North America

A former police officer for the Washington Metro system tried to help Isis and obstructed justice, a jury in Alexandria, Virginia, federal court decided. Nicholas Young, 37, a Muslim convert, is the first US law enforcement officer ever to face terrorism charges. He was caught last year in an FBI sting operation after helping a man he thought had joined Isis (Islamic State). The man was actually an undercover informant. Prosecutors argued that Young was compelled by anti-Semitism. Young’s lawyers argued that a law-abiding, patriotic police officer had been coerced by FBI agents into committing a crime merely because he had some odd hobbies and a distasteful sense of humour. The jury found Young guilty of both attempted material support for terrorism and two counts of obstruction of justice. He could face up to 60 years in prison. The Canadian billionaire couple found dead were strangled, their bodies dangling from the railing around their basement lap pool. Honey and Barry Sherman died of a form of strangulation in which a cord or rope is used to exert fatal pressure on a person’s neck, Toronto police said. Relatives have dismissed the possibility of a murder-suicide. The family released a statement, saying: “We are shocked and think it’s irresponsible that police sources have reportedly advised the media of a theory which neither their family, their friends nor their colleagues believe to be true.” US-based company Twitter has suspended the accounts of wellknown white nationalists, moving swiftly to enforce its new rules aimed at reducing what it deems abusive content.