran away and escaped it, so he joined the U.S. Army to find a noble pursuit. Now, he uses all the things that damaged him as his abilities now to help others. I wouldn't even go in to trying to figure out Fiona.

Gabrielle Anwar: Well, I don't even understand your question, so let's just leave it at that.

Okay, what would Fiona's assessment of Michael be from an objective potential opponent or ally position?

Gabrielle Anwar: His ability to decipher the characteristics of the problem at hand you mean, that assessment of him?

That kind of thing, yes.

Gabrielle Anwar: I think she finds it extraordinarily erotic.

Jeffrey Donovan: Really.

Gabrielle Anwar: I do. I think it is foreplay, all of it. I think she finds him the most fascinating creature.

Jeffrey Donovan: Wait a minute, you said I do, and then you said she, is this Gabrielle talking?

Gabrielle Anwar: Well, Dr. Freud, who's the bloody doctor here, Jeffrey?

Jeffrey Donovan: He is.

Gabrielle Anwar: Look what you've caused.

The more I watch your series, Jeffrey, it reminds me of this old series from the 60s called The Avengers. It has that feel. There's a very, the combination of real drama and camp and humor and lightness. And Gabrielle, you're Diana Rigg for lack of—

Gabrielle Anwar: Yes, thank you.

And of course, Jeffrey, you're Patrick Macnee for me, I feel the more I watch it, the more I'm reminded of that series as far as the pacing, the energy, the breaks of comedy into the drama. And I was wondering if you could tell me, I really enjoyed seeing Tim Matheson and you play off each other, and I'm wondering will we see Larry again?

Jeffrey Donovan: Yes, you will. Larry's such a pivotal thorn in Michael's ... and that gives my character great ammunition to kind of fight with. He's a terrific character and Tim's such a wonderful man and an extraordinary actor. One, we were lucky to get him, and two, he's actually happy to be on the show and wants to continually come back. He'll be directing season four's premiere. Also, he'll return as Larry at some point in the season.

Love that. And Gabrielle, I love the unspoken communication, you guys say more in glances and looks than what's delivered on the script, and that's another wonderful thing about this series. I was wondering about you and Madeline, your relationship with each other, and obviously she and Michael are a tribe of two, but I think it's growing bigger. Can you talk about that?

Gabrielle Anwar: Yes. I think that these two women have a tremendous amount of respect for one another. And you're right, there's so little spoken about what's really being felt and really being witnessed with that connection to Michael, which I think is pretty accurate to real life, especially with the in-law figures. There's so much that's not spoken out loud, and yet there are so many physical undertones and it's very apparent, and that's thanks to Sharon. I mean, her performance is so beautifully nuanced and I find it terribly inspiring. She's a wonderful woman and actress.

Who would be your dream guest stars you'd like to see appear on the show?

Jeffrey Donovan: Gabrielle, who's your dream guest star?

Gabrielle Anwar: Steve McQueen.

Jeffrey Donovan: Yes, he's dead.

Gabrielle Anwar: He is?

Jeffrey Donovan: Gosh, you don't read the papers.

Gabrielle Anwar: I didn't realize it had to be somebody who could actually appear on the show, but I would say Steve McQueen.

Jeffrey Donovan: I would love Angelina Jolie.

How interesting. And do you think there might be perhaps any other USA network show crossovers in the future or would you like to see that happen?

Jeffrey Donovan: I actually would like to do a crossover somehow with White Collar, I think that the show tonally is similar to ours. I don't know how that would work, but I would like to see that. I don't think we would work with any other show. I think Psych and Royal Pains doesn't figure into our tone.

One of the things that I really love about the show is the different kind of characters and personas that you both take on to figure out to help your clients and everything. And so I was wondering if you had a favorite kind of accent or persona that you've done or how you get the inspiration for that or if you just go with what's in the script?

Jeffrey Donovan: Gabrielle?

