Daily World News: 1 October 2026

Here are five of the biggest world stories from Thursday 1 October 2026. Each headline links to its original reporting.

1. Co-pilot attacks captain and tries to crash Tel Aviv-bound FlyDubai jet

FlyDubai flight FZ1073, a Boeing 737 Max 8 flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv with about 180 passengers, made an emergency landing at Tabuk in Saudi Arabia after one of its pilots attacked the other in the cockpit. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "one of the pilots stabbed the other pilot and apparently attempted to crash the plane with everyone on board". BBC News said flight-tracking data showed the aircraft dropping more than 17,000 feet in two minutes. Passengers and off-duty crew forced their way in, overpowered the attacker and landed the plane safely.

FlyDubai said only that "an altercation occurred in the flight deck" and that all passengers and crew were safe. It sent two replacement aircraft to Tabuk, and the passengers reached Tel Aviv that evening. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz called the incident "an attempted jihadist terror attack". On 1 October, President Donald Trump told reporters that Iran may be linked to the co-pilot and warned that "they'll be hit, very hard" if it was. He gave no details.

The incident matters because it comes at a time of open conflict between the US, Israel and Iran. It also raises hard questions about cockpit security and screening for flight crews.

2. US-led coalition formally ends its anti-IS mission in Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi declared the end of the US-led coalition's mission against the Islamic State group at a "Sovereignty Day" ceremony in Baghdad. The mission, Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, ran for 12 years. According to The National, the final phase ended when coalition forces left the Kurdistan region. US forces had already left bases in Baghdad and western Iraq in September 2025. "The end of the international coalition's mission does not mean the end of our battle with terrorism," al-Zaidi said.

Washington and Baghdad agreed in 2024 to wind the mission down. The coalition deployed in 2014, after IS seized large parts of Iraq and Syria. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell described the change as a move to "a more normal bilateral security relationship". Training and intelligence sharing will continue under bilateral deals.

Iran-backed factions celebrated the withdrawal, and some threatened any foreign forces that remain. Al-Zaidi has promised "no weapons outside the umbrella of the law". His government had set Thursday as a deadline for the factions to disarm, but it later called the date the start of "regulating" them. How that plays out will test Iraq's stability.

3. US orders Iran's UN delegation out as ceasefire talks stall

US officials said Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his UN General Assembly delegation to leave New York after indirect talks on ending the war stalled. "Secretary Rubio kicked out the Iranian delegation who had overstayed their welcome," one US official told Axios. The delegation left on a 1:20 a.m. flight to Doha. Iran's UN mission denied being expelled. It said the departure followed a schedule it had given the State Department on 17 September.

Qatar has been carrying messages between Araghchi and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The talks concern a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear negotiations, and Trump had rejected an earlier version. On Wednesday Iran said it had received Washington's response, but it gave no details.

The war between the US, Israel and Iran has now passed seven months. This unusual diplomatic rebuke shows how deep the distrust runs. It also shows how little room is left for a deal while the Strait of Hormuz stays closed, which hurts global energy markets.

4. Fires and nearly 2,000 arrests as French school protests spread

Protests by high-school students over teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and run-down buildings turned violent across France, and university students joined in on Thursday. Fires broke out at two lycées in Nantes, including the Nelson Mandela high school, and at a school entrance in Rouen. In Marseille, staff at Victor Hugo high school were splashed with petrol. The interior ministry said 1,949 people were arrested on Thursday and 305 police officers were injured.

The ministry said 1,027 lycées have been affected, 222 of them blockaded, and at least 30 universities have reportedly been blockaded too. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu held a crisis meeting, after which the government described the unrest as "urban violence". Euronews reported that incidents had also spread to Liège in Belgium.

The protests have become a political fight ahead of next year's presidential election. National Rally leader Marine Le Pen blamed "riots organized by professionals" and called for a new anti-rioting law. France Insoumise leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said he backs non-violent protest, and he argued that blaming the left would not fix the problems driving the demonstrations.

5. Burnham opens door to UK rejoining the EU, and Macron says "welcome back"

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Britain could "go all the way" and rejoin the European Union. He told his Labour conference in Liverpool that Brexit had done "more harm than good". He listed four options: keep the current arrangements, seek a customs union, return to the single market, or become a full member again. He promised to set out the choices around the UK-EU summit in November.

French President Emmanuel Macron replied "welcome back", and Spain's Pedro Sánchez said the UK would be welcomed "with open arms". The EU said it would wait for concrete British proposals. Reuters noted that Burnham has not committed to a specific option or to a referendum.

This is a sharp shift from Labour's 2024 manifesto, which ruled out rejoining the single market or a customs union. It reopens Britain's most divisive political question of the past decade.