USA

The US district judge in the perjury trial of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby dismissed a juror Monday after court officials learned the juror had been exposed to potentially prejudicial material. The decision came on the fourth day of jury deliberations. The remaining 11 jurors will continue to assess whether Libby lied about a CIA leak.

One in six Americans relies on some form of public assistance, a larger share than at any time since government welfare reform a decade ago, the Associated Press said Monday. Those changes have cut the number of people receiving monthly welfare payments by 60 percent, but other government programs, including Medicaid and food stamps, have grown to offset the overall decline in welfare aid.

Concerned that terrorist infrastructure is being rebuilt, President Bush will warn Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf that Pakistan needs to increase its efforts to hunt down Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, The New York Times said Sunday. Not doing so might spur Congress to cut aid to Pakistan, an administration official indicated.

Rising crude oil prices caused the national average for a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline to soar by 12.8 cents during the past two weeks, to $2.35, industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday.

Fiery Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who ceded leadership duties last year because of illness, told thousands of supporters Sunday that his time leading the religious organization is up. His final public bow came at the conclusion of a three-day Nation of Islam convention in Detroit, where the black-empowerment group was founded in 1930.

The Supreme Court led stand a 200-year, child-pornography prison term on Monday for an Arizona man, denying his appeal that the punishment was cruel and unusual.