World Report

LONDON (JTA) -- The British government will ignore a semiofficial recommendation that would outlaw kosher slaughter, a source close to the government said.

David Mencer, chairman of the Labor Friends of Israel lobbying group, said he had been assured that Prime Minister Tony Blair and the governing Labor Party are committed to protecting kosher slaughter.

The Farm Animal Welfare Council earlier this month recommended that all animals be stunned before slaughter, a violation of Jewish law. A similar recommendation was shelved without action in 1985.

Cellist won't play works by Wagner

PARIS (JTA) -- A cellist with a French orchestra is refusing to play music by Richard Wagner because the German composer was anti-Semitic, according to press reports Monday.

The musician, who has not been named, said, "he resented the presence of a demon in the works of Wagner," the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra's director, Patrick Minard, told Les Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace.

Earlier this year, the cellist, described only as "the son of a Protestant minister," put his instrument down when the orchestra began playing a piece by Wagner. When questioned by the conductor, the cellist left the theater.

His lawyer has requested that he be granted unpaid holiday whenever the orchestra plays Wagner's works.

Belgian police thwart synagogue bombing

PARIS (JTA) -- Belgian police prevented an attack against a synagogue in the south of Belgium last Friday.

The police arrested a 32-year-old man of Moroccan descent who lives in Brussels, who reportedly set his own car alight near the synagogue.

The man allegedly poured gasoline on his car, which he parked near the synagogue, and set the vehicle on fire. Police said there were other gasoline containers inside the car.

The car went up in flames but did not explode.

Belgian TV said the man suffers from psychological problems.

Prague Jews flooded with German funds

BERLIN (JTA) -- The leader of Berlin's Jewish community presented the Prague Jewish community with a check for flood relief on behalf of German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.

Fischer received the $11,800 check last November after winning the Heinz Galinski Prize, named after the late president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

Fischer, who was honored for his efforts to reinforce German-Israeli relations and to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the Middle East, decided to give the money to Prague's Jewish community to help it recover from last year's devastating floods, which damaged a number of Jewish religious sites in the Czech capital.