Belgian Foreign Minister collapses at NATO meeting

Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel has collapsed at a NATO meeting.

He has been taken to hospital after he fell to the ground during a photoshoot with the other NATO foreign ministers.

It followed the first session of their two-day meeting. Mr Michel briefly tried to get up before collapsing again.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell and other NATO foreign ministers rushed to his aid. With an oxygen mask covering his face, Michel was immediately taken to hospital on a stretcher.

Michel came into the NATO meeting tired and felt so sick earlier on Tuesday he considered skipping the morning session of the NATO meeting.

"He felt terrible. He didn't even want to come," said a Belgian diplomat, who asked not to be identified.

"He felt too hot in the meeting room and it was too cold outside for him," he said.

Michel had extensively traveled over the past week. He was in New York at the United Nations summit for children on Friday before continuing on to South Africa and Rwanda, the diplomat said.