LONDON - THE British government has become a majority shareholder in Lloyds Banking Group PLC in exchange for insuring more than 260 billion pounds (S$567 billion) in risky assets, the bank said on Saturday.
The deal raises the government's interest in the group from 43.5 per cent to at least 65 per cent. As a condition of the deal, the bank promised to increase lending by 28 billion pounds over the next two years, the majority to businesses.
KUALA LUMPUR - RIOT police fired tear gas to disperse more than 2,000 Malaysians who tried to march to the national palace on Saturday to protest the use of English to teach math and science.
The demonstrators sought to submit a petition to the country's king to demand that the national Malay language be reinstated in schools for the two subjects - a sensitive issue for the ethnic Malay majority.
BEIJING - RIHANNA and Chris Brown have secretly married, according to reports. Brown is believed to have proposed to the Umbrella singer during their emotional reunion at P. Diddy's Miami mansion last weekend. Brown was arrested last month after allegedly attacking Rihanna.
A source said, 'They had a tearful face-to-face meeting at Diddy's, during which an emotional Chris apologised, begged for forgiveness and proposed to her on the spot. She was totally up front and confessed to him, 'I can't live without you.''
SEOUL - A US special envoy called on Saturday for talks with North Korea and urged Pyongyang not to launch a missile and stop issuing threats to its southern neighbour.
North Korea escalated tensions on Thursday by warning it could not guarantee the safety of South Korea's passenger jets flying near its airspace if annual joint US-South Korean military maneouvre went ahead as planned on Monday.