Gabrielle Anwar: Well, you're the final king. I don't know how Jeffrey can come up with these creations that he does. It's pretty remarkable, especially he's got such a heavy workload and yet he still can create these fabulous side characters. It's really, really fun to watch. I don't have that in my repertoire, so I'm glad it's all on his shoulders.

Jeffrey Donovan: Oh, sure you do. You played the French character, you played a hillbilly kind of girl, white trash girl, Gabrielle—

Gabrielle Anwar: That's it, we've seen all I've got.

Jeffrey Donovan: I think a lot of the characters that we play really do come out of a script. The writers are incredibly talented and they really help us with specific dialogue and note and kind of character descriptions. My favorite—

Gabrielle Anwar: Yes, you do still come up with these fabulous little quirky things, like the chewing tobacco and the tooth picks and it's really fun. Those little tiny quirks make it so much more interesting than if it were just what was on the page I think.

Jeffrey Donovan: Some people call those crutches. Those are crutches. But my favorite character of all has to be Michael McBride, the Irish character that I played. It's because it's the character that Fiona had fallen in love with, so it's very dear to my heart.

Gabrielle Anwar: Oh.

I'd like to know what goes into learning all the side tricks. Is it just like here's your script and have at it or is there more training and research involved in your roles?

Jeffrey Donovan: We have an ex-operative that actually is a consultant on our show that Matt Nix and the other writers have access to, so everything that is put into the show gets vetted through him before we air it. Ninety-five percent of it you can find on the Internet anyway, but everything that is put into a script has been researched and vetted, so that when we speak it or we do it, we know it's actual.

Got it. And to both of you, what has been your most memorable experience with meeting the fans of the show?

Jeffrey Donovan: Gabrielle?

Gabrielle Anwar: I think actually to be honest, it's the fact that so many couples are enjoying it together. It's become sort of a date night theme, which is really fabulous. I'm happy for bringing the love, it's all about the love.

Jeffrey Donovan: Yes, that's actually true, Gabrielle. A lot of husband/wives and boyfriend/girlfriends come up to me, the husband will say, "Oh my gosh, my wife loves the show. I got her onto it," or she'll say, or a woman will come and say, "My husband didn't watch the show until I told him about it." It's pretty neat that it is kind of a date night for couples.

I love Fiona. Fiona is fabulous, because sometimes a girl just wants to see things blow up and she's the answer that we've all been praying for. I'm a long time viewer of the show, and one of the things that I wanted to know more about was season one, wanted to know who burned Michael Westen; in season two, we wanted to see him get away from Carla; in season three he was exposed, kind of naked to the world, in fact, of espionage. So I was kind of wondering now is there going to be a return of management anytime soon? Maybe management checks in saying, "Michael, do you want to come back," or are we going to see that at all, maybe in season four?

Jeffrey Donovan: Yes, season four is actually pretty remarkable. I met with the writers last week and we kind of broke down the next eight or nine episode arc. A new character is going to be introduced. I don't know the name yet, but he is going to be a young operative, but he's going to play a significant new role on the show. Then there is actually going to be a change of management. There's going to be a new management that controls Michael's life, and you'll see Michael have to go on even more dangerous missions under this new management with the new operative.

Fabulous. And Fiona gets to blow more stuff up, correct?

Jeffrey Donovan: Yes, more of Fiona explosions.

Gabrielle Anwar: Oh, yes.

We know Fiona wants Michael to settle down, Fiona wants the life, and at this point, we're not sure Fiona's going to get the life. So for both of you guys I guess, what do you think the life that Fiona seeks would look like or could look like, obviously it's not going to be Suburbia and the 2.5 children and the dog and the cat, so what could it look like?

Gabrielle Anwar: I don't know to be perfectly honest whether she does want to settle down. I don't think that that is interesting to her at all. I think she wants to feel secure, but again I don't know what that definition of security might be to her. It's certainly not your typical conventional idea of marriage for example, but I think she wants to feel secure because she's a woman and it seems innate in all of us.

