Hazing prevention in University of Alabama Greek houses subject of September ...

Hazing prevention in University of Alabama Greek houses subject of September ...al.com (blog)The Greek Risk Bulletin's inaugural issue was sent out last month, and UA Risk Management director Chad Tindol said it was only a small part of a new focus on defining and reducing risks on the campuses of the UA System. Tindol said addressing risks ...

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Womens U-19 side ease past Greece

Two goals from Katie McCabe and a goal from Amy O’Connor capped off a dominant 3-1 victory for the Republic of Ireland U-19 women's team against Greece in the UEFA Championships first qualifying round Group Two at Tallaght Stadium on Monday. The Irish had a number of chances early in the game, most notably in the fifth minute when midfielder Shauna Newman came close with a shot from ...

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Boutari Naoussa Dry Red Wine 2008 Greece

Price 12.95 A high-acid, lively red based on the xinomavro grape. Smooth it's not, but it shows impressive flavour depth and structure for the money. And, at five years old, it's beginning to show the interesting charm of age, with nuances of dried fruit and earth. $15.99 in B.C., $16.23 in ...

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Syrian Christians' Neutral Stance Threatened As Conflict Spreads

ISTANBUL (RNS) A huge statue of the Virgin Mary towers over churches, monasteries and mosques in the Syrian city of Maaloula, where a dialect of the Aramaic language of Jesus is still spoken. The town has managed to stay out of the Syrian conflict between Sunni Muslim rebels and the regime of dictator Bashar Assad, as have most of Syria’s 2 million Christians. But worsening violence has forced the community into a corner: Continuous clashes between the rebels and the regime in this isolated town of 2,000 people as well as other Christian towns over the past two weeks have many Christians worried that they will no longer be allowed to stay neutral. “The Christians now live in a terror,” said Hussam, a Christian from the nearby town of Saidnaya, who asked not to be identified because he feared for the safety of his family if he was to talk openly. In the latest major attack on a Christian district, rebels fighting alongside members of the jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra stormed a government checkpoint at the entrance to the town Sept. 4. The rebel aim was to seize control of a portion of the Damascus-Homs highway, a main route from the capital of Damascus. The highway is a key supply line for whoever can hold it. Fearful that the town would be destroyed, hundreds of Christian men from Saidnaya just outside Damascus and elsewhere joined Assad’s troops to oust the rebels. Residents told news media outlets that when rebels entered Maaloula they destroyed precious censors, or incense holders, and Bibles from several churches. Some accused rebels of shelling churches and homes in the town. Others dispute those accounts. Syrian rebel groups say the Syrian military carried out the shelling of the town and is blaming rebels to stir up trouble. The small homes of Maaloula wind up a rugged mountain, and once on top one can see a green expanse below of fig trees and vineyards. The town is home to mainly Antiochian Orthodox and Melkite Greek Catholics and Muslims. One of the oldest surviving monasteries in Syria is here. Called Mar Sarkis, it is the Arabic name for St. Sergius, a Roman soldier executed for his Christian beliefs. Christians have lived here for centuries. They have largely supported Assad’s regime but are increasingly pawns in the propaganda war between the rebels and the regime. The Syrian government has gone to great lengths to present itself as the sole protector of Christians and other religious minorities, saying it is locked in a battle with terrorists and foreign jihadists bent on destroying the country’s secular fabric. Sama TV, a pro-Assad television station, reported that three Christians were killed by “terrorists” during clashes in Maaloula this month. Its footage — impossible to verify — showed hundreds of angry mourners at a church in Damascus chanting support for Assad. Christians hold important roles in Syria’s military. And the Assad regime today is heavily dependent on the National Defense Forces — groups of local militias armed by the government — to keep rebels from entering strategic towns and districts around the country. Towns such as Saidnaya to the north of Damascus and a cluster of towns west of Homs collectively known as the “Wadi,” or valley, have been guarded by armed Christian civilians for months as attacks against the community have increased since the outbreak of the uprising more than two years ago. But Muslim militias say the idea that the regime is protecting Christians is “foolish,” said Joshua Landis, director of the Center of Middle East Studies at Oklahoma University. “What’s happening in Maaloula has happened in one town after the next across Syria. Rebels take a town, the regime responds with overwhelming power and force, lobbing shells, very indiscriminately killing people,” Landis said. Some Syrian Christians say the regime is causing the worst of the attacks to force the Christians to choose sides decisively for the regime. Some even blame the regime for the terrorists being in Syria in the first place. “I think that the regime is very accomplished in promoting sectarianism,” said Osama Edward, 35, a Syrian Christian who runs the Assyrian Network for Human Rights and is currently based in Stockholm. “The incident at Maaloula proves that beyond a reasonable doubt.” Landis says the conflict has exacerbated Christian fears they are being driven out of the Middle East. Christians in Cairo and the West Bank, whose faith predates Islam by centuries, have been leaving their ancient enclaves because of threats and attacks. “It doesn’t take much,” Landis said. “Christians were driven out of Anatolia before the first world war. They’ve been driven out of Iraq. They’ve been driven out of Palestine/Israel. The Copts have been getting the bad end of the stick in Egypt. The Syrian regime has been taken advantage of Christians feeling their days are numbered.” Christians are still hoping they can avoid taking sides or taking up arms. “We don’t care who is the ruler of this country,” said Amar Kassar, a Catholic priest from Qatana, a town west of the capital. Kassar was speaking to Sky News. Kassar was severely injured by a mortar in a Damascus neighborhood last month. “We are against the formation of an Islamic state. We want a Syrian secular state for all Syrians,” he said. (Stephen Starr writes for USA Today. Contributing to this report: Abdulrahman al-Masri in Amman, Jordan and Janelle Dumalaon in Berlin.)

