A resting camel near the pyramids in Giza, Egypt.gettyIn February 2025, Airbnb joined a continuously growing list of travel companies that no longer promote and sell camel and horse ride tickets at the Giza Pyramids, Egypt.Since the investigation by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in 2019 revealed shocking footage of mistreated camels and horses, multiple travel companies stopped offering these rides.I have been to Egypt twice and the level of animal abuse there is shocking, says Alexandra Dubakova, head of marketing at Freetour.com. Horses pull a carriage with overweight tourists as the driver screams at them. Camels go for ride after ride in the extreme heat without feeding or drinking water until the end of the day. I contacted a guide and requested them to go on foot with me as I didnt want to ride a camel and they declined. I was forced to contact another guide, who luckily agreed, she continues.However, Giza is already changing. Ahram Online reported in October 2024 that Sherif Fathy, minister of tourism and antiquities and Alaa Farouk, minister of agriculture and land reclamation launched the first ever animal welfare program for horses, camels and pets at archaeological sites.Orascom Pyramids Entertainment (OPE), the company leading the transformation of the Giza Pyramids visitor experience, has also announced plans to regulate and better organize animal operators at the site, as reported by Ahram Online.So, how to be an ethical traveler when it comes to exploring one of the worlds most iconic landmarks in this transitional period?The Giza Plateau Is One Of Egypts Timeless LegaciesGiza Plateau is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world. It sits on the west bank of the Nile River about eight miles southwest of downtown Cairo. It takes 30 to 40 minutes by car and 1 to 1.5 hours by public transport.A beautiful profile of the Great Sphinx including the pyramids of Menkaure and Khafre in the ... [+] background in Giza, Cairo, EgyptgettyThe plateau is home to, among others, the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Pyramid of Khafre, the Pyramid of Menkaure and the Great Sphinx. While the entrance fee grants access to the plateau, entering the pyramids requires a separate ticket.If you have only seen photos of the Giza Plateau, you already know that the landscape is a mix of sand and rock, with little to no shade for visitors. While some paved areas exist near the entrance, much of the terrain is rugged.Justin and Karolina Jaczewska-Bagri, a UK couple, who visited Giza in December 2024, confirmed in an email interview that all these landmarks are within walking distance of each other. They thought only one viewpoint was a bit out of the way, but they did not feel the need to use any animal transport.However, if tourists visit the site during summer, the extreme heat may feel daunting, and the distances may feel longer. It is not hard to see that camel rides or horse-drawn carriages can provide an easier way to move among the different sites for those who do not want to walk in the heat. But does convenience justify the current practice?Horse-drawn carriages ride along a road connecting the Sphinx with the Pyramids, in Giza, Egypt.gettyCamel Rides By The Pyramids May Look Magical In Photos, But The Reality Is DifferentTravelers associate riding a camel with the classic desert adventure often seen in movies such as "Hidalgo" or "Sahara," embedding this imagery in our heads.Additionally, travel photos showing tourists riding camels in desert landscapes further cement this association. For example, Getty Images hosts more than 12,000 photographs of people on camel-back in sandy landscapes. Instagram has almost 400,000 posts under the "camelride" hashtag.Young couple riding camels in Giza Plateau.gettyMy husband, Nandor Barta, was eager to visit the Pyramids during a business trip to Cairo. After all, he could see them right from his hotel window. He had imagined visiting one of the Seven Wonders of the World would be an exciting, awe-inspiring experience.However, what stood out most was not the iconic monuments but the relentless swarm of locals pushing donkey and camel rides on him. Even when the pyramids were two minutes away, they tried to convince him, "It is very far." He felt everything costs money, taking a photo of a camel or locals "helping" to take a picture of him in front of a pyramid.Ultimately, he firmly refused all rides and left with a sour impression. The site felt chaotic, and he could not shake the feeling that there was little to no control over what was happening within the archaeological zone.The Jaczewska-Bagri couple also recommends a simple ruse to avoid any hassles. We just told everyone who try to sell us a ride that we have already been here yesterday and did it. It worked like a charm, they said.Another way to avoid it according to Jasmine Charbonier, a travel blogger who visited Giza last year, is to arrive at opening time. Not just to beat the crowds, but because many animal handlers havent arrived yet. She found that by mid-afternoon, solicitation becomes increasingly aggressive, making it the worst time to visit.If you browse