Mandela's wife thanks world for 'love, generosity'

JOHANNESBURG (AP):

In tweets, songs, telephone calls, cards and more, messages of love have come from across South Africa and the world for 94-year-old Nelson Mandela, giving the family comfort and hope as he remains hospitalised in serious condition with a lung infection, his wife said yesterday.

One of Mandela's daughters, Zenani Dlamini, gave what appeared to be the most positive update yet on his situation as she looked at well-wishers' cards hanging outside the hospital.

"He's doing very well," she told reporters, without giving any more details.

As the anti-apartheid hero spent a 10th day in the hospital, Graça Machel expressed the family's gratitude for the support "from South Africans, Africans across the continent, and thousands more from across the world ... to lighten the burden of anxiety; bringing us love, comfort and hope".

Machel already has experienced the loss of a husband. Mozambican President Samora Machel, her first husband, died in a plane crash in 1986. Machel and Mandela married in 1998, marking Mandela's third marriage and her second.