Diplomat says Malala recovery 'very satisfactory'

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Pakistani ambassador says the 15-year-old girl activist shot in the head by a Taliban gunman last month is making a steady recovery and is starting to walk, talk and read.

Jamil Ahmed Khan, Pakistan's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, made the comments Sunday after speaking with British officials and the father of Malala Yousufzai, who is being treated at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England.

Khan says she is making "very satisfactory" progress and has started "walking, taking and reading." He gave the update at a students' speech contest in Dubai in honor of Malala, a prominent advocate of girls' right to education in an area once controlled by the Pakistani Taliban.

Malala was taken to Britain in an air ambulance provided by the UAE on Oct. 15.