• Biden has rejected Ukraine's NATO membership bid as part of a peace agreement.
• It would weaken Biden's reelection chances, a foreign policy expert said.
• Ukraine's accession to NATO would be perceived as an escalation by Russia.

US President Joe Biden appears to have drawn a line beneath Ukraine's bid for NATO membership.

In an interview with Time Magazine this week, the US president said he was not prepared to support the "NATOization of Ukraine," adding that he had witnessed "significant corruption" in Ukraine when he visited as vice president.

"Peace," Biden said, "doesn't mean NATO."

Rather, a part of the condition for peace in Ukraine was building relations with Kyiv, including security guarantees which would lead to a situation "where we supply weapons so they can defend themselves in the future."

Biden said, "Peace looks like making sure Russia never, never, never, never occupies Ukraine."

It comes as a blow to Ukrainian officials who have consistently pushed for a swift entry to NATO after the war's conclusion.

Earlier this week, a report by the Financial Times revealed that Ukraine's lack of progress toward NATO membership was a key issue creating tension in US-Ukrainian relations.

Ukrainian hopes are now pinned on the NATO meeting in Washington, scheduled for July 9-11, to bring a more definite signal for Ukraine's post-war membership.

Biden won't weaken his chances of getting reelected

The US ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith, told reporters last month that Kyiv is unlikely to receive a membership invitation at the alliance's July summit, promising to offer a security package as a "bridge" to membership.

This bridge "will be well-lit and made of steel, and we will do everything we can to help our friends from Ukraine, step by step, walk across that bridge to membership eventually."

However, refusing to move forward with an accelerated membership plan leaves Ukraine's hopes for NATO membership in the lurch.

Leo Litra, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Business Insider, "Biden is trying to solidify the idea for the US public that the US is not getting involved so he doesn't weaken his chances of getting reelected."

Referring to Biden's TIME Magazine comments, Litra said, "No one in NATO and especially not in the US, wants to have to test Article 5."

NATO's Article 5 upholds the principle of collective defense and would compel the US and Western nations to commit their military forces to defend Ukraine.

For now, Ukraine has to settle for a range of "security guarantees."

In addition to a G7 Joint Declaration made at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July last year, Ukraine has signed 15 bilateral security agreements with NATO member countries. All the agreements contain various pledges for the current year as well as boilerplate provisions for the duration of the deal.

Stefan Meister, head of the Eastern Europe program at the German Council on Foreign Relations, told BI that the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive last summer was a major wake-up call for the international community.

Meister said these packages will provide Ukraine with "more reliable long-term military and security support by NATO member states."

Some Ukrainian officials believe these guarantees are a "game changer." Just after Ukraine signed a security agreement with the UK in January, Oleksandr Lytvynenko, Ukraine's security council chief, wrote in The Economist, "Agreements on security co-operation are gradually moving Ukraine into the Western security space, without requiring the presence of Western troops on Ukrainian soil."

He added: "Such agreements create the basis for Ukraine's accession to NATO, which was decided on back in 2008 in Bucharest," when NATO welcomed Ukraine's aspirations to join the alliance.

A US State Department spokesperson confirmed to BI that a US-Ukraine security agreement was in the works.

"Our bilateral security arrangements will be focused on supporting Ukraine's defense in Putin's war of choice, building the credible deterrence capabilities of Ukraine's future force, and providing emergency response options in the event of future Russian aggression," the spokesperson said.

One confirmed offer that will come at this year's July summit will be an agreement from NATO to Ukraine to expand cooperation in defence technology and intelligence exchange regarding Russia's electronic warfare capabilities, NATO Assistant Secretary General David van Weel told reporters Tuesday.

However, Meister said that the lack of stable military aid commitments beyond 2024 "reflects the current challenges faced by Ukraine and its allies and divisions within NATO."

He said these packages are a reaction to the situation that there is no agreement among the member states for NATO integration. Each NATO member state has to do "more planning for long-term support for Ukraine" on its own back.

Zelenskyy's office did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

Although there have been strong demonstrations of support for Ukraine from NATO allies, experts warn that these guarantees carry little weight without the promise of full membership.

