BONN (JTA) — Talks aimed at determining how much to compensate Holocaust-era slave laborers were scheduled to begin Tuesday in Bonn.

Jewish representatives and 16 German companies have been working in recent months to determine the companies' liability for using Nazi slave labor during World War II, and officials on both sides said they were optimistic key issues can be resolved this week.

A large gap remains, however, between the $20 billion attorneys for Holocaust survivors have been seeking, and the $1.7 billion the German companies proposed earlier this year.

Up to 2.3 million slave laborers alive

BERLIN (JTA) — Some 2.3 million people forced to work as slave laborers by the Nazis are still alive, according to a report released this week.

The number represents one-fifth of the 12 million individuals who worked as slave laborers during the Nazi era.

More than one-half of these 12 million were women, according to the report, which was conducted by a Virginia-based economic consulting firm.

Egyptian newspaper applauds Furrow

CAIRO (JTA) — A Jewish group called on the Egyptian and U.S. governments to condemn an article in an Egyptian newspaper that applauded the recent attack at a Los Angeles-area Jewish community center in which five Jews were injured.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center made the call last Friday in reaction to the article in the Ahbar El-yum newspaper that asked for God's help in supporting Buford O. Furrow Jr.'s goal to "annihilate the Jewish race in the U.S."

Australian family sues day school

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — An Australian family is suing a Jewish day school, claiming that its policies toward children whose mothers have undergone Reform conversions are discriminatory.

The Western Australia Equal Opportunities Tribunal is expected to rule in the next two months on whether the Carmel School discriminated when it decided in 1996 that Gregory Goldberg would be ineligible for financial aid, to lead services or to read from the Torah if he enrolled there.