Brothers charged with setting Israeli fire
HAIFA, Israel, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Two teenage brothers from a Druze village were charged Saturday with starting a devastating wildfire that has killed 42 people in northern Israel, police said.
The brothers, both 16, live in Isfiya, a village near where the Carmel fire began Thursday, Haaretz reported. They were taken into custody by the Central Police Unit.
The Druze practice a monotheistic religion that emerged from Islam in the Middle Ages. Druze in Israel have generally been friendly to the Jewish community and serve in the armed forces.
Authorities said Saturday the blaze, which has killed at least 42 people, might burn for days. A commander said his firefighters were dealing with flames as high as 60 feet, Ynetnews.com reported.
"At this point we have reached the best situation since the fire began," said Israel Fire and Rescue Commissioner Shimon Romach. "We are still not talking about controlling the fire. It will take us a day or two and then we'll still have the final extinguishing work, so there is a lot of work ahead."
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told a news conference that 17,000 people have been evacuated. Most of the dead were police cadets brought in to help evacuate a prison who were on a bus that became trapped by the fire.
Israeli Fire Services spokesman Yoram Levy said the fire, which has burned more than 12,000 acres, could continue for a week, The Jerusalem Post reported.
"The international support that we are receiving, that is impressive, could help us to extinguish the fire Saturday night (Dec. 11)," Levy said.
In addition to 10 Israeli military aircraft dropping water and flame-retardant foam, planes from Cyprus, France, Greece, Russia and Turkey were part of the effort, fire officials said.
Italy to ban plastic bags
ROME, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Italy's environment minister says there are no plans to extend a grace period for the continued use of plastic shopping bags, which will be banned Jan. 1.
The ban, first proposed in 2007, was originally scheduled to become law on Jan. 1, 2010, but the government postponed it for a year, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
"There is no going back," the environment minister, Stefania Prestigiacomo, said Friday. "Producers had enough time to prepare themselves for this change."
Italians now use about 20 billion plastic bags a year, and experts say they take anywhere from 15 to a thousand years to degrade. Prestigiacomo is planning an education campaign to encourage the public to switch to biodegradable bags or to reusable cloth shopping bags.
"Sustainability is made of little changes to our lifestyle that don't cost us anything and can save the planet," she said.
Volunteer search for missing brothers ends
MORENCI, Mich., Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Large-scale volunteer efforts to find three missing Michigan boys have ended, police said.
The brothers' father remains in jail in Toledo, Ohio, where he is under suicide watch, the Detroit Free Press reports. Two ministers and a relative were allowed an extended visit this week in an effort to get John Skelton of Morenci, Mich., to provide information about his sons' whereabouts.
The boys were last seen at Skelton's house on Thanksgiving Day. Skelton's estranged wife reported Andrew, 9, Alexander, 7, and Tanner, 5, missing the next day.
While Skelton is charged with parental kidnapping, he is being held in lieu of $3 million bail, and some investigators have said they believe the boys are dead.
Morenci officials have canceled the town's Christmas parade, The Detroit News reported. Instead, the town of about 2,000 just north of the Ohio line has scheduled a candlelight vigil for 6 p.m. Sunday.
Canadian sailor slain off Honduran coast
MAHONE BAY, Nova Scotia, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A Canadian man was killed by gunmen who boarded his yacht off the coast of Honduras with the intention of robbing him and his daughter, a family member says.
Kelly Wilson, the former brother-in-law Milan Egrmajer, 55, of Ottawa, said the sailor was shot to death Thursday night aboard the Adena, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
Wilson said, speaking to the news network from Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, said Egrmajer had been on an extended sailing trip for about 18 months and his 24-year-old daughter Myda had joined him in November.
The two were anchored in a lagoon near an island about 20 miles from Tela, Honduras, because of bad weather when they were beset by an unknown number of gunmen, Wilson said.
He said his niece used a flare gun to scare off the attackers. It was several hours before she was helped by people who arrived on another boat.
She was taken to Belize, unharmed but traumatized, he said.
Boy missing after falling into icy river
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A day of playing hockey on the Red River in Winnipeg, Manitoba, ended tragically Saturday with one of two young brothers missing in the icy water, police said.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported both boys, ages 6 and 10, broke through the ice but a passing teenager, putting his own life at risk, rescued the older brother. A search for the 6-year-old was unsuccessful, the CBC said.
The heroic teen, Kole Devisscher, happened to be driving by when he saw the 10-year-old brother in the water. The 16-year-old grabbed a rope from the back of his truck and went on the ice, made a lasso and reeled the boy in.
"I kind of thought about it before I went out there and did what I could to get him out," Devisscher said.
"He was just screaming and saying he was freezing and his brother was dead. It's pretty sad."
Witnesses estimated the boy had been in the water about 15 minutes. His condition wasn't known.
"What started out as a fun event on a relatively nice winter day has really turned into a tragedy," said Constable Natalie Aitken of Winnipeg Police Services.
