Mandela spends third day in hospital

Nelson Mandela spent his third day in hospital after making "steady progress". Source: AAP

NELSON Mandela was on Saturday spending his third day in hospital after making "steady progress" for a recurring lung infection, the latest health scare for the nonagenarian anti-apartheid icon.

Messages of concern for the ailing 94-year-old, one of the towering figures of modern history, have poured in since his admission late Wednesday and President Jacob Zuma's spokesman gave an upbeat report on Friday.

"He was in good spirits, he had a full breakfast, and the doctors report that he's making steady progress," said Mac Maharaj.

"He sat up and had his breakfast in bed."

There was no update yet on Saturday from Mandela's doctors on his condition or details on how long he would remain at the undisclosed hospital, he said.

Mandela's recent health troubles have triggered an outpouring of prayers but have also seen South Africans come to terms with the mortality of the revered Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The former president is idolised in his home nation, where he is seen as the architect of South Africa's peaceful transition from white-minority ruled police state to hope-filled democracy.

Nearly 20 years after he came to power in 1994, he remains a unifying symbol in a country still riven by racial tensions and deep inequality.

It is the second time this month that he has been admitted to hospital, after spending a night for check-ups on March 9.

That followed a nearly three-week hospital stay in December, when Mandela was treated for another lung infection and underwent gallstone surgery.

He was diagnosed with early-stage tuberculosis in 1988 during his 27 years in prison under the apartheid regime and has long had problems with his lungs. He has also had treatment for prostate cancer and has suffered stomach ailments.

Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela told public broadcaster SABC that "Tata (father) is doing well".

"He's responding very well to treatment," said Madikizela-Mandela, who attended a Friday church service in Soweto where the congregation prayed for Mandela.

But officials said doctors' reports of Mandela's steady progress should be taken in context.

"Yes, indeed it is good news but we need to be cautious, bear in mind his age," said presidential spokesman Maharaj, who was a political prisoner with Mandela at Robben Island jail off the coast of Cape Town.

The name and location of the hospital where Mandela is being treated have not been disclosed to allow his medical team to focus on their work and to shield the family from the intense media interest.

In the past he has been hospitalised at a clinic in Pretoria.

Away from the public eye, Mandela has grown increasingly frail.

His December hospital stay was his longest since he walked free from jail in 1990.

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Karzai in Qatar to discuss Taliban office

AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai travelled to Qatar on Saturday to discuss Taliban militants opening an office in the Gulf state for peace talks that could end more than a decade of war, his office said.

Until earlier this year, Karzai was strongly opposed to the Islamist extremists having a meeting venue outside Afghanistan as he feared that his government would be frozen out of any negotiations.

The militants refuse to have direct contact with Karzai, saying he is a puppet of the United States, which has supported his rise to power after the military operation to oust the Taliban in 2001.

But, with NATO-led combat troops due to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, Karzai agreed to the proposed Taliban office in Qatar and is expected to firm up the plan with the emir of Qatar on Sunday.

Any future peace talks still face numerous hurdles before they begin, including confusion over who would represent the Taliban and Karzai's insistence that his appointees are at the centre of negotiations.

"We will discuss the peace process, of course, and the opening of an office for the Taliban in Qatar," presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi said before Karzai left Kabul with several senior members of his government.

"If we want to have talks to bring peace to Afghanistan, the main side must be the Afghan government's representatives -- the High Peace Council, which has members from all the country's ethnic and political backgrounds."

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Pope to celebrate first Easter vigil

Pope Francis has prayed for peace in the Middle East and stronger Christian-Muslim dialogue. Source: AAP

POPE Francis is to celebrate his first Easter vigil on Saturday after praying for peace in the Middle East and stronger Christian-Muslim dialogue at a torch-lit ceremony for Good Friday.

The newly-elected Argentine Pope will preside over a mass at St Peter's Basilica, baptising four adult converts to Catholicism - an Albanian, an Italian, a Russian and a US national.

The ceremony will wrap up a series of intensive preparations leading up to Easter Sunday - the holiest day in the Christian calendar - by the first non-European Pope in nearly 1,300 years.

Tens of thousands of people are expected at mass on Sunday when the pope will issue a special blessing from the same balcony of St Peter's Basilica where he appeared on the night of his election.

Francis marked Good Friday with a traditional ceremony at the Colosseum in Rome, presiding over the re-enactment of Jesus Christ's last hours.

"Christians must respond to evil with good, taking the cross upon themselves as Jesus did," said Francis, who followed the ceremony from under a canopy overlooking the 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheatre.

