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First Image of an Alert Malala Yousafzai Lights Up Social Networks

Last Updated, 9:15 p.m. As The Times reports, the Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot in the head by the Taliban, to silence her calls for girls' education, continues to show signs of recovery at the British hospital where she is being treated.

In an extensive text update on her condition posted online, doctors at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham said that the gravely wounded teenager, Malala Yousafzai, was able to stand with assistance and communicate by writing. The hospital also released the first photograph of the young activist with her eyes open since she was shot on Oct. 9.

The image rapidly spread across social networks, electrifying supporters of the young woman who cheered the news that, as one Brazilian journalist observed, “Taliban , you lost.”

In the update on her condition, under the heading, “Next Steps in Care,” the hospital explained that Malala “Needs time to recover and recuperate,” adding:

- She is still very ill

- We need to get her strong enough to do reconstructive surgery

- The skull bone will need to be replaced either with her own bone or with a titanium plate

- Surgery weeks to months down the line

- This is a fluid situation and she sustained a very, very grave injury. She's not out of the woods yet, but we are hopeful she will make a good recovery.

Since the shooting, Malala's plight has generated worldwide interest in the news media, as well as among public officials and complete strangers offering to help her. The British hospital also created a page where people can send messages to Malala or contribute donations to support her recovery.

Follow Chri stine Hauser on Twitter @christineNYT.

Robert Mackey also remixes the news on Twitter @robertmackey.



Dallas Mourns Big Tex on Social Media

A photo montage tribute to Big Tex set to music and uploaded onto YouTube on Friday.

For 60 years, Big Tex has towered over the annual State Fair of Texas, wearing his signature cowboy shirt and always a 75-gallon hat. The 52-foot-tall cowboy statue is such an icon in Dallas that when it was destroyed by a fast-moving electrical fire that began in its size-70 boots on Friday, as my colleague Manny Fernandez reports, the people of the city turned to social media to share and to mourn. The mayor vowed to rebuild.

No one was injured in the blaze, which can be seen in cellphone video.

Short cellphone video showing Big Tex on fire

The news prompted Mayor Mike Rawlings of Dallas to head to the scene, where he vowed that Big Tex would stand again.

Big Tex was even had his own Facebook page, wh ich attracted hundreds of comments.

“RIP…..Rebuild In Pride that's what Big Tex represents to Texans. Love you, Big Tex. ♥,” wrote Suzy Hagar on Facebook.

The Dallas Morning News set up a page for people to leave comments. The newspaper also pointed readers to an article about Big Tex recently turning 60 and pulled together photos of him over the years.

Big Tex charmed visitors with his voice as well as his size. He could talk, as seen here in a YouTube video uploaded in 2007.

Big Tex greets visitors in this video uploaded onto YouTube in 2007

Some people expressed regret on Twi tter for not getting their photo next to Big Tex this year. Others voiced their relief and shared their recent photos with the big, tall guy.



Newswallah: Bharat Edition

Jammu and Kashmir: Militants on Friday attacked an army convoy near a hotel on the outskirts of Srinagar, according to a report in The Hindu crediting PTI. A hotel staff member was killed and two other people were hurt; security forces were unharmed, the police said.

Assam: The state government on Wednesday established a crisis response number, 108, that can be dialed for help with emergencies of all kinds, Firstpost reported. The call center is connected to 655 police and fire stations, and 4,355 personnel have been trained to respond, state officials said.

West Bengal: As Durga Puja festivities begin, the state government has pushed back the closing time for bars, pubs and nightclubs in the state capital of Kolkata from midnight to 1 a.m., The Indian Express reported.  But any establishment that wants to stay open for the extra hour will have to pay a daily fee of 10,000 rupees, or $186.

Bihar: A 17-year-old-boy whose elope ment with a girl led inadvertently to violent unrest in his town was sent to a detention home by a local court on Friday, Outlook reported.  The boy had been missing for weeks and presumed dead when protests broke out in his town, Madhubani,   after the police refused to hand over a beheaded body that the family believed was his.  The young couple was found in New Delhi.

Rajasthan: A system to ensure that cash directly reaches the beneficiaries of social security programs is to be launched in the state on Saturday, according to a report  in The Times of India credited to  PTI. The so-called Aadhar program, under which each person is assigned an identification number, is meant to curb corruption in the welfare distribution system.

Gujarat: A Bharatiya Janata Party television channel,  NaMo TV, apparently named after Chief Minister Narendra Modi, is back on the air after being cleared by the Election Commission, The Indian Express reported. The channel was s hut down the day after it was inaugurated on Oct. 4, soon after the announcement of the state assembly election schedule.

Tamil Nadu: Responding to a dengue outbreak in parts of the state, the administration in Tiruvannamalai  district has instructed village councils and municipalities to carry out mass cleaning campaigns to wipe out breeding sites for mosquitoes, The New Indian Express reports.



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