By BY BILL MURPHY JR. -- inc.com -- Imagine if you only ever had one job since you were a teenager, and it went on to make you extraordinarily wealthy and powerful--far beyond most people's wildest dreams. In other words, imagine being Mark Zuckerberg. Now, imagine that you might be flat-out wrong about something that could ultimately mean the end of Facebook. Here's why this matters now. There are only a few forces on the planet powerful enough to take on Facebook. National governments might be among them, maybe. But otherwise, we're looking at the other tech behemoths. As it happens, one of those behemoths, Apple, has all-but declared war on Facebook, while another, Google, looks as if it's gearing up to join the fight. My colleague Jason Aten has done a great job recently chronicling the battle:

Apple is set to change its privacy rules so that app developers will have to request permission before tracking most users. That runs squarely into Facebook, where the entire business model basically involves tracking users in order to sell "personalized ads." Who tells you 'no?' Apple's move could be an existential threat; at least Facebook seems to think it is. I can't predict how it will all turn out. But, a lot of people could have predicted something like this would eventually happen. The reason? It's simple, and it's a byproduct of Zuckerberg's meteoric success. In short, like every highly successful leader, Zuckerberg has always run the risk of surrounding himself with people who owe their success to him, and who therefore can't effectively tell him, "no." Because of his background -- again, having only really done one thing: built Facebook -- he's probably even more at risk of this phenomenon than many others. In retrospect, it was obvious from the beginning, 17 years ago this month.

by naharnet.com — Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday called for organizing a U.N.-sponsored international conference on Lebanon. “The collapsed situation of …

By Yardena Schwartz -- nbcnews.com -- — As Israel outpaces Western nations in its Covid-19 vaccination effort, it has become a role model for a world aching to return to life as it once was. The country has inoculated a third of its population of 9 million in little more than a month, and over 80 percent of those 60 and older. But if you ask most Israelis, the country's handling of the coronavirus has been anything but a success story. A recent poll by the nonpartisan Israel Democracy Institute found that just 24 percent of Israelis approve of the government's management of the crisis. While Israel boasts the world's highest vaccination rate, it is also battling the world’s third-worst infection rate. Despite the vaccination campaign, January was Israel's deadliest month, with 1,433 people dying from the virus — a third of the 5,000 fatalities since the pandemic began. Israelis have also experienced some of the world’s strictest and longest national lockdowns, with residents mostly confined to their homes for a cumulative four months.

The Good Friend of the French Nation

“Glory and Justice for the defense of the faith”

Article written at L'estafette, 27th December 1889 (newspaper) Reference: https://www.retronews.fr/journal/l-estafette-1876-1914/27-decembre-1889/1101/3685127/2 (translated in English) 

Among the distinguished foreigners who came to Paris to visit the Exhibition was a Maronite prince, Emir Hassen-el-Khazen (Hosun el Khazen), whose family has always stood out for his work in France. In the seventeenth century, the services rendered to our country by one of his ancestors, Naufal-el-Khazen, earned him a distinction from Louis XIV. France had only one consulate in Saida for the whole of Syria; the king created a new one in Beirut and entrusted it to Naufal-el-Khazen. This dignity remained in the family until the French Revolution, when the consulate was abolished. By the time he was reinstated by Napoleon I, the family's representative was too young to get the post, and when he later asked for it, the Ottoman government intervened to prevent his appointment. The members of the family continued to put at the service of France all their wealth and influence, founding schools and fighting, for certain years especially, against the extension of Italian influence.

In this they merely obeyed the wishes of their foregoing, Naufal-el-Khazen, in the will of which is this very significant sentence: \"I declare that if, by misfortune, someone of mine comes to forget France, I deny it and be deprived of his heritage!\" The current prince carries with him multiple family papers, royal letters, diplomatic papers, received by his family under the reigns of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI. These papers, documents and gifts were examined by the head of the archives division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Minister of Plenipoten-Tiaire Girard de Rialle, and certified authentic. We have noted in the statements in these documents some expressions used at that time in our diplomacy and not very known of the current public. In the letters addressed to Naufal-el-Khazen, he is called a Magnificent lord, Prince of Maronite of Mount Lebanon and consul of the \"French nation\". The King of France is always called our diplomatic agents \"the emperor our august master.\"