The Pope also referred to a visit to Lebanon last year by Benedict, who stunned Catholic followers by resigning last month at the age of 85 saying he was too weak mentally and physically to continue.

"We saw the beauty and the strong bond of communion joining Christians together in that land and the friendship of our Muslim brothers and so many others," the 76-year-old Pope said.

At the Colosseum ceremony in Rome, prayers read out during the ceremony were written by a group of Lebanese young people who voiced hope for a Middle East "torn apart by injustice and conflicts".

The Vatican has voiced concern over the fate of Christian minorities in many parts of the Middle East and the rise of radical Islam, as well as calling for an end to conflict in the region.

Francis began the Easter season on Holy Thursday by washing the feet of 12 young prisoners including two Muslim inmates - in an unprecedented new take on an ancient pre-Easter ritual.

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Filipinos in Easter mock crucifixions

CATHOLIC zealots in the Philippines re-enacted the last hours of Jesus Christ on Good Friday, whipping their backs and nailing themselves to crosses in a grisly Easter ritual that persists despite Church disapproval.

Foreign and local tourists flocked to the outskirts of the city of San Fernando, a 90-minute drive from Manila, to see the annual spectacle where a Christian "passion play" is taken to its blood-soaked extreme.

At least 18 men had nails driven through their hands and were hung up on crosses under the hot sun in vacant plots around the city.

Elsewhere hooded men lashed their bloody backs with cloth and bamboo whips, doing penance for their sins while spraying onlookers with flecks of blood.

Devotees commit to undergo the mock crucifixion in exchange for a gift from God such as the healing of a sick loved one.

"I am used to it already," said Alex Laranang, 58, who was nailed up for the 14th time.

Laranang, a short, sunburnt man who sells baked buns to bus passengers, said: "It is just like a needle going through my hand. After two days, I am ready to go back to work again."

So far, he told AFP, his suffering has been rewarded as his wife and children enjoy good health and he continues to make a decent living.

"I am doing this for my family, so that no one will get sick and that my livelihood will continue. I am just a poor man. But I don't ask God to make me rich," he said.

At least two of the men hung on crosses had to be carried away on stretchers after being taken down, but most managed to walk to a medical tent for treatment as Western tourists snapped pictures.

Norwegian Charlotte Johanssen, 26, a Manila resident who was among the crowd of onlookers, said some of her visiting friends had found the sight too much to take.

"I have friends who felt sick to their stomachs and who got nauseated," said Johanssen, who works for an aid group in the Philippine capital.

"There are those who get amazed. You can't imagine how anyone can subject themselves to this kind of pain," she said.

The mock crucifixions have been going on for decades despite official disapproval from the Philippines' Catholic bishops.

"The bishops have been saying for a long time they disapprove of this. But people make such vows. They sacrifice themselves for others," said Father Francis Lucas, executive director of the Philippine bishops' media office.

"We have so many crosses to bear in life. We don't need to bear a real one," he told AFP.

He also warned against efforts to use the event to boost tourism, saying: "That is really wrong".

San Fernando City conveniently listed the locations and schedules for the mock crucifixions on its tourism website, complete with a map so visitors could follow the action.

The Philippines, a former Spanish colony, is home to more than 80 million Catholics and the Church wields strong influence, ensuring that divorce and abortion remain illegal.

Some Filipinos were disappointed that Manila archbishop Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle missed out this month when Argentina's Jorge Mario Bergoglio was chosen at a Vatican papal conclave to succeed Benedict XVI, becoming Pope Francis.

On the southern island of Mindanao a Good Friday religious procession dissolved into panic when communist rebels attacked security forces guarding the event, killing two village militiaman, police said.

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Suicide bomber kills 10 in Pakistan

A suicide bomber has targeted a senior Pakistani police commander in Peshawar, killing six people. Source: AAP

A SUICIDE bomber on Friday targeted a senior Pakistani police commander near the US consulate in Peshawar, killing at least 10 people, including two women, officials said.

It was the latest in a string of attacks as the country prepares to hold historic elections on May 11. The vote will mark the first democratic transition of power in Pakistan, which has been governed by four military rulers.

A security official said Abdul Majeed Marwat, commander of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, survived the attack and was taken to a military hospital with "only scratches".

Around 28 other people were wounded in the blast, medics said.

"It was a suicide attack, the target was the FC commander," police official Arshad Khan told AFP.

Witnesses said the bomber was on foot and blew himself up when the convoy of the police chief stopped at a military checkpost in the busy cantonment area of Peshawar.

The checkpost is about 300 metres from the heavily guarded American consulate, which has itself been the target of attacks in the past, an AFP reporter said.

