Estonia

Young prime minister takes reins of power

A 36-year-old former auditor took over as prime minister Thursday, becoming Europe’s youngest leader in a nation where youth has been a political hallmark since the former Soviet republic regained independence.

Juhan Parts says his age will be a major asset, helping him bring more prosperity to the Baltic Sea nation of 1.4 million residents.

Being young, he said, brings optimism and desire, something he’ll need as he prepares to steer the country into the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization next year.

Previously he was the country’s chief auditor, a job he landed when he was just 31.

Havana

Cuba sentences last dissidents in crackdown

Cuba on Wednesday sentenced the last of 75 dissidents convicted after one-day trials of collaborating with U.S. diplomats to undermine the communist government.

Governments and human rights groups throughout the world have condemned the speedy crackdown, which began March 18 with a massive roundup of opponents. The subsequent trials resulted in sentences ranging from six to 28 years.

The United States has denied the government allegations, calling the moves “symptomatic of the dictatorship of the Cuban regime.”

The four sentences announced Thursday included a 25-year term for dissident physician Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet.

The defendants were accused of receiving money from the U.S. government and working with Washington to undermine the socialist regime.

Haiti

Government authorizes voodoo as religion

Haiti’s government has officially sanctioned voodoo as a religion, allowing practitioners to begin performing ceremonies from baptisms to marriages with legal authority.

Many who practice voodoo praised the move, but said much remained to be done to make up for centuries of ridicule and persecution in the Caribbean country and abroad.

In an executive decree issued last week, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide invited voodoo adherents and organizations to register with the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest, has said he recognizes voodoo as a religion like any other, and a voodoo priestess bestowed a presidential sash on him at his first inauguration in 1991.

Russia

Chechen rebels kill Russian troops, police

Chechen rebels killed six Russian soldiers and a police officer in heavy fighting in Chechnya, and Russian aircraft pounded insurgent positions in response, an official said Thursday.

Four of the servicemen were killed in rebel attacks on Russian positions, the official in the regional administration said on condition of anonymity.

Another serviceman was killed near the town of Argun, while a soldier died trying to defuse an explosive in Grozny, the capital.

Russian forces responded by using aircraft to pound suspected rebel bases in the Vedeno and Nozhai-Yurt districts. The military rounded up at least 180 suspected rebels in sweeps.

Also, rebel fighters fired on a Chechen riot police unit, killing one officer, officials said.

Jerusalem

Israeli attack kills Islamic Jihad leader

In the second such strike this week, Israeli helicopters on Thursday fired a missile at a car carrying a top Palestinian militant leader in the Gaza Strip, killing him and injuring 12 bystanders.

The attack, in a run-down neighborhood in Gaza City that is known as a stronghold of several violent Islamic groups, took place only yards from the spot where two days earlier Israeli helicopter-fired missiles had obliterated a vehicle carrying two Hamas leaders, a strike that left five other people dead as well.

The target of Thursday’s missile strike was identified as Mahmoud Zatme, a senior commander of Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. He was blamed by Israel for a string of attacks that killed dozens of Israelis.