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Greek Tonnage Tax Imposed On Foreign-Flagged Vessels

Greece has finally imposed a tonnage tax on foreign-flagged vessels operated by shipping companies in Greece. It already had been taxing Greek-flagged ships, and the nation’s debt crisis left the government with no other choice than to tax foreign ...

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ATHEX in limbo as FTSE keeps it among developed markets

The FTSE Group’s decision to retain the Greek bourse’s classification as a developed market did not affect the rising course of the majority of local stocks on Tuesday, which took the benchmark index over the 1,000-point level. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX)... ...

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Man faces Patra magistrate over 599,000-euro debt to the state

A 57-year-old man faced a prosecutor in Patra, western Greece, on Tuesday in connection with an unpaid tax bill to the state of 599,000 euros. The arrest was part of a crackdown by authorities seeking to collect billions of euros in debts to the state.... ...

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Crooked Greek bishop jailed for embezzlement after months on the run

A 67-year-old bishop being sought for embezzlement and money laundering by an investigating magistrate on the island of Kos in the Dodecanese was arrested on Tuesday in Athens. A magistrate had issued a warrant for the arrest of the cleric, who was not na... ...

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Greek FM meets Obama at UN general assembly

Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos held brief talks with US President Barack Obama when the two met on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly in New York late on Monday. The Athens-Macedonian News Agency reported that Obama referred to Pri... ...

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Greek term extension possible if school sit-ins persist

The number of schools around Greece that are closed due to pupil sit-ins rose above 200 on Tuesday, prompting the Education Ministry to say that it would extend the academic year by one day for each day of teaching that is lost if the protest last for mor... ...

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Government seeks two concessions on civil servants

Talks between Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and troika envoys on Tuesday reportedly focused on two key requests from the Greek side – firstly for an extension for a second round of 12,500 civil servants that Greece has pledged to put ... ...

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Greek hip hop bands unite against neo-Nazism

ATHENS (AFP) - Rival hip hop bands came together in Greece on Tuesday to condemn extremism following the murder of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas by an alleged member of a neo-Nazi group. Fyssas, who wrote music under the nickname Killah P, was stabbed ...

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Greek Skyros Island Eyes Waterway for Seaplanes

The waterway would be ready for seaplane flights by February 2014. Hellenic Seaplanes aims to connect all Greek islands through a seaplane network and create 100 waterways in Greece by the end of 2013 and another 100 in 2014.

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Greek children find 43000 euros hidden by elderly woman in abandoned building

Inquirer.netGreek children find 43000 euros hidden by elderly woman in abandoned buildingInquirer.netStaff stand outside the closed front of the Polykliniki Hospital in central Athens, on Monday, Sept. 2, 2013. The hospital has been temporarily closed under new public sector reforms aimed at cutting costs amid Greece's acute financial crisis. Since ...and more »

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Spotify Extends Reach Into Taiwan

Spotify expanded its streaming-music service into Taiwan, Turkey, Greece and Argentina, extending its global expansion as the company continues to post losses.