One thing that always cracks me up when watching Burn Notice is the tags that they put on the freeze screens of like the newer temporary characters such as Gilroy – Freelance Psychopath. What would each of your tags be under your names, not for Michael and Fiona, but for Jeffrey and Gabrielle?

Gabrielle Anwar: Okay, you first.

Jeffrey Donovan: If I got introduced, a smiling shark.

Gabrielle Anwar: Oh, gosh, still figuring it out.

Jeffrey Donovan: That's true actually.

Jeffrey, I'm always interested in the fight scenes on the show. I'm a martial arts instructor. I know much of what we see you do is most likely complements of the stunt coordinator, but I've also heard that you have martial arts training yourself. Can you fill me in on that?

Jeffrey Donovan: Actually what you see is 90% me actually. I have a black belt in Shotokan karate, about fifteen years experience. I have eight years in Jujitsu and Akito, and about three years of boxing. So what I try to do in every episode is the stunt coordinator makes it safe, but most of the time I choreograph it. It's a great relationship, because I will say what would really happen here is this, and then he comes in and makes it safe for the guest stars. And if something gets too physical, then the stunt men come in and take over.

Jeffrey, because you're the main character, you are very physical in this role, and you obviously spend so much time on set, what do you do for fun in what little off time you have?

Jeffrey Donovan: I golf. Luckily down in Florida, there are a lot of golf courses, and I just put a golf hat on and take my sticks out and I usually walk a course. Sometimes I'm by myself and sometimes I just kind of walk onto a twosome or a threesome and join them, and most people just kind of leave me alone, and that's my quiet time. I love walking about four or five hours on a golf course.

How's your handicap?

Jeffrey Donovan: I'm good. I'm a single digit. I'm down to a seven.

Gabrielle, you have a complicated life too, you've got kids and you live out in LA, how do you juggle all this and then find time for yourself?

Gabrielle Anwar: I don't. I don't have any time for myself. In fact, sitting here in this hotel room in New York is as exciting as it gets for me, my alone time. There really is no time, I'm a mom, and mom's don't have days off.

Now having three seasons under your belt, is it getting easier or harder to keep playing these characters and stay invested in them? Are there any challenges you're facing now that maybe you didn't have in the beginning of the show?

Jeffrey Donovan: I'm getting older.

Gabrielle Anwar: Here, here.

Jeffrey Donovan: As you get older it's harder to run and jump over cars and beat up bad guys, but it becomes easier in some ways because you know the characters so well, so it's a little bit of both. What would you say, Gabrielle?

Gabrielle Anwar: Yes, I always get a little anxious like the first day of school when we've had our hiatus and we're coming back, because I think I'm not as insane as I was when we started shooting, which really lent itself to Fiona. Now I'm afraid I might be getting a little boring in my old age, so I think that I don't know if I can step into her shoes and deliver. I have that anxiety before we start shooting.

Jeffrey Donovan: Oh, you underestimate your insanity.

Gabrielle Anwar: Really? Oh, thank you, I really appreciate that support.

Have you ever tried any of the spy tips you give on the show?

Jeffrey Donovan: No. No, absolutely not. Gabrielle?

Gabrielle Anwar: Not the spy tips, no, but I do think that I can do super human things like drive my car at 150 miles an hour on the PCH and then get into trouble for it.

You have such fantastic chemistry on screen, so what is it like off screen with each other and with other cast members?

Gabrielle Anwar: Oh, it's a problem.

Jeffrey Donovan: Well, we don't find each other at all funny, that's a hard thing. We're very blessed, we really are. I know cast mates usually probably hide the fact that there's tension and turmoil, but Bruce, Sharon, Gabrielle, and I, we get along, not only on screen, but off screen. They're extraordinary actors, but even better people, and the chemistry is just terrific. We have dinner, we hang out whenever we have time off, which is very little.

On a recent episode of Saturday Night Live, they did a parody game show called, “What is Burn Notice?” where people who had not seen the show tried to figure out what it was about based on vague promos and sort of an obscure title. Did you know that aside from your massage number of viewers, that there were people out there who didn't really know what the show was about? And do you think it's a hard show to wrap your head around either based on the title or on the concept?

Jeffrey Donovan: I don't know. It seems like everybody knows the show, because I walk down the street and everyone yells, "Burn Notice, I love your show." So I thought it was kind of a funny parity, quite funny actually, to make a show, it's like what is Seinfeld on cable? So I just thought it was hysterical. What did you think, Gabrielle?

Gabrielle Anwar: I thought it was funny. I think Ashton Kutcher's awfully cute. He can make fun of me anytime.

The addition of Chris Vance as a psychopath Mason Gilroy is really given you guys a violent insane villain this season. And when Michael and Gilroy meet it seems like they're kind of coiled vipers waiting to strike at each other. He seems to really enjoy being a psycho. How is working with him added to the show during the season?

Jeffrey Donovan: Yes, he's definitely added a great tension to every scene that I'm in with him, and I think kind of a great super villain that kind of governs over the show. I think the best part of Burn Notice is always when the villain or guest star is either more talented, smarter, or crazier than the rest of the cast, because it ups all our game. What do you think, Gabrielle?

Gabrielle Anwar: Yes, I agree. I don't actually get to work with Gilroy, but I agree with you. There's nothing more inspiring than to have to pull everything you have out of your back pocket on the stage. And we have so little time to rehearse and to find everything imaginable in one scene, that when you do have this fantastic talent to work with, it really is, it's fun, it makes it so much more enjoyable.

It’s really obvious that Miami is as much a character in the show as the setting. What's your favorite part about filming in such a diverse and vibrant city?

Jeffrey Donovan: I actually love the weather, to be honest with you. I love that the climate is constantly being washed and rinsed. You're living in the Caribbean in the United States and sometimes it is incredible blue skies and sometimes it's an incredible thunderstorm that kind of screams through, but I love that part of Florida.

How was it working with Tyne Daly from Cagney and Lacey? I mean those scenes at the start of this mid-season premiere, they were heart wrenching. It was some of the best drama I've seen on the show, so I was just curious how it was for you? I don't know if Gabrielle had much of an opportunity to spend time with her on set.

Jeffrey Donovan: To be honest with—

Gabrielle Anwar: No, I didn't unfortunately.

Jeffrey Donovan: Yes, and neither did I. It was almost all with Sharon. So we all, to be honest with you, sat back and watched two pros go toe-to-toe twelve rounds. It was quite remarkable. We were all just blown away by it. So I was more of a spectator like you than I was an actor in it.

What would you say is most dangerous stunt you've had to do? Were you ever actually afraid doing it?

Gabrielle Anwar: I don't like fighting with Jeffrey, because I always hurt him. Because I don't know what I'm doing, and he's such an expert, and I always manage to accidentally cause some damage.

Jeffrey Donovan: Yes, the most dangerous is either a bomb or something going off or a fight with Gabrielle. They're about the same.

Well, you sort of touched on what I'm going to ask already, but over the years Michael and Fiona sort of brought this romantic feeling and this background story of their past, and it seems like there are little hints that they're giving in a little bit more. Both as a character and also as the straight actor, do you think that that could ever work? Do you think that maybe it's a good idea not to give into those things, getting into sort of the Ross and Rachel, Dave and Maddie type of thing, where you lose too much of the tension in the show?

Jeffrey Donovan: What do you think, Gabrielle?

Gabrielle Anwar: No, what do you think?

Jeffrey Donovan: No, you go first, I've done it all.

Gabrielle Anwar: No, no, no, no answer.

