New York - A group of bondholders at the centre of General Motors Corp's struggle to survive have criticized the US carmaker's restructuring efforts, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

GM faces pressure to strike a deal that would reduce its 27 billion dollars in debt by March 31, or risk losing 13.4 billion dollars in government loans.

The carmaker this week said it may need as much as 16.6 billion dollars more in emergency federal funds to survive a massive industrywide downturn since October.

Detroit  - General Motors (GM) has to date not made any decisions to close Opel auto works in Germany, the governor of the German province North Rhine Westphalia said Wednesday in Detroit.

Juergen Ruettgers, the top official in the province, talked to reporters after meeting in Detroit with Rick Wagoner, head of the beleaguered General Motors which owns the Opel line.

"We are so relieved," Ruettgers said. "There is no decision to close auto works in Germany, also not in Bochum."

New York  - Deere and Co, the world's largest maker of farm equipment, Wednesday posted a 45-per-cent drop in profits, to 204 million dollars, citing the recession and tight credit situation that constrains farmers from buying new machines.

Revenues sank slightly by 1 per cent, to 5.1 billion dollars, and could be further hurt by a drought in Latin America, the company said.

The company also lowered its projections for 2009 from 1.9 billion dollars to 1.5 billion dollars.

Germany - Workers at a General Motors (GM) plant in Germany which is at risk of closure were shaken Wednesday by an announcement from the US company that it plans to slash 26,000 jobs outside the United States.

"We heard about it on the radio during the night shift," said one worker at the plant gate as he was heading home. The plant, in the industrial city of Bochum, is a branch factory of Ruesselsheim-based Opel, the GM Europe brand.

Beijing - A Chinese automaker denied holding talks over buying General Motors' Hummer-brand sports utility vehicle unit, a spokesmen for the firm said on Wednesday.

"We don't have the desire (to buy Hummer) and we haven't had any contact with GM," the Sichuan Auto Industry Group spokesman said.

Bloomberg News on Tuesday quoted unidentified sources as saying Sichuan Auto, one of China's smaller auto makers, could pay up to 500 million dollars for Hummer.

To attract more Indians, Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) is all set to roll out a diesel variant of its premium compact car, the i-20, by the end of the existing year (2009).

The second largest car maker, which has already launched i-20 diesel variant in the European market, is now looking at launching the car in the Indian market.