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Reuters World News Highlights 1400 GMT Aug 5

NAIROBI - Kenyans voted in favour of a new constitution in a peaceful referendum that could reshape the political landscape of east Africa's largest economy, partial results showed on Thursday.
/ Source: Reuters

NAIROBI - Kenyans voted in favour of a new constitution in a peaceful referendum that could reshape the political landscape of east Africa's largest economy, partial results showed on Thursday.

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THE HAGUE - British supermodel Naomi Campbell, testifying at the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, said on Thursday she had been given a pouch containing small, rough diamonds while in South Africa but did not know who they were from.

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WASHINGTON - New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, government data showed on Thursday, underscoring a weak labor market and the fragile economic recovery.

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BEIJING - China pushed back at U.S. pressure on its business and oil trade with Iran in comments published on Wednesday, while Iran's oil minister was in Beijing seeking to shore up ties with the big customer.

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WASHINGTON/BRASILIA - The road to rock bottom for relations between Brazil and the United States, a dispute that now threatens business ties between the two Western Hemisphere economic giants, began in Brasilia in March.

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BRASILIA - Brazil's opposition candidate Jose Serra has debated in public since he was a student leader nearly half a century ago, but in the first TV debate in October's presidential race it will be difficult for him to recover support lost in recent months.

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FRANKFURT - Third quarter euro zone economic data has been surprisingly strong so far but the European Central Bank still expects the bloc's economic recovery to be moderate and uneven, President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Thursday.

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ATHENS - International inspectors on Thursday applauded Greece's efforts to exit its debt crisis, granting a fresh 9 billion euro payment from an EU/IMF bailout scheme, but urged bolder reforms to turn the economy around.

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MOSCOW - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced a temporary ban on the export of grain and related agriculture products, after the worst heatwave on record hit crops.

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ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast will hold elections on Oct. 31, Prime Minister Guillaume Soro said on Thursday, the first date to emerge since a November deadline was missed and the electoral process collapsed in political wrangling.