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À la vie: From Lévy to Lévy, the Lives of Benny Lévy

Benny Lévy was my friend. A friend whom I first met in the late 1960s in the shadow of Louis Althusser. A friend with whom I reconnected 30 years later, when I published Sartre: The Philosopher of the Twentieth Century, a book that ended with a restaging of the last dialogue between the young Maoist and the author of Being and Nothingness. From that point there ensued reunions and rediscoveries, long telephone conversations, and shared work and causes, as, together with Alain Finkielkraut, we founded the Institute for Levinassian Studies in Jerusalem. But it is in À la vie ("To Life," Verdier, 2013), the beautiful book that his wife Léo has devoted to him -- part chronicle of era, part shared sentimental, political, and spiritual education, part romance (at least in this sentence, toward the end: "He trusted me with his body; I didn't know how to keep it") -- it is there that I discover more or less everything about the friend that I thought I knew... The angry kid who, right after leaving his native Egypt and entering the Ecole Normale Supérieure, joined and then led the most radical Maoist groups of the time. The 36 volumes of Lenin's works, and then Marx's Capital, methodically transferred onto index cards by a young revolutionary who already placed knowledge -- learning? study? -- above all else. The comical episode (accompanied by a nice full-length portrait, seated, floating in a void, perfectly still, while Paris burns) on the night of the barricades, in May '68, a night that he spent holed up in a classroom on the Rue d'Ulm. Did he believe at the time, like his comrade Pierre Goldman, that the student movement lacked seriousness? Was he expecting, like the real Bolshevik leader whom he dreamed of reincarnating, the arrival of the workers on the scene? Or was it his stateless status (the idea that he was stateless would not have occurred to any of his companions at the time, but still... ), that was consuming him from within, threatening him from without, and making of the supreme leader of the new army of shadows what one would call today an undocumented person, an illegal alien, subject, if arrested, to the arbitrariness of deportation. Here in his wife's book we learn of his first doubts when, with Olivier Rolin and those Maoists tempted by direct action, he realized that the Palestinians, whom he liked to say, facetiously, that he "invented," were capable, in Munich, of gunning down a delegation of Israeli athletes in cold blood. There we read about this man obsessed with words who already believed, without yet knowing it, that in the beginning there was, and would be, the word. We see him at the birth of his first child asking just one question: "When is he going to talk?" And then there are the passages on the path to Judaism, a longer path than is commonly believed, more hesitant, more uncertain: a Socratic circle in Paris... a philosophical group in Corbières... sandwiched between a reporting trip, with Sartre, to the heart of rebellious Portugal, and another, with Sartre again, on a visit to the imprisoned terrorist, Andreas Baader, in Stuttgart, the discovery of the work of Emmanuel Levinas... an anti-Zionist rabbi who introduced him to the Gemara... a yeshiva in Strasbourg where he is initiated into the enigma of the letters of fire... his first trip to Jerusalem... then a second... and his first contact, skin to skin, with leather tefillin, and the inscrutable, angelic faces of the children of Mea Shearim -- all that takes time, a long time. We are, to judge from Léo Lévy's narrative, closer to the drawn-out return of a Solzhenitsyn to Russia than to the revelation of a Maurice Clavel bumping into his furniture at night and seeing, in a halo, the face of his Lord. And what is striking, at the end of the path, is the mixture of rupture (didn't Benny Lévy kill his inner Greek?) and fidelity (wasn't that murder of the Greek shepherd within him the fulfillment of the project of "changing the man into his deepest self" that had long ago nourished the callow youth?); what is striking is the journey from Moses to Moses, passing through Mao, that makes of this quest for the white stone of Jerusalem one of the most singular human adventures of our time. A sojourner of substance and consequence, said Jean-Claude Milner, whom Benny Lévy had believed to be all-knowing. A master himself, a young master for all time, says the generation of apprentice thinkers who, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, increasingly find in his sparse but extremely dense and terse work reasons for hope, reasons to live. Of this uncommon and private person, illuminated for us by a wife's devotion, of that voice that she enables us to hear again, but through records drawn from that tiny office in Kadish Louz Street in Jerusalem, dedicated to his memory, of that laughing, intense face that floats through her pages right to the end, as if he were still with us, a face that another Lévy, in a very old novel, might have had in mind (your guess is as good as mine) when he said of his hero: "At the end of that face lay the century" -- of Benny Lévy, then, I say that he was one of the most impressive people that I have ever had the privilege of meeting, a man whose absence leaves a void that nothing can fill, or probably ever will. Ten years to the day from his death, the appearance of Léo Lévy's book is the most fitting of tributes.

