Iraq Two American helicopters crashed in Iraq, bringing the US death toll to six in under 24 hours, while US warplanes pounded a rebel checkpoint in Fallujah as violence marred the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Iraq Reports that British troops based in the relatively calm south of Iraq could be redeployed under US command near strife-torn Baghdad drew a storm of criticism from opposition parties. Mideast Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to meet settler leaders who are fiercely opposed to his Gaza pullout plan as his cabinet convened for the last time before giving its verdict on the project. US The New York Times endorsed John Kerry for president, becoming the first major US daily to announce its presidential preference, and was joined by small papers in the swing states of Ohio and Minnesota in backing the Democratic senator. US President George W. Bush and challenger John Kerry were in a dead heat 16 days before Election Day, according to a poll, although Kerry was widely seen as the victor in their three debates. France Pierre Salinger, who served as press secretary to presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, has died of a heart attack near his home in southern France, and is to be buried in the Arlington cemetery in his native United States, his French wife said. Belarus Belarusians voted in a constitutional referendum on whether their authoritarian leader can run for a third term. NKorea North Korea has already completed the development of plutonium-based nuclear weapons with the help of Pakistan, a senior Japanese official said. Japan-Peru Former president Alberto Fujimori, who is in exile in Japan, headed a "criminal organization" that murdered 25 people in the early 1990s, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry told Japan in support of an extradition request against Fujimori.