Rare 14th-century Hebrew prayer book to go on display for first time at Israeli museum

October 5th, 2009 NYC's Met Museum to get reputed Michelangelo workNEW YORK — A marble statue widely attributed to Michelangelo is being loaned to New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art by the French government. The "Young Archer" is not traveling far; it's making its way across Fifth Avenue from the cultural services office of the French Embassy.

September 30th, 2009 Smithsonian displays Hope Diamond without settingWASHINGTON — For the first time, the famed and feared Hope Diamond is on display without its ornate setting at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. Perched atop a light gray display post, the 45.5-carat, walnut-size diamond will be on view by itself for several months while a new setting is prepared.

September 23rd, 2009 Famed and feared Hope Diamond goes nakedWASHINGTON — For the first time, the famed and feared Hope Diamond is on display au naturel. The doors were locked.

September 7th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Following the shocking discovery of anti-Semitic messages scrawled on the wall of a synagogue located in the Israeli city of Petah Tikva, a resurgence of neo-Nazi activity is being feared in the region. On Saturday, worshipers saw words "Long live Hitler the saint" scribbled in Hebrew on the building's walls, alongside a large black cross.

August 19th, 2009 Hope Diamond to get new setting for anniversaryWASHINGTON — The Hope Diamond is going bare to celebrate a half-century at the Smithsonian. The mysterious blue gem was donated to the National Museum of Natural History more than 50 years ago and the museum is celebrating by having a new setting designed.

August 16th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Israel are all set to use new computer algorithms in a new project to analyze historic Hebrew and Arabic documents. The effort to develop new computer algorithms will help provide scholars with valuable answers regarding Jewish liturgical texts and Arabic historical texts.

August 12th, 2009 LONDON - An individual speaking a second language will have a lighter accent if empathy is extended to him or her, according to a new study. The study was carried out at the University of Haifa (U-H) by Raphiq Ibrahim and Mark Leikin and Zohar Eviatar, psychology professors.

August 9th, 2009 Fatah's only Israeli member seeks key positionBETHLEHEM, West Bank —The only known Israeli Jewish member of the Palestinian group Fatah announced Sunday he was seeking a position in the movement's key decision-making body. Uri Davis, 66, a fierce critic of Israel who identifies himself as a Palestinian Hebrew-speaking citizen of "the apartheid state of Israel," said he presented his candidacy for Fatah's Revolutionary Council at the group's conference, which is under way in the West Bank.

August 5th, 2009 Israeli writer, artist Amos Kenan dead at 82JERUSALEM — Amos Kenan, a member of Israel's founding generation whose writing and art helped define modern Israeli culture, has died in Tel Aviv. He was 82. Born in 1927 in Tel Aviv, which had been founded less than two decades earlier by Jewish pioneers, Kenan was a product of the city's rich cultural life.

August 5th, 2009 Israeli writer, artist Amos Kenyan dead at 82JERUSALEM — Amos Kenyan, a member of Israel's founding generation whose writing and art helped define modern Israeli culture, has died in Tel Aviv. He was 82. Born in 1927 in Tel Aviv, which had been founded less than two decades earlier by Jewish pioneers, Kenyan was a product of the city's rich cultural life.

June 29th, 2009 Texas museum to open display of 500 cowboy hatsWICHITA FALLS, Texas — The Cow Lot Western Wear store was a place you could hang your hat, literally. The store, which opened in 1953, sold boots and cowboy hats, but customers could leave their old hats to hang on the wall when they bought new ones.

June 11th, 2009 Anne Frank museum to display her actual diariesAMSTERDAM — The Anne Frank House museum says it will permanently exhibit her diaries and other writings as part of activities commemorating the 80th anniversary of her birth on June 12, 1929. Frank died aged 15 in a concentration camp, but her posthumously published diary made her a symbol of all Jews killed in World War II.

May 20th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Archaeologists have discovered a bone seal, engraved with the name 'Shaul', from the time of the First Temple, in excavations in the walls around Jerusalem National Park, in the City of David, Israel. According to a statement by Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the seal, which is made of bone, was found broken and is missing a piece from its upper right side.

May 6th, 2009 Israeli police bust Palestinian artifact thievesJERUSALEM — Israeli authorities have arrested two Palestinians who tried to sell a looted 1,900-year-old papyrus document in Hebrew worth millions of dollars, police said Wednesday. After receiving information on the men and tracking them for several weeks, police arrested the two Tuesday at a Jerusalem hotel where they had arranged to sell the document, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

April 29th, 2009 Rare Roman glass dish goes on display in LondonLONDON — An extremely rare Roman dish made of translucent blue glass pieces was put on display Wednesday at the Museum of London in Docklands. The piece was found in the grave of a wealthy Roman Londoner during excavation work in the eastern parts of the British capital.