WikiLeaks releases CIA chief’s email data

WASHINGTON – The WikiLeaks organization posted material Wednesday from what appears to be CIA Director John Brennan’s personal email account, including a draft security clearance application containing personal information.

The material presumably was taken in a compromise of Brennan’s email account by a hacker who told The New York Post he is a high school student protesting American foreign policy. The hacker claimed he posed as a Verizon employee and tricked another employee into revealing Brennan’s personal information.

Brennan was seeking a security clearance while applying for a job as White House counterterrorism adviser. It was not immediately clear whether any national security information was compromised in the release of the clearance application.

Vatican denies report that pope has tumor

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican on Wednesday denied Pope Francis is in ill health, saying his head is “absolutely perfect” after an Italian newspaper reported he has a small, curable brain tumor. The Japanese brain cancer specialist identified in the report as having made the diagnosis denied having ever examined the pontiff.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the report in the National Daily was “completely unfounded and seriously irresponsible” as well as “absolutely inexcusable and unconscionable.”

The Vatican newspaper suggested the timing of the publication smacked of an attempt to manipulate the outcome of a hotly contested meeting on family issues at the Vatican.

Associated Press