The world at a glance . . . the Americas

New York City

Actor found dead: Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger was found dead this week in his Manhattan apartment, and preliminary indications were that he died of a drug overdose. Police say a housekeeper and a masseuse discovered Ledger, 28, naked and unconscious in a bedroom, with a bottle of prescription pills nearby. Foul play is not suspected. A native of Perth, Australia, Ledger received an Oscar nomination for his groundbreaking role as a taciturn cowboy in love with another cowboy in 2005’s Brokeback Mountain. He met actress Michelle Williams on the film set and later fathered a daughter with her; the couple split last summer. Ledger plays the Joker in upcoming Batman movie, The Dark Knight.

Corona, Calif.

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Air crash kills five: Two single-engine airplanes collided above the Los Angeles suburb of Corona this week, killing all four people on board and dropping a gruesome rain of body parts and debris over a commercial strip adjoining the Riverside Freeway. One person on the ground was killed when a plane engine crashed through the roof of the car dealership where he worked. Federal investigators say that a Cessna 150, with two aboard, was struck broadside by a slightly larger Cessna 172, also carrying two people. Investigators are trying to learn how the planes could have collided on a day of cloudless skies and light winds.

Miami

Padilla sentenced: A federal judge this week sentenced Jose Padilla to 17 years and four months in prison, rejecting prosecutors’ requests for a life term. Padilla, 37, was convicted in August of conspiring with terrorist groups to commit murder in a foreign country. When he was arrested in 2002, then–Attorney General John Ashcroft said Padilla had plotted to detonate a “dirty bomb” in Miami. He was held in a Navy brig until 2005, when he was finally charged with a crime and transferred to a Miami prison. The case against Padilla did not mention the alleged bomb plot, focusing instead on his presence at an al Qaida training camp in Afghanistan in 2000. In imposing the sentence, Judge Marcia Cooke said she took into consideration the “harsh conditions” of Padilla’s confinement, which his lawyers said amounted to torture. Padilla is appealing his conviction, and prosecutors said they would appeal the sentence as too lenient.

Havana

Everyone wins! In Cuba’s first election since an ailing Fidel Castro appointed his brother Raul acting president in 2006, 614 candidates ran for the National Assembly this week, and 614 were elected. That’s because the assembly has 614 seats, and with the Communists being Cuba’s only party, its candidates always run unopposed. Still, analysts did find some signs of change in the election. Following Fidel Castro’s call for greater political participation by young people, two-thirds of the candidates were running for the first time, and the majority were younger than 50. It’s not clear whether Fidel will seek the presidency again when the new assembly convenes on Feb. 24. In Cuba, the assembly picks the president.

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil strikes gas: A huge natural gas field has been discovered in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s state oil company announced this week. The find, almost 17,000 feet below the ocean surface, may rival in size the nearby Tupi oil field, a 5 billion- to 8 billion-barrel deposit discovered last November. State oil company Petrobras, regarded as a world leader in deep-water-drilling technology, could parlay the discoveries into a role as a dominant global energy supplier. Brazil currently relies on hydroelectric power for most of its energy. The country is suffering a drought, and the government recently had to deny rumors of an impending energy shortage.

Washington, D.C.

Petraeus to NATO? Army Gen. David Petraeus, the author of the surge strategy that has reduced U.S. casualties in Iraq, may be the NATO alliance’s next top commander, Pentagon officials said this week. The move would be among several the Pentagon is considering for the military command structure, including a new commander for the war effort in Iraq. Petraeus, 55, has now served 13 months as the senior U.S. military officer in Iraq. A stint in NATO’s Brussels headquarters could help groom him for promotion to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But some military analysts caution against changing leadership in Iraq, now that the surge appears to be showing results.