"We have received six dead bodies, including two women. Eleven people were also injured," Sayed Jameel Shah, a spokesman for Peshawar's main Lady Reading Hospital, told AFP.

Another four bodies and 17 other wounded were taken to the Combined Military Hospital, a senior security official told AFP.

Among the dead were two soldiers and one member of the FC, while the wounded were a mixture of civilians and military personnel, officials said.

The blast damaged two motorcycles and four cars, including Marwat's vehicle. Splashes of blood lay on the ground and an AFP reporter saw a pair of legs, presumed to be that of the bomber.

Umar Din, 21, a rickshaw driver, said the force of the explosion flipped his rickshaw onto the ground.

"I came out and saw my passenger bleeding," he told AFP. "I picked up the passenger on my shoulder and ran to a safer place, it was horrible, people were bleeding and crying," he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Pakistani police, soldiers and paramilitary units are frequently targeted by domestic Taliban, who have been fighting an insurgency since July 2007.

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Mandela spends second day in hospital

South Africa's Nelson Mandela is said to be responding positively to treatment for a lung infection. Source: AAP

NELSON Mandela was spending a second day in hospital Friday after responding positively to treatment for a lung infection, the latest health scare for the revered anti-apartheid icon.

South African presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj said there was no update on the condition of the frail 94-year-old, who was admitted to hospital just before midnight on Wednesday.

President Jacob Zuma sought Thursday to reassure South Africans that Mandela was in good hands as his doctors reported some progress in his treatment.

"The country must not panic, Madiba is fine," Zuma told the BBC, referring to South Africa's first black president by his clan name.

"The doctors advise that former president Nelson Mandela is responding positively to the treatment he is undergoing for a recurring lung infection," Zuma's office said in a short statement Thursday.

The Nobel peace laureate was conscious when he was admitted, Maharaj, who was in prison with Mandela on Robben Island, had told AFP.

It is the second time this month that Mandela has been admitted to hospital, after spending a night for checkups on March 9.

That followed a nearly three-week hospital stay in December.

"In Zulu, when someone passes away who is very old, people say he or she has gone home. I think those are some of the things we should be thinking about," Zuma said.

Mandela is idolised in his home nation, where he is seen as the architect of the country's peaceful transition from a white-minority ruled police state to hope-filled democracy.

Nearly 20 years after he came to power in 1994 he remains a unifying symbol in a country still riven by racial tensions and deep inequality.

While Mandela the symbol bestrides South African politics, the man has long since exited the political stage and for the country's large young population he is a figure from another era.

He has not appeared in public since South Africa's football World Cup final in 2010, six years after retiring from public life.

Still, his nearly life-long struggle against apartheid resonates.

"We are deeply concerned with Nelson Mandela's health - he is a hero, I think, to all of us," US President Barack Obama said.

"When we think of a single individual that embodies the kind of leadership qualities that I think we all aspire to, the person's name that comes up is Nelson Mandela. So we wish him all the very best," Obama added.

"He is as strong physically as he has been in character and in leadership over so many decades. Hopefully he will come out of this latest challenge."

The name and location of the hospital where Mandela is being treated were not disclosed, to allow the medical team to focus on their work and to shield the family from the intense media interest.

"We know they are going through a difficult time and we want to ensure that their privacy is maintained," said Maharaj.

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China orders stepped-up scrutiny on Apple

APPLE is to face "strengthened supervision" from China's consumer watchdogs, state media reported Friday, as the US computer giant is hit by a barrage of negative publicity and court cases in the country.

China is Apple's second-biggest market, and its iPhones and other products -- many of them made in the country -- are highly popular, although it faces fierce competition from South Korea's Samsung.

State media have carried a series of attacks against Apple, with the People's Daily, the Communist Party's official mouthpiece, running critical items for five consecutive days over alleged double standards in customer service and returns policies.

Apple has denied those accusations in statements to Chinese media but the condemnations have continued unabated, with the newspaper urging consumers to "strike away Apple's unparalleled arrogance" in one of its commentaries.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) has asked trading standards bodies across the country to step up "contract supervision" on electronics manufacturers "such as Apple", the People's Daily said Friday.

"Local governments are required to... investigate and punish illegal activities in accordance with the law," it quoted the SAIC as saying in an official note.

An SAIC spokesman who declined to be named confirmed the existence of the document to AFP but declined to disclose details.

The People's Daily articles follow reports on state broadcaster CCTV, but users of China's Twitter-like weibos have been split, with some backing Apple and saying state-owned Chinese firms deserved more criticism for poor service.

