It burns with a smoky flame, is fairly bright and is pretty safe - it has a low vapour pressure. It is called naphtha in the US which is a very unscientific name for a mish mash of the cracked products of rock oil. In a chemist in Germany you can ask for Waschbenzin or Leichtbenzin. This info comes from the Coleman company and these fuels are what they recommend for use in their stoves when abroad. Alcohol - various forms.
Methanol is very nasty and to be avoided.
CHarcoal lighter fluid or barbecue starter fluid can be just about anything. Tends to be pretty smoky, sort of half way between paraffin and Colemans. I hope that covers all the problems.