THAILAND

Nation enhances screening of flights

Thailand's Civil Aviation Authority announced that it would implement comprehensive screening for all flights arriving from India's West Bengal, a high-risk region for Nipah virus, starting from 00:00 on Monday to prevent the virus from entering the country. In a statement released on Sunday, the authority said the screening measures would be adjusted dynamically based on the evolving situation. Key protocols currently in place involve airlines conducting preliminary health checks at the point of departure. Passengers who exhibit symptoms that call for further testing are required to present relevant medical certificates before boarding and must adhere to public health guidelines. According to the WHO and other health bodies, the Nipah virus primarily targets the lungs and brain. Symptoms include fever, headache, drowsiness, confusion, and coma, with a mortality rate exceeding 40 percent among infected patients.

INDONESIA

Death toll from landslide rises to 17

The death toll from a landslide that hit Indonesia's West �6�9Java Province over the weekend rose to 17 on Monday, the country's disaster mitigation agency said, with dozens still missing. The landslide that hit a residential area in the Bandung Barat region early on Saturday was triggered by heavy rains starting the day before, which the weather agency warned could continue in the province and several other regions for another week. The impacted Pasir Langu village is located in a hilly area of the province about 100 kilometers southeast of Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. More than 30 houses were buried by the landslide. At least 17 people have died, agency spokesman Abdul Muhari told Reuters on Monday.

EUROPE

EU opens probe into Musk's Grok

The EU on Monday hit Elon Musk's X with an investigation over AI chatbot Grok's generation of sexualized deepfake images of women and minors, in the latest step of an international backlash against the tool. Grok faces an outcry after it emerged that users could sexualize images of women and children using simple text prompts. EU tech commissioner Henna Virkkunen said the probe would "determine whether X has met its legal obligations" under the bloc's Digital Services Act, which is designed to police internet giants. She said the rights of women and children in the EU should not be "collateral damage" of X's services.