Speculation has mounted that it is an organised campaign, and columnist and microblogger Lian Peng said he bought a new iPad Friday "on purpose" and will "seriously consider buying an iPhone 5".

"I don't fancy electronic items. But I feel embarrassed if I don't purchase after seeing the bombardment of advertising jointly staged by CCTV and the People's Daily," he wrote.

Kai-Fu Lee compared current events to 2009, when he was the head of Google China and the US search engine firm suffered state media potshots followed by official penalties.

Google effectively shut down its Chinese search engine in 2010 after months of tensions with the government over censorship, and now sends mainland users to its uncensored site in Hong Kong.

But any underlying motive behind the attacks against Apple remains unclear.

China and the US are embroiled in a series of rows over technology and cybersecurity.

No-one from Apple's China office was available for comment on Friday.

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Vietnam whistleblower defends WikiLeaks

PENTAGON Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg waited decades for someone like Bradley Manning to follow in his footsteps.

He hails the US Army private accused of spilling secrets to website WikiLeaks as a champion of truth and not a betrayer of his country.

Manning was arrested in May 2010 on 22 charges of giving classified material on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to WikiLeaks.

Military prosecutors have accused Manning of the capital crime of aiding the enemy, saying they will not seek the death penalty for the 25-year-old man but want him to spend the rest of his life in prison.

"I have significant identification with all whistleblowers, but with Bradley above all," said Ellsberg.

"I'd like to see him get the Nobel Peace Prize," Ellsberg continued, tossing in a military Medal of Honour and a Congressional Gold Medal.

"He deserves to be seen as a hero. Certainly, he is a hero of mine."

Ellsberg sees Manning's case as mirroring his history-making move in 1971 to leak what became known as the Pentagon Papers, a report about US political and military machinations involving the Vietnam War.

"It is the first time since the Pentagon Papers that someone has put out a large raft of material," Ellsberg said in an interview at his home in the wooded enclave of Kensington across the bay from San Francisco.

"I think Bradley has done the right thing," continued Ellsberg, who will be 82 in April. "We've needed this kind of revelation frequently."

The Pentagon Papers were finally published in full in June 2011, 40 years after then US military analyst Ellsberg slipped excerpts of the classified report to the media.

Ellsberg's act of defiance revealed evidence that successive US administrations had lied to the public about Vietnam.

Pentagon Papers leaks led Nixon to set up a covert White House investigations unit, known as The Plumbers, to prevent further leaks to the media.

Members of the unit were subsequently implicated in a 1972 burglary at the Watergate complex in Washington - sparking the scandal that eventually forced the president derisively nicknamed "Tricky Dick" to quit in 1974.

A set of Pentagon Papers books were prominently displayed in wall-to-ceiling bookshelves in Ellsberg's home.

"I couldn't have done that without Xerox," Ellsberg said, referring to how he photocopied thousands of pages from the report.

"Manning couldn't have done what he did with access to a thumb drive."

Manning told a military tribunal in February that he leaked secret files to WikiLeaks in order to start a "public debate."

He remains in military custody pending trial and has pleaded guilty to misusing classified information but denies the damning charge of aiding America's enemies.

He sent WikiLeaks, which campaigns against government secrecy and publishes leaked information on a secure website, two military logs of daily incidents during the US campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also provided a vast trove of US diplomatic cables and cockpit video from a US helicopter gunship involved in an incident in which Iraqi civilians died.

Ellsberg also gave hero status to WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange.

"Julian Assange was in uncharted territory, by himself, and no one had ever set out to do what he did in the form of facilitating leaks by people like me or Manning," Ellsberg said.

"Using digital age tools to do it and offering anonymity."

"The charges that WikiLeaks had blood on their hands the very first day that they put it out have proven not to be true," Ellsberg said.

"Ironically, they were made by people who were up to their chins in innocent blood of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen and elsewhere."

Ellsberg argued that the charges against Manning should be dropped for the same reason the case against him was dismissed, namely governmental misconduct that "offends the sense of justice."

Ellsberg told of warrantless wire taps, the burglary of his former doctor's office and even efforts to have him "completely incapacitated."

He put those tactics on par with Manning being held incommunicado for three years, more than 10 months of that time in solitary confinement, and part of the time deprived of clothing and sleep.

Ellsberg contended that instead of betraying the trust placed in him, Manning was true to his vow as a soldier to support and defend the US Constitution.

"The widest form of participation in evil-doing is keeping it secret."

"There is, in effect, a war on whistleblowers," Ellsberg said. "Call it a war on truth-telling, especially truths about government crimes, lies, war and recklessness."

Ellsberg sadly noted that Manning is likely to spend a long time in prison. Charges Manning already pleaded guilty to carry a maximum sentence of 20 years.