reviews on sites like TripAdvisor or Google Reviews, you will find hundreds of travelers sharing the same unpleasant experience. So, how can you experience the Pyramids without falling for scams while still having a great time?Traffic and crowds at the archeological site of Giza Plateau, Egypt Getty ImagesWhy Smart Travelers Are Booking Private Guides, And How to Find Trusted OnesMany travelers, such as Alicia Walter, a travel journalist who has been to Giza, agree that having a trusted guide is invaluable. She explained that having a private guide allowed them to go by many of the "salesmen" as they instantly saw that they were with a local.Guides will handle transportation to and from downtown Cairo, assist you with purchasing tickets at the entrance and help you deflect unwanted attention. Having them by your side would allow you to focus on the experience rather than the hassles. But where to find those guides?Online platforms that connect travelers with vetted local guides have emerged to make navigating unfamiliar destinations easier, especially in places where tourist scams and aggressive sales tactics are common.One of the oldest private touring platforms is Tour By Locals, founded in 2008. You can find 34 local guides in Giza, several with hundreds of reviews.Thanks to a rigorous selection and screening process, most customers report being highly satisfied with their tours, leading many travelers to book through their website repeatedly.GoWithGuide and TourHQ are other alternatives focusing on guide verification and user reviews to connect travelers with knowledgeable locals.The official website of Visit Egypt also advises travelers not to hire a tourist guide right at the entrance of the archeological site as they often overcharge.Electric Buses Are Connecting Gizas Top Landmarks Since 2020Golf cart ride through the desert in Egypt. gettyAs part of the Giza Plateau revamp an eco-friendly electric bus service has already began its trial operation in 2020, connecting the visitor center to the first on-site restaurant, 9 Pyramids Lounge. According to Amr Gazarin, chairman of OPE, its final form will be a hop-on hop-off kind bus service between the visitor center and seven additional locations.Ahram Online reported in December 2024 that OPE is set to invest an additional 1 billion Egyptian pounds ($51.1 million) to create a more organized and eco-friendly visitor experience. And this comes after the November 2024 announcement of 500 million Egyptian pounds.Dubakova tried them when she visited the site and she thought they were surprisingly more comfortable than she expected them to be.Quad Rides Are Clearly An Alternative, But Are They Really Better?With camel and horse rides under increasing scrutiny, some travelers are turning to buggy and quad bike tours as an alternative way to explore the desert landscape surrounding the Giza Pyramids. While they take visitors outside the archeological site, they offer panoramic views of the pyramids without the persistent offers from vendors.Buggies on a dirt road in Egypt.gettyRebecca Leigh, a travel writer at Ukwritings.com, visited the Giza Pyramids and opted for a quad bike tour instead of an animal ride.In an email interview, she described the quad bike experience as unforgettable, with the vast desert and pyramids creating a breathtaking backdrop. However, she noted that sunglasses or goggles were essential due to the intense sand.The highlight of her ride was the exhilarating rush of speeding over the dunes, with the pyramids rising dramatically in the distance. She felt part of a movie scene. The guides carefully led her and her group to a vantage point where all three pyramids aligned perfectly against the sky, offering a stunning photo opportunity.While bike tours remove animals from the equation, it raises another question. Is it truly a sustainable alternative? Off-road vehicles, while undeniably exciting, contribute to noise pollution and dust, having a higher carbon footprint. Is this the price to pay if you want to stop the animal abuse reported in this area?No Tickets, No Tours, But A Great Meal With An Iconic ViewA lone man sits on the roof of a restaurant and enjoys a beautiful view of the Great Pyramids of ... [+] Giza, Cairo, Egypt.gettyIf you are a traveler who does not want to navigate the crowds, haggle with vendors or brave the desert heat to see the Pyramids up close, you can still find stunning views from the comfort of rooftop restaurants and hotels overlooking the Giza Plateau.Enjoying the Sound and Light Show from a private balcony offers a stress-free, picture-perfect experience without tickets, tours or camel rides. From Wednesday to Saturday, the show starts at 7:30 and 8:30 p.m.Rethinking How We Experience the PyramidsThe Giza Pyramids remain one of the worlds most awe-inspiring destinations, but how travelers experience them matters. With travel companies dropping support for camel and horse rides over ethical concerns, visitors also have a role to play in advocating for responsible tourism. As Egypts tourism industry evolves, the question remains: What should ethical travel to the Pyramids look like? And how can we achieve it?

