"US President Barack Obama will travel to New Orleans on Thursday for a close-up look at the city's recovery since Hurricane Katrina. In his first visit since taking office, he will tour a school in an area devastated by the storm's aftermath four years ago and meet residents. Mr Obama made the city's rebuilding one of his campaign pledges. Opposition politicians have criticised the brevity of the visit, which is scheduled to last less than four hours." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet