Mandela 'stronger and stronger': grandson

SOUTH African peace icon Nelson Mandela is "steadily improving" six weeks after he was admitted to hospital with a recurring lung infection, his grandson said Monday.

Mandla Mandela, who is embroiled in bitter spat with family members over his grandfather's burial site, visited the former statesman at a Pretoria health facility on Sunday after missing his 95th birthday last week.

"The visit left me with a warm feeling because my grandfather is getting stronger and stronger everyday," he said.

In a statement, Mandla also issued a thinly veiled rebuke to his relatives after lawyers for more than a dozen family members had claimed in a court filing that the Nobel Peace Prize winner was in a "vegetative state".

Mandla said his grandfather's recovery "flies in the face of those who have been busy spreading lies that Madiba is in a 'vegetative state' and just waiting for his support machines to be switched off," he said, using his grandfather's clan name.

The oldest Mandela grandson, who is chief of Mandela's birth place Mvezo in the rural Eastern Cape province, has fallen out with relatives after moving the three graves of Mandela's children without consulting the family.

Following a court order, the remains were reburied earlier this month in Mandela's childhood village of Qunu, where the anti-apartheid hero has said he himself wishes to be buried after his death.

Mandla's family has laid a charge of grave-tampering against him, and Mandla is appealing the court ruling.

He was notably absent for Mandela's birthday celebrations in hospital last Thursday.

Mandla was instead carrying out community projects around his village as part of Mandela Day, a global day of charitable acts in honour of his grandfather, seen as the democratic father of South Africa.

Mandela's current hospital stay is his longest since he was released from prison in 1990, after serving 27 years under the apartheid regime.

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PNG opposition lashes asylum seeker plan

A PLAN to resettle asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea is an "agreement between two madmen", opposition leader Belden Namah says.

Mr Namah told the ABC from Singapore prime ministers Peter O'Neill and Kevin Rudd had no regard for UN conventions.

"Peter O'Neill is making decisions like a chicken with no head," he said.

"It is an agreement between two madmen."

Australia and PNG agreed on Friday that asylum seekers travelling to Australia by boat will be turned away, processed and potentially resettled in PNG.

Mr Namah called for the agreement to be debated in the nation's single house of parliament.

PNG has bigger problems than refugee processing, he said, and should not make money from asylum seekers.

Prime Minister Peter O'Neill says the scheme will boost the national economy.

"The problem in PNG is not money," Mr Namah said.

"It's not about bad financial management and corruption."

He said it was kowtowing to old colonial masters.

"Do we need to make money off asylum seekers? No."

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Afghan parliament sacks interior minister

Afghanistan's interior minister Mujtaba Patang has been sacked less than a year after taking office. Source: AAP

AFGHANISTAN'S parliament has sacked Interior Minister Mujtaba Patang, one of the country's most powerful security chiefs, less than a year after he took office.

Patang lost a vote of confidence by 136 to 60 in the lower house of parliament over accusations of corruption and incompetence in the battle against Taliban insurgents.

"He's lost the vote of confidence and I on behalf of the Wolesi Jirga (parliament's lower house) request the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to introduce another individual to the parliament for a vote of confidence," said speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi.

Patang, a former deputy interior minister and a career police officer, was dismissed a month after the Afghan government formally took responsibility for nationwide security from US-led NATO troops at a handover ceremony.

Parliament dismissed Patang's predecessor Bismillah Mohammadi in August 2012, allegedly for failing to stop a Taliban resurgence and cross-border shelling from Pakistan.

But lawmakers approved Mohammadi's nomination a month later as defence minister.

The cabinet reshuffle at the time was interpreted as an effort by President Hamid Karzai to secure his powerbase before anointing a successor to stand in presidential elections next April.

Karzai has led Afghanistan since the US-led invasion removed the Taliban regime in 2001.

His government has been widely criticised as weak and corrupt, and for failing to address perceptions of worsening security as NATO troops withdraw.

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Villagers flee as Java volcano spews ash

Indonesia's Mount Merapi has unleashed volcanic material forcing hundreds of villagers to flee. Source: AAP

INDONESIA'S most volatile volcano has spewed smoke and ash forcing hundreds of people to flee their villages along its slopes, a disaster official said.

Mount Merapi on the main island of Java rumbled as heavy rain fell around its cloud-covered crater, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, disaster mitigation agency spokesman.

The volcano unleashed a column of dark red volcanic material 1,000 metres into the air, and the ash made the rain thick and muddy in several villages as terrified residents fled to safety, he said.

The sound was heard 30 kilometres away, but an eruption did not occur and the volcano's alert level was not raised, Nugroho said.

The 2,968-metre mountain is the most active of 500 Indonesian volcanoes. Its last major eruption in 2010 killed 347 people.

Indonesia, an archipelago of 240 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped series of fault lines.

AP

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Nurses to strike at 160 NSW hospitals

Nurses and midwives will strike at more than 160 public hospitals and community health services. Source: AAP

NURSES and midwives at every major hospital in NSW will be walking off the job on Wednesday.