"Without NATO membership for Ukraine, security guarantees for Ukraine are blatant lies," Canadian analyst Michael MacKay wrote on X. "Keeping Ukraine out of NATO serves the interests of the Russian terrorist state only."

Litra said, "Ukraine relied on a similar 'guarantee' without legal mechanisms under the Budapest Memorandum," Litra said, referring to the 1994 security assurances in which Ukraine was required to hand over its nuclear arsenal in exchange for protection from the United States, the UK, and Russia. "But this Memorandum did nothing to prevent the war."

While Ukraine and some NATO members see these agreements as "instruments to prepare Ukraine for NATO membership in the future," Litra said that "the overall feeling, especially in the US and Germany is that Ukraine's accession to NATO would be an escalation for Russia."

According to Meister, "There is no alternative to NATO integration."

These guarantees are "the second best options Ukraine can get at this moment. They could lead to a NATO integration, but we are still far away from this," Meister said.

• A Tesla Cybertruck owner went viral for polishing his vehicle to have a mirrorlike finish.
• Some social media users raised concerns that the customization presents road safety hazards.
• Traffic experts told BI that it might not be safe but there are no regulations around it.

Having a Cybertruck with a mirrored body may not be the safest idea, but it's not illegal, highway safety experts and a traffic court attorney told Business Insider.

In May, Tyson Garvin went viral on social media for polishing his Tesla Cybertruck to have a mirrorlike exterior.

Garvin told BI that he felt the polishing job was not only an aesthetic improvement but also a practical upgrade. He said the new look helped with the common issue of fingerprint stains on the vehicle's stainless steel exterior.

But is it safe?

Social media users reacting to Garvin's customization raised concerns that the car could be a road safety hazard if the truck's exterior reflected headlights back at drivers — and if the vehicle blends in with its environment on the road as well as it appears to in photos.

Garvin told BI he had similar concerns about drivers' headlights bouncing off the truck's tailgate when driving at night. He said a road test he conducted with his wife showed that the tailgate only reflected the road because it is slightly slanted downward.

Experts told BI there isn't much literature on whether reflective exteriors present higher risks.

"Reflective glare may pose the same problem for other drivers as headlight glare, but I am not aware of any research documenting whether this leads to or is associated with increased crash risk," David Zuby, chief research officer for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, told BI in an email.

Johnathon Ehsani, a research director at Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, told BI he wasn't aware of studies that revealed the impacts of a vehicle's exterior color.

However, Ehsani added that there are two possible "mechanisms" that could make a reflective Cybertruck a road risk.

The first regarded concerns raised online: It's certainly possible that reflected glare from the vehicle can temporarily blind other drivers, Ehsani said, cautioning that he would have to see the vehicle in person to make a more certain conclusion.

Garvin told BI that the Cybertruck's shape causes sunlight to reflect onto the ground rather than towards other drivers.

The far more plausible scenario for road risks is not unique to the reflective Cybertruck, Ehsani said.

"The far more plausible case is a crash mechanism that is far more common, that people crash from every single day," he said," and that's that it might attract attention because it's such an unusual-looking vehicle."

Ehsani co-authored a 2013 study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health that documented the impact of a distracted driver. His research found that drivers are 3.8 times more likely to crash if they divert their attention from the road for more than two seconds.

This issue, of course, is not limited to exotic or highly unusual vehicles, Ehsani said.

"It's not that different to, for example, looking at a billboard for longer than you need to or even messing around with your entertainment console," he said.

'Asking to be pulled over'

A polished Cybertruck may attract some legal burdens even if there are no laws regarding customizing a vehicle's exterior color.

Martin A. Kron, a longtime New York traffic court attorney and former judge, told BI in an interview that he's never dealt with a legal issue for a car's paint job in his 38 years of practice.

But having a car with an outlandish color attracts the attention of everyone — including police officers, he said.

"Although there may not be a spelled out legal prohibition against it, in the real world, if you're driving a customized car, you're asking to be pulled over," Kron said, adding that officers could pull the driver over and sniff out other reasons to give a ticket.

Zuby, the chief research officer for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, told BI that the car's paint job also likely has no impact on insurance rates.

He said that insurers are mostly restricted to using past experiences rather than "predictive assessments" to set rates.

