Doctors in England who are treating 14-year-old Pakistani girl Malala Yousufazai says she is fully awake and is able to stand up and write, showing more encouraging signs of a full recovery. Hospital officials report that she knows where she is now and is also aware of how much interest people have taken in her story. The hospital medical director says he sees "no reason to believe" that she won't recover quickly.

While she still can't talk (she needed a tracheotomy to open her airway) and doctors say there may be some physical damage to the brain, she has "no deficit in terms of function." Doctors will evnetually have to reconstruct part of her skull, possibly with a titanium plate. The path of the bullet appears to have caused an infection, which is slowing her recovery somewhat. It struck her above the left eyebrow and traveled down into her neck, grazing her brain, but just missing her spinal column. 

The hospital where she is being treated, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, has set up a webpage for status updates on her condition. Visitors can also leave messages of support online as well.

Back in Pakistan, police there say they have identified the man they believe shot Malala and two other girls while on their way to school on October 9, but they are still searching for him and another accomplice. He goes by the name Attaullah and is member of the Pakistani Taliban.

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Dashiell Bennett