Sri Lanka rejects international war crimes probe

A senior Sri Lankan minister rejected pressure Saturday for an international probe into alleged war crimes at the end of the country's civil war, saying the government would "definitely" not allow it. "Why should we have an internal inquiry? We will object to it ... Definitely we are not going to allow it," Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapakse, who is President Mahinda Rajapakse's brother, told AFP. It comes after British Prime Minister David Cameron said he would push for an international investigation through the UN human rights council unless the government acts by March to address claims that 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final stages of the war in 2009.