News at a Glance

Using the latest digital technology, the Israel Antiquities Authority has rendered legible fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls that were blackened or otherwise erased over the years. Pictured are "before" and "after" shots.

Israel Antiquities Authority

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Thousands of Dead Sea Scroll fragments will be available to the public online.

The Israeli Antiquities Authority announced that scientists are working on a project to use high-powered digital cameras to digitize the scrolls and upload them to the Internet.

The scrolls will be imaged in color and in infrared, which will allow the reading of scroll fragments that were blackened or faded and not visible to the naked eye.

The scrolls, which are more than 2,000 years old, were discovered in 1947 in a cave near the Dead Sea by Bedouin shepherds.

They are the most ancient Hebrew record of the Old Testament discovered to date.

Conservators long have been concerned with the scrolls' preservation and documentation, and most scholarly work has been based on infrared photographs from the 1950s.

Digitizing the scrolls will take about two years.

Anne Frank's Favorite Photos Restored

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Photos that Anne Frank pasted on the wall of her room in the hidden attic have been restored.

It took a decade to fix the 60-year-old-plus photographs of celebrities, most clipped from a Dutch women's magazine. Copies have been hanging in their place.

The images include Greta Garbo, the Lane Sisters, Sonja Henie and Britain's Queen Elizabeth.

The restored photos are now hanging behind climate-controlled glass.

Toronto Launches 'Rebranding' Effort

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Israel's consulate in Toronto has embarked on a public-awareness campaign to rebrand the country.

The campaign will use what it calls nontraditional methods aimed at overcoming images of war and conflict by touting the Jewish state's scientific, cultural and other achievements.

"We have a good product. We just have lousy marketing," Amir Gissin, Israel's consul general in Toronto, told about 100 key partners at the recent launch of "Brand Israel."

Toronto, with its 180,000 Jews and some 200 ethnic minorities, will serve as the project's testing ground.

The $1 million campaign, using the tagline "Touching Lives -- Innovation Israel," is expected to last at least eight months, and will consist of three different billboard and bus-shelter advertisements.

Each will feature a stylized Star of David logo and highlight three Israeli scientific achievements: a coronary stent, a video pill camera and computer technology.

The campaign is expected to be extended to newspapers, radio and television as well.

YouTube Removes Desecration Video

NEW YORK (JTA) -- YouTube removed a video showing a teenager urinating on the Holocaust memorial on the Greek island of Rhodes.

The video shows the boy urinating, but his face is hidden by an Israeli flag with the symbol for "no" pasted over it.

The island's Jewish community publicized the video, which was uploaded on Aug. 22.

The monument has been the target of vandalism in the past, notably over three days after its dedication on June 30, 2002, and during its construction.