Malala Reported Improving, Moving Limbs

Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban for advocating women's education, is improving in a British hospital and has begun moving her limbs, a Pakistani official said Wednesday.

It’s hard to say what that might mean given that the exact nature of her brain injuries have yet to be made public, although one expert told the Associated Press the news was good.

The Pakistani official, who spoke anonymously to the Associated Press because he wasn't cleared to talk on the record, said he had been briefed by doctors at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and that Malala's condition was "definitely much better" since she arrived in England Monday. He added that the girl was moving her limbs, although he didn't elaborate.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital released a statement Wednesday saying Yousafzai was in "stable condition and continued to impress doctors by responding well to her care," but it didn't go into detail. Spokeswoman Carole Cole said there would be no further news on the case until Thursday. Yousafzai's family, which the hospital said was still in Pakistan, could not be reached for comment.

The hospital has set up a fund for charitable donations for the girl, the BBC reports.

"When she is well enough, we will ask her how she wants those donations to be spent in support of the care she is receiving," the trust's website stated.

A spokesperson from the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust said more than 600 people had sent messages of support for Yousafzai.