Colombo, Apr. 25 : The ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka requires a political not a military solution, says many observers.

"There has to be a political settlement, otherwise, there is always the danger that, having won some sort of respite from the rebels, there will be new support for them," the Christian Science Monitor quoted Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of Colombo''s Center for Policy Alternatives and a leading Tamil intellectual, as saying.

Colombo, Apr 25 : Expressing deep concern over human rights violations and rising civilian causalities in Sri Lanka, the United States has called for an immediate ceasefire in the North-Eastern region of the country.

According to the BBC, United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes is travelling to the island country to urge the Lankan Government to provide more aid to people trapped in the combat zone.

UN reports say that 160,000 people have fled the area, but 50,000 still remain.

Colombo - A provincial poll in Sri Lanka's Western Province which consists of the capital Colombo and two adjoining districts opened Saturday, election officials said, despite a deteriorating humanitarian situation in the north of the country as government forces keep up their campaign to crush Tamil rebels. Some 3.8 million voters in the Colombo, Kalutara and Gampaha districts started are registered to vote in the elections which commenced at 7 am (0130 GMT) and is scheduled to end at 4 pm.

New York  - The United Nations said Friday that its top humanitarian official would visit Sri Lanka over the weekend as tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped in rebel-held areas.

John Holmes, undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, will be in Sri Lanka for three days, urging the government to facilitate a UN humanitarian mission to the conflict zone and assessing the condition of refugees living in makeshift camps.

Colombo  - A journalist arrested on suspicion of helping Tamil rebels to carry out an air raid in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo was released by a court on Friday after the investigators failed to prove the allegations against him.

The editor of the Tamil daily Sudar Oli, N. Vithyatharan, who had been held by police since February 26, was accused of maintaining telephone links with the rebels who carried out a suicide attack by air in the capital on January 24.

Colombo, Apr. 24: National Security Adviser M. K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon called Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday and reportedly urged him and his government to work towards declaring a truce in the closing chapter of a 25-year war in which nearly 6,500 civilians have lost their lives since February 2009.