Free Republic

In what part of the world were cats first found? And how did the different breeds arise? Cats were first domesticated about 10,000 years ago in the area known as the Fertile Crescent. This area stretches from Turkey to Northern Africa and includes Iran, Iraq and Egypt. Research data from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis, where cat genetics are studied, suggests that Turkey is one of the sites of origin for the domestication of cats. Cats started living close to people when people ceased being nomadic herders and became farmers raising livestock and crops....

NAIROBI, Kenya - Armed men killed a British man and kidnapped his wife from a beach resort in northern Kenya near the border with lawless Somalia, officials in the East African nation said Sunday. Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said Sunday that the couple arrived at the resort Saturday after visiting Kenya's Masai Mara reserve. He said they were the resort's only guests. ... A Kenyan security official said a policeman arrived at the scene and saw six men carrying away the woman. He didn't shoot out of fear she could be hurt.