Sri Lanka celebrates war's end

MATARA (Sri Lanka): President Mahinda Rajapakse led celebrations at a major victory parade to mark the fifth anniversary of the end of Sri Lanka’s Tamil separatist war, after banning commemorations for its victims.

As the envoys of Western nations stayed away from the parade, a defiant Rajapakse insisted he would not bow to pressure from foreign critics who are pushing him to investigate claims that tens of thousands of people died in the final stages of the conflict.