Pamodi Waravita

Where a Strongman Failed, Women Are Now Fueling a Democratic Revival A leftist movement in Sri Lanka that took power after an economic collapse is seizing a rare opportunity to rally more women into politics.

Meanwhile in #SriLanka...
Having led the protests that ousted the country’s president, women are now driving efforts to safeguard #democracy and reshape a political culture that ensures their equal place.

By Mujib Mashal and @purpleskiess.bsky.social via @nytimes.com

As officials try to determine the cause of a fire that burned an estimated 7,000 structures in and around Altadena, investigators keep returning to one place: an electrical transmission tower in Eaton Canyon.

Read the full story: www.latimes.com/california/s...

L.A. Fires Live Updates: Firefighters Rush to Contain Blazes Ahead of Stronger Winds The Eaton fire has killed 16 people, officials said. Firefighters have made progress on the wildfires over the weekend, but forecasters warn of fiercer winds later this week.

Los Angeles fire updates:
• Death toll now up to 24
• Others are reported missing
• 29 arrested, including a man dressed like a firefighter that the authorities say was burglarizing a home
• Forecasters see "extreme" fire conditions returning in the next couple days
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01...

Amanda Jayatissa remains a fun read. Not as put together as My Sweet Girl, but still such an enjoyable holiday thriller.

But in its panicked retreat from the system it spent years building, Meta may now be putting billions of users at risk. Just because Meta deleted that line about hateful speech causing offline violence doesn't mean it isn't true. And now the company has all but declared open season on immigrants, transgender people and whatever other targets that Trump and his allies find useful in their fascist project. "I can't tell you how much harm comes from non-illegal but harmful content," a longtime former trust and safety employee at the company told me. The classifiers that the company is now switching off meaningfully reduced the spread of hate movements on Meta's platforms, they said. "This is not the climate change debate, or pro-life vs. pro-choice. This is degrading, horrible content that leads to violence and that has the intent to harm other people."

I talked to 10 current and former Meta employees about the company's surrender to the right on speech issues. All were upset. One person called the changes "a precursor to genocide" www.platformer.news/meta-fact-ch...

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala released from Iran, returning home Italian journalist detained in Iran released and heading home after diplomatic efforts, linked to Iranian engineer's arrest.

“An Italian journalist detained in Iran since December 19 and whose fate became intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer wanted by the United States was freed Wednesday and is heading home,” Italian officials announced.
www.thehindu.com/news/interna...

I stopped tracking my reading and now, all that remains of all I've read is just feverdreams. Just phantasmic knowing that comes and departs

Is this AI! Might also be using AI kids due to this new law against using children in advertisements

If you’re planning on emailing me this month, just don’t.

a little girl is sliding down an orange slide with the words bye bye weird lady above her ALT: a little girl is sliding down an orange slide with the words bye bye weird lady above her

"ඉගෙනුම කවදාවත් ඔබව පාවා දෙන්නේ නැත"

දැන් ඉගෙන ගත්ත ඒවා දැන් මගෙ මොලෙන් ටටා බායි කියල යන මගේ දැනු​ම

Held fruitful discussions, says Sri Lankan President Dissanayake after meeting Jaishankar, NSA Doval Sri Lankan President visits India for discussions on boosting bilateral ties, focusing on trade, investment, and maritime security.

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Sunday held "fruitful" discussions with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, shortly after kick-starting a three-day visit to India.
www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...

Hello, I'm Rukman Ragas and this is my first year of publishing stories. I have 7 stories out this year, 4 of them are SFF and all my work can be found here.

rukmanragas.com#work

"These days, new technology tends to provoke in me more skepticism than excitement. One can almost always predict it will be used by some segment of capital to extract profit in a novel way, at the ultimate expense of workers who already don’t have much left to give"- Wendy Liu in the Boston Review🔥

Felt like shit for days and just realized the solution is exercise and protein. I hate that solution. It is the worst solution.

'Like a miracle': N.C. couple free of nearly $100,000 medical debt after 15 years The lien on Donna and Gary Lindabury's home for a 2009 heart surgery debt was among 11,500 wiped away by Atrium Health after an NBC News report.

North Carolina’s Atrium Health says it will forgive the debts of 11,500 people — less than a week after NBC News reported that the company has aggressively pursued former patients’ medical debts, placing liens on their homes to collect on bills.

Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths For the first time, the annual report delved into race and ethnic data of those who underwent assisted dying.

"One example included a woman in her 50s with a history of depression and suicidal thoughts who had a severe sensitivity to chemicals.

Her request for euthanasia was granted after she failed to secure housing that could have met her medical needs."

Yikes.

bbc.com/news/article...

Traffic jam, Sri Lanka, 2024

#tuktuk #travelphotography #srilanka #photography #monochrome #blackandwhitephotography #streetphotography #travel #street

YouTube video by Sarith and Surith 2000's Chart Hits Medley - News අධිමාත්‍රා

Sarith/Surith and their other lead vocalist on early 2000s Sinhala music is pure perfection 💜

youtu.be/UTpiUjtGfek?...

The duality of having the blues is that your brain tells you to never leave your room but as soon as you do and get some sun, life literally feels brighter and you can breathe a little easier. Get some sun. Highly recommend.

‘Delay, Deny, Defend’: United Has Faced Scrutiny Over Denying Claims The company has been accused of using algorithms to deny treatments and refusing coverage of nursing care to stroke patients.

UnitedHealthcare has been accused of using algorithms to deny treatments and refusing coverage of nursing care to stroke patients. UnitedHealthcare and its parent company now face a class-action lawsuit over its use of the algorithm.

Here's something cool @yudhanjaya.bsky.social & the team at Watchdog cooked up - a digital twin of Colombo! Want to test out some public transport ideas or call down a meteor to flatten the city? Then this is the tool for you! #citiesskylines #lka #colombo

github.com/team-watchdo...

SL Tweeps who still use the other site, Share this starter pack: go.bsky.app/HnJePAC

When they know our mutuals are on this site, maybe they will finally take the plunge. I know some tweeps who switched thanks to this.

Would love to rebuild our community again! 🦋💕

Sometimes, memory is a thing with claws.

Hello #lka, I've made a feed for the local folk!

As there are already feeds for simple filtering, this feed will highlight upcoming and topical posts.

Please give me suggestions, as this is an algorithmic feed, anything is possible to tweak.

bsky.app/profile/did:...

Honored, and Hi!!! Long time :)

On here, I mean

Finally found some lka Twitter folks - especially the old ones!

Stuck on a writing project? Here's what I always ask myself in that situation: Emily, have you considered that you might not be very good and should abandon writing altogether and move to the woods and make candles or possibly become a nun or something?

Why does People Magazine name a new "Sexiest Man Alive" every year? It doesn't make any sense to name a new one if the old one is still alive. The new one should have to fight the old one to the death. Like Highlander.