STOCKHOLM (JTA) — Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who helped save thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War II, was murdered in 1947 in Moscow's Lubyanka prison, according to the Swedish newspaper Expressen.

The report cited a letter written by a top official of Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson. Russian authorities have long maintained that Wallenberg died of natural causes.

A panel of Russian and Swedish officials will issue a report on the diplomat's fate later this year.

Celebs join German anti-racism campaign

MUNICH (JTA) — The government and Jewish leaders here are recruiting stars to speak out against neo-Nazis.

Among those who have joined the campaign is former tennis champion Boris Becker, who has complained that his wife, the daughter of a black American father and a white German mother, is often subjected to racial slurs.

Meanwhile, police found a bomb from outside a Jewish home in the southern town of Bamberg. Police said it was too early to determine if the family was targeted because of anti-Semitism.

Aussie families praise move by Maccabiah

SYDNEY (JTA) — Families of the Australian victims of the 1997 Maccabiah bridge disaster welcomed the resignation of the president of the Maccabiah World Union.

Relatives and local Jewish groups have called for Ronald Bakalarz to resign since the incident left four Australian athletes dead and scores of others injured.

Tom Danos, president of Maccabi Australia, said the families still needed to receive compensation before Australia would participate in Israel's 2001 Maccabi Games.

New Zealand fanatic jailed for conspiracy

SYDNEY (JTA) –New Zealand has sentenced a man to three years in jail who may have been planning to attack a Jewish target.

Police found a list of the country's Jewish congregations when they arrested Stefano Wayne Durante in his home, as well as a cache of weapons, explosives and ammunition.

David Zwartz, a local Jewish leader said, "It is sobering and sad that anyone should develop what appears to be such psychopathic, racially based hatred and methodically amass the means for violent action."