BBC News with Marion Marshall

European leaders have reached agreement at an emergency meeting in Brussels on a new bailout for Greece in an effort to prevent the eurozone debt crisis from spreading. The European Union President Herman van Rompuy said the programme would be financed by the EU, the IMF and the private sector. He insisted that Europe would defend its currency.

"Today, ladies and gentlemen, with all these decisions we have shown that we will not

waver

in the defence of our monetary union and our common currency. Final remark: when European leaders say that we will do everything what is

require

d to save the eurozone, it is very simple. We mean it."

The package is reported to be worth more than $200bn. Interest rates for loans to Greece are to be reduced and their

duration

will be extended. Mr van Rompuy said private sector involvement in emergency measures would be restricted to Greece.

Some news just in, the BBC has learnt that a senior journalist at the Sun newspaper, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's media group, has been sacked in connection with phone hacking.

It's not clear whether the journalist previously worked for the now defunct News of the World, which is at the heart of the hacking scandal here in Britain.

Syrian security forces are reported to have

intensif

ied their operation against anti-government protesters in the country's third biggest city Homs. A Syrian human rights activist told the BBC that government forces have killed at least two people. Owen Bennett-Jones reports from Beirut.