KABUL, Afghanistan

Officials question suspect in killing of photographer

Afghan central government authorities on Wednesday began questioning the police commander who killed an Associated Press photographer and wounded an AP reporter, a day after he was transferred by helicopter to the capital – a rare case in which an Afghan officer or soldier who shot a foreigner was captured alive.

Local security officials who spoke with the suspect after he was first detained said he seemed a calm, pious man who may have come under the influence of Islamic extremists calling for vengeance against foreigners over drone strikes. Witness and official accounts suggest the shooting was not planned.

But the Afghan Interior Ministry, which is overseeing the investigation, said it won’t speculate about a motive for the attack that killed Anja Niedringhaus and seriously wounded Kathy Gannon.

PAGO, PAGO, American Samoa

Pink eye outbreak affects 2,400 students, teachers

American Samoa is keeping most schools closed for the rest of the week as the U.S. territory tries to contain a pink eye outbreak that has affected at least 2,400 students and teachers, disrupted court hearings and kept some passengers from boarding flights.

HAVANA

Cuba investigating how USAID got cellphone data

Cuba’s government said Wednesday it has launched a probe into how hundreds of thousands of customer cellphone numbers fell into the hands of a U.S. government program that used them to secretly set up a mobile-based, Twitter-like social network.

An Associated Press investigation revealed last week that the U.S. Agency for International Development program used the data to build a subscriber base for the platform, dubbed ZunZuneo, with the idea that it could be used to stir unrest.

Cuba considers such USAID programs to be subversive attempts to topple its Communist-run government.