LOS ANGELES - FROM t-shirt salesmen to billion-dollar entertainment companies, Michael Jackson's death has triggered a bonanza for business ventures big and small.

Within hours of the King of Pop's demise, hawkers appeared with t-shirts commemorating the icon while Hollywood tour groups scrambled to include the mansion where Jackson died on their sightseeing itineraries.

LOS ANGELES - HUNDREDS of millions of fans across the world will bid a final farewell to Michael Jackson on Tuesday in a lavish memorial to the tragic 'King of Pop' expected to bring America to a standstill.

An exclusive guest list of family and VIPs will be joined by around 11,000 fans crowded into the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the send-off, which Jackson once said he hoped would be 'the greatest show on earth.' Precise details of the service have been kept under wraps, but amid speculation that some of the biggest names in showbusiness may perform in an event intended as a celebration of the tortured pop icon's life and times.

LONDON - TEENAGE hormones and dark magic create an explosive mix in the sixth instalment of the phenomenally successful Harry Potter film series, which has its world premiere in London on Tuesday.

'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' had been due to open last November but Warner Brothers pushed it back by eight months to capture the bigger box office traditionally available in the summer.