Dont forget to upgrade your rig with monitor deals too after taking advantage of gaming PC deals! However, if youve already used up most of your budget on your new gaming desktop, dont sweat it because you can still get a decent display on a tight budget. The 32-inch LG UltraGear QHD gaming monitor is a great example its already pretty affordable at its original price of $349, but you can currently buy it from Walmart for just $188 following a $161 discount. Youre going to have to hurry though, as tomorrow may already be too late to shop this offer.The LG UltraGear QHD gaming monitor isnt going to match up to the features and specifications of the top-of-the-line models of the best gaming monitors, but for its price, its a very solid screen that will be enough for most gamers to appreciate the graphics of the best PC games. It all starts with the Quad HD resolution on its 32-inch screen, which will show your games with sharp details, and its also got HDR10 support for rich colors and contrast to enable an immersive experience.Our computer monitor buying guide explains refresh rate as how often the images on the display are updated, and response time as how quick it shows image transitions. The 32-inch LG UltraGear QHD gaming monitor comes with a 165Hz refresh rate, which exceeds our recommendation of 120Hz to 144Hz, and a 1ms response time that will give you the opportunity to react quickly to anything thats happening onscreen. For your comfort, you can adjust the tilt of the monitors base to the perfect angle for you.RelatedAn outdated screen wont give justice to your new gaming PC, so you should consider buying the 32-inch LG UltraGear QHD gaming monitor, especially now that its available with huge savings from Walmart. From its sticker price of $349, its all the way down to only $188. Were not sure how much time youve got left to get the 32-inch LG UltraGear QHD gaming monitor for less than $200 as its not going to stay at $161 off for long, so we highly recommend completing your transaction for it as soon as possible.Editors Recommendations

Amazon Prime Video plans to use AI to dub foreign language shows and movies into English and Latin American Spanish. The company has begun a pilot program that uses AI-aided dubbing on 12 licensed movies and series, including titles such as El Cid: La Leyenda, Mi Mam Lora, and Long Lost.Amazon says the pilot uses a hybrid approach to dubbing in which localization professionals collaborate with AI to ensure quality control, and made it clear that it will only use its AI-aided process on content that doesnt already have dubbing support.Recommended VideosI reached out to Amazon to find out if the creators of the 12 pilot movies and series were involved in the process, but I hadnt received a response by the time this article was published.Please enable Javascript to view this contentMany cinephiles believe that watching a dubbed version of a foreign language film or series undermines the art. Since an actors performance is a combination of movement, speech, and emphasis, its important to experience all of it, even if you need subtitles to understand what is said. If AI dubbing could preserve 100% of that performance, while converting it to a different language, it could redefine what it means to watch a dubbed movie.On the other hand, AI dubbing threatens the livelihood of professional voice actors. In 2023, voice actors sounded the alarm via the National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA). It issued advicefor voice actors, telling them never to grant synthesis rights to a client and to contact their union or an attorney if they suspect the contract is trying to take their rights.Among their concerns were that studios might use AI to edit lines of dialogue, in effect getting new performances from actors without bringing them back into the recording studio (or paying them to do so).Amazon isnt the first company to employ AI-based dubbing. In 2023, Spotify debuted a tool based on OpenAIs technology that let it clone the voices of its podcast hosts and dub them into other languages.That technology has continued to improve at a dramatic rate. In 2024, OpenAI boasted that it only needed 15 seconds of sample audio to create an AI clone of someones voice. Just a few months later, Microsoft which has invested heavily in OpenAI revealed that its own state-of-the-art AI voice model VALL-E 2 was too dangerous to release, based on its realism, which sparked fears of misuse.Editors Recommendations

