Spanish journalist Javier Espinosa has escaped the besieged Syrian city of Homs and is in neighbouring Lebanon, his partner says.

Syrian security forces are advancing on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Baba Amr in the city of Homs, an official says.

A wounded Western journalist working for The Sunday Times escaped from Syria after being trapped for days in the besieged city of Homs, activist groups said.

Two wounded Western journalists escaped from Syria today after being trapped for days in the besieged central city of Homs, activist groups said.

Plans to evacuate two wounded journalists from a besieged Syrian town are beginning to take shape, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said today.

A judge conducting an inquiry into press standards in Britain today praised a award-winning foreign correspondent killed in Syria.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has blasted Russia and China’s opposition to UN Security Council action on Syria, calling it “despicable”.

A French reporter who was wounded in the Syrian city of Homs appealed for urgent medical attention and asked to be evacuated quickly, in a video posted by anti-regime activists on the internet.

As tensions mounted further in Syria, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby last night appointed Kofi Annan, Ban's predecessor as joint special envoy on the Syrian crisis.

A French journalist wounded in shelling in Syria that killed two other Western journalists has pleaded with her government to evacuate her so she can have an operation.