A Los Angeles court Friday placed Britney Spears under the temporary control of her father while she remains hospitalized under psychiatric care, according to media reports Saturday.

Jamie Spears was granted temporary conservatorship of Britney's assets in a court decision that also barred her manager, Osama Lufti, from seeing the singer.

The conservatorship cedes control over the singer's liquid assets, including her home, to Jamie Spears, who petitioned the court for control in an emergency hearing on Friday.

Britney Spears performs at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas. (photo: Xinhua/Reuters)

The ruling allows Jamie Spears to hire round-the-clock security guards to protect the deranged diva, to bar people from her Los Angeles property and to gain control of her assets.

It was unclear whether the court gave her father the power to make medical decisions on Spears' behalf; even if that was granted, the role can be limited.

Spears was taken early Thursday by paramedics with a heavy police escort to UCLA Medical Center's psychiatric hospital. Unless Spears' stay is extended, she is due out of the hospital Saturday.

It was the second hospitalization this year for the 26-year-old singer, who has exhibited odd behavior since November 2006.

(Agencies via Xinhua February 3, 2008)