WORLD BRIEFS

LIBYA: Cabinet fired in turmoil

The interim ruling council has fired the nation's cabinet, just five months after it took office, citing incompetence, officials said Thursday, just two months before the first national election. National Transitional Council official Fathi Baja told The Associated Press that 65 of the council's 72 members approved a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib. It's the latest blow to Libya, struggling to reorganize after the overthrow of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

AFGHANISTAN: 4 U.S. service members die

An Afghan soldier fatally shot an American service member and a local interpreter in southern Afghanistan, officials said Thursday, the latest in a string of attacks against U.S. and other foreign forces by their Afghan partners. In the east, meanwhile, three U.S. service members were killed in a bomb attack, according to NATO and a U.S. official. The official confirmed the nationalities on condition of anonymity because the information had not yet been publicly released. Further details were not immediately available. A mortar fired during heavy fighting between NATO forces and the Taliban hit a house in eastern Wardak province Thursday, killing three women.

PAKISTAN: Bin Laden family deported

Osama bin Laden's three widows and his children were deported to Saudi Arabia early Friday, less than a week before the first anniversary of the unilateral American raid that killed the al-Qaida leader in his hideout in a military town. The departure of the family closed another chapter in an affair that cemented Pakistan's reputation as a hub of Islamist extremism and cast doubt on its trustworthiness as a Western ally.

NIGERIA: Newspaper office bombed

The office for a major newspaper, ThisDay, was bombed in the capital, Abuja, officials said Thursday, and witnesses said another blast went off at the company's office in Kaduna. They were not believed suicide bombings.