Air India said on Monday it had grounded a Boeing Dreamliner after one of its pilots reported a possible defect with the aircraft’s fuel control switch, which is at the centre of an ongoing probe into a deadly air crash last year.

The airline did not specify the nature of the defect or provide details of the flight. But two sources said the pilot had reported the defect after the plane landed in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru after taking off from London.

Air India said on Monday it had grounded one of its Boeing Dreamliners after one of its pilots reported an issue with the fuel control switch, which is at the centre of an ongoing probe into a deadly air crash last year.

“We have grounded said aircraft and are involving the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) to get the pilot’s concerns checked on a priority basis,” the airline said, adding that the matter has been communicated to India’s aviation regulator.

Boeing and India’s civil aviation ministry, which houses the aviation regulator, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The Tata Group and Singapore Airlines-owned carrier has faced intense scrutiny since a Dreamliner crash in June last year killed 260 people.

Air India said on Monday it had checked the fuel control switches on all Boeing 787 aircraft in its fleet after a directive from the regulator last year, and had found no issues.

A cockpit recording of dialogue between the two pilots of the June 12 Air India flight suggested that the captain cut the flow of fuel to the plane’s engines, a source briefed on US officials’ early assessment of evidence told Reuters last year.

A wild bull elephant killed a tourist in central Thailand’s Khao Yai National Park on Monday, a park official said, the third fatality linked to the same animal.

The 65-year-old Thai tourist from Lopburi province was out for a morning walk with his wife when he was trampled to death by an elephant named Oyewan, national park chief Chaiya Huayhongthong told AFP.

His wife managed to escape after park rangers scared the animal away, Chaiya said.

“He was the third person killed by Oyewan,” he said, adding that the wild bull elephant could have been responsible for several more deaths that remain unsolved.

Chaiya said authorities will meet on Friday to decide what to do with the elephant.

“We will probably decide to relocate him or change his behaviour,” he said, without elaborating.

More than 220 people, including tourists, have been killed by wild elephants since 2012, according to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

Wild elephant numbers in Thailand rose from 334 in 2015 to almost 800 last year, prompting authorities to administer contraceptive vaccines to female animals in an effort to control their ballooning population.

An elephant killed a Spanish tourist while she was bathing the animal at a sanctuary in southern Thailand in January last year.

Another tourist was killed by an elephant at a national park in Loei province in northern Thailand in December 2024.

• Iran prepares framework for nuclear negotiations in days.
• Regional players relay messages between sides for talks.
• Tehran rejects ultimatums, seeks sanctions lifting in deal.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has ordered the start of nuclear talks with the United States, local media said Monday, after US leader Donald Trump said he was hopeful of a deal to avert military action against the Islamic republic.

Following the Iranian authorities’ response to anti-government protests that peaked last month, Trump has threatened military action and ordered the dispatch of an aircraft carrier group to the Middle East.

While piling pressure on Iran, Trump has maintained he is hopeful of making a deal and Tehran has also insisted it wants diplomacy while vowing an unbridled response to any aggression.

“President Pezeshkian has ordered the opening of talks with the United States,” the news agency Fars reported on Monday, citing an unnamed government source.

“Iran and the United States will hold talks on the nuclear file,” Fars said, without specifying a date. The report was also carried by the government newspaper Iran and the reformist daily Shargh.

Iran said earlier Monday it was working on a method and framework for negotiations that would be ready in the coming days, with messages between the two sides relayed through regional players.

“Several points have been addressed and we are examining and finalising the details of each stage in the diplomatic process, which we hope to conclude in the coming days,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, without giving details on the content of any negotiations.

Trump had warned “time is running out” for Iran to reach a deal on its nuclear programme, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb.

But Baqaei said Tehran “never accepts ultimatums” and that he could not confirm any such message was received.

Regional players have pushed for diplomacy to defuse tensions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Turkey last week and held further calls with his Egyptian, Saudi and Turkish counterparts, he said on Telegram.

“President Trump said no nuclear weapons, and we fully agree. We fully agree with that. That could be a very good deal,” Araghchi told CNN on Sunday.

“Of course, in return, we expect sanctions lifting. So, that deal is possible. Let’s do not talk about impossible things.”

Baqaei said the rallying of neighbouring states around a diplomatic solution demonstrated a fear any US attack would drag the region into conflict, echoing Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who warned on Sunday a US attack would trigger a “regional war”.

Ambassadors summoned

The supreme leader also likened the recent protests to a “coup” attempt.

Authorities have said the protests, which were sparked by economic strain and exploded in size and intensity over several days in early January, were “riots” inflamed by its arch foes the United States and Israel.

Tehran has acknowledged thousands of deaths during the protests, and on Sunday the presidency published the names of 2,986 people out of the 3,117 whom authorities said were killed in the unrest.

Authorities insist most were members of the security forces and innocent bystanders, attributing the violence to “terrorist acts”.

The crackdown prompted the European Union to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, with Iranian lawmakers retaliating on Sunday by slapping the same designation on European armies.

Baqaei said Monday the foreign ministry had summoned all the EU member state ambassadors in Tehran over the designation, and that other responses were to come.

Iranian state television also announced four foreigners had been arrested in Tehran for “participation in riots”, without specifying their nationalities.

Authorities have continued to announce arrests, with rights groups estimating at least 40,000 people have been detained over the protests.