Mumbai -- Seimens Ltd. has appointed Mr. Sunil Mathur (45), as its new chief financial officer to take over the place of Mr. Patrick de Royer, who has completed his tenure of three years as the company’s CFO.

Mathur had already been serving as the executive director of the company and possesses a rich international experience of 20 years.

He joined Seimens Ltd. in 1987 after completing his Chartered Accountancy. He had handled diverse portfolios globally in the industry and energy sectors of Siemens after having served ten years in India.

Besides being the CFO for Seimens India, he would continue his current role of a cluster CFO for the South Asia region that includes India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives.

Mathur now carries the responsibility to keep up the rapid growth that his predecessor Patrick de Royer achieved for the company during his tenure since February 2005.

Washington -- A bipartisan plan to rescue U.S. automakers could be close to a vote in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Thursday.

Reid said talks were under way on a deal to assist General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, but did not disclose details of the plan, the Detroit Free Press reported. However, Reid said the plan would take a different approach than the $14 billion bailout approved by the House Wednesday, but stalled in the Senate Thursday after Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., came out against it.

"A lot of struggling Americans are wondering where their bailout is," McConnell said on the Senate floor.

Reid said the new proposal would also differ from an alternative proposed by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. Corker's plan would require union autoworkers to take pay cuts so their pay would match that of autoworkers of foreign-owned auto assembly plants, and would ban "jobs bank" that allows laid-off workers to collect pay checks, The Washington Post reported.

Las Vegas -- The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said room rates are dropping, but so are visitor rates at the famous entertainment mecca in the desert.

Visits to Las Vegas fell 10.2 percent to 3 million in October, the largest monthly drop since September 2001, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Thursday.

Average room rates fell to $115.68 with hotels dropping prices to attract visitors. But, the occupancy rate still fell 8.5 percent from October of 2007, the Visitors Authority said.

"People are not opening their wallets to the level they have been in the past," Kevin Bagger, the authority's director of Internet marketing and research told the newspaper.

Another telling number, the ratio of employees to hotel rooms in the city has also declined.

Branson, Mo. -- Discount U.S. airline AirTran has signed on as the first airline to service popular tourist destination Branson, Mo.

About 8 million tourists visited Branson in 2007, but the town of 7,500 residents has not had a commercial airport until now, USA Today reported Thursday.

About 90 percent of the country-music entertainment center's visitors arrive by car or bus. The nearest commercial airport is the Springfield-Branson National Airport, 55 miles north of the town, the newspaper said.

Branson has agreed to pay the new Branson Airport $2 for every passenger that lands at the airport -- a fee capped at $2 million a year.

The new $150 million airport has one runway and a 58,000-square-foot terminal capable of handling 1 million boardings a year, the newspaper said.

Archdale, N.C. -- The partnership between driver Terry Labonte and Petty Enterprises ended Thursday because of Petty's worsening economic straits.

Labonte was released when Petty Enterprises announced that it is negotiating with Gillett-Evernham Motorsports to field its flagship No. 43 car next season.

"In over 15 years of racing in the Sprint Cup Series, I can't remember a time when the sport's landscape looks as it does today," Labonte said in a statement. "Saying that, Petty Enterprises and I had serious and very sincere discussions about what was best for myself and everyone involved at Petty Enterprises moving forward. I am ready to explore all opportunities."

Labonte, 44, the 2000 champion, had driven for Petty since 2006 but has decided not to retire, and Petty Enterprises becomes a single-car entity.

New York -- General Motors Corp. has hired counsel in New York to evaluate whether to file for bankruptcy protection, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

GM and Chrysler LLC have said they could run out of money by the end of the year without a government infusion of cash.

Citing sources it said were familiar with the matter, the Journal said GM has engaged Harvey Miller of the New York law firm, Weil Gotshal & Manges LP, as well as restructuring specialists Jay Alix, Evercore Partners' William Repko and Blackstone Group's Arthur Newman.

The report came as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told the Detroit Free Press a bipartisan plan to rescue GM and Chrysler could be close to a vote in the Senate.

Reid said the plan would take a different approach than the $14 billion bailout approved by the House Wednesday, but stalled in the Senate Thursday after Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., came out against it. Reid also said it would differ from a proposal by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., that would require union autoworkers to take pay cuts and ban a "jobs bank" that allows laid-off workers to collect pay checks.

New York -- Bank of America Corp. Thursday announced plans to cut 30,000 to 35,000 jobs during the next three years as it digests its acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co.

The reduction could involve more than 11 percent of the work force of the two firms, The New York Times reported.

Bank of America and Merrill have a significant amount of duplication in research, investment banking and other area, the newspaper said. However, Bank of America, based in Charlotte, N.C., said the job cuts announced Thursday are a reflection of the overall economic downturn, and would be applied throughout all of its businesses.

Many of the job cuts will come through attrition. A final number would not be available until early 2009, the company said.

Bank of America has already laid off more than 11,000 people, and Merrill has eliminated 5,720 jobs, since the financial crisis struck in July 2007, the Times said.

Washington -- Household debt fell in the United States for the first time on record, the U.S. Federal Reserve reported Thursday.

Consumer debt declined 0.8 percent in the third quarter to $13.91 trillion, shedding $30 billion CNNMoney.com reported.

Less debt sounds promising, but lack of spending slows the U.S. economy, two-thirds of which is made up of consumer spending.

"Interest rates have shot rapidly higher in the last few months, and people are borrowing less because they don't want expensive credit hanging over their heads," Michael Englund, chief economist for Action Economics told CNNMoney.com. "The other component is the credit crunch, where qualified borrowers are unable to get credit."

While debt fell, vehicle purchases have declined sharply and millions of U.S. homeowners have been forced from their homes due to foreclosures since the middle of 2007.

Chicago -- Grains closed mixed on the Chicago Board of Trade Thursday as the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued its monthly Supply/Demand Report.

Corn was up 9 3/4 to up 11 1/4, soybeans were up 25 1/4 to up 27, wheat was off 1 1/4 to off 2 and oats were off 1 to up 1.

Corn closed higher although stocks rose to 1.474 billion bushels in November, up from 1.124 billion. Wheat stocks also rose in the report, up 20 million bushels to 623 million bushels. Soybeans stocks were reported as unchanged at 205 million bushels.

The prices:

Corn: Dec 3.38, up 11 1/4; Mar 3.51 1/2, up 9 1/2; May 3.62 1/2, up 9 3/4; Jul 3.72 3/4, up 9 3/4.

Soybeans: Jan 8.56 1/2, up 27; Mar 8.60 1/2, up 25 3/4; May 8.70, up 25 1/2; Jul 8.79 1/4, up 25 1/4.

Moscow -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia would consider cutting oil production and was "ready" to join the world's largest oil cartel.

"I would like to say that we are ready for that," Medvedev said about the possibility of joining the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries, RIA Novosti reported Thursday.

Medvedev, speaking at a conference on socio-economic development in the Urals, said Russia would also "protect ourselves ... and such protective measures could also be connected with cutting oil production volumes."

Russia has reportedly sent OPEC a draft memorandum of understanding expected to be considered at the Dec. 17 OPEC meeting in Algeria.

Vice president of LUKoil Leonid Fedun said Thursday he expected the meeting would include an agreement to cut production by 2.5 million barrels a day.