Indian PM joins Commonwealth boycott of Sri Lanka

An Indian official says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided against attending a Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka next week over the island nation's human rights record.

Singh will be the second leader after Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to boycott the Nov. 15-17 meeting. Their decision is expected to sharpen focus on the demand by Western nations that Sri Lanka account for thousands of civilians who are suspected to have died in the final months of a civil war that ended in 2009 when government forces crushed separatist Tamil rebels. (AP)