http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4231170.stmUS emergency aid chief sidelined
The hurricane effectively made a whole US city uninhabitable
The top US emergencies official has been removed from his role managing the Hurricane Katrina relief effort on the ground, the government has announced.
Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is being sent back to Washington from Louisiana where he has been overseeing aid work.
He is being replaced by Coast Guard Vice-Admiral Thad W Allen.
Announcing the reshuffle, Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff said Mr Brown would remain head of Fema.
"I have directed Mike Brown to return to administering Fema nationally," he said at a news conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Vice-Admiral Allen has been overseeing New Orleans relief and rescue efforts.
Mr Chertoff said he appreciated the work done by the Fema director and that his replacement had his full support.
Mr Brown has faced strong criticism over the pace of the rescue effort, and allegations were made that he had exaggerated his previous experience in emergency management.
'Inaccuracies and lies'
I'm anxious to get back to DC to correct all the inaccuracies and lies
Michael Brown
Fema director
As news broke of his transfer back to Washington, Michael Brown told AP news agency he was keen to return there to "correct all the inaccuracies and lies that are being said".
"I'm still the director of Fema," he said in the telephone interview.
"I'm going to go right back to Fema and continue to do all I can to help these [hurricane] victims."
The "story", he said, was not his own career but "the worst disaster in US history".
'Many failures'
The BBC's Washington correspondent, Justin Webb, notes that questions over Mr Brown's eligibility for his post have intensified political pressure on the White House.
President George W Bush is to begin a third visit to the disaster zone on Sunday, with stops in both Mississippi and Louisiana, a spokesman said.
Political figures in both the Republican and Democrat parties have accused the authorities of responding slowly.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said there had been "a lot of failures at a lot of levels - local, state and federal".
Debate still rages in Washington into how independent the inquiries being launched into Katrina - led by President Bush himself and the Senate - will really be.
Nato joins relief effort
Nato has announced that its members will use their ships and aircraft to take aid to the disaster zones as a show of solidarity with the victims.
"The reason is the immense suffering in the hurricane-stricken regions of the US - it was a very quick and very easy decision," Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in Brussels.
Officials in New Orleans say after initial searches for bodies that the death toll there may be much smaller than the thousands feared by some.
But police chief Eddie Compass has warned that to stay in the flooded city would be "suicidal".
On Thursday, Congress approved a bill providing $51.8bn (£28bn) for the relief effort, on top of $10bn granted last week.
