Northern Suburbs

A massive wildfire that destroyed homes and forests receded Monday as a multinational airborne effort beat back flames that at one point threatened Athens' northern suburbs and raged near the ancient battleground at Marathon. As winds died down late Monday, fire brigade spokesman Yiannis Kappakis said there were "no significant active fronts" left of the fire, which for days has sent a pall of smoke that plunged parts of the Greek capital into a brown half-light. Thousands of people were forced to flee their homes.

Sunday Silence and Easy Goer, last year's top two U.S. thoroughbreds, will renew the hottest rivalry in horse racing at a $1-million invitational race Aug. 4. Arlington International Racecourse said Tuesday that it will host the 1 1/4-mile race on dirt that will reunite the two horses who thrilled the fans in four exciting races last year which ended 3-1 in favor of Sunday Silence.

Several hundred curious spectators watched as China staged its first bullfights Saturday, complete with matadors from Spain and bulls from Mexico. "It's really something different," said city government worker Yu Liang at the event in a soccer stadium in Shanghai's northern suburbs. He then called, "Be careful!" as a bull made another pass at matador Guillermo Alban. Beijing called off a similar event earlier this year in the face of protests. Shanghai went ahead, with some changes.

Heavy thunderstorms Friday night triggered flash floods and mud slides along two tributaries of the Allegheny River, and at least four people were killed as high waters inundated homes and businesses and cut off rescuers. The rush hour flooding from Pine Creek and Little Pine Creek struck Pittsburgh's northern suburbs and caused fires, power outages and traffic jams in northern Allegheny County.

The senior engineer aboard an Amtrak train that smashed into a commuter train, injuring 264 people, had been banned from operating trains in suburban New York because of signal violations, authorities said Friday. Willis Copeland, 53, of Bethany, Conn., was supervising an apprentice engineer at the controls of the Night Owl from Washington that derailed and crashed as it approached a Boston station during morning rush hour Wednesday.

San Diego City Council members authorized yet another legal maneuver Tuesday to delay the re-opening of Pomerado Road to through traffic. Deputy City Atty. Les Girard said that he was authorized by the council to petition the 4th District Court of Appeal for a rehearing or a revision of its opinion issued last week ordering San Diego to reopen the road immediately.

Police used whips, fired tear gas and arrested more than 50 people Friday as college students, both white and black, staged anti-government protests in South Africa's two biggest cities. At the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, confrontations between students and riot police flared in some of the worst political violence ever at one of the country's predominantly white colleges.

Heavy rain followed by flooding caused havoc Thursday in New York City, virtually halting subways, trains and cars for hours and stranding hundreds of thousands of commuters. City and railroad officials said service on six major subway lines was suspended, six others were forced to limit service and the Metro-North railroad into Manhattan from the northern suburbs was shut down. The rain also delayed flights at the region's three major airports.

A storm spread snow and sleet across the Midwest and Northeast on Friday, giving many students a day off from school and frustrating thousands of travelers with flight delays and cancellations. South of the snow, heavy rain fell across portions of Kentucky, southern Indiana, southern Ohio and West Virginia. A boat capsized during a rescue effort along a swollen creek outside Charleston, W. Va., leaving one person dead and two presumed drowned. Four others were rescued.

Dozens of wildfires broke out across Greece, burning olive groves, cutting off villages and sending residents fleeing Saturday as one of the largest blazes swept perilously close to the capital's northern suburbs. The fires north of Athens were reported in an area more than 25 miles wide. Authorities were forced to evacuate two large children's hospitals, campsites, villages and outlying suburban areas threatened by blazes that sent huge clouds of smoke over the capital and scattered ash on city streets.