WORLD briefs

ATHENS. Fire burned through suburbs north of Athens early Sunday, destroying homes and forcing thousands to flee in nighttime evacuations, fire service and local officials said. Authorities announced they were evacuating the suburb of Agios Stefanos, 23 kilometers northeast of Athens, as flames closed in on the town center. Low-flying planes were seen pouring water on burning houses. Firefighting planes and helicopters resumed operations at dawn but, with gale force winds driving the flames, the spread of the fire has not been checked.

TEGUCIGALPA Honduras' Supreme Court says ousted President Manuel Zelaya would face trial if he returns to the Central American country. The Honduran top court is giving its opinion on a plan to solve Honduras' political crisis after Zelaya was ousted in a coup. The court said Saturday that Zelaya must keep in mind pending charges against him. It has charged him with treason and abuse of power.

PERTH Plugging a leak at an offshore drilling rig that has caused an oil slick off Australia will take weeks, the operator said Sunday, though officials said there was little threat of environmental damage. Oil and gas have been leaking from a hole deep beneath the sea floor at the site of the rig between Australia's northwest coast and Indonesia since early Friday. Maritime authorities say the oil slick has been dissipating or evaporating fairly quickly. The slick — measuring about 30 meters wide and 15 kilometers long — is about 250 kilometers northwest of the Kimberley region. Operator PTTEP Australasia evacuated 69 people from the rig on Friday as a precaution against fire breaking out from the condensate oil and gas leaking from the rupture about 2.5 kilometers beneath the sea floor.

JERUSALEM Western demands to freeze settlement-building seem likely to dominate talks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold with the US Middle East envoy and political leaders in Britain and Germany this week. Netanyahu flies on Monday to London, where he plans to meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday and US President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell on Wednesday. The trip includes a stop in Berlin, where he will meet Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday.