World Report

MOSCOW (JTA) -- Spanish police arrested a Russian media magnate who also heads the Russian Jewish Congress.

Vladimir Goussinsky, wanted in Russia for alleged fraud, claims the charges against him are politically motivated. Arrested early Tuesday morning at a beach resort in southern Spain, Goussinsky is slated to face an extradition hearing soon.

Meanwhile, the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews sent letters to the Russian government on behalf of two Jews denied permission to go to Israel.

Raisa Isakova, a Jewish activist in the city of Omsk, and Dmitri Murashovsky, who wanted to join his family in Israel, were refused permission for foreign travel because of their alleged knowledge of secret information.'

Pope-Haider meeting infuriates Italian Jews

ROME (JTA) -- Jewish and other groups here staged a torchlight march on Thursday to protest a planned visit by Austrian right-wing leader Jorg Haider.

Haider, the former leader of Austria's Freedom Party, will meet the pope tomorrow when he presents this year's Christmas tree to the Vatican.

The Vatican has defended the visit.

"The Holy See is open to everyone. No one should be surprised by that," Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano said Dec. 7.

In a related development, police here believe right-wing skinheads are behind several incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism that targeted about a dozen Jewish-owned stores in a city suburb.

PC giant's generosity expedites disbursals

BERLIN (JTA) -- IBM plans to donate more than $150,000 in computer hardware and support services to help the Claims Conference distribute part of a $5.2 billion German fund for Nazi-era slave and forced laborers.

The technology corporation's move came following a U.S. judge's dismissal of 49 class-action lawsuits brought against German firms that used slave and forced labor during World War II, which paved the way for Germany to begin paying such laborers from the $5.2 billion fund agreed to earlier this year.

7 synagogues will get funds for repair work

ROME (JTA) -- The World Monuments Fund and the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation recently allocated grants totaling $250,000 to help save threatened synagogues in seven countries.

The grants include $60,000 for the synagogue in Subotica, Yugoslavia, considered to be one of the finest art nouveau buildings in Europe.

Other grants will go to synagogues in Belarus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Ukraine, plus an archaeological site in Suriname featuring the brick remains of the first synagogue of architectural significance in the New World.