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Unfortuantely I am unable to continue with the babylon news blog (sporadic as it may have been). The blog is set up to use google readers ability to share items to a rss feed and pull those items onto the blog. With the latest changes to google reader this functionality has been taken away, thus I am unable to post any items automatically. I would love to continue the blog but i do not have enough time at present to do the blog properly.

My hope is that in the future i will get time to fix site up, but that may be about 6 months away. As always, I have big plans but not really any time to implement them!

Apologies,

Daniel

The head of Iraq’s main anti-corruption agency, Judge Rahim al-Ogaili of the Integrity Commission resigned on September 9, 2011. He said that the government was not committed to fighting graft and fraud, and that the country’s political parties were constantly interfering in his work. A new report by the International Crisis Group shed new light on why Ogaili stepped down. Apparently the Integrity Commission and other agencies discovered a series of front companies run by leading politicians that would routinely win government contracts, but not complete their work. When Ogaili tried to prosecute them, the authorities stepped in and blocked each case. This frustrating experience might have been the last straw for the Integrity Commission head, and led to him quitting.

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The ancient Egyptian city of Amarna. was the short-lived capital built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten and abandoned shortly after his death (c. 1332 BCE). It is of particular significance as it represents both the location of the first major society dedicated to the cult of a single god as well as an important city that was occupied for a relatively brief period and then abandoned. It is thus simultaneously the key to a chapter in the history of religious experience and to a fuller understanding of what it was like to be an ancient Egyptian. More information on Amarna can be found in Kemp 1977; 1995; 2002 and 2005.

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CyArk is a 501c3 non profit organization with the mission of: digitally preserving cultural heritage sites through collecting, archiving and providing open access to data created by laser scanning, digital modeling, and other state-of-the-art technologies.

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As the United States marks 10 years of war, only a third of the veterans of the post-9/11 era say that the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have both been worth fighting, according to a new Pew Research Center report.

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The Old Assyrian Text Project is an international scholarly network with the primary objectives to publish Old Assyrian texts (dated to c. 1900-1700 BCE) and conduct research in OA society (see the main OATP site for more information: [[ http://oatp.ku.dk | oatp.ku.dk ]]). The OATP has fostered a number of research projects and publications through the years and has been generously funded by the Carlsberg Foundation since 2000.

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After 19 years in Swansea we will be moving back to East Anglia. I have been awarded a chair in Archaeological Heritage, and will be serving as Head of the Division of Humanities at University Campus Suffolk. I am looking forward to working with new colleagues and students in Ipswich, as well as the wider research networks from UEA and the University of Essex.

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Iraq has set aside $8.5m (IQD10bn) to develop infrastructure services to the archeological city of Babylon. The announcement was made by the governor of Babel province, Mohammed Massoudi.

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When Suad Dabbagh and two other women graduated from Iraq's Judicial Institute in 1979, they became the first female judges in a nation run by Saddam Hussein. The novelty led to a deluge of news photo and interview

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corruption threatens to undermine the significant progress Iraq has made toward reducing violence and strengthening state institutions. Failing Oversight: Iraq's Unchecked Government , the latest report from the International Crisis Group . . .

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I saw the painting shortly after seeing the original of the original, that is Pompeii itself. I went in the wake of last November's collapse of the House of Gladiators amid a torrent of abuse at Italy's inability to look after its ancient sites. The idea of a 2,000-year-old structure in one of Europe's most sensational remains being so neglected as to fall down, while money to save it had allegedly been siphoned off by the mafia, was astonishing.

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A US solider accused of killing a civilian contractor in Iraq who was digging a hole was a paranoid schizophrenic and "not mentally responsible" for the close-range shooting, an Army psychiatrist testified. The court martial of Pfc. Carl T. Stovall . . .

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The ancient Mayans had contact with alien visitors who left behind evidence of their existence, according to a new Mexican documentary.

Sundance winner Juan Carlos Rulfo's Revelations of the Mayans 2012 and Beyond is currently in production for release next year to coincide with the end of the Mayan calendar, reports the Wrap.

Producer Raul Julia-Levy said the documentary-makers were working in cooperation with the Mexican government for what he said was "the good of mankind". He said the order to collaborate had come directly from the country's president, Álvaro Colom Caballeros.

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one word: glorious.

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I recreated to the best of my abilities the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in Minecraft. This was Actually done for a school project. Song- Chill beat By DJ J@mez Video and map - Rsmv2you/me.

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In his new memoir, Dick Cheney presents himself as someone who understood that the 9/11 attacks changed the world. Those attacks, he says, made it clear: "We had to do everything possible to be sure they (the terrorists) never got their hands on weapons that could kill millions." That is how he justifies the Iraq war.

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The Hittite religion is believed to have been one of great syncretism, their central elements gathered from the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians and other peoples. We hear of several generations of gods who ruled the cosmos and who were challenged by . . .

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As the Arab Spring drives change across our region, bringing the hope of democracy and reform to millions of Arabs, less attention is being paid to the plight of Iraq and its people. We were the first to transition from dictatorship to democracy, but the outcome in Iraq remains uncertain. Our transition could be a positive agent for progress, and against the forces of extremism, or a dangerous precedent that bodes ill for the region and the international community.

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With the government looking so weak after the conclusion of hostilities, rebels believed they had a real chance at overthrowing the regime. Within a month, Saddam Hussein’s forces were able to regain control. Many people ended up fleeing south into the vast southern marshes hoping to escape government reprisals. They never expected Saddam to pursue them, and in the next few years destroy almost the entire marshland area, which has still not recovered to this day

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