But a sustained assault by rebels earlier this month on the capital saw a dramatic upsurge in violence in Damascus.

BBC: Syria's Turkish border units 'head for Aleppo'

The government of Gansu province in China's west says it told the Ministry of Health on July 16th about an unusual upsurge of kidney stones among infants who had all drunk the same brand of milk.

ECONOMIST: China��s baby-milk scandal: Formula for disaster | The

The upsurge in fighting, hard on the heels of President Barack Obama's re-election, was seen as marking something of a rapprochement in ties between Israel and Washington after a very tense period.

BBC: Israeli settlement move risks diplomatic fallout

On Tuesday the United Nations Security Council strongly condemned the latest upsurge in fighting.

BBC: DR Congo refugee crisis worsens

The latest upsurge in violence in Ciudad Juarez saw 20 murders on Friday, 19 on Saturday and at least one on Sunday, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office said.

BBC: Ciudad Juarez sees 40 killed in violent weekend

The major worry for the incoming government and for Western creditors is that Nigeria's financing crunch may lead to an upsurge in the demand for foreign exchange, and inevitably, to a run on the newly liberalised currency, the naira.

BBC: By James Walker

On Saturday, Syria buried 22 members of the armed forces, including six elite pilots ambushed on a highway near Homs, following a recent upsurge of armed attacks on security forces.

BBC: Syria unrest: Arab League adopts sanctions in Cairo

With Mr Assad's troops apparently determined to wipe out armed opposition in advance of the ceasefire, the Syrian National Council, an umbrella opposition group based in Istanbul, protested that the death rate had climbed to 1, 000 during the first week of April, a sharp upsurge for a conflict that has claimed, on UN estimates, some 9, 000 victims in a whole year.

ECONOMIST: A peace plan comes into wobbly effect