Jeffrey Donovan: Fiona and Michael are our real relationship in as much as TV relationships are built off of tension, and let's say it is Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd in Moonlighting. Once the banter ended after a couple of seasons and they slept together, there was no tension. That is a typical TV relationship. Ours actually is atypical, we have had sexual relations, we have fought, we have gotten back together, we've hated each other, we've become friends to each other, that is the tumultuous relationship of their dynamic, and that will never change. So the tension is not about them hooking up, the tension I think is their love for each other and how that's displayed every episode.

And speaking of tension, it seems to me that this season Michael's relationship with his mother is sort of softened this season. They were constantly fighting, and now you see more of the strong bond and the love together. Did that sort of come naturally with just dealing with Sharon over the years or is that something that was sort of planned out?

Jeffrey Donovan: Well, you can't help but love Sharon, but at the end of the day, we're actors and we can create any hatred or tension that we need for a scene to work. So I don't think the writers were ever thinking like, "Oh, how nice, Jeff and Sharon get along, let's make them love each other on the show." I think what you're seeing is just a natural evolvement of what does a viewer want to watch. Do you want to see a mother and son antagonistically attack each other every single episode for five years? I don't think so. So it's just a natural progression, just like Fiona and Michael's natural progression.

Jeff, you mentioned about Michael's past, it seems that his father seems to be a significant part of who he is and we always get little bits and pieces about him. There's been some fan speculation that maybe the show isn't always what it seems, that maybe his father could be alive or could not be alive. How would you feel if that were to change, if he found out some new information about his father?

Jeffrey Donovan: Well, that device is always in play every season. I don't think we ever sit around and plot that Michael's father is going to come back. It's not something that we think about, we just know that the device is in play and we like it that way. I think the only shocking thing would be if Sam turns out to be my dad – that would be awkward.

Obviously you guys get along really well, are there any favorite or challenging scenes that you've done so far that kind of stick out in your mind?

Jeffrey Donovan: What do you mean, challenging, in what way?

Challenging, like dangerous, any challenges there, or dynamic scenes, like anything that's a favorite that you two have done and worked together that kind of stand out as memorable?

Jeffrey Donovan: Yes, I really love a scene that kind of came out of working with Gabrielle this past season where we created a scene that wasn't necessarily on the page where I slap her across the face. And Gabrielle did such an incredible performance of having to deal with her feelings for Michael hitting her and then acting as an undercover character. That I think was probably some of the best work I've ever seen her do and that was one of the most memorable moments for me.

Gabrielle Anwar: Thank you.

Jeffrey, I know that you've recently donated some money to your high school in Angsbury, Massachusetts. Also, you're also very involved in Life Rolls On, could you tell us a little bit about that cause and what drew you to it specifically?

Jeffrey Donovan: Well, many years ago, an actor friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go to a charity golf event out in Malibu for Life Rolls On, and I hadn't heard about it. He explained it's a charitable foundation to raise money for spinal cord injuries in young athletes. And Jesse Billauer suffered a life changing surfing accident at the age of nineteen, and this foundation was created out of his name. It's a wonderful foundation that raises funds that aren't necessarily being put into by the government or a lot of private foundations, to research how we can get these kids either wheelchair assisted living or new types of devices that will help them either walk or stand or even ride a surf board again or any sport that they got injured in. And so that's how I got involved and it's an incredible organization.

A complete redirection here, but we see a lot of TV shows getting the action figure treatment now, Lost, Dexter, would you guys be interested if the opportunity came up to be immortalized little plastic—

Jeffrey Donovan: Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, Dexter, a serial killer is an action figure?

There is an action figure of Dexter, so I mean Michael Westen would be an obvious choice I would think, and you have to have knife—

Jeffrey Donovan: Does he have a knife in his hand, I mean, are you kidding me?

He does, he does.

Jeffrey Donovan: Are kids playing with this stuff?

I mean it's not on the shelves at Toys ‘R’ Us, but it's for the older collectors.

Jeffrey Donovan: Okay, alright, now I'm feeling a little bit better. I just was a little worried about that.

