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.

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.

Washington  - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to Mexico March 25 and 26 amid increasing drug-related violence along the US border.

The State Department said Friday Clinton will meet with Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa for talks on a host of issues that focus on cooperation between the two countries in fighting narcotics.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon's crackdown on drug cartels has resulted in a jump in violence near the US border among trafficking gangs and retributions against police.

Washington - US Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Chile and Costa Rica later this month for talks with Latin American leaders ahead of April's summit in Trinidad and Tobago, the White House announced Friday.

Biden will attend a governance conference in Chile that will be attended by several Latin American leaders during the March 27-30 trip, before heading to Costa Rica.

Washington - The world's banks need deeper government intervention and better cooperation to halt a deepening global recession and avoid a collapse of major financial institutions, the global financial lobby said Friday.

The International Institute of Finance (IIF) said the world's economy will shrink by 1.8 per cent this year - down from its January prediction of a 1.1-per-cent contraction that would mark the first global decline since World War II.