IN BRIEF (Page 12)

India

Sonia Gandhi taken to hospital

India's ruling Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi, widely seen as the country's most powerful politician, was led out of parliament on Monday by her son and colleagues after she felt unwell, television channels said. She was taken to a New Delhi hospital, TV reports said.

The Philippines

Sunken ferry poses threat

Philippine authorities on Tuesday studied ways to remove a sunken ferry that threatens to leak more fuel into a busy waterway as the death toll from the disaster rose further. The St Thomas Aquinas ferry may be either refloated, cut up for salvage or dragged into deeper water away from the channel off the central island of Cebu, local authorities said.

Germany

Ex-president to face trial

Germany's former president Christian Wulff, who resigned amid a scandal last year, will face court on charges of accepting a favor while in office, justice officials said on Tuesday. Wulff, 54, who was Germany's youngest president and served less than two years in the largely ceremonial job, will become the country's first former head of state to answer charges in court.

Yemen

Al-Qaida denies US attack claim

Al-Qaida in Yemen has denied US allegations of plotting massive attacks that prompted the closure of Western missions. It also denied reports that US intelligence services had intercepted a conversation between al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, head of the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

Brazil

FM resigns and heads to UN

Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota resigned on Monday after a diplomat acknowledged that he had helped a Bolivian senator, who had been accused of corruption, cross the border into Brazil.

Reuters-AFP

(China Daily 08/28/2013 page12)