"So, unless an insurer had somehow documented that shinier vehicles had higher losses than less shiny ones, it would be unlikely to affect premiums paid," Zubu said. "Plus, it's unclear how an insurer would know that an insured made the vehicle shiny after purchase."

That is unless your vehicle is featured in a global publication, of course.

• Israeli special forces rescued four hostages from Gaza on June 8.
• Noa Argamani, whose abduction via motorcycle was captured on video, is among the rescued hostages. 
• Argamani's boyfriend is believed to still be in captivity.

Four hostages were rescued from Gaza in an Israeli operation on Saturday morning, according to a joint IDF, ISA, and Israeli police statement.

The operation in Nuseirat rescued Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv.

The four hostages were kidnapped by Hamas from the Re'im 'Nova' music festival on October 7th. They were among 40 people taken hostage from the festival.

Hamas gunmen killed 364 people at the Nova festival.

Noa Argamani's abduction went viral when she was taken hostage via motorbike eight months ago.

Footage of her capture circulated on social media in the days after October 7. In the video, she is seen begging her captors for her life. "Don't kill me!" she says while reaching for her boyfriend, Avinatan Or.

Or is believed to still be in captivity, his mother said in a Ynet interview in April.

Argamani, whose mother is Chinese, turned 26 during her first week in captivity.

Two days ago, an Israeli attack on Gaza's Nuseirat camp, from which the hostages were rescued, killed 40 people, according to Al Jazeera.

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari called the operation "daring," per The Times of Israel.

The rescuers included the elite Yamam counter-terrorism unit and an officer had been seriously wounded in the operation, said the Israeli news outlet.

Business Insider contacted the IDF for comment.

This is a developing story

• Mark Cuban pays out bonuses to his employees every time he sells a company.
• The billionaire said his payout practice has helped hundreds of people become millionaires.
• Cuban told Business Insider he thinks it's "the right thing to do." 

Billionaire Mark Cuban isn't opposed to sharing the wealth.

In a Tuesday post on X, the investor said he's maintained a business practice throughout his decadeslong career that has helped hundreds of people cross over to millionaire status.

When selling a company, Cuban said he always sets aside some of the profits to pay out his employees.

"In every business I've sold, I've paid out bonuses to every employee that was there more than a year," Cuban wrote.

The approach dates back to 1990 when Cuban sold his first company, MicroSolutions, a software firm that garnered $6 million at the time, he told CNBC Make It.

Cuban said he paid out 20% of that profit to the company's 80 employees, which, if distributed equally, would equal $15,000 per staffer.

In the years that followed, Cuban was an early investor in the streaming platform AudioNet, taking operational control of the service that would eventually become Broadcast.com.

When he ultimately sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.7 billion in stock in 1999, Cuban said 300 of the company's 330 employees became millionaires thanks to his employee payout practice.

Cuban said he's continued to set aside profits for loyal employees since becoming a billionaire in 1999. The businessman sold his majority stake in HDNet, now AXS TV, in 2019, paying out 20% of what he made to employees, he wrote.

Cuban added that HDNet was the only one of his companies to do layoffs immediately following its sale.

The billionaire, who bought the Dallas Mavericks NBA team in 2000, said he paid out more than $35 million to employees after selling his majority stake in the basketball team last year.

"I just believe it's the right thing to do," Cuban told Business Insider on Friday. "Everyone that contributes should benefit as well."

Cuban is worth an estimated $5.4 billion, according to Forbes.

• France announced this week it would send Ukraine Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets.
• It's the second warplane that NATO has promised Kyiv, after American-made F-16s.
• The Mirage is a good aircraft, but it may not be the one that's best suited for Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine is slated to receive Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets from France in the coming months, adding another aircraft to Kyiv's coming arsenal of Western combat planes.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France will provide Kyiv with the Mirage fighter aircraft after training pilots how to fly the warplanes through a program that will begin this summer. He added that Paris will build a coalition with other countries to supply the jets and that Ukraine could even be flying them by the end of the year.

Macron's announcement comes as Ukraine eagerly awaits the seemingly imminent arrival of American-made F-16s, which will be Kyiv's first Western fighter jet. Four NATO countries promised to send these fighters.

The Mirage 2000-5, like its F-16 counterpart, is a good fourth-generation fighter jet that will bring some additional capabilities to Ukraine's fleet of aging Soviet-era warplanes. But neither aircraft is necessarily the best fit for Kyiv given the current battlefield conditions.

