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WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is drawing an A-list of performers for his inaugural festivities, including a massive ball expected to draw more than 35,000 revelers.

NEW ORLEANS - A newly elected New Orleans city councilman whose district includes the Lower 9th Ward has withdrawn a package of ordinances that would have required tour buses to pay fees to access the neighbourhood.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Fort Lauderdale — home of the iconic 1960s Spring Break film "Where the Boys Are" — boasts 23 miles of sugar sand beaches where bathing suit-clad tourists sip daiquiris under lazy palm trees.

NEW YORK, N.Y. - At least gasoline should cost you less in 2013. Hamburger, health care and taxes are all set to take a bigger bite out of the family budget this year.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A popular rum promoter has angered environmentalists with his plan for a shark-hunting tournament in the Dominican Republic similar to one he organized after the release of the movie "Jaws.

ROME - One can't stand being in a mall: It feels too much like the ship, with no visible exits. Another dreams she's walking on a tilt — a memory of having crawled up walls as the cruise liner rolled onto its side.

HAVANA - Like many Cubans, 16-year-old Ana Liliam Garcia is excited at the thought of seeing the world beyond this Communist-run island smaller than the state of Pennsylvania.

BAGAN, Myanmar - The rising sun streaked a light blanket of fog with pink and yellow.

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Grand Central, the country's most famous train station and one of the finest examples of Beaux Arts architecture in America, turns 100 on Feb. 1.

Boeing's 787 is supposed to revolutionize air travel. It just needs to get out of its own way first. The new plane is undoubtedly Boeing's most visible.