The world at a glance . . . Americas

last updated 8 January 2015

Washington, D.C.

Pentagon spy confesses: A former Defense Department analyst pleaded guilty this week to spying for China in return for money, gifts, and a Las Vegas gambling spree. Gregg Bergersen, 51, confessed to passing documents on Taiwan weapons sales to Tai Shen Kuo, a Taiwan-born businessman, who in turned passed them to the mainland Chinese government. Bergersen told the court he hadn’t known that the documents were destined for the Chinese. Bergersen faces up to 10 years in prison. Beijing has denied any involvement in the espionage plot.

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Housing secretary out: Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson resigned this week, amid ongoing investigations into allegations of contracting improprieties. The FBI is reportedly investigating allegations that Jackson steered a federal contract to a golfing buddy in South Carolina. Congressional investigators also have charged that Jackson improperly took political affiliation into account when awarding federal contracts, and he was recently named in a civil suit alleging that he retaliated against Philadelphia housing officials who had blocked a land purchase by one of his associates. Jackson, a friend of President Bush’s since the ’80s, denied any wrongdoing. “There comes a time when one must attend more diligently to personal and family matters,” said Jackson, who has run HUD for four years. “Now is such a time for me.”

Third-graders plot revenge: Nine third-graders were suspended this week after school authorities in Waycross, Ga., uncovered an elaborate plot to attack their teacher. The children, who reportedly suffer from various learning disabilities, allegedly brought handcuffs, a steak knife, a heavy crystal paperweight, and several rolls of duct tape to school as part of their plan. Waycross police say the 8- and 9-year-olds were seeking revenge against the teacher because she had scolded one of their friends. Authorities said the children were too young to be charged criminally in the matter. “They have distorted views about how to handle problems,” said local mental-health counselor Audrey Dearborn. “This is a cry for help.”

Start dialing, comrades: Ordinary Cubans for the first time can legally own mobile phones, after President RaÃºl Castro last week lifted his country’s long-standing ban on personal ownership of consumer electronics. The decision also applies to items such as televisions, video recorders, and computers. As soon as new policy was announced, long lines formed in front of Havana phone stores. Until now, Cubans could only obtain mobile phones by persuading a foreigner or a high-ranking government official to open a phone account on their behalf. Observers say relaxation of the ban could increase the flow of news and political discussion to the isolated island nation. “It opens the possibility for more contact with foreigners,” said Cuban dissident Miguel Cuesta, “and for a culture of mass communication.”

Deaths mar seal hunt: The annual Canadian seal hunt started grimly last week when four hunters died after their disabled trawler capsized in the icy waters off Nova Scotia. The vessel had lost its rudder and was being towed to shore by a Canadian Coast Guard vessel. Canadian police are investigating the incident. About 800 seals were clubbed to death on the hunt’s first day, as hunters battled sub-freezing temperatures and 2-foot-thick ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the hunting is concentrated. As in past years, protestors harassed the hunters as they journeyed toward the hunting ground. In a separate incident, an American ship carrying protestors bumped a Canadian Coast Guard vessel; each side blamed the other for the collision.

Detainee charged: Military prosecutors this week charged a prisoner at the U.S. base in GuantÃ¡namo, Cuba, with involvement in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The attack killed 11 people and wounded dozens more. The U.S. is seeking the death penalty against Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, 34, charging that he planned and coordinated the truck-bomb attack. Four other men are serving life sentences after being convicted in federal court in 2001 of participating in the bombing. Ghailani was indicted along with the four but captured later, and the new charges sparked concerns among human-rights activists that Ghailani will have fewer rights in a military tribunal than his co-conspirators were accorded in a civilian trial. “This seems like an attempt to subvert the existing criminal-justice system,” said Jennifer Daskal of Human Rights Watch. The Pentagon said it was using all the legal tools in its arsenal to best execute “the global war on terror.”