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Man critically hurt by storm-felled tree

A RUNNER hit by a falling tree in a wild storm that lashed southeast Queensland remains in a critical condition.

The man, 58, suffered serious head injuries on Sunday night in the Brisbane suburb of St Lucia, and was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital.

A spokeswoman told AAP he was still critical on Monday night.

Power firm Energex said 1500 properties were still without power at 5pm (AEST), down from 60,000 at the height of the super cell storm.

"Our crews will be working through the night to get that power back on," a spokeswoman said.

The affected homes are in the Brisbane, Logan, Redlands and Scenic Rim areas.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Amber Young said heavy rain and wind gusts of 90km/h had been recorded.

Emergency Management Queensland said most of the 100 calls for help it received were for damage caused by the strong winds, including damaged roofs and downed trees.

Three men were plucked from their upturned dinghy by a dredge boat in Moreton Bay after being spotted by a passing cargo ship, four hours after they capsized.

The west Brisbane suburb of Carol Park recorded 45mm of rain in 45 minutes, while 40mm fell in 30 minutes at Brassall in north Ipswich.

Ms Young said the chance of more storms on Tuesday had subsided.

"There was certainly a possibility earlier in the day and we have seen some storms form on the high ground northwest of Brisbane," she told AAP.

"But the sea breeze along the coast has helped to stabilise things."

Ms Young said she "would never rule out" more super cell storms over autumn.

Energex urged home owners and businesses to make sure they secured loose items and had a storm plan in place.

"The weather has been quite unstable," the spokeswoman said.

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Hong Kong stocks close up 0.61%

HONG Kong shares have ended 0.61 per cent higher after Cyprus agreed a last-minute deal with its international creditors that will qualify it for a crucial bailout.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 135.85 points to 22,251.15 on Monday on turnover of $HK60.68 billion ($A7.54 billion).

Chinese shares ended flat. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.07 per cent, or 1.56 points, to 2326.72 on turnover of 85.4 billion yuan ($A13.2 billion).

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Car thief shot over drug debt: WA court

WHAT began with a $20,000 car being stolen as collateral to settle a drug debt ended in Jeremia Iskander's murder, a West Australian court has heard.

Damien Phillip Mathews and Hayden Shane Wayne Joseph are on trial in the West Australian Supreme Court for the murder of the 21-year-old, who was shot in the chest at close range on December 2, 2011.

Prosecutor Amanda Forrester said in her opening address on Monday that Mathews fired the fatal shot, but Joseph was involved in its planning and therefore equally culpable.

The court heard Mr Iskander had been friends with Joseph for several years, but they had fallen out because Joseph owed him money.

Ms Forrester said two of Joseph's cars, including one he estimated to be worth $20,000, were stolen to force him to pay his debt.

She said Joseph believed Mr Iskander was driving the car and doing burnouts, "rubbing his nose" in his loss.

The court heard Joseph and Mathews confronted Mr Iskander in a driveway and the three men, as well as a woman who accompanied the accused men, had an argument.

Mr Iskander said he wanted to have a "one-on-one" with Joseph, Ms Forrester said.

Instead, Mathews had shot Mr Iskander in the chest and then fled with Joseph.

An ambulance took Mr Iskander to Joondalup Health Campus, where he died.

In the lead-up to the murder and the hours after it, Joseph sent many text messages to friends, indicating in one message he was responsible for Mr Iskander's death, Ms Forrester said.

Joseph and Mathews set fire to the car to destroy evidence and went missing for nine days until they finally turned themselves in, she said.

Police say they found four unfired bullets in the driveway that the prosecution claims came from the gun used in the killing, but no weapon has been found.

However, defence lawyer Vesna Amidzic, representing Joseph, said the entire incident was "completely unexpected".

Colin Lovitt, representing Mathews, said one of the key witnesses, who claimed to have seen his client with a gun, was unreliable and biased.

"A man is dead, but that doesn't mean he's been killed by someone," he said.

Mr Lovitt said Mr Iskander was a violent bully who had a "keen interest" in guns.

"He was someone who liked to throw his weight around," Mr Lovitt said.

It was Mr Iskander who had a gun in his trousers and who struggled with Mathews over the weapon, Mr Lovitt said.

He said it was during the struggle that a shot was fired, but not deliberately.

"They (the accused men) shouldn't be made to pay a price over and above for what they did," Mr Lovitt said.

"There's no criminal responsibility at all."

He said the fact that they did something as "stupid" as burning the car did not mean they were guilty of murder.

The trial is set down for four weeks.

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