With next-gen systems not even up for discussion, the plane that is most suitable for Ukraine remains Sweden's JAS 39 Gripen. But it is also out of reach, at least for the time being.

Limited air-to-air reach

The Mirage is a multi-role, delta-winged fourth-gen fighter jet manufactured by French company Dassault Aviation. Around 600 of these aircraft have been produced since it was designed in the late 1970s, and they are currently operated by a small number of militaries, including Greece and Taiwan.

Like the F-16, the Mirage 2000s are combat-proven aircraft, having flown sorties in conflicts across the Middle East and in the Balkans.

The 2000-5 variant, which is what France has promised to send Ukraine, first flew in 1990 and, compared to previous versions of the aircraft, features an upgraded radar system. The jet can be equipped with air-to-surface and air-to-air missiles, as well as laser-guided bombs.

Macron told French broadcasters on Thursday that the pilot training will begin this summer and take place in France. The program typically lasts around five to six months, he said, and an undisclosed number of Mirage jets will be transferred to Ukraine following the completion of that training.

Under normal conditions, the French Mirage 2000-5 would be perfectly suitable for a country like Ukraine, but that's just not the situation right now, Justin Bronk, an airpower and technology expert at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, told Business Insider.

The effectiveness of the Mirage 2000-5 is primarily limited by the MICA beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile, which has a much shorter range than the AIM-120 AMRAAM variants that Kyiv could use with its F-16s, Bronk said.

And the AMRAAM is already an unsatisfactory tool to address Russian air threats near the front lines because Moscow's formidable ground-based surface-to-air missile systems force Ukrainian fighters to fly at relatively low altitudes, putting limitations on the effectiveness of their missiles, Bronk said.

Investing resources to get Ukraine another Western fighter that has an even shorter air-to-air reach won't necessarily improve this dilemma.

The Mirage can carry powerful long-range cruise missiles like the French-made SCALP-EG, but those can also be launched from Ukraine's existing fighter fleet and have already been used to great effect.

Additionally, Bronk said, Ukrainian pilots who are able to be trained quickly on operating and maintaining a system as complex as a fighter jet are also in extremely limited supply. Many of these individuals are already training on the F-16 at sites in Europe and the US.

Doug Birkey, the executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, told BI that the Mirage is an "older capability" on par with what Ukraine is getting out of the F-16. Rather than split the focus between aircraft, creating new supply lines, maintenance processes and diverting resources, some NATO partners have argued it might make more sense to simply stick to the F-16.

Like the F-16, the French fighter jet's effectiveness, he said, will ultimately come down to how it's used and whether Kyiv can strike inside Russian territory. Last month, Macron said Ukraine should be allowed to use Western weapons to do so, a stance more NATO countries are taking.

"It's very difficult to try to win and succeed in the campaign when you're largely stuck to defense," Birkey said.

A fighter designed for the Ukraine war

Air warfare experts like Bronk have argued throughout the conflict in Ukraine that the most suitable Western combat aircraft for Ukrainian forces would be Sweden's JAS 39 Gripen.

Built by Swedish defense and aerospace firm Saab, the Gripen is a 4.5-generation multi-role fighter aircraft that has been in production since the 1980s.

The Swedish fighter jet was designed with the idea of a dispersed fighter force taking on Russia without having the benefits of being in NATO and facing a very dangerous surface-to-air missile threat. Essentially, it was designed for the exact conditions in which Ukraine is fighting.

Sweden's Gripen is considered by experts to be a highly capable, effective, and efficient fighter. It is relatively inexpensive to operate, easy to maintain, and requires less runway space than some other aircraft for taking off and landing.

The jet also features advanced electronic-warfare capabilities that were specifically designed to be able to counter the radars on Russian aircraft and ground-based air-defense systems.

Furthermore, the Gripen can be equipped with various air-to-surface missiles and bombs, as well as longer-range air-to-air missiles. Among the latter is the Meteor air-to-air missile, which, with a range of up to 80 miles, delivers a much longer reach than the French MICA and even some Russian weaponry.

