Vox Sentences: The fascinating fine print in Mark Zuckerberg’s new Facebook share model

Syria bombs a hospital in Aleppo; China cracks down on NGOs; does Mark Zuckerberg want to be Facebook dictator-for-life or run for president?

TOP NEWS

So … guess the peace talks are dead, then

Anadolu Agency via Getty / Ibrahim ebu Leys

• Syrian peace talks have more or less officially collapsed, with both sides violating the ceasefire put in place a few weeks ago.

  [Foreign Policy / John Hudson]

• The epicenter of the fighting is the city of Aleppo, which has been under siege for months…

  [Vox / Zack Beauchamp]

• …but where the situation has undergone "catastrophic deterioration" over the last two days, according to the UN.

  [BBC ]

• An air strike from the Syrian government on Thursday destroyed a hospital and killed dozens of civilians, including children and doctors.

  [Reuters / Lisa Barrington and Stephanie Nebahay]

• (Bombing hospitals is a violation of international law. As it happens, the US has just disciplined 18 soldiers for involvement in bombing an MSF hospital in Afghanistan earlier this year — although no one is facing criminal charges.)

  [Los Angeles Times / W. J. Hennigan]

• In a bitter irony, Aleppo is a historic citadel dating back to the time of Alexander the Great. But the Syrian civil war has rendered archaeology there impossible — and no one knows how much damage the city's archaeological sites have undergone.

  [The Guardian / Jonathan Steele]

In the "national interest"

Getty Images / Kenzaburo Fukuhara

• The Chinese government has passed a law requiring foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to register with public security officials, and to refrain from doing anything that could hurt "national interests" or "ethnic unity."

  [The Guardian / Tom Phillips]

• Critics believe the law is part of a broader civil-society crackdown under President Xi Jinping, which has also involved arrests of journalists.

  [Time / Charlie Campbell]

• But the new law isn't China's idea; several countries, both in Asia and beyond, are passing laws directly or indirectly restricting NGO activities.

  [Christian Science Monitor / Peter Ford]

• A Russian law similar to the Chinese one has resulted in the shutdown of a third of NGOs operating in the country.

  [Bellona / Charles Digges]

• The Diplomat's Reza Hasmath argues that China's laws could have some salutary benefits, at least — such as allowing social organizations to form institutionalized networks and share best practices.

  [The Diplomat / Reza Hasmath]

Facebook: The Dynasty

AFP / Money Sharma

• Facebook announced blockbuster earnings for the first quarter of 2016: $5.38 billion in revenue, with profits three times as big as they were this time last year.

  [CNBC / Fred Imbert]

• This is especially impressive given that the rest of the tech sector is in a bit of a rough patch right now. As Wired's Julia Greenberg puts it, Facebook is killing it when nobody else is.

  [Wired / Julia Greenberg]

• The company also announced that it would start selling a new class of shares — the effect of which would be to allow Mark Zuckerberg to sell some of his stock while still retaining control of the company.

  [Vox / Timothy B. Lee]

• The Financial Times warns this might not be a good idea — companies in other countries have seen a bit of a dynastic effect, with the owner or his descendants losing interest in the company as time goes on.

  [Financial Times]

• The fine print in the new Zuckershares, though, is the most interesting part. They allow Zuckerberg to leave the company and retain control under one condition: if he runs for public office. Hmmmmm.

  [Forbes / Brian Solomon]

MISCELLANEOUS

"Real America" isn't a small Midwestern town. It's New Haven, Connecticut. [FiveThirtyEight / Jed Kolko]

• T-Mobile was worried about its workers unionizing. So it made a fake union for them to join instead.

  [Bloomberg / Josh Eidelson]

• Why the former mayor of London found himself hiding in a handicapped bathroom while journalists shouted questions about Hitler through the door.

  [BuzzFeed News / Hayes Brown]

• Happy Ed Balls Day, the best unofficial holiday ever started by an accidental Tweet from a British politician.

  [BBC]

• John Boehner called Ted Cruz "Lucifer." Actual Satanists think the comparison is unflattering to Lucifer.

  [Raw Story / Bethania Palma Markus]

VERBATIM

"If male power has always left middle-aged women tossed aside in its wake, aren’t the lives of those middle-aged women part of the story of their achievements?" [Slate / Rebecca Onion]

• "These would-be social media stars hope their gratis teatox posts will trigger other brands, those who will offer money and help seriously kickstart their Instagram careers, to get in touch."

  [Racked / Chavie Lieber]

• "The difference between 2005 Beyoncé and Beyoncé today is like the difference between pre-steroid Barry Bonds and post-steroid, head the size of a Toyota Prius on 26-inch Lexanis Barry Bonds."

  [Very Smart Brothas / Damon Young]

• "Women are hacking ourselves all the time. We’re just not called bodyhackers."

  [Fusion / Rose Eveleth ]

• "You go see a great production of Romeo and Juliet, where those kids are full of life and love, you hope and forget. You hope that it’s gonna end differently, and you take the ride, when you see it done well."

  [Leslie Odom Jr. to BuzzFeed News / Louis Peitzman]

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