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Greek Public Sector Strike Begins As Workers Walk Out For 48 Hours

ATHENS, Greece -- Greek civil servants walked off the job Tuesday at the start of a 48-hour public sector strike, the second in as many weeks, to protest job cuts required for the country to continue receiving international rescue loans. State school, tax office and hospital workers joined the strike, while ambulances services were to run with a reduced staff. Journalists joined in with a three-hour work stoppage, pulling any non-strike related news of the air. But participation appeared low, with many services remaining open in central Athens, including post offices and some schools and tax offices. Thousands of people marched peacefully, chanting anti-austerity slogans through the center of the capital and in the country's second-largest city of Thessaloniki in the north. Greece has been dependent on billions of euros in rescue loans from other European countries that use the euro as their currency, and from the International Monetary Fund since May 2010. In return, it has had to overhaul its economy and impose harsh austerity measures, including slashing salaries and pensions, introducing new taxes and repeatedly increasing existing ones. The rescue loans are paid in installments after the country passes an inspection of its progress in reforms by the European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF, collectively known as the troika. The latest inspection began this week, with troika representatives meeting with the finance minister Sunday. Their approval is need for Greece to get the next installment, worth (EURO)1 billion ($1.35 billion), in October. Under the terms of its bailout, Greece's government must suspend 12,500 workers on reduced pay by the end of the month. Those who cannot be absorbed into other public sector positions will lose their jobs. The plan has led to extensive strikes by high school teachers shortly after the new academic year began this month, and has seen heated opposition by other civil service unions. Greece's economy has been battered by a deep recession, now in its sixth year, while unemployment has risen to the highest level in the EU, standing at above 27 percent, and at nearly 59 percent for those under the age of 25. The economy has shown small signs of improvement recently, however. Figures released Monday evening showed a primary budget surplus – income that excludes the cost of paying interest on debt – and a smaller deficit than targeted for. The finance ministry's figures for the first eight months of the year showed Greece's state budget was posting a primary surplus of 2.86 billion euros ($3.86 billion), better than the target for a 2.49 billion-euro primary deficit. The overall state budget deficit stood at 2.5 billion euros, compared with a target of 7.8 billion euros.

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Greece In Golden Dawn’s lair

Simplistic explanations and promises Four years later, the rate of pay for what little work there is the dockyards is less than half of what it used to be, several key businesses have shut down and jobless workers, after one year of obtaining benefits, are no longer eligible for unemployment or even healthcare payments. "Many hold the unions responsible for this situation, and behind them ...

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Amid recovery and easing of financial stress, more European companies mull stock market floats

by  Associated Press European recovery reawakens interest in IPOs by PAN PYLAS, Associated Press - 24 September 2013 12:50-04:00

LONDON (AP) — The European economic recovery is breathing life into what has long been a moribund market for initial public offerings, according to consultancy firm Ernst & Young.

In its quarterly update, published Wednesday, Ernst & Young said it expects Europe to see more mid-sized and large companies deciding to list their shares on stock exchanges, particularly in the more mature economies of the U.K. and Germany.

"With economic conditions stabilizing and regional debt markets steadying, market volatility has subsided and valuations are improving," said Martin Steinbach, who leads Ernst & Young's IPO unit in Europe. "We believe the conditions are right for an increase in public listings in Europe in the remainder of 2013."

Over the past few years, as Europe struggled with a financial crisis and huge market volatility, companies have been wary of listing their stock.

However, much of Europe is now growing — the economy of the 17 countries that use the euro eked out modest quarterly growth of 0.3 percent in the second quarter, bringing an end to its longest recession since the single currency was launched in 1999. The consensus forecast is that the eurozone will post further growth during the third quarter and that the improvement won't be confined to Germany, Europe's biggest economy. Even Greece is expected to emerge from recession soon.

The brighter economic backdrop has gone hand in hand with an easing in tensions in financial markets over Europe's debt crisis. The pledge by the European Central Bank last year to do whatever it takes to save the euro has helped stabilize markets.

More companies are now willing to take more risks in order to take advantage of the opportunities offered by an IPO — money raised can be used to grow a business by building new plants and machinery or expanding abroad.

In the third quarter, a typically slow period for corporate deals due to the summer, Ernst & Young projects that Europe will see 30 IPOs with combined proceeds amounting to $3 billion. That, it says, would account for 15 percent of the total of global deals and 13 percent of the capital raised.

Real estate is expected to be the leading sector, accounting for 59 percent of the quarter's proceeds, driven by Deutsche Annington Immobilien, which raised $738 million in Frankfurt, and Foxtons, which raised $558 million, in London.

Globally, Ernst & Young estimates IPO activity in the third quarter to have fallen by 4 percent in terms of deals and by 47 percent in value compared with the second quarter.

However, for the first nine months of the year, 566 IPOs are expected to raise $94.8 billion. Though the number of deals is lower than the 637 recorded in 2012, Ernst & Young says the proceeds are higher than the $91.4 billion generated last year. The increase in activity is likely to continue through the rest of the year and into 2014.

