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TEL AVIV, Israel — A commercial flight traveling from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Tel Aviv was forced to make an emergency landing after issuing an emergency alert onboard. Both the pilot and co-pilot have been hospitalized although what exactly happened is unclear. The flydubai plane made an emergency landing at Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, near the Jordanian border.

In a video posted on social media, the assistant director of the FBI's cyber division, Brett Leatherman, vowed yesterday to hunt down the members of a cybercriminal group going by the name of ShinyHunters, the same group that last week claimed to steal reams of sensitive data from the FBI itself.

Good morning. You're reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day. The last U.S. forces have left Iraq, more than two decades after the U.S.-led invasion that overthrew Saddam Hussein. Iraq has declared today "Sovereignty Day." The withdrawal comes as attacks linked to the U.S.-Iran war raise new questions about Iraq's ability to defend itself without U.S. air defenses.

The U.S. is in the midst of the worst measles resurgence in decades. Recent outbreaks in several states and exposures in places like bars, sports stadiums and on public transit have some people questioning the safety of travel or how they should prepare for upcoming plans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists over 3,600 confirmed measles cases in the U.S. as of Sept. 24 — and two deaths as of Sept. 28. Almost all of those cases have been among unvaccinated individuals.

Updated September 30, 2026 at 6:46 AM EDT BAGHDAD — The U.S. military has withdrawn its forces from Iraq, 23 years after it invaded the country, sparking an insurgency and civil war and opening the door to Iranian influence in Iraq that it is still trying to combat. After the withdrawal of the U.S. military from the rest of Iraq in January, about 1,500 service members remained in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north. This was not the first U.S. military withdrawal from the country.

Here are the honorable mentions from the 2026 NPR Student Podcast Challenge. You can listen to our middle school and high school finalists here. Thanks again to students, teachers and educators for being a part of our annual contest! Please share your experience, send us photos and give us feedback at studentpodcastchcallenge@npr.org. And if you haven't already, check out our newsletter for the latest updates.

The woman who calls 911 says there's a diabetic teen boy in distress, but when police and paramedics arrive at the house in Mesa, Arizona she comes outside to say he's just "pretending that he's dead on the floor" because he wants attention. When those first responders go inside, they find something tragically different. Fifteen-year-old Christian Williams isn't breathing. His lips are blue and his heart has stopped.

Bethany Zulick went back to school in January to become a high school English teacher. Years ago, she taught English as a second language overseas and loved it. "It's so exciting to me to watch someone learn a new word or have that spark of understanding," said Zulick, who lives in Missoula. Zulick knew she could earn enough money as a substitute teacher to make going back to school financially viable — except for the cost of health insurance.

Since announcing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his pick for Health and Human Services secretary last year, President Trump and Kennedy have touted their dedication to "Gold Standard Scientific Research" and making federal health agencies "beacons of Transparency." But a recent report released by the agency has left some experts with substantial doubts about its researchers' methods, its claims about its findings and its authors' political intentions.

A startup whose founder has vowed to "make nuclear great again" is planning to place hundreds of reactors on federal land in Utah, according to documents reviewed by NPR. Valar Atomics is planning what it calls "Project Beehive" on over 9,000 acres of land held under the Bureau of Land Management near Price, Utah.