Rehana Thowfeek | Free Palestine 🇵🇸 🇱🇰

Economist by day. Tired by night | Views are obviously personal

[Rehana Thowfeek | Free Palestine 🇵🇸 🇱🇰 @RegularReh]

What will be the impact of US-Israel v Iran on #lka? I looked at the data to understand how supply chain disruptions will affect 🇱🇰

⛽38% of oil is imported from UAE. UAE has reduced production & is also unable to get any shipments out. CPC says we have 1 months of stocks

[Nathan J Robinson @NathanJRobinson]

I'm sorry, I didn't realize Israel had now escalated to the "quadruple tap" where they just keep killing and killing as people try desperately to help the wounded

[Middle Eastern Affairs @OpsHQs]

The Israeli ambassador to Europe is protesting the spread of this image. Let it spread all over the world. 🌍🔥"

[NewsWire 🇱🇰 @NewsWireLK]

A study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine finds that fitting 90 minutes to two hours of weight training into your weekly routine lowers the chance of an early death by 13%.

When it comes to conditions like heart disease and stroke, it’s 19%, and for neurological disease, it’s 27%.

D: https://t.co/p4LBtUjt8O

[NewsWire 🇱🇰 @NewsWireLK]

Sri Lanka could experience drought conditions during July and August if the developing El Niño weather pattern strengthens, according to the Department of Meteorology.

The warning follows forecasts by the United Nations’ meteorological agency indicating a high probability of an El Niño event developing between June and August this year.

D: https://t.co/Ldqo7Qd5uS

[NewsWire 🇱🇰 @NewsWireLK]

🚨 US$2.5 million hacker transfer case: CID tells court that Treasury officials processed the payment based on an emailed invoice without verifying the original agreement or seeking further clarification.

Investigators have recorded statements from 42 individuals as the probe continues.

D: https://t.co/AAYSlMJKup

[Rohan Samarajiva @samarajiva]

"Rationing has been in place since March. Some demand destruction has occurred, but as the Minister notes, it’s not enough. The most effective way to reduce consumption is to raise prices. As the holiday proponents note this will automatically raise excise and VAT revenues. Using this money, the Government can engage in targeted relief: subsidies for the battas that carry our food and supplements for Aswesuma." https://t.co/qOncdtTncB

[The Hormuz Letter @HormuzLetter]

BREAKING: Iran has launched a massive ballistic missile and drone attack, striking the US 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain along with US bases in Kuwait, Ali Al Salem + Arifjan, and an oil tanker near Dubai, in response to new US strikes on Qeshm Island and an Iranian oil tanker near the Strait of Hormuz, per Tasnim.

Iran says it has officially abandoned tit-for-tat retaliation, now striking back "at least 1.5x as hard" for every US attack, with IRGC warning "disrupting the security of the Strait of Hormuz will have a heavy price for the invading US military."

[Noodles @criptopaul]

Let's decode what actually happened here.

Axios reported that Trump exploded at Netanyahu. Called him "fucking crazy." Said "you'd be in prison if it weren't for me." Said "everybody hates you now."

The journalist is Barak Ravid again, we talked about it. Israeli. Based in Washington. Covers the Netanyahu-US relationship for Axios, and every latest deals to calm the markets.

This is the same journalist who wrote the exact same type of story about Biden. There is literally a book chapter about this pattern. It is called "Fuming Biden." The same reporter. The same format. The same function. Different president.

Now watch the response.

Mark Levin, a close ally of both Trump and Netanyahu, did not deny the story. He demanded an FBI investigation into who leaked it. When your defense is "this should never have leaked" instead of "this never happened," you have confirmed the call happened.

But here is the part that matters.

Why would Levin, a friend to BOTH men, confirm the most explosive account of their relationship ever published?

Because it serves both.

Trump gets to look tough. Not Netanyahu's puppet. Willing to put Israel in its place. His base loves it.

Netanyahu gets cover. He "paused" the Beirut strike, but not because Iran threatened him. Because his "friend" asked him to. His base loves it too.

And look at what actually changed on the ground. Nothing.

Israel cancelled the Beirut strike. But the ground invasion of Lebanon continues. The IDF is still miles deep. A soldier died today from a Hezbollah drone. Netanyahu's office said: "position unchanged."

The performance was perfect. Trump gets the headline. Netanyahu gets the cover. The deal gets another 48 hours of "progress." Markets get a reason to breathe.

And the war continues exactly as planned.

This is the same playbook. Every time public opinion turns against the war, a story appears showing the US president is "furious" with Israel. It creates the illusion of restraint while changing nothing.

Biden was "furious" for 14 months. The war never stopped.

Trump is "furious" now. The ground invasion is expanding.

The visible game is: Trump controls Netanyahu.
The real game is: both men are performing for their audiences while the machine moves forward.