By WSJ Arts in Review StaffHeres a roundup of the most noteworthy TV shows on Hulu, as covered by John Anderson, The Wall Street Journals television critic.Deli Boys Photo: DisneyBefore taking a fatal golf ball to the head, Baba Dar (Iqbal Theba) personified the American dream: An immigrant from Pakistan, he worked 15-hour days in a Philadelphia deli, bought the deli, invented the Mega Glug (124 ounces of coffee and still fits in the beverage holder!), expanded the delis and was about to move into golf courses at the time of his premature demise. As his two sons discover, post-mortem, their dad was inspirational, as evidenced by a training video he left behind for novice employees: Time to learn how youll make real money, Baba announces. With cocaine!Copyright 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Riding the digital waves Will the future of software development run on vibes? Accepting AI-written code without understanding how it works is growing in popularity. Benj Edwards Mar 5, 2025 6:41 pm | 30 Credit: Henrik5000 via Getty Images Credit: Henrik5000 via Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreFor many people, coding is about telling a computer what to do and having the computer perform those precise actions repeatedly. With the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT, it's now possible for someone to describe a program in English and have the AI model translate it into working code without ever understanding how the code works. Former OpenAI researcher Andrej Karpathy recently gave this practice a name"vibe coding"and it's gaining traction in tech circles.The technique, enabled by large language models (LLMs) from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, has attracted attention for potentially lowering the barrier to entry for software creation. But questions remain about whether the approach can reliably produce code suitable for real-world applications, even as tools like Cursor Composer, GitHub Copilot, and Replit Agent make the process increasingly accessible to non-programmers.Instead of being about control and precision, vibe coding is all about surrendering to the flow. On February 2, Karpathy introduced the term in a post on X, writing, "There's a new kind of coding I call 'vibe coding,' where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists." He described the process in deliberately casual terms: "I just see stuff, say stuff, run stuff, and copy paste stuff, and it mostly works." A screenshot of Karpathy's original X post about vibe coding from February 2, 2025. Credit: Andrej Karpathy / X While vibe coding, if an error occurs, you feed it back into the AI model, accept the changes, hope it works, and repeat the process. Karpathy's technique stands in stark contrast to traditional software development best practices, which typically emphasize careful planning, testing, and understanding of implementation details.As Karpathy humorously acknowledged in his original post, the approach is for the ultimate lazy programmer experience: "I ask for the dumbest things, like 'decrease the padding on the sidebar by half,' because I'm too lazy to find it myself. I 'Accept All' always; I don't read the diffs anymore."At its core, the technique transforms anyone with basic communication skills into a new type of natural language programmerat least for simple projects. With AI models currently being held back by the amount of code an AI model can digest at once (context size), there tends to be an upper-limit to how complex a vibe-coded software project can get before the human at the wheel becomes a high-level project manager, manually assembling slices of AI-generated code into a larger architecture. But as technical limits expand with each generation of AI models, those limits may one day disappear.Who are the vibe coders?There's no way to know exactly how many people are currently vibe coding their way through either hobby projects or development jobs, but Cursor reported 40,000 paying users in August 2024, and GitHub reported 1.3 million Copilot users just over a year ago (February 2024). While we can't find user numbers for Replit Agent, the site claims 30 million users, with an unknown percentage using the site's AI-powered coding agent.One thing we do know: the approach has particularly gained traction online as a fun way of rapidly prototyping games. Microsoft's Peter Yang recently demonstrated vibe coding in an X thread by building a simple 3D first-person shooter zombie game through conversational prompts fed into Cursor and Claude 3.7 Sonnet. Yang even used a speech-to-text app so he could verbally describe what he wanted to see and refine the prototype over time. In August 2024, the author vibe coded his way into a working Q-BASIC utility script for MS-DOS, thanks to Claude Sonnet. Credit: Benj Edwards We've been doing some vibe coding ourselves. Multiple Ars staffers have used AI assistants and coding tools for extracurricular hobby projects such as creating small games, crafting bespoke utilities, writing processing scripts, and more. Having a vibe-based code genie can come in handy in unexpected places: Last year, I asked Anthropic's Claude write a Microsoft Q-BASIC program in MS-DOS that decompressed 200 ZIP files into custom directories, saving me many hours of manual typing work.Debugging the vibesWith all this vibe coding going on, we had to turn to an expert for some input. Simon Willison, an independent software developer and AI researcher, offered a nuanced perspective on AI-assisted programming in an interview with Ars Technica. "I really enjoy vibe coding," he said. "It's a fun way to try out an idea and prove if it