AFTER more than six years at Temasek Holdings, Ms Ho Ching, 55, is stepping down as its chief executive officer, making way for an American who will take the helm in October.

Charles W. Goodyear, 51, the former boss of mining giant BHP Billiton, will be appointed CEO-designate on March 1 and he will officially take over from Ms Ho, after a six-month transition period, on Oct 1.

WASHINGTON - US EMPLOYERS slashed 598,000 jobs in January, the deepest cut in payrolls in 34 years as the national unemployment rate shot up to 7.6 per cent, according to a Labor Department report on Friday that underlined a deepening recession.

January's job losses were worse than the 525,000 that had been forecast by Wall Street economists, who also had expected the unemployment rate to come in lower at 7.5 per cent. The bleak employment data is certain to be cited by the Obama administration as a fresh reason for Congress to speed up debate over a multibillion-dollar package of proposals to try to stimulate economic activity.

LONDON - FRESH snowstorms plunged parts of Britain back into travel chaos on Friday, after a week which saw the heaviest falls in nearly 20 years paralyse the country.

Some 200 cars were stranded in up to 30 centimetres (one foot) of snow overnight in Devon, southwest England, and their occupants had to be rescued by the army as well as police and others emergency workers.

IPOH - MALAYSIAN police fired tear gas on Friday at supporters of an opposition leader who was forcibly removed from his office when he refused to cede his post as chief minister in a political tussle over which party controls the state's legislature.

The ruling National Front coalition says it wrested control of the Perak state legislature after three opposition lawmakers switched loyalties and became 'friendly independents'. Perak was one of five states in the hands of Mr Anwar Ibrahim's three-party opposition alliance. But National Front lawmaker Zambry Abdul Kadir was sworn in as the new chief minister on Friday.