Free Republic

Two Sebastian River Middle School eighth-graders have been charged with lewd or lascivious molestation and attempted sexual battery on a child, in connection with an incident on a school bus while the school's soccer team returned home from a game. Rodolfo Rodriguez, 14, and Jose Zamora, 15, both of Fellsmere were arrested at their homes Sept. 17, according to arrest affidavits released Tuesday. The two eighth-graders attempted to insert an apple pie box in a sixth-grade teammate's buttocks, while others tried taking photos with cellular phones, according to an incident report released Tuesday .

<p>BAGHDAD _U.S. authorities in Baghdad have received five severed fingers belonging to four Americans and an Austrian who were taken hostage more than a year ago in Iraq , U.S. officials said Wednesday.</p> <p>The FBI is investigating the grisly development, and the families of the five kidnapped contractors have been notified, American officials said on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the case publicly.</p>

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israeli soldiers killed a top Hamas fugitive in a roadside ambush Monday, and in a separate operation, raided a stronghold of the militant Islamic group, shooting dead two Palestinians and blowing up the house of a suspected bombmaker. The two Israeli strikes came in response to a deadly Hamas attack on an Israeli tank over the weekend. Israel said it will intensify its hunt for Hamas militants, who have carried out many of the bombings and other attacks against Israeli targets in the past 29 months of fighting. The Hamas fugitive, Riyad Abu Zeid,...

<p>A Garfield resident whose family's pet cat was killed by a pit bull terrier is accused of setting the dog on fire at least twice while his sister and several other young people watched, a humane officer said Thursday.</p> <p>Michael Grier, 18, was arrested yesterday afternoon at his family's home on Jordan Way, not far from where the young dog was set ablaze and left to die on May 22, said Kathy Hecker, a humane officer for Animal Friends.</p>