BBC News with Marion Marshall

Reports from the Syrian city of Hama say government tanks have been shelling residential neighbourhoods

indiscriminately

. They said the shelling

intensified

just as residents were breaking the dawn-to-dusk fast on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Activists said at least four people had been killed. On Sunday, scores of people were reported killed when security forces targeted opposition protesters. The UN Security Council is

due to

hold closed-door consultations on Syria in New York shortly. Lina Sinjab reports from Damascus on the fear in Hama that's preventing some families from burying their dead as they wish.

The shelling

resume

d today on parts of Hama, leaving several people dead, according to residents of the city. Heavy artillery and machine guns were also used in this morning's attack. Some families buried their dead in parks and even in the gardens of their own homes.

The United States Senate and House of Representatives are due to vote on a bill to raise the limit on US borrowing ahead of a deadline to

avert

an unprecedented debt default. Democratic and Republican party leaders in Washington reached agreement late on Sunday on a proposal to raise the $14.3tn limit. Global financial markets have been nervous over the prospect that the US might not have enough money to meet its financial obligations. Paul Adams reports from Washington.