Aruba
ORANJESTAD — Aruban officials have appealed to the State Department and the Netherlands for help against a call for a tourist boycott of the Dutch Caribbean island over complaints the investigation into the disappearance of an Alabama teenager was mishandled.
Australia
SYDNEY — The Sydney arm of an alleged Islamic terror network had stockpiled enough chemicals to make at least 15 large bombs, a newspaper reported Thursday, as police sifted through evidence seized in pre-dawn raids earlier this week.
Britain
LONDON — A tooth believed to have been pulled from Napoleon's mouth was sold Thursday at auction in London for about $22,600. The tooth, part of a small collection of Napoleon Bonaparte items at the sale, was bought by a private collector from England who asked to remain anonymous.
China
BEIJING — China reported two new bird flu outbreaks in poultry Thursday and quarantined 116 people, while Kuwait confirmed the first known cases in the Persian Gulf, in an imported peacock and a wild flamingo.
Egypt
CAIRO — Egypt's ruling party secured the most seats in the first stage of parliamentary balloting, but the banned Muslim Brotherhood made its mark as well, sending 42 candidates to runoff elections. Runoffs will be needed for about 80 percent of the 164 seats, making it too soon to gauge the outcome of Wednesday's first stage of the three-part vote, seen as a test of President Hosni Mubarak's pledges of electoral reform.
Indonesia
BATU — Police found more than 30 bombs in the hideout of a Southeast Asia terror ringleader shot to death during a raid by an elite security unit, triggering speculation he was planning more attacks, authorities said Thursday. Known as the "Demolition Man" for his expertise with explosives, Azahari bin Husin was a key figure in Jemaah Islamiyah, a terror network with links to al-Qaida that has been blamed for a series of deadly bombings.
Iran
The United States and Europe have agreed on a compromise plan to accept expanded nuclear activities by Iran, but only if the enrichment process — a possible pathway to nuclear arms — is moved to Russia, senior officials and diplomats said Thursday.
North Korea
North Korea criticized the United States Thursday for undermining the spirit of cooperation at six-nation talks on the North's nuclear programs, casting a pall over discussions aimed at persuading the regime to disarm, news reports and the U.S. envoy said. The North said Washington's sanctions against firms suspected of weapons proliferation and its accusations that North Korea is counterfeiting U.S. money would block progress in the latest round of talks.
Peru
LIMA — Peru said Thursday that it was withdrawing its ambassador from Japan in an apparent protest of that country's response to Lima's attempts to extradite former President Alberto Fujimori. The move came a day after Japanese diplomats visited Fujimori in detention in Chile.
Russia
MOSCOW — Engineers raised the orbit of the international space station Thursday by nearly five miles ahead of next month's arrival of a Russian cargo ship, a Russia space agency spokesman said.
Syria
DAMASCUS — A defiant President Bashar Assad said Thursday his government would cooperate with a U.N. investigation that implicated Syrian officials in the killing of a Lebanese leader, but he warned he would no longer "play their game" if Syria "is going to be harmed." Hours later, President Jacques Chirac of France, a key member of the U.N. Security Council, warned of sanctions against Syria if Assad "persists in not wanting to listen or understand."
Vatican
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani met with Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday and sought to assure him that the rights of Christians and other religious minorities are guaranteed under Iraq's new constitution. The Vatican has expressed concern about the constitution, which promises religious freedom for all but says Islam is "a fundamental source" of legislation for Iraq.