Staff at more than 160 public hospitals and community health services across the state have notified the union about their plans to strike.

They are protesting over what they say is the state government's failure to provide safe nurse staffing levels.

NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association General Secretary Brett Holmes said more branches were expected to join the cause by Wednesday.

"For a few hundred million dollars a year the state government can dramatically improve patient care in our public hospitals," he said in a statement on Sunday.

The union wants one nurse to four patients in all general medical, surgical and acute inpatient mental health wards.

It's also calling for one nurse per three children in general children's wards and one nurse to three patients in emergency departments.

The extra staffing would "save lives and money", Mr Holmes said, adding that the nurse-to-patient ratios needed to be consistent at every hospital in NSW, including those in the country.

A special general meeting will be held at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre from 11.30am (AEST) on Wednesday, with a live webcast to 17 regional centres, including Albury, Broken Hill, Kempsey, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga.

During the strike life-preserving services will be maintained in all hospitals and community health services, the union said.

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Bashed Sydney man's family seeks witnesses

THE family of a man brutally bashed by a stranger in the Sydney CBD have pleaded for two men caught on camera to turn themselves in.

Matthew Blackmore, 33, was crossing George Street to catch a cab home around midnight last Sunday when an unknown man smashed him in the side of the face, in what police have described as an "vicious, unprovoked" attack.

He was knocked unconscious and fell face first onto the pavement, breaking his nose and striking his head.

The Maroubra banker remained in hospital on Sunday, and his sister Karen Blackmore said he faced a long recovery.

"It's one day at a time," she told reporters.

"He's struggling, to be honest ... he doesn't recall anything, he doesn't know why."

Detectives have now released CCTV footage of two men who are wanted for questioning over the incident.

One man is described as being of Caucasian appearance, with an athletic build and short brown hair.

He was wearing a black jacket, white button-up shirt, dark pants and white shoes.

The second man depicted in the footage also looks Caucasian, has a short stocky build and a shaved head.

He was dressed in a dark jacket, white shirt, black pants and black shoes.

City Central Local Area Command's Stephen Warren said CCTV video showed the two men pulling up in a dark 4WD to the CBD street where Mr Blackmore was bashed.

"The males that we wish to speak to are seen to get out of that vehicle, cross George Street, and moments later the assault on Matthew occurs," he told reporters in Sydney.

He said Mr Blackmore didn't know either man, but urged anyone who did recognise them to come forward.

"Tell us what you know, so that we can bring some comfort to this family and try to arrest the offenders," he said.

Acting Inspector Warren also revealed police have obtained CCTV footage of the assault itself.

Mark Blackmore told reporters it was time for his brother's attacker to come forward.

"It's been a week, you've had time to think about your actions," he said.

He's described his brother as "one of the lucky ones" because he escaped severe brain damage in the incident, but Matthew Blackmore still suffers memory loss, severe headaches and difficulty balancing.

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Rudd's PNG boat deal a fake fix: Abbott

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says asylum seekers could still be resettled in Aus. Source: AAP

THE coalition has launched a broad attack on Labor's asylum seeker deal with Papua New Guinea, accusing Kevin Rudd of misleading Australians to win votes ahead of an election.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the central thrust of the deal - that all asylum seekers arriving by boat will be sent to PNG and will not be resettled in Australia - simply is not true.

"It's clear that neither of Mr Rudd's assertions are actually borne out by the document," he told reporters in Melbourne on Sunday.

"Mr Rudd has been misleading to the point of dishonesty."

Mr Abbott, accompanied by his immigration spokesman Scott Morrison, detailed a long list of alleged flaws with the deal, signed on Friday by Mr Rudd and his PNG counterpart Peter O'Neill.

Under the arrangement, people arriving by boat without a visa were to be sent to Australia's Manus Island facility in PNG for assessment and, if found to be refugees, would be settled there.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus earlier said it was unlikely PNG's leader would have told the coalition anything different.

"I'm certain that's not what Prime Minister O'Neill said," Mr Dreyfus told Network Ten.

But Mr Abbott said the document wasn't even legally binding, but a scant two pages "held together with blue tac and sticky tape" to last until the election.

"This is simply another fake fix from someone who is the great pretender of Australian politics," he said.

Mr Morrison said it was clear from examining the details that PNG was not bound to the agreement, and that Labor had no plan for children arriving by boat.

PNG would not take an unlimited number of asylum seekers, despite Labor claims to the contrary, and it could be years before Manus Island could handle a surge in arrivals, he added.

He said people who are found not to be refugees would become Australia's problem, and those with communicable diseases, terrorism charges or a criminal background would remain in Australia.

"The devil is always in the detail with Mr Rudd, and Mr Rudd always proves to be the devil in that detail," Mr Morrison said.

Mr Rudd's hardline policy will likely feature at a meeting of Labor MPs meeting in Sydney on Monday, with Cabinet member Mark Butler acknowledging a level of discomfort within the party ranks.