Compared to the F-16 and Mirage, the Gripen is far more flexible in terms of operational requirements — especially when it comes to cost and maintenance — and is more resource-efficient.

The downsides of the Swedish aircraft are that it has yet to see combat and is rather limited in availability, unlike the F-16 and its support systems, which are available across Europe.

Sweden previously explored sending Gripens to Ukraine, but those considerations were recently put on hold to allow Kyiv to focus on the F-16. But France has announced its intention to send the Mirage, seemingly contradicting this rationale.

"Why you would then have another non-F-16 fighter being supplied that is less effective for Ukraine's requirements and less well-suited in every way than the Gripen seems slightly odd," Bronk said.

Ukrainian officials have long pushed for the West to provide fighter aircraft, and regardless of any drawbacks, they have expressed their delight publicly over both the F-16 and Mirage pledges.

"French combat aircraft — brilliant fighter jets that, under the control of Ukrainian pilots, will prove that Europe is stronger," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a Friday speech to France's National Assembly, referring to the Mirages.

Until these aircraft arrive, though, Ukraine will have to continue making do with its Soviet-era fleet. For Kyiv, any Western deliveries may prove valuable — regardless of the type of aircraft.

"The best fighter they can get are the ones they can get," Birkey argued. "It still remains that."

France's announcement on its plans to send Mirage fighters comes as Kyiv's partners step up their support for the country in the wake of Russia's new offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

Macron on Thursday also revealed plans to train and equip a brigade of 4,500 Ukrainian soldiers, which will be a significant development and a notable break from some previous training schemes.

"One of the biggest problems that Ukraine is currently facing is a lack of training capacity, particularly the capacity to train at a larger unit level, so battalions and brigades, rather than companies and smaller," Bronk said.

Instead of offering lots of short courses for smaller numbers of troops — a strategy that showed its limitations during Kyiv's failed counteroffensive last summer because it didn't generate officers — the French plan offers a way for Ukrainian troops to train as a unified formation with standardized equipment, Bronk said.

That, he added, "is an incredibly useful and an incredibly well-thought-out way of increasing and stabilizing long-term support. That's really potentially impactful."

• Apple is expected to unveil iOS 18 with new AI features at its WWDC event on Monday.
• The AI features will reportedly require at least an iPhone 15 Pro or the upcoming iPhone 16 lineup.
• Expected features include AI email composition, custom emojis, and a ChatGPT-like chatbot.

It sounds like Apple is betting its long-expected AI features will be enough to convince you to upgrade your iPhone — especially if the AI requires a top-of-the-line device.

Apple is expected to reveal iOS 18 at its annual developers conference, WWDC, on Monday.

The company's new AI software, which Bloomberg reported will be called "Apple Intelligence," will include features that run on-device — meaning they're powered directly by the iPhone's chips rather than relying on cloud servers. Some of the AI services will still rely on cloud-based computing, according to the report, but many will not.

So which iPhone models will make the cut? Not many, apparently.

The new AI features will require at least an iPhone 15 Pro or the upcoming iPhone 16 lineup, Bloomberg reported. The iPhone 16 and public launch of iOS 18 are both expected in the fall. Those with iPads and Macs will also require models with an M1 chip at minimum, according to the report.

Apple will be integrating the AI technology into several apps, including Mail, Voice Memos, and Photos, but users can choose to opt-in, Bloomberg reported.

The features will reportedly be focused on helping with everyday tasks, ranging from summarizing and helping compose emails to AI-suggested custom emojis while texting. Siri will also be getting an AI overhaul to allow users to command more specific tasks within apps, such as asking Siri to delete an email, according to Bloomberg.

Apple also inked a deal with OpenAI to help power some features, including a chatbot similar to ChatGPT, The Information and Bloomberg previously reported.

CEO Tim Cook, who has acknowledged that the smartphone market has been "tough" in the US recently, is likely hoping that the new generative AI offerings spur a big device upgrade cycle.

Apple's WWDC keynote kicks off Monday at 1 p.m. ET. Business Insider will be liveblogging the event.

• GitHub Copilot is partly responsible for bringing a focus on generative AI to Apple, a report says.
• Apple's senior vice president of software engineering became a "convert" after trying it, per The Wall Street Journal.
• Apple execs were also impressed by ChatGPT and subsequently wanted to upgrade Siri, The New York Times previously reported. 

