Both sides in France's debate on the EU constitution stepped up campaigning on Saturday as the sixth successive poll in a week showed a slim majority for the "No" camp ahead of a May 29 referendum. With the vote expected to be a cliffhanger, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin urged French voters not to be timid or to turn their backs on Europe. "Have confidence in France's strength. Let's not let ourselves be wrapped up in selfishness and individualism," he told a pro-constitution rally just outside Paris. Opponents of the treaty, led by prominent left-wingers, staged another large rally in the center of the capital.
■ United States
Kid gets stuck in machine
James Manges II managed to climb up the chute and inside a crane vending machine Thursday, swinging around for an hour amid the plush toys he coveted before firefighters freed him. James' mother, Danielle Manges, said that after she denied him money to play the vending-machine game, he threw a juice box and climbed into the machine while his mother picked it up. "Within two seconds he had climbed through the hole, into the chute and pushed the door shut so we couldn't get him out," she said. At first, Manges thought it was funny: "He was playing with all the toys and hanging from the bar like a monkey." But his mother soon became upset when Wal-Mart employees said they did not have a key to let James out. Firefighters removed the back of the machine to free James.
■ Ethiopia
Floods kill 27
Flash floods killed 27 people, many as they slept, in the eastern Ethiopian town of Dire Dawa, which lies on one of the country's key railway lines, the Ethiopian News Agency reported on Saturday. The flood, caused by heavy rains in Ethiopia's highlands, destroyed many houses in the town 400km east of the capital Addis Ababa, which lies on the landlocked country's railway link to neighbouring Djibouti's Red Sea coast. "The Dechatu River, which follows across the eastern town, burst its banks and washed away houses built along its banks, killing 27 people, including six children in their sleep," the agency said.
■ France
Release of Catholics urged
The Archbishop of Marseille called Saturday for the liberation of 40 Pakistanis arrested recently in Saudi Arabia for celebrating a Catholic mass in a private house. "Often it's manual laborers who don't have the right to practise their religion in Saudi Arabia," said Cardinal Bernard Panafieu during a press conference, adding that religious freedom is one of the human rights recognized by the Charter of the UN.
■ United States
Coney Island crash kills 4
A small plane on a sightseeing tour over Coney Island went into a tailspin and slammed into the famous beach, killing all four people aboard but injuring none of the stunned sunbathers who witnessed the crash. The victims died at the scene of the Saturday afternoon crash of the Cessna 172S, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Holly Baker said. There were relatively few people on the beach at the time, and no one on the ground was hurt. Eyewitnesses said the plane was circling above the Brooklyn beach when its engine suddenly stalled, and the aircraft quickly plunged into the beach. The pilot tried desperately to right the four-year-old plane after it went into a tailspin, said Herbert Lecler, 51, who was fishing on the beach.
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