safety

A judge is poised to decide whether a lawsuit filed over the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 can continue. Lawyers for gun manufacturer Remington Arms are seeking a dismissal, saying the company is protected from such suits by federal law.

Despite gains in car safety, 2015 saw the largest percentage rise in motor vehicle deaths in the past 50 years, according to the National Safety Council. Cheaper gas and a stronger economy were likely key factors in the rise, the nonprofit group says.

After an airplane passenger set off a bomb last week, the pilot managed to land the plane safely in Mogadishu, Somalia. Now CCTV footage released by the Somali government indicates airport workers may have been in on the attack.

The only casualty of the attack was the bomber, who apparently was sucked out of the hole in the side of the plane.

NPR's Gregory Warner tells our Newscast unit that the bomber was originally scheduled to fly on a Turkish Airlines flight. Here's more from Gregory:

Seventeen miners at a salt mine in western New York were freed early this morning after they were trapped hundreds of feet underground when the elevator they were in stopped working late Wednesday night.

A hotel in downtown Dubai erupted in flames on Thursday evening, just two hours before the city was due to celebrate New Year's Eve with a massive fireworks display.

At midnight local time, the celebration proceeded as planned — resulting in a jarring double display of light and smoke, as firefighters continued to battle the blaze at one skyscraper while fireworks were sent off from the nearby Burj Khalifa.

A series of house raids in Belgium have put six people in custody who are suspected of being involved with a plot to carry out a terrorist attack during New Year's Eve celebrations in Brussels.

The development comes days after police in Brussels arrested two people who were suspected of planning the New Year's Eve attack; despite those arrests, the city has canceled plans for its annual fireworks show.

Los Angeles public schools will reopen on Wednesday after an emailed threat caused officials to cancel classes on Tuesday.

Authorities haven't given details of the threat but school Superintendent Ramon Cortines said the text referred to "backpacks, talked about other packages."

School Board President Steve Zimmer said at a news conference Tuesday evening that teams from numerous law enforcement agencies had searched 1,531 school properties and decided that it is safe to reopen. Mayor Eric Garcetti said the FBI has determined the threat is not credible.

President Obama used a rare Oval Office address Sunday evening to speak to a worried nation about the evolving threat of terrorism and the growing influence of the Islamic State.

One of the biggest messages the president tried to communicate to the American people was that a fear of terrorist attacks must not translate into a fear of all Muslims and spark unnecessary targeting. But judging by the immediate response after the speech, Obama did little to bridge the partisan divide.

In a prime-time speech from the Oval Office Sunday night, Obama said that the United States would defeat the threat of terrorism — without compromising American values.

Obama began his third Oval Office address by remembering the 14 Americans who died in Wednesday's attack in San Bernardino, California.

Inevitably, as news breaks of yet another international or domestic event — an explosion in Texas, a train derailment outside Philadelphia, a Molotov cocktail thrown into a nightclub in Egypt, a shooting in Colorado or California — there's one question never far from Americans' lips: "Is it terrorism?"

Even many who don't want to generalize wonder, "What do we know about the shooter — was he or she Muslim?"

Speaking one day after at least 14 people died in a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., President Obama said the investigation into the attack is now in the hands of the FBI — and warned that it may take some time to find answers.

Obama began his remarks from the Oval Office by noting that at this stage in the investigation, the two shooters' motivations are not known.

Cameroon's military says it has killed more than 100 members of Boko Haram and freed more than 900 people who had been held hostage by the militant Islamists.

The news, which is difficult to independently verify, came in a statement from Cameroon's defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo.

"The statement says during the sweep last week, from Nov. 26 to 28, Cameroonian troops also ... recovered a large stock of weaponry and black and white Islamic State flags," NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton tells our Newscast unit. "Few details were forthcoming about those reportedly freed."

Four days after security levels were raised over a possible terrorist attack, the Belgian capital remains on high alert — but schools, businesses and subway stations are reopening to the public.

Police and soldiers were standing guard as life in Brussels returns to something like normal, reports NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton: