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WILMINGTON, Del. -- When the chairman of General Motors Corp. muzzled a nun, any shareholder's hopes that GM might bend its new rules to limit their speaking time at its annual meeting surely began to melt away.When he did it again, all hopes must have vanished."Again, sister, your minute is up," said the chairman, John Smale, in his growling baritone.Like basketball shot clocks, two digital signs, in glaring red, ticked off the seconds racked up by each outspoken shareholder. Each was held to a total of 10 minutes, in 1- or 3-minute increments.

DETROIT -- Scrambling to satisfy an impatient board of directors, General Motors Corp. said yesterday that it was eliminating two of the six bureaucracies responsible for designing and building its vehicles.In a statement put out under the names of its reputedly lame-duck chairman, Robert C. Stempel, and president, John F. Smith Jr., GM said the consolidation would help it reach its goal of slashing 20,000 white-collar jobs by the end of 1993.Although it comes after a week of indications that Mr. Stempel's job is in jeopardy, yesterday's action is part of a retrenchment begun in December that is intended to eliminate 74,000 jobs and close 21 factories.

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. lost $24 million on a derivative trade that was terminated last year, the automaker disclosed in its newly released 1994 annual report.The loss was on an interest-rate forward contract. GM officials in New York said that no foreign currencies or banks were involved, and that the loss will be amortized over 20 years, ending in 2013."That $24 million loss reflects the assignment of one swap from one bank to another," said Follin Smith, assistant treasurer in GM's New York office.

DETROIT -- Saddled with large capital expenditures even as it has racked up losses from operations, General Motors Corp. registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday to raise up to $1 billion from a new issue of preference stock.Added to GM's seven other equity offerings since June 1991, the issue increases to nearly $8 billion the amount raised in equity markets in less than two years. The company said it expected to offer the first shares of the new issue within a few weeks.

DETROIT -- In a nationwide teleconference today, General Motors Corp. Chairman Robert Stempel is expected to open the next traumatic chapter in GM history -- including cost-cutting measures to deal with a $3.5 billion loss for 1991 and some plant closings that will spare Michigan's Willow Run assembly plant but could sacrifice a Texas factory.Mr. Stempel also may announce other plant closings and comment on efforts to trim thousands of white-collar jobs, said GM and United Auto Workers officials who asked not to be named.

BONN, Germany -- The FBI has asked the German justice ministry for assistance in investigating General Motors Corp.'s assertions that a former executive, Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua, committed industrial espionage when he jumped to Volkswagen A.G. in 1993, a ministry official said yesterday.The request by the FBI is the latest twist in a bitter 14-month dispute between the automotive giants over trade secrets.Separate investigations in Germany and the United States into GM's assertions center on Mr. Lopez, Volkswagen's head of purchasing and production, who jumped to the German automaker from GM in March 1993.

Toyota Motor Corp. reported an increase in U.S. auto sales in October as General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. posted declines, accelerating the Japanese company's push to become the world's largest carmaker. Toyota, the world's No. 2 automaker by sales behind GM, said yesterday that U.S. consumers bought 1.3 percent more of its cars and trucks in October compared with a year earlier. GM said its U.S. sales fell 22.7 percent in October from a year ago. Ford reported sales down 23 percent.

CHICAGO -- The tight battle for global sales leadership between General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. could rage for years and be settled in China, Russia, India and other emerging markets where the auto industry sees its greatest growth potential. Toyota said today that it sold 9.366 million vehicles around the world last year, about 3,000 fewer than the tally from General Motors - the world's No. 1 automaker for 77 years. As of late yesterday, Toyota had said it had sold about 9.37 million vehicles worldwide last year, making for an extremely tight race with GM, which said it sold 9,369,524 vehicles.

Chief executive G. Richard "Rick" Wagoner Jr. shook up the management of General Motors Corp.'s ailing North American operations yesterday, announcing that he will be responsible for its day-to-day duties. Wagoner, 52, who ran the North American operations from 1994 to 1998, takes over from North American Chairman Robert A. Lutz and President Gary L. Cowger. The pair will retain their titles but focus on global responsibilities: Lutz on product development, Cowger on manufacturing, GM said.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke met with the top management and union officials of the General Motors Corp.'s Broening Highway minivan plant yesterday morning to begin formulating a strategy to ward off a potential shutdown of the city's largest manufacturing plant.During a tour of the GM facility, the mayor said that he was "going to fight hard" to see that the plant, which employs about 3,700 workers, has a long future in Baltimore. The latest threat to the 56-year-old facility comes from the recently passed federal Clean Air Act.The minivan produced here is scheduled for a major overhaul for the 1996 model year, and GM plans to decide in 1993 where the new van will be made.