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Joe Horn, the infamous neighbor in Pasadena TX who shot two suspected burglars in the back in broad daylight last November, has been cleared by a Texas Grand Jury. According to the Houston Chronicle, Horn "confronted" two men who had allegedly broken into a neighbor's house. Horn had called 911 where his conversation with the operator had been taped: “Move,” Horn can be heard saying on the tape. “You’re dead.” Boom. Click. Boom. Click. Boom. Horn redialed 911 and told the dispatcher what he’d done. “I had no choice,” he said, his voice shaking. “They came in the front yard...

Two Marine officers in a unit that was accused of killing as many as 19 Afghan civilians in 2007 will not face criminal charges, the military said Friday. Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, the commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Central Command, made the decision not to bring charges after reviewing the findings of a special tribunal that heard more than three weeks of testimony in January at Camp Lejuene. The tribunal investigated allegations that as many as 19 Afghan civilians died when a unit of Lejeune-based Marine special operations troops opened fire after a car bomb targeted their convoy on...

BALTIMORE – The only officer charged in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing, his attorney said Thursday. A military jury convicted Army Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan in August of disobeying an order to not talk about an investigation into the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in the fall of 2003. Jordan was acquitted of allegations that he failed to supervise 11 lower-ranking soldiers previously convicted for their roles at Abu Ghraib. Now the conviction has been thrown out. Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe, commanding general of the Military District of Washington, sent Jordan's attorney...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A computer sabotaged by a disgruntled worker for a NASA supplier has been repaired and loaded aboard the space shuttle Endeavour for a Wednesday liftoff. A top NASA manager said Monday it was apparently an isolated event and that there was no reason to believe anyone had tampered with anything else on the spacecraft. "We have found no other areas of concern," space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said. "We have thoroughly reviewed all the parts made by that contractor and gone back through our records to make sure that all the orbiter systems on board...

The "naked rambler" Stephen Gough has been cleared of causing a breach of the peace by refusing to cover up in a public car park. Despite being convicted eight times, Sheriff Isobel Poole ruled that his latest case was not proven. The ex-marine, from Eastleigh in Hampshire, admitted refusing to dress before being released into Saughton Prison car park in Edinburgh.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - As with most gossip, the full story of the New York Post writer investigated on suspicion he tried to extort a billionaire to keep his name out of the paper may never be known. Nine months after Jared Paul Stern, a contributor to New York's premiere gossip column Page Six in the Post, himself became tabloid fodder, federal prosecutors have dropped the case. Stern and his lawyer said on Wednesday they had been told by the U.S. Attorney's office that prosecutors will no longer pursue the investigation. That clears Stern legally, but he says his career...

The Australian troops involved in a so-called "friendly-fire" incident in Baghdad last month have been cleared of any wrongdoing. The soldiers were providing security for an Australian trade delegation when they opened fire on an approaching vehicle, believing they were about to be attacked by insurgents. But in the car were bodyguards protecting Iraq's Trade Minister. One was killed, and several other people were wounded. Australian Defence Force chief Angus Houston says an inquiry into the incident found the Iraqi bodyguards were repeatedly warned to stop. "Our personnel acted in accordance with their rules of engagement," he said. Air Chief...

Four New Orleans police officers have been cleared of allegations that they looted a Wal-Mart store after Hurricane Katrina, but each was suspended 10 days for not stopping civilians from ransacking the store, the Police Department said. The probe stemmed from an MSNBC report that showed the officers filling a shopping cart with shoes, clothes and other items. When a reporter asked the officers what they were doing, one responded, "Looking for looters" and turned her back. Assistant Police Chief Marlon Defillo, commander of the Public Integrity Bureau, said the officers seen on the video were recently cleared of looting...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Orange County Sheriff's Office just announced that it has arrested the woman who claimed she was raped by several men who work at Walt Disney World. They say the woman made up the story, and that the sex was consensual. The woman, Elizabeth Sunde, 26, is being charged with making a false police report, WESH NewsChannel 2 reported. On Feb. 26, police responded to a report of an alleged sexual battery involving multiple suspects. Sunde told investigators that she was approached by five or six "French men" in her apartment complex at approximately 4 a.m., and...

Texas police have cleared US Vice President Dick Cheney of any wrongdoing over the weekend mishap in which he shot a 73-year-old hunting companion in the face. They say no charges will be filed. Sheriff Ramon Salinas says an investigation had determined Mr Cheney shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington by accident, therefore no legal action was needed. Mr Cheney sprayed Mr Whittington with birdshot on Saturday when he turned to shoot a quail while hunting on a southern Texas ranch. Mr Whittington is expected to be released from hospital next week.