An Apple exec was inspired to drive a focus on generative AI in his division after using one such tool from the competition, a new report says.

Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, became a "convert" over the 2022 Christmas break after using GitHub Copilot, an AI code completion tool, according to a Wall Street Journal article published Wednesday, citing people familiar with his experience.

Federighi subsequently asked employees in his software engineering division to devise ways to integrate generative AI into products, former engineers and execs told the Journal.

It's not the first time competitors' generative AI tools reportedly motivated Apple to work on its own.

Federighi and John Giannandrea, Apple's senior vice president of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, decided Siri needed an upgrade after spending weeks using ChatGPT themselves, The New York Times reported last month, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Apple hopes generative AI will help Siri perform better at existing tasks and take on new ones, like summarizing texts and chatting, the Times reported, citing three sources familiar with Apple's work.

Apple is expected to make some sort of AI announcement at WWDC, its annual developers conference, next week.

Apple did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• A recent study looked at different cat breeds to try and determine which live the longest.
• Burmese and Birman cats topped the list, but it's unclear clear why.
• Many factors can impact how long a cat lives, including whether it lives indoors or outdoors.

Burmese cats are active, outgoing, and excessively fond of grooming, according to some research. They may also be one of the cat breeds that live the longest.

Most cat breeds are less than 150 years old, and there isn't a lot of information on how differences between the various types affect their lifespans.

To help change that, a recent study compared 12 common cat breeds to determine which ones live the longest.

Learning more about the different breeds will allow cat owners "to predict the future life expectancy for their cats based on novel scientific methods and the power of big data," said study co-author and veterinarian Dan O'Neill in a statement.

The researchers found Burmese and Birmans live the longest, with an average of 14 years, about two years longer than the average cat. But why these breeds outlive their peers isn't clear.

Predicting the life expectancy of cats

For this recent study, researchers from London's Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and the National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan looked at the ages of 7,936 cats who died between 2019 and 2021.

Over 7,000 of the cats in the study were mixed breeds. Most of the other 11 breeds included breeds like British cats, Maine Coons, Ragdolls, and Persians.

Typically, cats' life expectancies ranged from about 9 to 14 years, the researchers found.

For example, siamese and mixed-breed cats' life expectancies were over 11.5 years, whereas others — Norwegian Forest, Maine Coon, Russian, and British — were over 9.5 years.

Here's a table of what the researchers found:

Breed	Life expectancy (years)
Burmese	14.42
Birman	14.39
Crossbred	11.89
Siamese	11.69
Persian	10.93
Ragdoll	10.31
Norwegian Forest Cat	9.95
Maine Coon	9.71
Russian cats	9.65
British cats	9.58
Bengal	8.51
*Sphynx	6.68

*Some breeds, like Sphynx cats, may not have had enough data to accurately reflect lifespans, said Leslie Lyons, who studies domestic cat genetics at the University of Missouri.

While the researchers' findings did indicate Burmese and Birmans lived longest, almost every breed had at least one cat that lived to be over 20 years old.

Limitations with the data

One potential issue with some of the data is that it can be tricky for people to know their cats' breeds, Lyons said.

"Some of these cats listed as a particular breed might not really be what we would call a pedigreed breed," she said. An owner may assume their shelter cat with silvery fur is a Russian Blue, for example, when it's actually a mixed breed.

Unlike dogs — some of which have been used for hundreds of years to hunt, corral sheep, or pull sleds — cats were often bred for aesthetic reasons rather than personality or athleticism.

That's why breed differences aren't as dramatic in cats as they are in dogs and might not impact cats' health in the same way.

It's not like comparing a Doberman to a Pekingese. That's because cats' aesthetic traits are genetically less complex than dogs' behavioral and functional ones, Lyons said.

However, these breed preferences can still have unintended consequences, like Persian cats' short noses, which can cause breathing difficulties.

How long a cat lives depends on plenty of factors

In addition to breed, the study looked at a number of factors, like sex, weight, and whether the cat was spayed or neutered. Females and fixed cats both tended to live a bit longer.

Lyons sees this study as a jumping-off point for further investigations into factors that impact life expectancies like time spent indoors or outdoors, which the study didn't account for.

