World Report

TORONTO (JTA) -- A Jewish baseball player for the Toronto Blue Jays wants to have a belated bar mitzvah.

Shawn Green, a 26-year-old outfielder who recently played in baseball's All-Star Game, told the New York Times of his wishes.

"Since I've been in the big leagues, I've learned a lot more about my religion, my heritage."

Green added that his heritage helps him when he plays on the road.

"I might not get booed as bad as somebody who isn't Jewish in certain cities because there are always some Jewish fans at the games that are cheering a little bit."

Gypsies memorialize victims at Auschwitz

WARSAW (JTA) -- Hundreds of Gypsy leaders gathered at the site of the former Auschwitz death camp this week to commemorate the killings of the more than 20,000 fellow Gypsies at the camp.

At the ceremony, Roman Kwiatowski, a Gypsy leader in Poland, appealed for an end to violence against his people in the war-torn province of Kosovo. Historians estimate that 500,000 Gypsies died during World War II.

Greek-Israeli office hit by bomb in Athens

ATHENS (JTA) -- A firebomb exploded Monday outside the office of the Greek-Israeli Friendship Union in Athens.

No one was in the organization's office at the time of the blast, and the explosion caused no injuries, police said.

The device, consisting of two propane gas canisters, caused minor damage to the entrance of the first-floor office.

Tate Gallery faces claim on looted art

LONDON (JTA) -- London's Tate Gallery is facing a claim for a $300,000 painting from the children of a Jewish banker shot to death by the Nazis in 1937.

Three siblings, who fled to England from Dusseldorf soon after their father's death, say that "View of Hampton Court Palace," by Dutch master Jan Griffier the Elder, was owned by their father.

Vandals damage Holocaust sculptures

BERLIN (JTA) -- Vandals in the eastern German town of Weimar toppled sculptures honoring the victims of Nazi concentration camps on Wednesday of last week, according to German police.

The sculptures were on exhibit in Weimar, which is near the former Buchenwald death camp.