Free Republic

Two American men, a high-profile dancer & a teenage musician, have been arrested by Tokyo police investigating the murder of an Irish student apparently strangled to death in a luxury Tokyo hotel. Nicola Furlong, 21, was found dead in the early hours of Thursday morning after she attended a Nicki Minaj concert with a female friend, also a 21-year-old Irish student.Dancer James Blackston, 23, and a 19-year-old male musician, who has not been identified by police, have been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting Ms Furlong's friend in a taxi on the way to the hotel. Police are investigating whether...

SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON: A US official identified as Michael Furlong organised a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan with the purpose of finding and killing suspected militants, The New York Times reported Monday. Citing unnamed military officials and businessmen in Afghanistan and the United States, the newspaper said Furlong, who works for the Defence Department, hired contractors from private security companies that employed former CIA and Special Forces members. These people gathered intelligence on the whereabouts of suspected militants and the location of insurgent camps, the report said. After that, the information was sent to military units and intelligence...