Sheep are so much more than livestock. They are literary influencers.
How about early Western civilization. Jason, our most famous Argonaut, retrieved the Golden Fleece, the wool from a winged ram. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. In the Middle East and in Europe, sheep husbandry, along with the wool trade, shaped commerce. The pastoral, a literary genre, would not exist without sheep. Sheep wandered into fairy tales, nursery rhymes, puppetry and the terrific poem 'The Sheep Child' by James Dickey. Centuries after industrialization and technology transformed the natural world came Dolly, our first clone, a sheep.
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Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
Dozens killed as Palestinians in Gaza scramble for aid from air and land
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Dozens of Palestinians were killed or wounded on Monday as desperate crowds headed toward food distribution points and airdropped parcels in the Gaza Strip, according to witnesses and local health officials. Israel's blockade and military offensive have made it nearly impossible to safely deliver aid, contributing to the territory's slide toward famine nearly 22 months into the war with Hamas. Aid groups say Israel's week-old measures to allow more aid in are far from sufficient. Families of hostages in Gaza fear starvation affects them too, but blame Hamas. Several hundred Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since May while heading toward food distribution sites and aid convoys, according to witnesses, local health officials and the United Nations human rights office. The military says it has only fired warning shots and disputes the toll. As international alarm has mounted, several countries have airdropped aid over Gaza. The U.N. and aid groups call such drops costly and dangerous for residents, and say they deliver far less aid than trucks. AP video shows scramble for airdropped aid Many food parcels dropped by air have splashed into the Mediterranean Sea or landed in so-called red zones from which Israel's military has ordered people to evacuate. In either case, Palestinians risk their lives to get flour and other basic goods. On Monday, Palestinians cheered as pallets of aid were parachuted over Zuweida in central Gaza. Associated Press footage showed a desperate scramble when the parcels hit the ground, with hundreds of people racing toward them. Fistfights broke out and some men wielded batons. 'I wish they would deliver it through the (land) crossings,' Rabah Rabah said earlier as he waited for the airdrop. 'This is inhuman.' At least one parcel fell on a tent where displaced people had been sheltering, injuring a man who was taken to a hospital. His condition was not immediately known. Dozens killed seeking aid At least 16 people were killed late Sunday near the Israeli-controlled Zikim Crossing, the main entry point for aid to northern Gaza, according to records at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which showed that more than 130 people were wounded. The circumstances were not immediately clear, but the crossing has seen several shootings in recent days that witnesses and health officials blamed on Israeli forces. There was no immediate comment from the military. At least 10 people were killed as thousands waited for aid trucks in the Morag Corridor, which the Israeli military carved out between the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah. Mohammed al-Masri, who was among the crowds, said Israeli forces opened fire when a group of young men tried to make their way to the front. 'The occupation forces shot many people in the head and in the back,' he said, adding that he saw four wounded people, one motionless on the ground. Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said it received 10 bodies from Morag and another five who were killed near an aid site in southern Gaza run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor. GHF said there were no violent incidents at or near its sites. It said a new U.N. route runs near two of its sites in the south and has drawn large crowds of people who unload the convoys. GHF says its contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots on a few occasions to prevent deadly crowding since it opened four sites in May. 'It's a death trap' Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza said it received the bodies of eight people killed near a GHF site in the Israeli-controlled Netzarim Corridor, and that another 50 people were wounded. Witnesses and health officials said Israeli forces had fired toward the crowds. An Associated Press photo showed a man carrying a body away from the site, as others hauled bags of food. 'It's like yesterday, and the day before,' said Ayman Ruqab, a young Palestinian who said he had tried unsuccessfully to reach the site for the past three days. 'It's a death trap.' The Israeli military said it fired warning shots at people who approached 'in a manner that posed a threat to the troops,' without elaborating. It said it was not aware of any casualties. Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war. They still hold 50 hostages, around 20 of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but says around half the dead have been women and children, is staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable casualty count. Israel has disputed the figures but hasn't provided its own. ___ Magdy reported from Cairo. ___ Follow AP's war coverage at
Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
Pope Leo XIV inspires over a million young Catholics at Rome faith gathering
Rome became the epicenter of a global faith movement over the weekend, as more than 1 million young Catholics answered Pope Leo XIV's call for faith and service. "My young brothers and sisters, you are the sign that a different world is possible," the pontiff told the Jubilee of Youth crowd in Tor Vergata, encouraging the sea of young faithful to embrace dialogue over division. Father Michael Tidd, headmaster at the Delbarton School in Morristown, New Jersey, told Fox News Monday that Pope Leo's message deeply resonated with the audience. "I think what Pope Leo says that resonates so well is that he's not afraid to ask hard questions and to challenge young people to live their faith more deeply, more authentically, to go beyond themselves and not just worry about their own concerns, but seek the good of their brothers and sisters," he told "Fox & Friends." According to Tidd, the pope's ability to connect stems from a natural "ease," a way of communicating that is neither overbearing nor condescending. Rather than lecturing the young Christians, he speaks to them personally, with a touch of warmth and wisdom. "He has an ability to engage readily, and you see that in his smaller audiences and the audiences at St. Peter's Square and certainly even here, his ability to catch their attention and to have them listen to him, not as someone who's admonishing them or chastising them, but someone who is encouraging, almost like a coach," Tidd observed. "[He's] encouraging them, motivating them to seek a deeper relationship with Christ, and also to bring the fruits of that relationship to their relationships with their brothers and sisters." The pope presided over a prayer vigil Saturday evening on the outskirts of Rome where he answered questions from young pilgrims, followed by a Sunday mass.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Israel euthanizes crocodiles after repeated escapes and inhumane treatment
PETZAEL, West Bank (AP) — A bask of crocodiles brought to an Israeli settlement in the West Bank decades ago is meeting its end, as authorities euthanize the aging reptiles after years of their repeated escapes from a long-neglected farm. Israeli authorities said Monday that government veterinarians had culled the crocodiles because they threatened the area's residents and were themselves suffering from inhumane treatment. The exact number of crocodiles euthanized and the method of culling were not immediately clear. "The Nile crocodiles at the farm were being kept in an abandoned compound under poor conditions that constitute animal abuse, with insufficient access to food, which had driven them to cannibalistic behavior,' COGAT, the Israeli defense body that administers civilian affairs in the West Bank, said. The crocodiles were initially brought to the town of Petzael as a tourist attraction — a business adventure derailed by violence between Israel and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. They were later purchased by an entrepreneur who hoped to sell their skin. Their fate has been an open question since Israel in 2012 passed a law classifying the reptiles as protected animals and banned raising them for sale as meat or merchandise. 'I don't want to think of what will happen if a crocodile manages to escape and reaches the Jordan River, and then we'll have an international incident,' the head of the local community told The Associated Press in 2018, referencing the border with Jordan 4.2 miles (6.8 kilometers) away. COGAT said that authorities had spent hundreds of thousands of Israeli shekels (more than $29,000) to re-fence the dilapidated farm, which has been in a state of disrepair since it was shut down in 2013. It said that veterinarians were consulted on how to humanely exterminate the animals. Solve the daily Crossword