can work."But there are limits to how far Willison will go. "Vibe coding your way to a production codebase is clearly risky. Most of the work we do as software engineers involves evolving existing systems, where the quality and understandability of the underlying code is crucial."At some point, understanding at least some of the code is important because AI-generated code may include bugs, misunderstandings, and confabulationsfor example, instances where the AI model generates references to nonexistent functions or libraries."Vibe coding is all fun and games until you have to vibe debug," developer Ben South noted wryly on X, highlighting this fundamental issue.Willison recently argued on his blog that encountering hallucinations with AI coding tools isn't as detrimental as embedding false AI-generated information into a written report, because coding tools have built-in fact-checking: If there's a confabulation, the code won't work. This provides a natural boundary for vibe coding's reliabilitythe code runs or it doesn't.Even so, the risk-reward calculation for vibe coding becomes far more complex in professional settings. While a solo developer might accept the trade-offs of vibe coding for personal projects, enterprise environments typically require code maintainability and reliability standards that vibe-coded solutions may struggle to meet. When code doesn't work as expected, debugging requires understanding what the code is actually doingprecisely the knowledge that vibe coding tends to sidestep.Programming without understandingWhen it comes to defining what exactly constitutes vibe coding, Willison makes an important distinction: "If an LLM wrote every line of your code, but you've reviewed, tested, and understood it all, that's not vibe coding in my bookthat's using an LLM as a typing assistant." Vibe coding, in contrast, involves accepting code without fully understanding how it works.While vibe coding originated with Karpathy as a playful term, it may encapsulate a real shift in how some developers approach programming tasksprioritizing speed and experimentation over deep technical understanding. And to some people, that may be terrifying.Willison emphasizes that developers need to take accountability for their code: "I firmly believe that as a developer you have to take accountability for the code you produceif you're going to put your name to it you need to be confident that you understand how and why it worksideally to the point that you can explain it to somebody else."He also warns about a common path to technical debt: "For experiments and low-stake projects where you want to explore what's possible and build fun prototypes? Go wild! But stay aware of the very real risk that a good enough prototype often faces pressure to get pushed to production."The future of programming jobsSo, is all this vibe coding going to cost human programmers their jobs? At its heart, programming has always been about telling a computer how to operate. The method of how we do that has changed over time, but there may always be people who are better at telling a computer precisely what to do than otherseven in natural language. In some ways, those people may become the new "programmers."There was a point in the late 1970s to early '80s when many people thought people required programming skills to use a computer effectively because there were very few pre-built applications for all the various computer platforms available. School systems worldwide made educational computer literacy efforts to teach people to code. A brochure for the GE 210 computer from 1964. BASIC's creators used a similar computer four years later to develop the programming language that many children were taught at home and school. Credit: GE / Wikipedia Before too long, people made useful software applications that let non-coders utilize computers easilyno programming required. Even so, programmers didnt disappearinstead, they used applications to create better and more complex programs. Perhaps that will also happen with AI coding tools.To use an analogy, computer controlled technologies like autopilot made reliable supersonic flight possible because they could handle aspects of flight that were too taxing for all but the most highly trained and capable humans to safely control. AI may do the same for programming, allowing humans to abstract away complexities that would otherwise take too much time to manually code, and that may allow for the creation of more complex and useful software experiences in the future.But at that point, will humans still be able to understand or debug them? Maybe not. We may be completely dependent on AI tools, and some people no doubt find that a little scary or unwise.Whether vibe coding lasts in the programming landscape or remains a prototyping technique will likely depend less on the capabilities of AI models and more on the willingness of organizations to accept risky trade-offs in code quality, maintainability, and technical debt. For now, vibe coding remains an apt descriptor of the messy, experimental relationship between AI and human developersmore collaborative than autonomous, but increasingly blurring the lines of who (or what) is really doing the programming.Benj EdwardsSenior AI ReporterBenj EdwardsSenior AI Reporter Benj Edwards is Ars Technica's Senior AI Reporter and founder of the site's dedicated AI beat in 2022. He's also a tech historian with almost two decades of experience. In his free time, he writes and records music, collects vintage computers, and enjoys nature. He lives in Raleigh, NC. 30 Comments

