The US: Michael Brown, the head of the Bush administration's disaster relief effort, was yesterday relieved of his role co-ordinating the response to Hurricane Katrina, after allegations that he had embroidered his professional record and had no emergency management experience.
A coast guard commander, Rear-Admiral Thad Allen, took over relief operations from Mr Brown, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), who was recalled to Washington.
Announcing the move, Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, said that "Mike Brown has done everything he possibly could" in leading the response.
Fema, he added, "has a lot of other responsibilities" that required Mr Brown's oversight.
Mr Brown, standing by his side, remained silent, and Mr Chertoff refused to comment on the controversy over the Fema chief's background.
Amid signs that he is haemorrhaging public confidence, president George Bush is to make a third visit tomorrow to the disaster zone, where hopes were rising that Hurricane Katrina's human cost might not be as high as some local officials had first feared.
In New Orleans, as police and troops moved door to door looking for survivors and bodies, Terry Ebbert, the city's head of homeland security, said: "I think there's some encouragement in what we've found in the initial sweeps that some of the catastrophic deaths that some people predicted may not have occurred.
"Numbers so far are relatively minor as compared to the dire projections of 10,000." It was news the president badly needed. Mr Brown's credentials have become an embarrassment at the centre of a debate over Fema's slow response to the disaster.
Yesterday's polls suggested that the relief debacle is draining public faith in Mr Bush. A survey published by the Pew Research Centre found only 38 per cent of Americans approved of the way he was handling the crisis, and the president's overall approval rating fell sharply, to 40 per cent.
Meanwhile, Mr Bush, linking hurricane recovery and the aftermath of the September 11th attacks four years ago, said the nation was ready to "overcome any challenge".
"America is a strong and resilient nation," he said. "Our people have the spirit, the resources and the determination to overcome any challenge." Mr Bush was to travel to Mississippi and Louisiana over the weekend, spending tomorrow and Monday in the region visiting with storm victims and examining response efforts. But problems for Mr Bush grew yesterday as Colin Powell, the former US secretary of state seen as a potential leader for Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts, joined the criticism of the disaster response. "There have been a lot of failures at a lot of levels -- local, state and federal," Mr Powell said in an ABC interview.
"There was more than enough warning over time about the dangers to New Orleans. Not enough was done. I don't think advantage was taken of the time that was available to us, and I just don't know why," Mr Powell said.
Nato chiefs ordered alliance ships and aircraft yesterday to hurricane-stricken regions after delays in delivering assistance.