11.   British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, due in India next week, warned that the confrontation could escalate into nuclear war.

12.   But fresh fighting in the north and a defiant response from Saddam suggested the confrontation would escalate.

13.   Confrontations escalate in South Korea.

14.   Demonstrators argued with soldiers, and the confrontation quickly escalated.

15.   Even as the trade confrontation escalated, the Japanese side signaled willingness to make some concessions to head off an all-out battle.

16.   Hundreds of Palestinian youths threw stones and set tires ablaze, and the confrontations escalated into shooting exchanges between Palestinian security forces and Israeli troops.

17.   Hundreds of Palestinian youths threw stones and set tires ablaze, and the confrontations quickly escalated into shooting exchanges between the Palestinian security forces and Israeli troops.

18.   Hundreds of Palestinian youths threw stones and set tires ablaze and confrontations escalated into shooting exchanges between Palestinian security forces and Israeli troops.

19.   Many analysts believe a confrontation could escalate into a nuclear exchange.

20.   The confrontation escalated Thursday, when Iraq barred two American members of the U.N. weapons inspection team, who arrived aboard a U.N. plane from Bahrain.