New York  - A day after disgraced financier Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty to masterminding a 50-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme, his lawyers Friday requested that the court release him from jail until his sentencing June 16.

Madoff, 70, was led off in handcuffs to jail Thursday after his plea before the lower Manhattan federal court to all 11 criminal counts. He could be sentenced to 150 years in jail for one of the largest financial swindles in history.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama has abandoned holding detainees at Guantanamo Bay as "enemy combatants," and will instead use the authority to do so already provided by Congress and under international law, the US Justice Department said Friday.

In a document filed in federal court, the Justice Department broke with the Bush administration, which argued the president had the sole legal discretion as commander-in-chief to order the detention of captives in the war on terrorism.

New York  - Wall Street stock indices continued a nearly week-long rally on Friday, capping the best week since November amid some signs that the global economy may be stabilizing.

The rally followed gains in global markets as some major US banks have posted unexpected gains in the first two months of the year. The heads of Citigroup Inc, Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co said this week that they were profitable at the start of 2009.

Washington  - The US government is urging Brazil to return an 8-year-old boy to his father in the United States in a case that could come up when US President Barack Obama holds his first meeting with his Brazilian counterpart on Saturday.

The boy lives with his stepfather in Brazil. A New Jersey court has ruled in favour of his father, David Goldman, and decided the boy, Sean, should be returned to the United States. But a Brazilian court has granted custody to his stepfather.

London  - Tickets for Michael Jackson's This Is It comeback tour in Britain were sold out within hours of going on sale Friday even after the number of gigs was increased to 50, organizers said.

Organizers AEG Live said 750,000 tickets had been sold for the concert series due to start on July 8, reflecting a "truly amazing level of interest."

The US superstar announced in London last week that he would give an initial 10 concerts from July in what he called his "curtain call" in the British capital.

Washington  - The United States sought to reassure other countries Friday that its long-term economic prospects remained strong amid grumblings from China over its US holdings and increasing divisions with Europe over how to manage the global economic crisis.

President Barack Obama, who held a key meeting with his economic advisors at the White House, said the US potential for growth is "undiminished" and the world's largest economy would recover in the coming years.