Six-foot gash on cargo tank led to oil spill on river

PHILADELPHIA -- Divers found a six-foot gash on the tanker that leaked 30,000 gallons of crude oil into the Delaware River, creating a 20-mile-long slick that killed dozens of birds and threatened other wildlife, officials said Sunday. Divers investigating the listing Athos I on Saturday found holes in the underwater cargo tank closest to the rear of the vessel and in an outside ballast tank, said Jim Lawrence, spokesman for the tanker's Greek owner, Tsakos Shipping and Trading SA.

Review: 'Democratic' counties did vote for Bush

MIAMI -- A newspaper's review of ballots cast in three north Florida counties where registered Democrats heavily outnumber Republicans showed just what officials reported: The counties' voters did on Election Day as they often do, voting for a Republican for president. The Miami Herald review goes against Internet-fed rumors questioning whether there was a conspiracy against Sen. John Kerry in those counties.

Georgia base to get large troop expansion

COLUMBUS, Ga. -- With Fort Benning preparing for its largest troop expansion since the Vietnam War, barber Anthony Brock figures he'll be giving a lot more GI haircuts, or at least he'll have a steady stream of customers even when major units deploy for combat. Nearly 6,000 new soldiers are set to move to the western Georgia Army post, which is already a major training center for recruits, airborne troops, infantry soldiers, officers and reservists preparing for combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Financial world looking to future without Greenspan

WASHINGTON -- While President Bush is busy putting together his Cabinet for a second term, the financial world's attention is on a job vacancy 14 months away: Who will succeed Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan? The list of candidates includes Harvard economics professor Martin Feldstein, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Reagan administration; Columbia University professor Glenn Hubbard, who was Bush's first CEA chairman; Treasury Undersecretary John Taylor; and Federal Reserve board member Ben Bernanke.

-- From wire reports