Light micrograph of a cervical smear, or pap smear, from someone with bacterial vaginosisDR. Y. BOUSSOUGAN/CNRI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARYWomen with bacterial vaginosis, a recurrent condition that raises the risk of pregnancy complications, could benefit from their male sexual partners being treated with antibiotics, according to a trial that found this nearly halved the risk of symptoms returning.Treating male partners made the most significant inroad into improving recurrence rates in women that we have seen for decades, says Catriona Bradshaw at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, who led the work. AdvertisementBacterial vaginosis (BV) affects around a quarter of women of reproductive age worldwide. It occurs when harmful bacteria overgrow in the vagina, causing vaginal discharge to turn greyish-white and smell fishy, with potentially serious complications. It increases a womans risk of acquiring a broad range of sexually transmitted infections, like HIV, and complications in pregnancy, such as premature birth and miscarriage, says Bradshaw.Doctors usually treat the condition using antibiotics in the form of pills or a cream that can be applied inside the vagina, but symptoms often recur because having sex seems to reintroduce problematic bacteria, says Bradshaw. One in two women will get their BV back within three to six months of the recommended treatment regimen, says Bradshaw.To address this, Bradshaw and her colleagues recruited 137 monogamous women in Australia with bacterial vaginosis, along with their male partners. All of the women took standard antibiotics for a week, while around half of their partners were given oral antibiotics and told to apply an antibiotic cream to the penis over the same period. The remaining men received no treatment. None of the participants was transgender.Get the most essential health and fitness news in your inbox every Saturday.Sign up to newsletterThree months later, 63 per cent of the women whose partners werent treated had recurring symptoms, while just 35 per cent of the women with partners who received antibiotics experienced a recurrence. Its definitely a sizable effect that makes it a worthwhile intervention for this group of women, says Janneke van de Wijgert at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.I see a ton of women that have issues with ongoing BV and, absolutely, Ill be applying this new information to my own clinical practice, says Christina Muzny at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.The team didnt track all the participants over the long term, but some got back in touch years later to say they remained free of symptoms. In the last week, Ive talked to someone whos been clear of BV for two years since they participated and these women were highly recurrent before the trial, says Lenka Vodstrcil at Monash University.However, the approach wont work for women with casual sexual partners, where it may be difficult to get them to adhere to taking antibiotics, says van de Wijgert. Even in monogamous relationships, men may not always be willing to take antibiotics, she says. Weve seen this with condom use, which also reduces BV recurrence it can be really difficult for women to get their male partners to use condoms.Journal reference:The New England Journal of Medicine DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2405404Topics:

In a curved space-time like the one were in, the entropy of a quantum object depends on how youre travelling when you measure itRostislav Zatonskiy/AlamyOur two best theories of the physics of the universe quantum mechanics and general relativity often fail to agree. Physicists have been trying to unite them for over a century, and now, researchers have found one place where they dont seem to clash. Working out from this one example may open the doors for building a more general, universe-wide theory.It