Cleared: the bomber's sister 'who praised bin Laden' By John Steele, Crime Correspondent (Filed: 29/11/2005) The brother and sister of one of the first two British suicide bombers were cleared at the Old Bailey yesterday of knowing about his mission and failing to alert the authorities before the attack. Parveen and Zahid Sharif, whose brother, Omar Sharif, joined Asif Hanif in a suicide mission to Israel in 2003, were found not guilty in a retrial after the first jury failed to reach a verdict. Zahid and Parveen Sharif leave the Old Bailey yesterday Parveen, 37, a supply teacher in Derby,...

Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft is on track to attempt a sampling of asteroid Itokawa on November 19. In a rescheduled practice run on November 9, the craft has approached within 230 feet (70 meters) of the asteroid during a descent test that verified the probe's guidance and navigation functions. Engineers handling the Hayabusa spacecraft have clarified the issues that led to the cancellation of a November 4 landing rehearsal. An onboard navigation computer detected anomalous information during the practice run. The problem resulted in an abort command being transmitted to the probe by Earth controllers, thereby stopping the rehearsal. Subsequently, the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Army investigators concluded that soldiers who photographed American-born Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh in captivity in Afghanistan with an obscenity written on his blindfold were guilty of "barracks humor" but not intentional wrongdoing, according to documents released Tuesday. The investigators also found no evidence to support allegations that members of the 5th Special Forces Group, based at Fort Campbell, Ky., intentionally destroyed evidence or impeded a Justice Department investigation of the wartime treatment of Lindh, who denies having fought against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Lindh, a California native now in his early 20s, was captured in Mazar-e-Sharif...

<p>The House intelligence committee's ongoing review of prewar intelligence has turned up no evidence that senior Bush administration officials distorted facts to strengthen the case for invading Iraq.</p> <p>Rep. Porter J. Goss, Florida Republican and chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, told reporters yesterday there is "absolutely no evidence that the intelligence was manipulated, distorted or in any way shaped or morphed to suit a preordained purpose."</p>

A newly released statement is consistent with Republican gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels' version of an IPALCO stock swap but also portrays him as a bottom-line businessman. Daniels allowed The Indianapolis Star to read the statement Tuesday. He was interviewed in November by lawyers investigating the stock deal, which cost some retirees their life savings but netted utility officials millions. Secretary of State Todd Rokita had declined to release Daniels' statement even after saying Daniels and five other board members had done nothing wrong. The November statement reiterates what Daniels has said in interviews and in a deposition given as part...

Comment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A messy draw The verdict of Hutton may have cleared Tony Blair but the court of public opinion is more divided Andrew Rawnsley, political journalist of the year Sunday February 1, 2004 The Observer Gavyn Davies: gone. Greg Dyke: gone. Andrew Gilligan: gone. Michael Howard's honeymoon: over. The plots of backbench malcontents to topple him: scotched. Brownite hopes that their hero might be in Number 10 before the next election: dashed. Tony Blair: still there. You may foggily recall from the headlines of a few days ago that this was going to be the week that could finish...

George W. Bush and Tony Blair are momentarily in the clear. But their intelligence services are left stuck in deep doo-doo, as a former CIA chief and ex-president named George H.W. Bush might well put it. Neither outcome is good for the seven Democrats seeking a chance to defeat Bush in November, or for the Tories who hoped finally to break Blair's political mastery on the rocks of an "intelligence hoax" in Iraq. Having to campaign against the ineffectiveness of your nation's spies -- rather than running against your political opponents' vile lies -- is no easy task. In credible,...

The Army has lost one of its most competent officers with the resignation of Col Tim Collins, military sources said yesterday. The Iraq war commander, who won acclaim for an impassioned eve of war speech, has apparently become disillusioned after a highly publicised investigation into alleged ill-treatment of Iraqis during the conflict. The allegations, made by an American reservist, were proved to be baseless. Col Tim Collins addresses his men on then eve invasion of Iraq During the military police inquiry Col Collins, 44, was sent on several months "gardening leave" but, according to friends, he felt abandoned by senior...

Taiwan cleared of SARS, says official December 26 2003 at 07:57AM Taipei - Taiwan's health authorities announced on Friday the island has been cleared of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) infections after the last two people who had contact with the only Sars patient were removed from a watchlist. The two, the wife and father of the patient, a military laboratory researcher, were taken off the watchlist after passing two weeks without showing symptons of SARS, the Centre for Disease Control said. "It is safe to say that Taiwan is now cleared of SARS, but we will continue to monitor...

Officer cleared of wrongdoing Video from surveillance cameras showed the jury the incident exactly as it happened   Posted: 08/13/2003 06:16 pm Story filed by NewsCenter16 Reporter Mark Peterson Today former inmate George Staggs, who suffered injuries while in custody at the St. Joseph County Jail, asked for $330,000 in damages. Staggs alleged that a member of the Mishawaka Police force used excessive force against him when he was an inmate at the jail. Much of the treatment of Staggs while he was an inmate was captured on videotape by the jail surveillance cameras in October of 2000. The video shows Staggs...