FRANCE: A 17-year-old youth drowned late on Saturday when a stolen car which he was driving with two friends ran into a canal during a police chase in France's southeast, according to a regional official.
Trouble between police and disaffected youths was among causes of a three-week upsurge in violence in poor suburbs across France earlier this month.
The trouble was sparked by the death of two adolescents who were electrocuted at a power substation just north of Paris, apparently believing they were being pursued by police.
While officials insisted there was no link between the recent riots and Saturday's incident, the three youths involved are of immigrant descent and from a disadvantaged suburb, like many of the rioters.
Henri Masse, prefect for France's Drome region, told France's LCI television the teenager drowned after police recognised the stolen car in the town of Montélimar late on Saturday and gave chase. "In the darkness, they skidded and the car fell into a minor canal of the Rhone," Mr Masse said.