"The uplift in activity will vary from region to region both in terms of timing and pace," said Maria Pinelli, Ernst & Young's global vice-chair of strategic growth markets. "The U.S. market is expected to continue its strong momentum and we expect stronger IPO activity from European exchanges, especially from U.K. and Germany, as well as from South East Asian exchanges."

News Topics: Business, Economy, Financial crisis, Initial public offerings, Recessions and depressions, Financial markets, Stock offerings, Corporate stock, Corporate news

People, Places and Companies: United Kingdom, Europe, Germany, Western Europe

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. This article is published under the terms of the News Licensing Group, LLC. privacy policy, in addition to the terms of use and privacy policy for this website.

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Greek Banking No Longer Lost At Sea?

Greek Banking No Longer Lost At Sea?ForbesMuch like the legendary Odysseus, the Greek financial sector is returning to calmer waters, after battling stormy seas and confronting many proverbial monsters. Dubbing itself a victim of the Greek sovereign debt crisis, the sector suffered massive ...

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Greece Wants More Time To Fire Workers

Being squeezed by international lenders to pare the workforce by transferring, suspending or firing civil servants, Greek Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has asked for an extension to the so-called mobility scheme until the end of the year. The request was made to envoys of the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank […]

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Greece, Turkey seek to boost Cyprus talks (updated)

Hurriyet Daily NewsGreece, Turkey seek to boost Cyprus talks (updated)Cyprus MailGreece and Turkey have agreed to hold separate meetings with the negotiators of the island's divided communities, the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) reported. Citing an unnamed Greek foreign ministry source, CNA said the two sides have already agreed to ...Consecutive meetings planned in Greece and Turkey for political solution in ...Hurriyet Daily NewsTurkey and Greece agree on reciprocal visit over Cyprus issuewww.worldbulletin.netGreece-Turkey: Venizelos meets with Davutoglu in New YorkANSAmedFocus Newsall 10 news articles »

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Greek public order minister sends new file to prosecutor on extreme right-wing party crackdown

ATHENS, Greece — Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias said Tuesday he has sent a new file of alleged attacks carried out by members or supporters of the extreme right-wing Golden Dawn party to the country’s Supreme Court prosecutor, as part ...

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Debt-plagued Greece sees economic gains in adapting to climate change

In the climate change mitigation scenario, in which Greece would achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions within a broader global initiative, the cumulative cost by 2100 would be $588 billion. The report also determined that adaptation ...

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Dog Mummy In Egypt Was Infested With Bloodsucking Parasites, Archaeologists Say

A dog mummy has revealed the first archaeological evidence of bloodsucking parasites plaguing Fido's ancestors in Egypt during the classical era of Roman rule.

The preserved parasites discovered in the mummified young dog's right ear and coat include the common brown tick and louse fly — tiny nuisances that may have carried diseases leading to the puppy's early demise. French archaeologists found the infested dog mummy while studying hundreds of mummified dogs at the excavation site of El Deir in Egypt, during expeditions in 2010 and 2011.

"Although the presence of parasites, as well as ectoparasite-borne diseases, in ancient times was already suspected from the writings of the major Greek and Latin scholars, these facts were not archaeologically proven until now," said Jean-Bernard Huchet, an archaeoentomologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. [See Photos of Dog Mummy Infested with Parasites]

Close-up of the post mortem vertebral dislocation located between the sixth and seventh cervical vertebrae of the mummified dog discovered at the excavation site of El Deir in Egypt.

Mentions of dog pests appear in the writings of ancient Greeks and Romans such as Homer, Aristotle and Pliny the Elder, and a painting of a hyenalike animal in an ancient Egyptian tomb dated to the 15th century B.C. shows what is likely the oldest known depiction of ticks. But evidence of ticks, flies and other ectoparasites that infest the outside of the body has been scarce in the archaeological record — until now. (The only other known archaeological evidence of ticks comes from fossilized human feces in Arizona.)

Counting the bloodsuckers

The infested dog mummy was discovered in one of many tombs surrounding a Roman fortress built in the late third century A.D. Most of the main tombs were built during a period dating from the fourth century B.C. to the fourth century A.D. — a treasure trove for archaeologists, despite the condition of many of the mummies. The French team detailed its findings in the August online issue of the International Journal of Paleopathology.

Huchet and his colleagues, led by Françoise Dunand and Roger Lichtenberg of the University of Strasbourg in France, found the remains of the parasite-ridden pup among more than 400 dog mummies.

"Among the hundreds of dog mummies studied, [many] of them were either skeletonized or still wrapped with bandages," Huchet told LiveScience. "Moreover, most of the dog remains were seriously damaged by looters."

