WORLD BRIEFS

KENYA/New constitution voted in

Kenyans overwhelmingly approved a new constitution that promises to address the core problems of governance, such as corruption and tribalism, that have plagued this country throughout its post-colonial history. Nearly 70 percent of Kenyan voters backed the new draft, the nation's election authority announced Thursday, citing official tallies from most polling stations. The referendum came more than two years after violence erupted following the 2007 elections, which were marred by allegations of vote rigging and fraud. More than 1,000 people were killed in the ethnic and politically motivated attacks.

THE NETHERLANDS/Supermodel testifies at Taylor trial

Fashion icon Naomi Campbell countered allegations that former Liberian ruler Charles Taylor gave her a fistful of diamonds as a flirtatious gift, telling his war crimes trial Thursday that a pouch of "very small, dirty-looking stones" was delivered to her room in the dark of night. The supermodel's testimony did not provide the smoking gun prosecutors had sought to show Taylor traded in so-called "blood diamonds" to arm rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone. Campbell denied knowingly receiving a gift of diamonds from Taylor after a celebrity-studded 1997 dinner at Nelson Mandela's presidential mansion in South Africa.

INDIA/1 killed, 15 hurt in Kashmir clash

Government forces fired live ammunition to stop a protest march in Indian-held Kashmir Thursday, killing one person and wounding at least 15, pushing the death toll from two months of civil unrest to 49. India's portion of the divided Himalayan region has been wracked by weeks of clashes between rock-throwing Kashmiri protesters who have set official buildings and vehicles ablaze, and paramilitary police using guns and tear gas in an effort to contain the large anti-India crowds.

PHILIPPINES/Bomb in airport kills one

A powerful bombing killed a man and wounded about a dozen other people including a provincial governor Thursday at an airport in a southern Philippine city. The U.S. ambassador, who was supposed to visit Zamboanga city on Friday, postponed the trip, saying it would be a burden to security personnel investigating the attack. The blast went off at 6:15 p.m. local time, just outside the arrival gate, said Col. Santiago Baluyot, head of the military's Task Force Zamboanga. As the smoke cleared, police found a body. Investigators were trying to determine whether the man killed was a bomber, Baluyot said. There was no claim of responsibility. Zamboanga city has been targeted by the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group.