2025-03-06T00:16:02Z Read in app Cyprus and the US have grown closer in recent years, with the former looking to replace its Russian weapons. Maj. Robert Fellingham/12th Combat Aviation Brigade This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Cyprus has been realigning its interests away from Russia toward the US.It has been replacing its Russian arms, and it can now acquire US weapons more easily.It's replaced helicopters and air defenses. A security studies expert said armor could be next.A former Russian partner and so-called "unsinkable aircraft carrier" strategically located in the Mediterranean has drawn much closer to the US in recent years and can now more easily get its hands on American weapons.Under a directive signed at the end of the last US administration, Cyprus is now included in the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and Excess Defense Articles (EDA) programs. Additionally, the Cypriot National Guard, the country's military force, will now be able to participate in more training initiatives with US troops.Cyprus' inclusion in these two programs is significant especially as the country is continuing its Western reorientation and slowly phasing out its Russian arms.Come and buyThe Foreign Military Sales program enables the Department of Defense to purchase weapons directly from US arms manufacturers on behalf of partner countries, simplifying the process for the buyer. And the Excess Defense Articles program allows partner countries to acquire excess US defense equipment for free or at significantly discounted prices to modernize their forces.A 1987 US arms embargo previously led the Cypriot government to turn to Russia for many of its weapons while pursuing a close relationship with Moscow.However, in recent years, especially after the Russians invaded Ukraine in 2022, Cyprus has been distancing itself from Moscow and has been steadily replacing its Russian weapons. The US partially lifted the arms embargo in 2020 and two years later fully lifted it subject to a yearly evaluation.In 2023, Cyprus replaced its Russian Mil Mi-35P attack helicopters with French Airbus ones, and last December, it bought Israeli Barak 8 surface-to-air missile systems to replace its Russian TOR M-1 and Buk SAMs. Beyond vehicles and air defenses, vehicles could be next."As the policy of divesting itself from Russian equipment is proceeding, two major purchases represent next logical projects: main battle tanks and armored fighting vehicles," Andrew Novo, a strategic studies professor at the National Defense University, told Business Insider. The M2 Bradley, an armored fighting vehicle, has proved itself in Ukraine. REUTERS/Stringer The Cypriot National Guard uses Russian T-80 main battle tanks and BMP-3 armored fighting vehicles, so "American M1 tanks and Bradley M2 (or other) armored vehicles would be logical candidates to replace existing stocks," Novo said. Patrol boats up to Corvette-size units, assault rifles, and communications equipment could also be a priority, he added.Both M1 Abrams tanks and Bradley armored fighting vehicles are highly regarded, and the Bradleys have famously proven their worth in the battlefields of Ukraine, even squaring off against tanks.Some of Cyprus's current weapons could end up there, too.Although it hadinitiallyrejected the idea of sending its old Russian weapons to Ukraine, citing concerns for its own security since a Turkish invasion in 1974, the island's northern third has been occupied by Turkish forces and de-facto seceded acquiring US systems could allow it to do so."Such a possibility could be considered provided that this equipment is replaced with equivalent or better equipment," then-Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades had said in 2022.Looking aheadIt's unclear what direction the new Trump administration may take things, but Cyprus's inclusion in these programs could pave the way for a full lifting of the weapons embargo, removing the yearly evaluation, as well as solidify relations with the US.Changing the evaluations could mean big changes. "In general, adopting a new weapons system is a multiyear process sometimes more than a decade," Novo said. "The Cypriot government cannot order an American weapons system and risk maintenance or procurement based on a year-by-year waiver."The two countries are strengthening their military collaboration in other ways, too. In September, they signed a defense cooperation framework agreement to better respond to humanitarian crises and security concerns and enhance interoperability between US and Cypriot forces.Cypriot special operations units have been frequently training with their US counterparts, and in 2023, a US nuclear-powered submarine docked in the Cypriot port of Limassol for the first time. There has been increased military cooperation between the US and Cyprus, including in the special operations space. US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Bill Carlisle US Marines and aircraft deployed to Cyprus last year in preparation for a potential evacuation of US citizens from Lebanon, and now, the US Air Force is considering upgrading Cyprus's main air base to use it for humanitarian operations in the region.The island sits at a strategic location in the eastern Mediterranean, only about 100 miles from the Levant, and provides access to North Africa and Asia Minor. It has often been described as an "unsinkable aircraft carrier."The Cypriot president has expressed his commitment to expand his country's defense and security cooperation with the US."It is to the best interest of both the US and Cyprus to maintain and develop this relationship, and the US is proving that by investing in defense and security infrastructure in Cyprus," Novo said.