"There would be people within the Labor movement and the Labor party and the broader community who would feel uncomfortable with this," he told Sky News.

It comes as Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare announced that the Australian Federal Police would pay rewards of up to $200,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people smugglers.

But Foreign Minister Bob Carr said asylum seekers were arriving at the rate of 40,000 to 50,000 a year, and a tough response to stop that rising even further was unavoidable.

"If it continues at this level - the prime minister was very persuaded by this - it could rise further as people smugglers really close in to make a financial killing," he told Sky News.

The coalition has said it would "salvage" what it could from the deal if elected to government, but wouldn't be replaced its foremost policy of turning back asylum boats where it's safe to do so.

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10 rebels and soldiers killed in Colombia

Six guerillas from the FARC rebel group and four Colombian soldiers have been killed in clashes. Source: AAP

SIX guerillas from the leftist FARC rebel group and four Colombian soldiers have been killed in clashes in southwest Colombia.

Military officials say the fighting occurred in the town of El Doncello, in the department of Caqueta, a stronghold of the southern bloc of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Three soldiers were injured and two militants captured.

The latest casualties of Colombia's almost half-century-old insurgency came a day after the rebel group announced it had captured a US-ex soldier but said it was ready to release him as a gesture toward peace talks with the government.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, is the country's largest guerrilla group with 8000 fighters.

Talks between the rebels and the government opened last November in Cuba, in the fourth attempt since the 1980s to end the conflict that has left 600,000 dead, more than 3.7 million displaced and 15,000 missing.

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Troops shoot dead six Kashmir protesters

INDIAN paramilitary troops have shot dead six people protesting outside a Border Security Force station in Kashmir, police say.

The incident happened on Thursday in Gool, 230 kilometres south of the main city of Srinagar, two police officers said on condition of anonymity.

"It is mayhem. Six are dead and dozens injured. The death toll could rise further," said one.

Protesters had gathered outside the Border Security Force (BSF) station to demonstrate against an incident involving troops at a mosque on Wednesday evening, witnesses said.

The troops had entered the mosque in Gool to complain about the loud recitation of prayers by worshippers during the holy month of Ramadan, the witnesses told AFP.

Worshippers gathered outside the security force station from early Thursday to protest at the incident.

"The BSF soldiers fired indiscriminately, downing protesters left, right and centre," one witness who declined to be identified told AFP by phone from the nearby village of Dharam.

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Sydney man's girlfriend a 'liar': inquest

SARAH Manning could "smell money" and was a "poisonous woman" who asked about her French boyfriend's will days after he died of a drug overdose, a court has heard.

David Monlun's business partner Raymond Harrison also described Ms Manning as a "compulsive liar and an actress" in a police statement he made weeks after the wealthy Frenchman died.

The inquest into Mr Monlun's death has previously heard Ms Manning and friend Jamie Philp were the last people to see Mr Monlun, who was found lying face down in his apartment near Sydney's Darling Harbour on May 30, 2011.

An autopsy listed mixed drug toxicity as the direct cause of death, with a lethal range of the drug GHB detected in his blood.

Speaking at the inquest on Thursday, Mr Harrison said Ms Manning had called him just days after his business associate had died, allegedly asking after the 40-year-old's will.

"She rang and said David had said to her on the event of his death that she should ring me and I would fix everything," he told Glebe Coroner's Court.

Mr Harrison who co-owned Mr Monlun's successful freight sales agency company Repworld said the French businessman "was happy again" when he first started seeing Ms Manning in the decade before his death.

But Mr Harrison said this changed over time.

In 2006 Mr Monlun was bashed and had his "hair cut out", reportedly by a friend of Ms Manning.

About four months later, Ms Manning's former partner Matthew Haar kidnapped Mr Monlun and forced him to take cocaine.

Two weeks later, Mr Haar and Ms Manning detained Mr Monlun and were both convicted over the incident.

In the statement given to police in June 2011 in which Mr Harrison said Ms Manning could "smell money" and was poisonous, he also said that after Mr Monlun's death, Ms Manning had called their business associate Nicholas Papaix.

"It was both the opinion of Nicholas and mine, Sarah was seeking an alibi regarding her involvement or contact with David and his death," Mr Harrison told police.

On the night of Mr Monlun's death, CCTV footage shows Ms Manning leaving the apartment at various times before coming back with Mr Philp - a long-term user of GHB.

After saying goodbye to the pair at around 3.20am, Mr Monlun can be seen to deteriorate, dropping a phone and being unsteady on his feet.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by Mr Monlun's mother Irene, she said much of her son's life had been a mystery to her.

Describing him as a "loveable joker" and a good son, she said, "David, as every human being, had his imperfections".

The inquest will delve into a number of matters, including telephone conversations about the nature of Mr Monlun's death.

It will also look into the circumstances in which an associate of Mr Monlun and Ms Manning - a Dr Christoph Lenzer - attended Mr Monlun's apartment during the evening he died and was later seen by police at Ms Manning's home.

The inquest before Deputy State Coroner Sharon Freund was adjourned to July next year.

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