Car accidents, parasites, and fights with other felines are just a few of the dangers for cats who venture outside. As a result, some research suggests outdoor cats have an average lifespan of only two to five years.

The authors, who published their study in the peer-reviewed "Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery," said further research is needed into the causes of death in companion cats, including in the Sphynx breed.

• The US is considering deploying more strategic nuclear weapons, a senior Biden official said.
• Russia, China, and North Korea are increasing their nuclear capabilities rapidly, said Pranay Vaddi.
• The US must modernize its nuclear arsenal to deter threats and preserve stability, the official said.

The US is considering deploying more strategic nuclear weapons after years of post-Cold War cutbacks, a senior Biden administration official said.

Speaking at the annual meeting Arms Control Association (ACA) on Friday, Pranay Vaddi, the top National Security Council arms control official, said, "We may reach a point in the coming years where an increase from current deployed numbers is required. We need to be fully prepared to execute if the president makes that decision."

Vaddi warned that adversaries of the US, specifically referring to Russia, China, and North Korea,"are all expanding and diversifying their nuclear arsenals at a breakneck pace, showing little or no interest in arms control."

Along with Iran, these countries "are increasingly cooperating and coordinating with each other in ways that run counter to peace and stability, threaten the United States, our allies and our partners and exacerbate region tensions," he said.

Vaddi's comments contrast with the US government's position on nuclear proliferation outlined by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan at the ACA meeting last year.

Sullivan said that the US did not need to "deploy ever-more dangerous nuclear weapons to maintain deterrence" or engage in a Cold War-style arms race.

"We've been there. We've learned that lesson," Sullivan said.

In February last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin withdrew from the 2010 New START treaty, which placed controls on the number of nuclear weapons that Russia and the US could have at their disposal.

The limits meant that neither country could have more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads.

Putin said that to resume treaty activities, the US would need to stop its support for Ukraine and force France and the UK to attend arms control talks.

At the time, President Joe Biden called Putin's decision a "big mistake."

Last week, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened nuclear strikes on the West, Reuters reported.

The former president held office from 2008 to 2012 and currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council.

Reuters reported that Medvedev said, "Nobody today can rule out the conflict's transition to its final stage."

In May, Russia announced drills with tactical nukes near Ukraine, which it said are being held in response to recent "threats" from the West.

Speaking about the growing threat of a nuclear conflict, Vaddi said, "We will have no choice but to adjust our posture and capabilities to preserve deterrence and stability."

"We need to persuade our adversaries that managing rivalry through arms control is preferable to unrestrained competition," he said.

• Saudi Arabia's Neom megacity is facing some big challenges.
• The kingdom has struggled to attract the foreign investment needed for the project, experts say.
• They say the financial realities mean the project is unlikely to achieve its lofty goals.

Saudi Arabia's vision for its futuristic desert city, Neom, has always been the stuff of fantasy.

Touted as one of the most ambitious projects in the world, the megacity includes plans that could have been lifted from a sci-fi film. It features a high-tech linear city that will house more robots than people, a year-round ski resort featuring artificial snow, and theme parks that combine virtual and physical worlds.

When Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman first revealed the high-tech project in 2017, it was met with some skepticism. Since then, details about the project have been relatively scarce, with planners reportedly bound by strict non-disclosure agreements.

But recently, a picture has emerged of a country beginning to feel the strain of its mighty ambitions.

"Neom was like was an imaginary city when it was announced," Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a fellow for the Middle East at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, told Business Insider. "Now, they're finding it much more difficult to turn that imaginary vision into some sort of reality on the ground."

The main issue is the enormous cost of Neom. Saudi Arabia has struggled to attract the foreign investment needed for the megaproject, and experts say it's not likely to secure it anytime soon.

Lack of foreign investment

The kingdom was counting on foreign investment to fund a large part of Neom, but things have not gone entirely to plan.

"When Vision 2030 was announced back in 2017, the assumption had been a lot of the funding would come in from foreign investment — that didn't happen," Ulrichsen said.

The drive for foreign cash hit an early stumbling block in 2017.

Just 10 days after the megacity was announced, 400 of the most prominent and influential Saudis were rounded up and detained in Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton hotel, which had just hosted the Neom launch event.

