In Brief

Flood victims in Brazil wade back into homes

ITAJAI, Brazil: Flood victims waded through waist-deep water into mud-filled houses yesterday in a devastated part of southern Brazil where neighbors set up patrols to keep looters away and lined up by the thousands for government food handouts. As waters from torrential rains receded after causing at least 99 deaths, returning residents hurled soaked furniture and damaged electronic goods into the streets of this coastal city at the mouth of the swollen Itajai-Acu River. Hunger and thirst were so widespread in the city of 170,000 that police were ordered to let residents take food and water from stores because they were "driven by despair to steal," said state public safety spokesman Joao Carlos Santos. Officers instead targeted thieves who paddled rickety canoes to loot abandoned homes. The official death toll from the rains in Santa Catarina state rose yesterday to 99 from 97 a day earlier. Mudslides killed most of the victims, and 19 people were officially missing. Authorities said the toll eventually could climb to 150.

Livni calls on Olmert to step down immediately

JERUSALEM: Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called on embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday to step down immediately in light of growing signs that he will soon be indicted on corruption charges. The announcement came a day after Israel's attorney general said he was considering filing charges against Olmert, accusing him of double billing Jewish groups for trips abroad. Olmert, who resigned in September, remains head of the interim government until a new prime minister is sworn in after elections in February. But at a meeting of the ruling Kadima party, Livni said he should go before that. His departure would clear the way for Livni, who succeeded him as leader of Kadima, to become acting prime minister until the election. Olmert's office did not react but has said he plans to stay in office until the elections.