LIFE'S A BEACH

Cool and calm ... children play on the shore at Ambalangoda, on Sri Lanka's southern coast. The Boxing Day tsunami devastated the island's coastal belt nearly five years ago, killing 40,000 people in Sri Lanka and more than 225,000 in 14 countries. More than 1 million people were displaced.

Sri Lanka denies order to kill rebel leaders

THE Sri Lankan Government has angrily denied an allegation by a former army chief, General Sarath Fonseka, that the Defence Secretary ordered the killing of Tamil Tiger rebel leaders as they were trying to surrender.