  The uniform electron gas (UEG) at finite temperature is of key relevance for
many applications in dense plasmas, warm dense matter, laser excited solids and
much more. Accurate thermodynamic data for the UEG are an essential ingredient
for many-body theories, in particular, density functional theory. Recently,
first-principle restricted path integral Monte Carlo results became available
which, however, due to the fermion sign problem, had to be restricted to
moderate degeneracy, i.e. low to moderate densities with $r_s={\bar r}/a_B
\gtrsim 1$. Here we present novel first-principle configuration PIMC results
for electrons for $r_s \leq 1$. We also present quantum statistical data within
the $e^4$-approximation that are in good agreement with the simulations at
small to moderate $r_s$.
