USA

Shell Oil Co. and Marathon Oil Corp. pulled nonessential workers from offshore platforms in the eastern and central Gulf of Mexico as a precaution in case tropical storm Fay should bear down on them. Forecasts called for the storm to miss offshore oil production areas but strike the Gulf coast of Florida Tuesday or Wednesday.

Qwest Communications reached a tentative three-year deal with the Communications Workers of America, which represents about 20,000 of its employees in 13 states. The agreement allows Qwest to concentrate on providing phone and Internet services at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

A rain-soaked earthen dam near the Grand Canyon broke Sunday, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of residents from a village flooded in a downstream Arizona Indian reservation, a National Park spokeswoman said.

The Brooklyn Museum said it is planning an exhibit of fakes in order to raise awareness of forgeries in the world's art collections. The news follows the museum's announcement that its prized collection of stone sculptures from ancient Egypt was cluttered with fakes. "Museums are in the habit of hiding these things away," a spokesperson said.

Former members of President Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps were saluted Sunday in Connecticut, as part of the 75th anniversary of the works project for young men on the "relief rolls" from 1933 to 1942. The event, like those held or planned in other states, acknowledges CCC efforts to develop national and state parks by planting 3 billion trees and improving 3,500 beaches. Above, CCC alumni George Bloom (l.) and George Diekewicz chat at the former site of Camp Roosevelt in Killingworth, Conn.

A man who fell down a 100-foot shaft while exploring an abandoned gold mine near his family's Sonora, Calif., home was rescued Sunday after spending two nights in the mine. Darvis Lee Jr. was treated at a hospital and released.