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Frankfurt - A Chinese takeover bid could still be on the cards for German car manufacturer Opel, after Beijing's state-owner car-maker was granted access to the troubled firm's accounts, the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported Thursday.

Opel's US owner General Motors had agreed to the request by Beijing Automotive Industry Corp (BAIC), the paper said.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) has announced that it has inked a joint venture agreement with Helios SinoGulf Property Development.

The company has entered into this JV in order to develop a logistics and business park under free zone regulation adjacent to Al Ain International Airport.

According to sources, the first phase of development will attract an investment of Dh900 million, which is slated to be finalized by fiscal 2010-end.

Madrid - A Spanish cruise ship with swine flu patients on board has left the Venezuelan Caribbean island of Margarita, the company owning the ship said Thursday.

Pullmantur said MS Ocean Dream had set off for Aruba in the Lesser Antilles after the 376 Venezuelans among its 759 passengers had disembarked.

The ship had been barred from entering Grenada and Barbados after three of the 400 crew members were diagnosed with the new type of influenza A(H1N1), known as swine flu.

Islamabad, June 18 : In yet another drone strike in less than a week in South Waziristan, at least five people were killed and several others injured when two US Predator aircrafts fired missiles at a suspected Taliban hideout in the Wana region on Thursday.

According to the sources, the drones targeted the hideouts of Taliban commander Mullah Nazir in Shah Alam and Raghzai area near Wana, firing five missiles.

The hideouts were completely destroyed in the missile hit.

Baghdad - Four Iraqis were killed on Thursday as violence continued in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police there said.

Two policemen were fatally shot in two separate gun battles with insurgents in the east of the city, police told the German Press Agency dpa, without giving details.

In a third firefight, in the Yarmuk neighbourhood of western Mosul, Iraqi soldiers killed one insurgent and arrested five others after coming under attack, police said.

Nottingham, June 18 : South African wicket-keeper Mark Boucher has said that his team is not worried about threat that in-form Pakistani paceman Umar Gul possesses in Thurday's Twenty20 World Cup semi-final and conveyed that the Proteas are ready to face their Pakistani counterpart.

"Gul is a very good bowler, especially in the last couple of overs. But we have played against him before and have been successful. It is only a matter of trusting ourselves," Sports 24. co quoted Boucher, as saying.