In brief: CIA leak sentence less than expected

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A former CIA officer was sentenced Monday to 3 1/2 years in prison for leaking details of a secret mission to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a sentence that paled in comparison to the decades-long term that had been on the table.

Jeffrey Sterling, 47, of O’Fallon, Missouri, had faced federal sentencing guidelines calling for 20 years or more.

A jury convicted him in January of telling New York Times journalist James Risen about a classified plan to trick the Iranian government by slipping flawed nuclear blueprints through a Russian intermediary.

Risen published details of the operation in his 2006 book “State of War.”

Prosecutors chose not to call Risen as a witness, despite winning legal battles allowing them to do so.

Philippines, Japan hit by typhoon

TOKYO – A powerful typhoon swerved into southern Japan today after hammering the northeastern tip of the Philippines, leaving at least two people dead.

It was hovering near the southernmost Japanese islands of Amami Oshima, about 1,100 miles southwest of Tokyo, filling the area with heavy rains and strong winds, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

It was headed toward a part of the southern major island of Kyushu and then the main island of Honshu later in the day, the agency said.

In the Philippines, two men died of electrocution in Cagayan’s Appari town and nearly 3,500 were briefly evacuated, said Norma Talosig, the regional civil defense director.