The infested young pup stood out with 61 preserved brown dog ticks still clinging to its coat and nestled in its left ear. Such ticks have spread worldwide by feeding on domesticated dogs. They can also infect their hosts with a variety of potentially fatal diseases.

Archaeologists also discovered a single bloodsucking louse fly clinging firmly to the dog's coat. But the team hypothesizes a tick-borne disease such as canine babesiosis — a condition that destroys red blood cells — likely caused the young dog's premature death.

Origins of dog mummies

Hardened skin remains of maturing fly larvae suggested the dying or dead dog had attracted two species of carrion flies before Egyptian handlers mummified the corpse. [See Images of Egyptian Mummification Process]

Ancient Egyptians commonly mummified animals such as dogs, cats and long-legged wading birds called ibis. The dog mummies from the El Deir site almost certainly represented offerings to a jackal-headed Egyptian god such as Anubis or Wepwawet.

"Several reasons have led Egyptians to mummify animals: to eat in the afterlife, to be with pets, etc.," said Cecile Callou, an archaeozoologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. "But above all, animals were considered as living incarnations of divine principles and, therefore, associated with deities."

But many questions remain about the mummified dogs of El Deir. Researchers still want to know where the dogs came from, whether they were domestic dogs, whether they had owners and how they died. Callou pointed out that the ancient Egyptians had cat farms where cats were bred to be sacrificed and mummified — could the same have been true for dogs?

Digging deeper into history

The French archaeologists hope to find answers to a different set of questions by searching for more preserved ticks and flies among the mummified dogs of El Deir. Such archaeological evidence could show how diseases originated throughout history, provide clues about the geographical spread of parasites, and reveal more about the relationship between parasites and both human and animal evolution.

Specialized lab equipment could yield even more findings from the infested dog mummy and its companions. The French team conducted most of its work on-site at El Deir and completed the examination with highly magnified photos at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris but hopes to eventually get permission to take some mummified samples back to the lab.

"The main problem will be to get the authorization to export mummified samples from Egypt for DNA analysis, since this country does not allow any exportation of archaeological material — even tiny samples such as skin fragments and hairs," Huchet said.

Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.

Image Gallery: Inca Child Mummies The 10 Most Diabolical and Disgusting Parasites In Photos: 'Alien' Skulls Reveal Odd, Ancient Tradition Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ]]>

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Merkel Won So What Now For Greece

German Chancellor Angela Merkel really rules Europe too, and what she says goes: especially for Greece, which relies on her support for more critical rescue loans. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's runaway re-election victory was indeed impressive. One has to go back to the time of Conrad Adenauer to find an equivalent political phenomenon in Germany history. Good for her. Let us recognize, ...

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Germany's first two black MPs enter parliament

Karamba Diaby and Charles M Huber arrive in Bundestag in moment hailed as historic by equality campaigners

Germany's first MP of African descent said he was looking forward to the challenge of working in the Bundestag and that he would campaign for more equal opportunities in education.

In an interview at the German parliament Karamba Diaby, 51, of the Social Democratic party of Germany, said: "I myself am the product of equal opportunities and was given the chance to study as an orphan, and I want to make a difference for other people in this area too."

Diaby and Charles M Huber, of the Christian Democratic Union, are the first two black members of the Bundestag, a development hailed as a "historic moment" by equal opportunity campaigners. In addition, Angela Merkel's party will also include a Muslim MP for the first time.

Born in Senegal, Diaby moved to East Germany in 1985 and went on to become a chemist. He will represent the town of Halle in the former east. Huber, a TV actor born in Munich whose father is Senegalese, will represent the southern city of Darmstadt.

Cemile Giousouf, 35, whose parents were part of the Turkish minority in Greece and moved to Leverkusen 40 years ago, will represent Hagen in North-Rhine Westphalia. There have been Muslim politicians in Germany's parliament since 1994, but Giousouf will be the first representative for the Christian Democrats.

The number of MPs with an immigrant background has risen from 21 to 34, with the leftwing Die Linke having the highest percentage of multicultural politicians in their ranks followed by the Green party.

Mekonnen Mesghena, a migration policy expert for the Böll Foundation, described the arrival of black Germans in the Bundestag as a landmark moment: "Germany has a colonial history that stretches back to the 19th century, yet until now black Germans have had no political representation."

A detailed breakdown of the ethnic background of German citizens has only been published since 2005, but there are estimated to be about 500,000 people of recent African descent and between 3.8 million and 4.3 million Muslims living in Germany.

One of the policy areas that Diaby, Huber and Giousouf will be expected to debate in parliament is the introduction of dual citizenship, which has been advocated by the SPD and the Greens. At the moment, German citizens born to non-German nationals have to choose one citizenship before they turn 23.