Gabrielle Anwar: I sense a little jealousy.

Jeffrey Donovan: You sense a little fear. I would love a Michael Westen action figure and a Fiona Glenanne action figure, and then I could blow them up at home.

Most of my questions have been asked, but I was wondering if we're ever going to see any flashback episodes to see how your two characters met or maybe how Bruce and one of your characters meet or anything like that, if that's ever been talked about?

Jeffrey Donovan: Flashback has been talked about, but not in a nice way. We've never done a flashback ever of anything and it's just not a device that we employ, so I doubt it, but I can't rule it out. One of my favorite episodes of Magnum PI, which I was a fan of, was when Tom Selleck got knocked off a boat and he had to wade in the water until he was picked up. So they just basically shot him for about a half an hour wading in the water and then did the entire show of flashbacks. I liked that idea.

Jeffrey, any plans to return to Chicago and do some more theatre here?

Jeffrey Donovan: Not in the winter, I will guarantee you that my friend, never again. I give Chicagoans all the credit in the world. No wonder Barack Obama became President, the man survived winters in Chicago, that man can handle anything.

Okay. Well then I guess it's not going to happen right, your shooting schedule doesn't allow it then.

Jeffrey Donovan: I know, I know unfortunately.

I follow both of you on the small screen, and on the big screen, Gabrielle, you're awesome on The Tudors, and Jeffrey, you were so awesome in Changeling. I wonder if there's any other projects you guys are working on?

Jeffrey Donovan: None for me.

Gabrielle Anwar: Me neither.

Gabrielle, don't you have two movies that are due to come out?

Gabrielle Anwar: Oh, that's right, yes, I do. In fact, I don't even know what one of them is called, because they keep changing the title on me, so I'm not going to be able to do much of shout out for that. I have nothing coming up, only Burn Notice for now.

I thought Warrior and The Family Tree?

Gabrielle Anwar: Oh, gosh, those. I shot those more than three years ago.

Oh, they have them listed for 2010, that's so strange.

Gabrielle Anwar: Oh, that's not a good sign when they've been sitting on the shelf that long, just FYI.

Jeffrey Donovan: I'll be the first in line.

And Jeffrey, I hear you have an acting school here in Miami, is that true?

Jeffrey Donovan: Well, it's not a formalized school, but it is, I teach seminars. I've partnered with a casting director who's been working in South Florida for about 20 years, Ellen Jacoby, and we created a acting seminar, basically a small little institute for beginners, advanced, and intermediate actors in the area. It's really a selfish journey for me, because we're running out of actors on our show to hire locally. So instead of going to Louisiana or South Carolina or any of these places around us, I thought why don't we just increase the talent level of the locals, so that's why I'm doing it.

What has been your most memorable episode to shoot?

Jeffrey Donovan: Gabrielle?

Gabrielle Anwar: Wow. I think the episode that's airing tonight was memorable for me, because I actually had to work every day.

Jeffrey Donovan: For once.

Gabrielle Anwar: For once. It's true, I actually had a much greater significance in the storyline for this particular episode, so I got a taste of what Jeffrey has to contend with on a daily basis, and I was absolutely bloody exhausted. So it was memorable, because I just had to work really hard "for once."

Jeffrey Donovan: I guess my most memorable is the pilot. No one had ever heard of Burn Notice, not even the term. They put this rag-tag team together of Bruce, me, Sharon, and Gabrielle, and Matt Nix who had never been given a show before, and we just kind of went down to South Florida and we made our show. We made the Burn Notice and what every episode has been based on since, so that's the most memorable. Because I'm so proud that we took a risk, we did the show we wanted to do, and that it caught on is just gravy.

Since the majority of the questions have been addressed, what is one question that you wish someone would ask that they haven't asked you before?

Jeffrey Donovan: There isn't a question out there that hasn't been asked to be honest with you, all the way down to a why I don't sweat, and I do. I just hide it well.

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