Nelson Mandela improving steadily

Anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela is "steadily improving", South Africa's government said on Thursday as the former president celebrated his 95th birthday in hospital showered by tributes from around the world, says Reuters AlertNet (blog).

He was elected South Africa's first black president in 1994 when the country's first multiracial elections put an end to the apartheid system. Four years earlier, he was released from 27 years spent in prison under white minority rule, according to The Star Online.

The United Nations declared the Nobel Peace laureate's birthday Mandela Day in 2010, but for many this year it takes on extra poignancy, informs Channel News Asia.