The mass arrests spiraled into a full-blown purge and became the most contentious in the kingdom's modern history.

"The hotel basically became a detention recap of the Saudi business elites who might have been expected to be the ones partnering with foreign investors," Ulrichsen said. "Saudi foreign investment levels — they had been declining anyway — collapsed after this, and it's been very difficult for them to build back up."

In 2018, Saudi faced further global isolation after the brutal murder and dismemberment of dissident Jamal Khashoggi, a crime the CIA said was likely committed on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's direct orders.

"Generally, no one in the West wanted anything to do with the Saudis at this time, and investors pulled out in large numbers," Andreas Krieg, a Gulf specialist at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at King's College London, said.

Spiraling costs

The Saudi Public Investment Fund has propped up the lion's share of the financial burden — but officials at the sovereign wealth fund are reportedly getting nervous about the spiraling costs.

The official estimate for Neom is $500 billion, but planners have dismissed the figure as unrealistically low. Other estimates have put the projected costs at as much as $1.5 trillion.

In April, Bloomberg reported that the financial realities of the country's Vision 2030 plan, which includes Neom as its centerpiece, had started to cause concern within the government.

In February, Saudi also started borrowing to help fund some of the ambitious megaprojects.

In public, the Saudis have been keen to insist the project and funding are on track. In private, though, recent reports suggest that the Crown Prince is open to having "tough conversations" about the Vision 2030 ambitions.

Krieg said Saudi Arabia's public spending bill was "extremely high," raising questions about wasteful spending on megaprojects. "Vision 2030 consumes a lot of money, and there's a lot of inefficiencies, especially when it comes to Western consultancy firms."

Renewed scrutiny

In April, the kingdom once again became the subject of international scrutiny over alleged human rights abuses.

An explosive BBC News report claimed Saudi Arabia had authorized the use of "lethal force" to clear the way for Neom. The area was mostly populated by the Huwaitat tribe, which traditionally dwelled on areas earmarked for the megacity.

One of the villagers, Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti, was later killed by Saudi authorities, according to Saudi activists.

In the wake of the report, human rights organizations began pressuring governments and businesses to act on the report — prompting at least one politician, UK deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, to raise the allegations with the Saudi government.

Lina al-Hathloul, a human rights activist and head of monitoring and advocacy at human rights organization ALQST, told BI that Neom was being "built on Saudi blood."

"This project symbolizes the current state of the country: it was decided without the people's consent, and when they oppose it, they are sanctioned in courts that lack independence," she said.

The country has long tried to silence those who speak out against the project. Last summer, a Saudi woman was jailed for 30 years for criticizing Neom on Twitter.

"The reality behind such futuristic projects is the brutal repression of citizens and residents," said Dana Ahmed, Amnesty International's Middle East researcher.

"Businesses have a responsibility to conduct a thorough human rights risk assessment before operating in an environment that poses credible human rights risks, such as in Saudi Arabia."

At least one company has withdrawn from Neom over human rights concerns. Malcolm Aw, CEO of Solar Water, previously told BI that he had pulled out of a $100 million Neom contract because of alleged Saudi human rights abuses.

Drawing The Line

There's no doubt Saudi Arabia is barrelling ahead with The Line — the most prominent aspect of Neom.

According to executives, the number of people working on the project doubled in the past year. Satellite images provided to BI also show the extent of construction underway at the site.

But many questions remain about the project. Saudi Arabia has already reduced estimates for the number of people set to live in Neom by 2030, per Bloomberg.

According to Ulrichsen, many of the project's lofty goals have always been "moving targets," with several deadlines already pushed back.

As the Saudi government nervously eyes the ever-growing bill, Neom needs to generate enough excitement to attract foreign funds.

Despite the fresh scrutiny over human rights abuses, Krieg says that Saudi is now more palatable than ever on the international stage, and the outlook for the kingdom is positive.

Krieg said Neom's very premise was built on levels of foreign investment that now seem unlikely to ever materialize. Meanwhile, competition from Saudi's regional rivals such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi is heating up.

"There's been some Chinese investments, but they are nowhere near where they need to be," he said. "There's always going to be a shortfall of foreign investment in Saudi to pay for all of these projects."

Representatives for Neom did not respond to a request for comment from BI.