MOSCOW (JTA) — A Russian rabbi was heavily beaten by two skinheads in a subway station here this week.

The skinheads shouted anti-Semitic threats before attacking Rabbi Yitzhak Lifshitz, 26, an Orthodox rabbi in Yaroslavl, a city about 130 miles northeast of Moscow.

The assailants, who are 21 and 17, were immediately arrested by police.

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow had issued a warning last month of the danger to minorities in the wake of recent skinhead attacks.

Earlier this month, a black U.S. Marine stationed in Moscow was badly beaten by skinheads at a crowded outdoor market.

Police arrested one of the assailants, who is thought to be the publisher of the neo-Nazi newspaper Russian Target.

Car rally in Europe raises funds for JNF

LONDON (JTA) — Gentlemen, start your engines: We're raising money for the Jewish National Fund.

Some 26 vehicles, ranging from a 1928 Ford Model A Roadster to a state-of-the-art Jaguar, left London this week for a 17-day "drive for peace" to Israel.

The event is designed to raise more than $200,000 for the Jewish National Fund, which plans to use the proceeds to develop a water reservoir in the Negev.

The rally will take participants through France, Italy, Greece and Cyprus before they arrive in Haifa by boat on Sunday, May 24. They are then scheduled to stop in the towns of Rosh Hanikra and Tiberias, and will be met in Jerusalem by Mayor Ehud Olmert.

The drivers will also visit a 16th-century Italian synagogue in the town of Urbino, which will hold a weekday morning service for the first time since 1938.

Australia ends probe of war-crimes suspect

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — Australia recently dropped an investigation of a suspected Latvian war criminal who has held Australian citizenship since World War II.

Police officials cited insufficient evidence against Konrad Kalejs, 84, who is accused of having participated in the killing of 20,000 Jews in Latvia during the war.

In making the announcement, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Australian law prevents the country from taking away Kalejs' citizenship.

The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center recently said it believes that 64 suspected Latvian war criminals are living in Australia and called on the Australian government to take action against them.