London

Author of terror surveillance among suspects detained

One of the terror suspects arrested in Britain is an alleged key al-Qaida operative suspected of authoring the surveillance documents that sparked terror alerts in the United States, an official said Thursday, as Pakistan passed on new intelligence suggesting al-Qaida also plotted to attack London’s Heathrow airport.

The documents of surveillance of five U.S. financial institutions were found on the computers of two accused members of Osama bin Laden’s terror network arrested in Pakistan last month. Pakistani intelligence officials told The Associated Press the computers also held images of Heathrow, and that this information was passed to British officials.

The revelations draw a link between two major sweeps against suspected al-Qaida networks in Pakistan and Britain — as well as the alerts announced Sunday in New York, New Jersey and Washington.

Alabama

74-year-old inmate executed for 1977 murder, robbery

A 74-year-old murderer became the oldest inmate put to death in decades Thursday after courts and the governor refused to stop his execution.

James Barney Hubbard died by injection at 6:36 p.m. at Holman Prison near Atmore.

Hubbard was executed for the 1977 murder of 62-year-old Lillian Montgomery, of Tuscaloosa. She was shot in the head and robbed after befriending Hubbard, who had been released from prison after serving 19 years for a 1957 killing.

Earlier Thursday, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to deny a stay for Hubbard. His attorney contended the execution would amount to cruel and unusual punishment for someone so old and mentally incompetent.

Washington, D.C.

Genes make it easy for some people to fight hepatitis C

Scientists may have figured out why some people infected with liver-destroying hepatitis C essentially cure themselves: Their genes seem to unleash a faster immune attack.

The research, reported Thursday in the journal Science, may point to new ways to prevent or treat hepatitis C, widely considered the most serious of a family of liver viruses.

About 20 percent of people infected somehow clear the virus from their bodies without treatment.

Now research by a team of U.S. and British scientists suggests one key to that recovery is genes that take the brakes off the body’s front-line immune defense.

New York

Agents search locations in N.Y., N.J. in anthrax probe

Federal agents investigating the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks searched homes Thursday belonging to the founder of an organization that trains medical professionals to respond to chemical and biological attacks.

More than three dozen agents, some in protective suits, combed through two homes in Wellsville, an upstate New York village, at the same time as a similar search occurred in Dover Township, N.J.

Authorities provided few specifics about the investigation.

Five people were killed and 17 sickened in the anthrax attacks.