Around the World

Iraq terrorist calls scientists to jihad\nCAIRO, Egypt -- In a new audio message Thursday, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq called for explosives experts and nuclear scientists to join his group's holy war against the West. "We are in dire need of you," said the man, who identified himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir -- also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri -- the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. "The field of jihad (holy war) can satisfy your scientific ambitions, and the large American bases (in Iraq) are good places to test your unconventional weapons, whether biological or dirty, as they call them. "\nColo. school attack 'sexual in nature'\nBAILEY, Colo. -- The gunman who killed himself after fatally shooting one of six girls he held in a high school classroom Wednesday methodically selected his hostages and had sexually assaulted some of them, the sheriff and a witness said Thursday. "He did traumatize and assault our children," Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener said. "I'll only say that it's sexual in \nnature."\n40 bodies found tortured in Iraq; 21 others dead\nBAGHDAD, Iraq -- The bodies of 40 men who been tortured were found in the capital in a span of 24 hours, police said Thursday. Bombings and shootings killed at least 21 people in and around Baghdad, including five people who died from a car-bomb explosion near a restaurant. Thirty-four people were wounded in the bombing. Many of them had serious burns, and some were not expected to survive, police Lt. Ali Mohsen said at the Kindi Hospital.\nStock prices fall after Dow Jones\nmilestone\nNEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrial average topped its record-high close today, reaching a milestone in Wall Street's recovery from nearly seven years of corporate upheaval, economic recession and the impact of terrorism. The high close was 11,722.98, set on Jan. 14, 2000. Shortly after the index of 30 blue chip stocks surpassed its record, rising to 11,724.86 in early morning trading, stocks dropped amid a dearth of news that could motivate investors.\nFormer HP chair defends company spying probe\nWASHINGTON -- Ousted Hewlett-Packard Co. chairwoman Patricia C. Dunn told Congress on Thursday that she was assured by an outside investigator that the phone records of people targeted in a boardroom leak probe were obtained lawfully from public sources. Lawmakers denounced the intrusive tactics used in Hewlett-Packard's spying probe as the hearing opened with stark comparisons between the tawdry affair and the 67-year-old company's reputation for \nintegrity.