GermanyEuropeRace issuesPhilip Oltermanntheguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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Greek Week promotes camaraderie, service

Greek Week, which begins Tuesday, is designed to bring sororities and fraternities on campus together for three nights of fun, service and worship. Austin Hayes, coordinator of Greek life for fraternities, said the point of events is to bring ...

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Better late than never?

All of a sudden everyone – the Greek state, society, the justice system, the police and the media – seem to be moving much faster. The death of a young lad in Keratsini, murdered by a man who was notified to go there and “take care” of things, after getti... ...

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Greek army, police probed over links to neo-Nazi party

Greece’s army is being accused of helping to train the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party’s paramilitary wing. The revelation comes as top policemen have been fired after the murder of a left-wing activist by a Golden Dawn fan provoked mass protests.

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100 Favorite Dishes 2013: No. 84, Greek Burger at Hubcap Grill

100 Favorite Dishes 2013: No. 84, Greek Burger at Hubcap GrillHouston Press (blog)This year, leading up to our annual Menu of Menus issue, Kaitlin Steinberg counts down her 100 favorite dishes as she eats her way through Houston. She'll compile a list of the 100 dishes she thinks are the most awesome, most creative and, of course ...

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Greeks Strike Again, Hit The Streets

(Reuters) - Greek public sector workers went on strike for the second time in a week on Sept. 24, shutting schools and leaving hospitals with skeleton staff, as inspectors from Greece's foreign lenders checked if the country was meeting its bailout targets. From municipal police to teachers, workers began a 48-hour strike against plans to cut thousands of public sector jobs, public anger fueled by the killing of an anti-racism rapper by a supporter of the far-right Golden Dawn party. ADEDY, the public sector umbrella union which organized the walkout, said government efforts to reduce the 600,000 strong civil service was 'the most merciless plan' to eliminate workers' rights. The government has dubbed the plan a 'mobility scheme', meaning workers will have to find work in another department within eight months or be laid off.

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Greece Probes Golden Dawn Military Connection

ATHENS - The Greek authorities have launched an inquiry into allegations that members of the country's armed forces have helped to train hit squads formed by the far-right Golden Dawn party. The Defence Minister, Dimitris Avramopoulos, ordered the investigation as Greece's governing coalition exhibited new resolve to clamp down on the 'criminal organization' after a Greek musician was stabbed to death by one of the group's supporters. Highlighting the menace right-wing extremism now poses in a nation hobbled by economic collapse and political division, the country's President Karolos Papoulias said that his top priority was to protect Greeks from neo-fascism. 'From the time I was a young man I fought fascism and Nazism,' he told reporters as he went into talks with the left-wing main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras. 'It is my supreme duty as President of the Republic to defend democracy and the Greek people from the storm that is approaching.'

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Greece Students Prosper With YEA

Through the Greece Chamber of Commerce I have the opportunity to volunteer as a Mentor·for the Young Entrepreneur Academy. I like to think that I am sharing valuable tips to these young and promising Business students, but I am the one who gains valuable ...

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Greece investigates police links to Golden Dawn party

Police have often refused to investigate racist attacks by Golden Dawn members on immigrants, newspaper Eleftherotypia reported Monday, citing a leader of the Pakistani community in Athens. The party, with an emblem resembling a swastika, denies ...

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Greece, troika see recession at 4.0 pct this year- sources

"This is a conservative estimate," one of the officials said, meaning the downturn could even turn out smaller. Athens said last week it expected the economy to shrink by 3.8 percent this year, its sixth straight year of recession.

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Greece, lenders see smaller recession of 4.0 pct this year

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece and its international lenders have agreed on a joint forecast that the country's economy will contract by 4.0 percent this year, less than previously projected, two senior Greek ...

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Greek public sector workers stage 48-hour strike

Greek public sector workers have gone on strike for the second time in a week. Schools are shut and hospitals have been left with few staff, as inspectors from Greece's foreign lenders checked if the country was meeting its bailout targets. Workers began a 48-hour strike against plans to cut thousands of public sector jobs, and fuelled by anger over the killing of an anti-racism rapper by ...

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Bulgarias Dental Services Continue Attracting Greeks

Residents of the northern Greek city of Xanthi are increasingly crossing the border into Bulgaria in search of cheap dental services. The average price for dental fillings in Bulgaria ranges between EUR 15-20, informs the daily Imerisia. The president of the Greek dentists' union Andras Pandazopolous explained that these are mostly patients without covered health insurance. According to ...