2025-03-05T23:06:34Z Read in app Steve Wozniak said that mass firings are "not good for a business" in a recent interview. Getty Images This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Steve Wozniak said DOGE's mass firings are a bad business tactic.Wozniak said DOGE should approach cost-cutting "more surgically, with a scalpel instead of a sledgehammer."Thousands of federal workers have been fired in recent weeks as DOGE has ramped up cost-cutting efforts. Steve Wozniak, the cofounder of Apple, isn't a fan of how DOGE is tackling cost-cutting in the federal government. Wozniak said that while he supports looking for inefficiencies, he does not think Elon Musk and DOGE's efforts to slash the federal workforce are the right approach. "Mass firings not good for a business to run that way," he said in a conversation with CNBC on Wednesday. The Apple co-founder advised the group to be more strategic, saying that DOGE should act "more surgically, with a scalpel instead of a sledgehammer." Federal agencies have fired thousands of employees in recent weeks and offered conflicting guidance on the terminations.The Apple cofounder isn't outwardly political he told CNBC that he decided not to vote when he was 18 but did sign his name to a list of business leaders supporting former Vice President Kamala Harris during the election.Voting record aside, Wozniak said he's "on the wrong side of Elon" after criticizing Tesla in the past. The White House has repeatedly said that Musk isn't officially running DOGE, though Trump said in a speech on Tuesday night that the group "is headed by Elon Musk," and many see him as the functional leader. Trump's comment was flagged as part of an existing lawsuit against DOGE shortly after the speech ended.Wozniak isn't the only business personality who has criticized DOGE billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban has written about the group on Bluesky, a social media site that rivals Musk's X. Cuban said that DOGE will "inevitably" create a mess in one post and called its efforts "not so brilliant" in another. Some management experts have had choice words for DOGE's early tactics, previously telling BI that the group has been "clumsy" and "wrongheaded" so far.Representatives for the White House, DOGE, and Wozniak did not respond to BI's request for comment.

This story appeared in the Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.Welcome to The Logoff. Today Im focusing on a line in Donald Trumps speech last night that I found surprisingly honest: There will be a little disturbance, but we are okay with that. It was an acknowledgment that Trumps plan to reorder the US economy with tariffs is not without pain. As we get clarity on just how steep the tariffs will be, well find out just how much pain Trump is talking about.Whats the big question? Since Trump slapped massive tariffs on goods from China, Mexico, and Canada on Tuesday, weve all been wondering whether the tariffs are a temporary measure meant to coerce trading partners into compliance, or whether they, and the accompanying price hikes, are here to stay.So, which is it? The past two days have been a litany of mixed signals. There are signs the tariffs are temporary, or at least going to be decreased:The administration granted some automakers a one-month reprieve on the tariffs after the industry begged the White House for relief and warned that the taxes could increase the cost of a vehicle by up to $10,000.Trumps commerce secretary suggested that Trump is ready to deal with Canada and Mexico to lessen the impact of tariffs, though he made clear that they werent going away.But theres also the possibility were just getting started:Trump last night said hed launch a new round of tariffs on any country that taxes US goods on April 2nd.He also posted about a call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, saying the two leaders had spoken about the tariffs without coming to any clear resolution.China and Canada have already retaliated, and Mexico is preparing its response.Whats the big picture? Before the election and even after, many asserted that Trumps tariffs were a bluff more aimed at winning concessions than reorienting the economy away from trade. We still dont know for sure and last nights speech might have been more bluffing but its looking less likely. The president says hes fine with a little disturbance, and hes betting youll be fine with it, too.And with that, its time to log offBefore we go, let me direct your attention toward a different and far more pleasant frenetic creature. High Country News has this very cool three-minute listen on hummingbirds. Specifically, how hummingbirds are adapting to climate change, and the beautiful sounds theyre making while doing so. I cannot tell you how much more relaxed I was after listening than I was before. I hope you enjoy it. Have a great night, and Ill see you back here tomorrow.See More: