Beijing  - The German automaker Daimler AG and the Chinese utility vehicle maker Beiqi Foton Motor Co on Thursday signed an agreement in Beijing to form a joint venture.

Frankfurt - Shares in Europe's biggest insurer Allianz SE dropped by more than 3 per cent Thursday after the company was forced to abandon its earnings forecast in the face of tough financial markets.

"We expect a continuation of these difficult market conditions in 2009," Allianz chief Michael Diekmann said in a statement announcing that the company's target of a 10-per-cent annual growth in operating earnings through to next year could not be maintained.

In abandoning its earning forecast, Allianz joins a growing list of German companies that have dropped their profit targets as a result of the on-going economic uncertainty and share market volatility unleashed by the US subprime mortgage meltdown and the global credit crunch.

Berlin - The German pilot union Cockpit called Thursday for more than 700 pilots employed by Deutsche Lufthansa AG's subsidiary Cityline to observe a 36-hour strike in support of increased pay.

Cockpit said the strike, which began at midnight and was scheduled to end at noon Friday, was aimed at breaking a months-long deadlock in talks with the airline.

The union said the airports at Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Berlin and Leipzig would be hit.

Lufthansa said it would transfer passengers to trains and other flights.

Cityline operates about 400 flights daily to domestic and European destinations.

Hamburg, Germany -

Hamburg - Having a best friend is especially important to women, a recent representative survey of women aged 25 to 55 in Germany shows.

Asked what really counts in life, 97 per cent answered "having and keeping good friends." In second place was a relationship: 95 per cent of the women questioned said it was especially important to have a long-term partner and to be happy in the relationship.

The study, which appears in the August edition of a lifestyle magazine published in Hamburg, also showed that 91 per cent consider financial independence an important life goal.

Cologne, Germany - Unusual material combinations are coming into style in furniture, according to a trend outlook report published for a furniture trade show in Cologne.