Nothing has been signed. Nothing has stopped. The war is not winding down. It is being managed.

Neither one controls the other. They walk arm in arm. Know that.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Huge lantern built in Sri Lanka for their annual Vesak festival

[Rohan Samarajiva @samarajiva]

"To give the government room to breathe, the IMF has allowed the central government deficit to widen to 5.1% of GDP (up from 2.3% in 2025).

Concurrently, the target for the primary surplus, which is the amount of tax money the government has left over after covering its basic running costs but before paying interest on its debts, has been scaled down to a modest 1.4% of GDP, down from the exceptional 5.4% achieved last year."
https://t.co/4EH8MFeUiO

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

BREAKING: Iran’s central military command has warned residents of northern Israel to flee their homes if Israel carries out its threat to strike the southern suburbs of Beirut.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Vesak lanterns in Sri Lanka for the Vesak Festival.

They are the most iconic visual symbol of the Vesak Festival in Sri Lanka, the holiest Buddhist holiday commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and passing of Lord Buddha.

[Fertilizer Week @FertilizerWeek1]

India's NFL issued a tender last week for 1.7 Mt #urea for July shipment, following IPL's 15 April tender, which secured 2.5 Mt. Despite this, global prices mostly declined amid subdued demand, with news of China reopening its urea export window further softening sentiment (1/3)

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

Sri Lanka’s Buddhist hierarchy has suspended prominent senior monk Pallegama Hemarathana, who is accused of sexually abusing a child, in the religiously conservative nation’s highest-profile case involving a local clergyman.

🔗: https://t.co/82fUmSE3pr

[NewsWire 🇱🇰 @NewsWireLK]

Sri Lanka has banned the purchase and use of single-use plastic water bottles in all state institutions with immediate effect, under a new government directive aimed at reducing plastic waste.

D: https://t.co/IymeJotUhR

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

🎥 Juliet Lamont, an Australian documentary filmmaker and Gaza flotilla activist, speaks to Double Down News about being raped by Israeli soldiers after the aid vessel she was aboard was intercepted earlier this month.

Lamont says soldiers pulled down her trousers and underwear and that an Israeli soldier forcibly penetrated her vagina while she was in detention. She was among more than 450 activists seized when Israeli forces intercepted the Global Sumud flotilla in international waters. Organizers say at least 15 detainees reported sexual assault or rape while in Israeli custody.

Full interview is linked below.

[Verité Research @VeriteResearch]

𝐅𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬: 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐞𝐬/𝐍𝐨 𝐃𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐞

🔴 Middle East tensions are pushing up Sri Lanka’s fuel import costs, but who should bear the burden?

It doesn’t have to be a binary choice between passing on the cost entirely to the consumer or the government fully absorbing it.

@VeriteResearch has formulated a mechanism that strikes a balance between these two extremes.

See the solution 👇

👉 For a deeper understanding, read our blog at https://t.co/TuPj1M5ldQ

@PublicFinanceLK

#srilanka #fuelprice

[Prof. Katharine Hayhoe @KHayhoe]

I’m a climate scientist. Let me fix this headline.

“Nearly a century ago, scientists showed that burning fossil fuels warms the planet.*

Today, we know human emissions account for over 100% of the warming.**

Yet dark money and disinformation still work to keep Americans addicted to fossil fuels.”***

* in 1937, Guy Callendar published a paper showing that the world had already warmed over the last 50 years due to human emissions what he called “carbonic acid“ – what we now call CO2 – from burning fossil fuels

** If you are wondering, “how could humans be causing more than 100% of the warming?”

— it’s because, according to natural factors, the earth should be cooling right now.

So our emissions are offsetting that cooling AND causing all of the observed warming.

*** For more on the well funded disinformation campaign, read or watch Merchants of Doubt and The Petroleum Papers

[NewsWire 🇱🇰 @NewsWireLK]

Fuel prices increased from midnight

Ceypetco has announced a fuel price revision with effect from midnight today.

Under the revised prices:

Petrol Octane 92 increased by Rs. 24 to Rs. 434 per litre

Petrol Octane 95 increased by Rs. 25 to Rs. 495 per litre

Auto Diesel increased by Rs. 15 to Rs. 407 per litre

Super Diesel increased by Rs. 20 to Rs. 478 per litre

Kerosene increased by Rs. 20 to Rs. 285 per litre

The revised prices will come into effect from midnight today, according to Ceypetco.

[NewsWire 🇱🇰 @NewsWireLK]

SLPP MP Namal Rajapaksa has defended former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa following questions over his continued stay in the United States despite facing scrutiny over several legal and corruption-related matters in Sri Lanka.

Speaking to the media, Namal Rajapaksa rejected claims that Basil Rajapaksa was avoiding the law, stating that he does not believe any member of the Rajapaksa family is evading legal proceedings.

D: https://t.co/BRjcQryJrF