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Internal affairs division raids 3 Greek police stations in investigation into extremist party

by  Associated Press 3 Greek police stations raided in far-right probe Associated Press - 24 September 2013 09:14-04:00

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Officers from the Greek police's internal affairs division are raiding three police stations as part of an investigation into the activities of the extremist right-wing Golden Dawn party, after the fatal stabbing of an anti-fascist musician last week by a man who said he was involved with the party.

Police officials said internal affairs was investigating the police stations in three neighborhoods west of Athens where attacks against immigrants had been reported. The move Tuesday comes a day after the government replaced five senior police officers "to ensure the absolute objectivity" of the investigation.

Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias met with the country's president to discuss the crackdown against Golden Dawn, sparked by the death of Pavlos Fyssas, a rap singer stabbed last Wednesday.

News Topics: General news, Criminal investigations, Police, Law and order, Crime, Law enforcement agencies, Government and politics

People, Places and Companies: Greece, Athens, Western Europe, Europe

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. This article is published under the terms of the News Licensing Group, LLC. privacy policy, in addition to the terms of use and privacy policy for this website.

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Ministry asks troika for extension to second phase of civil service mobility scheme

Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday asked visiting troika mission chiefs for an extension for the 12,500 civil servants that Greece has pledged to put into a mobility scheme until the end of the year. Troika chiefs did not immedi... ...

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First Greek University Was On Crete

An important center of literature and education of the Byzantine years, which could be considered as the first Greek university, was excavated by Professor Ath. Paliouras in the location Losoudi of Asterousia, in Heraklion regional unit, at an altitude of 880 meters below the top of Kofinas Mountain. According to FlashNews, the excavation revealed the […]

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Cooperation for Return of Parthenon Marbles

The return of the Parthenon Marbles was at the center of the meeting that the Minister of Culture and Sports Panos Panagiotopoulos held on Sept. 24 with the Delegate to the International Association for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures, David Hill. Two months ago the minister visited Paris and attended a meeting with the […]

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Greek Banks Want Foreclosures, 100% Payments

ATHENS - Panagiota Kalapotharakou says she?s never seen such distress in her 25 years as a lawyer at the consumer-advocacy organization she helped to set up in Athens. ?If you look outside, the people are in despair,? Kalapotharakou said of the line of visitors outside her office in the rundown neighborhood of Exarchia, where most of her time is spent helping people with debts they can?t pay from Greece?s boom years. ?They can?t survive. What they can pay is much smaller than what the banks are asking for.?

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Letter From Athens: Greek Civil Servant Perks

Much has made made ? derisively, I might add ? of the six extra days a year holiday bonus Greek workers receive if they use a computer. Where's the compassion? True, workers who have to sort through the traditional filing system of piles of papers stacked in corners, in shopping carts, boxes and stuffed in cabinets probably deserve 12 extra days vacation a year just for heavy lifting. I was agog to read the thinly-veiled sarcasm rising to ridicule in stories that mocked the perks Greek civil servants receive. You think it's easy being the only real worker pounding away at a computer in an office of deadbeats asleep at their desks or smoking, drinking coffee and refusing to answer the phone unless they get a pick-up-the-phone bonus?

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Greek organizations prep our politicians (Your view)

This Greek segregation story is not over until the sororities at Alabama demonstrate over time that this decision to reopen bidding is not just a one-time thing that was conceived to quell the media frenzy. Has the racial barrier really been ...

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If Europe's future is German, Greece has only one hope for salvation

A new loan and further austerity measures are currently being ... A "grand coalition" between the two offers no hope to the south. The European Union's founding principles of prosperity, democracy and human rights have been set aside in the ...

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Greek Org of Football Prognostics S.A. : Announcement of substantial holdings L. 3556/2007

3m ago GREEK ORG OF FOOTBALL PROGNOSTICS S.: Announcement of substantial holdings L. 3.. 09/13 GREEK ORG OF FOOTBALL PROGNOSTICS S.: Replacement of resigned non-executive mem.. 08/30 GREEK ORG OF FOOTBALL PROGNOSTICS S.: Tax Audit Conclusion 2012 08/18 ...

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Greek public workers start 2nd public sector strike in two weeks

Greek public workers have started their second public sector strike in two weeks, to protest job cuts demanded by its international lenders to receive additional rescue loans. The 48-hour walkout began on Tuesday with municipal police, tax office and ...

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Police tolerated Golden Dawn violence, says officers' union chief

“During the last three years, there were many cases during which our colleagues displayed tolerance toward outbreaks of violence by members of Golden Dawn,” said the head of the Federation of Greek Police Officers (POASY) Christos Fotopoulos speaking to S... ...

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