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US embassy welcomes new Dy. Chief of Mission

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Jayne Howell has been appointed as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

She succeeds Doug Sonnek, whose tenure in Sri Lanka ended recently.

Jayne Howell is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor.

Jayne has extensive overseas experience, including recent postings as Minister-Counselor for Consular Affairs (MCCA) in both Pakistan and Türkiye, where she served as the Ambassador’s senior advisor on immigration and visa policy as well as coordinated countrywide services for the thousands of American citizens visiting those countries each year. Jayne also worked as the Consular Section Chief in Accra, Ghana; Harare, Zimbabwe; and Kabul, Afghanistan.

In Washington, Jayne has served in several senior leadership roles in the Bureau of Consular Affairs including Deputy Executive Director, Supervisory Regional Consular Officer, and inaugural Director of 1CA, the Bureau’s leadership and management excellence program. For her work in 1CA, Jayne received the Department of State’s Luther I. Replogle Award for Management Improvement.

Originally from Charleston, South Carolina, Jayne holds a B.A. in Archaeological Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. Outside of work, Jayne is a passionate explorer of ancient and historical sites, goes deep-sea fishing whenever she can, and tries to learn to cook a traditional dish from every country she visits.

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SJB establishes control of Seethawakapura UC

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The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) has established control of the Seethawakapura Urban Council.

At the council’s inaugural meeting held today (July 15), SJB candidate Sunil Jayaratne was elected Chairman through a secret ballot.

Ajith Wijayamuni Zoysa, who ran as an independent, secured the post of Deputy Chairman.

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SL delegation leaving for US this week for tariff talks

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A Sri Lankan government delegation is scheduled to leave for the United States this Friday (July 18) to negotiate a further reduction in the tariffs imposed on Sri Lankan exports to the US, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said.

The Foreign Minister made this statement while speaking to the media following an event held in Colombo today (July 15).

A recent announcement made by the US President on July 09 saw the reduction of reciprocal tariff tariffs to 30% from the initially imposed 44%.

The new 30% tariff is scheduled to take effect on August 1, 2025.

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Laws against shooting of wild jumbos, to be tightened

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A meeting was held today (July 15) at the Ministry of Environment with officials from the Department of Wildlife Conservation, aimed at tightening laws against the shooting of wild elephants.

The discussion was chaired by the Minister of Environment – Dr. Dammika Patabendi, along with the Deputy Minister of Environment – Anton Jayakody.

Noting that incidents of elephant shoots are regularly reported to the Department of Wildlife Conservation, the Minister instructed the Director General of the Department to take the necessary steps to strictly enforce the law against such acts.

The discussion also focused on strengthening the process of punishing offenders by updating laws related to the killing of wild animals. It also emphasized enforcing strict laws against the illegal construction of electric fences on private lands, which often harm elephants.

To help reduce human-elephant conflict, the Ministry and the Department are working together on long-term, positive solutions. Accordingly, elephant fences are being built in districts with frequent elephant encounters.

Furthermore, multi-purpose officers have been recruited for the maintenance of these fences and the involvement of civil defense personnel is also being considered.

The Department of Wildlife Conservation announced that a special media briefing will be held in the coming days to inform the public on these initiatives.

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