The Third World Chinese Economic Forum , themed “Linking East and West in a Globalised World,” which is jointly organized by the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute and the Country Heights Group in Malaysia, will see a convergence of Chinese entrepreneurs and businessmen from across the globe.

To be held on Nov. 3 and Nov. 4, key confirmed speakers and attendees include Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, Country Heights Holdings Bhd. founder Lee Kim Yew, IOI Group executive director Lee Yeow Chor and Banyan Tree Holdings co-founder Claire Chiang, among others.

ASLI chief executive officer Michael Yeoh said that he was expecting 600 to 800 participants, with a huge number from overseas.

“Last year, we had participation from 23 countries. We are expecting more this year. This year, we have some big names, for instance Ronnie Chan, who is the chairman of the Tungling Group, which is the largest real estate developer in Hong Kong by market capitalization. We also have Datuk Seri Tahir, who is executive chairman of Indonesia’s conglomerate, the Mayapada group,” said Yeoh.

Yeoh is expecting to see a large turnout of Chinese businessmen, who will not just share their insights on the Chinese economic world, but how they are connecting and uniting with the West for joint synergies.

“With many of the world’s entrepreneurs gathering here for this event, they will be able to better understand our strengths and resources, and thus help to accelerate the economic growth of Malaysia.

“They can participate in our Economic Transformation Plan, and we can tap into the strength of rapidly developing economies to further move up the value chain,” said Star Publications Bhd. chairman Fong Chan Onn. The Star newspaper of Malaysia is the official English media partner of the event.

Malaysian Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha said such an event was good for foreign players to come to Kuala Lumpur and see for themselves how affordable, diversified and livable the city was.

“When they see for themselves, then perhaps we can attract more foreign direct investments. Engagement with China is very important. The Chinese people have changed from past times. For example, when I was in China, I could see that they know how to queue up now. You will be surprised that the Chinese diaspora are now setting up communities in Africa, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, and many other unconventional places,” said Kong.

In his message in conjunction with the forum’s launch, Prime Minister Najib said that the World Chinese Economic Forum provided a useful platform for interchange of views and ideas as well as to forge business partnerships and linkages.

“At this year’s forum, we shall be also promoting the concept of a new economic corridor linking China through the 10 countries of Southeast Asia and India to the Middle East — a sort of a new Silk Road.”

“I believe this China-ASEAN-Middle East Corridor can be a growth region of a sustainable development, economic prosperity and dynamic trade and investment flows.

“This forum also enables foreign participants to be updated on the tremendous business and investment opportunities available under Malaysia’s 12 National Key Economic Areas as defined in our Economic Transformation Program,” said Najib.

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Howard and Linda Morton of Bartlett can be spotted at the Bartlett Cruise-in, in one of their cars, like their 1955 Chevy 210 Del Ray.

Howard and Linda Morton of Bartlett are often on the road during the spring and summer months, traveling topete in various car shows. Some of their favorite car shows include the National Street Rod Association’s Mid-America Street Rod Nationals in Springfield, Mo., which features more than 2,000 cars; the Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, Ky., with more than 10,000 cars; as well as Muscle Shoals, Ala.; Tunica, Miss., at Sam’s Town for the Memphis Street Rodders; and Mountain View, Ark.

Most Thursday evenings, the Mortons can be spotted in one of their cars at the Bartlett Cruise-in at Kirby-Whitten and Stage.

What car club(s) are you associated with? We are members of the Shelby County Street Rodders and Memphis Classic Chevy.

What cars do you own?

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The country is still grappling with a huge oil spill off its eastern coast that has now contaminated an area around six times the size of Singapore, and another separate slick and fire have also tarnished the industry’s image.

In the latest incident, a leak from a piece of oil refining equipment caught fire Saturday at a plant owned by state-run China National Petroleum Corp , the country’s biggest oil producer.

The company said in a statement Sunday the fire in the northeastern port city of Dalian had been put out, there were no casualties and tests showed the surrounding sea had not been polluted.

The fire came exactly a year after two pipelines exploded at an oil storage depot also owned by CNPC in the same city, triggering a devastating spill.

The government estimated about 1,500 tonnes of oil poured into the Yellow Sea, but Greenpeace said up to 60 times more may have escaped.

The state-run Beijing News on Sunday quoted anonymous people at the CNPC refinery as saying the workshop where the fire broke out had just been serviced.

It added the plant where this weekend’s incident happened was close to the depot where the spill happened last year.

“Some observers are pointing out that the frequent incidents to have hit oil firms recently may not be unexpected, and loopholes in the firms’ safety and production management need to be seriously examined,” the report said.

Netizens — already incensed about the oil spill off the east coast which was kept secret by authorities for several weeks before being made public this month — also expressed anger at the latest embarrassing mishap.

“What is this? No doubt

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Food price inflation is likely to rise above 5% in coming months, according to a leading market research agency.

Kantar Worldpanel said it expected the hike after grocery prices rose faster than expected in the 12 weeks to 11 July. The consumer panel had previously predicted that food inflation would not breach the 5% threshold this year.

Grocery prices rose by 4.8% in the three months to the middle of July, up from 4.6% last month.

Martin Whittingham, director at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “While we previously predicted that grocery inflation would not exceed 5% in 2011, we believe this no longer to be the case.

“It has been growing much faster than anticipated and as such we expect it to reach 5% and perhaps go beyond in the next few months. How

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Investment platforms are becoming an important distribution model for life insurers, according to Tower Australia CEO of Group Life Andrew Boldeman.

“Platforms offer an easy solution for the adviser and we are seeing good growth from this area,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “The insurance offerings on platforms have been getting better.”

Tower has been working with financial services provider IOOF to enhance life insurance products for superannuation members on its Pursuit platform.

“We [also] work with some independent platform providers to enhance the insurance offering, but many of the larger ones are owned by the banks with their own set of products.”

Mr Boldeman believes the large institutional platforms will eventually expand their insurance offerings further to meet the demand of advisers.

Life insurance advisers have been multi-agents for many years and initially that was behind their reluctance to use platforms that had limited product offerings.

“The advisers who have always written life insurance want access to all quality products,” he said. “But those new

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