Oct. 19 Photo Brief: Explosive violence, baby pandas, wonderland fashion and pierced vegetarian faces

23 photos

A deadly car bomb kills at least two and wounds 15 in Lebanon, devotees pierce their cheeks during the annual vegetarian festival in China, imaginative fashion at the “Alice In Wonderland In Me” show in Japan and more in today’s daily brief.

Pakistani girl shot by Taliban “doing well”
Reuters
10:12 a.m. EDT, October 19, 2012

LONDON (Reuters) – A Pakistani girl shot in the head by Taliban gunmen is “not out of the woods” but is doing well and has been able to stand for the first time, doctors at the British hospital treating her said on Friday.

Malala Yousufzai, who was shot for vocally opposing the Taliban, was flown from Pakistan to Birmingham to receive treatment after the attack earlier this month, which drew widespread international condemnation.

She has become a symbol of resistance to the Islamist group’s effort to deny women education and other rights.

Dave Rosser, medical director of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, said she was now able to write and appeared to have memory recall despite her brain injuries.

“It’s clear that she’s not out of the woods yet,” Rosser told reporters, saying she had sustained a “very, very grave injury”. But he said she was “doing very well”.

Read More.