World Report

PARIS (JTA) -- A Paris judge rejected a request to free a former Nazi collaborator jailed for war crimes.

Maurice Papon's lawyers repeatedly have tried to have their 91-year-old client released, arguing that his imprisonment is cruel and inhuman because of his age and bad health.

Papon, who has a history of heart problems, began serving a 10-year jail sentence in October 1999 after he was found guilty of helping deport some 1,500 Jews to Nazi death camps during World War II.

French leader blasts racism, xenophobia

PARIS (JTA) -- France's prime minister condemned recent anti-Semitic acts in France as an insult to the nation.

The moral values of France "can leave no room for anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia," Jean-Pierre Raffarin said Sunday. He promised that those who commit anti-Semitic acts would be found and punished.

Raffarin made the comments at a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of a roundup of Jews in France.

Buchenwald memorial undergoes restoration

WARSAW (JTA) -- Work began Tuesday on restoring a memorial at the Buchenwald concentration camp.

The memorial, which was created in 1958 and includes a group of 11 bronze figures, depicts prisoners' resistance to their Nazi guards. The restoration is expected to take two to three years and cost some $990,000, according to the Associated Press.

Italians investigate grave desecration

ROME (JTA) -- Italian police and Jewish leaders are disagreeing over the motives behind the desecration of dozens of Jewish graves in a Rome cemetery.

Police are focusing their investigation on local cemetery maintenance rackets rather than on neo-Nazi anti-Semites or Muslim fanatics.

Rome Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni said he is glad the investigation was moving ahead but like most Roman Jews found this line of inquiry hard to swallow.