School shooting in Austrian city of Graz leaves at least 9 people, suspected gunman dead
Graz (Austria) (AP): A former student opened fire at a school in Austria's second-biggest city on Tuesday, killing nine people and wounding at least 12 others before taking his own life, authorities said.
There was no immediate information on the motive of the 21-year-old man, who wasn't previously known to police. He had two weapons, which he appeared to have owned legally, police said.
Special forces were among those sent to the BORG Dreierschutzengasse high school, about a kilometre from Graz's historic centre, after a call at 10 a.m.
At 11.30 a.m., police wrote on social network X that the school had been evacuated and everyone had been taken to a safe meeting point.
Police said they didn't immediately have information on the man's motive, but said that he killed himself in a toilet after fatally shooting nine people.
The shooter was a former student at the school who didn't finish his studies, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said at a press conference in Graz.
Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said there would be three days of national mourning, with the Austrian flag lowered to half-staff and a national minute of mourning at 10 a.m. Wednesday. He said that it was “a dark day in the history of our country”.
Photos from the scene showed a large police deployment, including at least one helicopter and emergency vehicles around the school.
President Alexander Van der Bellen said that “this horror cannot be captured in words”.
“These were young people who had their whole lives ahead of them. A teacher who accompanied them on their way,” he said.
“Schools are symbols for youth, hope and the future,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X. “It is hard to bear when schools become places of death and violence.”
Graz, Austria's second-biggest city, is located in the southeast of the country and has about 300,000 inhabitants.
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US spies said Iran wasn't building nuclear weapon. Trump dismisses that assessment
Washington, Jun 17 (AP): Tulsi Gabbard left no doubt when she testified to Congress about Iran's nuclear programme earlier this year.
The country was not building a nuclear weapon, the national intelligence director told lawmakers, and its supreme leader had not reauthorised the dormant programme.
But President Donald Trump dismissed the assessment of US spy agencies during an overnight flight back to Washington as he cut short his trip to the Group of Seven (G7) summit to focus on the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.
“I don't care what she said,” Trump told reporters. In his view, Iran was “very close” to having a nuclear bomb.
Trump's statement aligned him with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has described a nuclear-armed Iran as an imminent threat, rather than with his own top intelligence adviser.
The Republican president was expected to meet with national security officials in the Situation Room on Tuesday as he plans next steps.
Trump's contradiction of Gabbard echoed his feuds with US spy leaders during his first term, when he viewed them as part of a “deep state” that was undermining his agenda. Most notably, he sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018 when asked if Moscow had interfered in the 2016 election, saying Putin was “extremely strong and powerful in his denial.”
The latest break over Iran was striking because Trump has staffed his second administration with loyalists rather than establishment figures. Gabbard, a military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, was narrowly confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate because of her scant experience with intelligence or managing sprawling organisations.
Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party in 2022 and endorsed Trump, is expected to testify Tuesday in a closed session on Capitol Hill, along with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, during a previously scheduled budget hearing. Both officials would likely face questions about their views on Iran and Trump's latest statements.
Representatives for Gabbard and the CIA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Gabbard, in her March testimony to lawmakers, said the intelligence community was closely monitoring Iran's nuclear programme, noting that its “enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons.”
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned that Iran has enough enriched uranium to make several nuclear bombs should it choose to do so.
Iran maintains its nuclear programme is peaceful.
An earlier intelligence report, released in November under then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat, also said Iran “is not building a nuclear weapon.”
However, it said the country has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce one, if it so chooses,” such as increasing stockpiles of enriched uranium and operating more advanced centrifuges.
The report did not include any estimates for a timeline for how quickly a bomb could be built.
Trump's immigration agenda is another place where he's split with intelligence assessments. He cited the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime law, to deport Venezuelan migrants, which he justified by claiming that the Tren de Aragua gang was coordinating with the Venezuelan government. However, an intelligence assessment in April found no evidence of that.
Gabbard fired the two veteran intelligence officers who led the panel that created the assessment, saying they were terminated because of their opposition to Trump.
In response to those reports, the White House released a statement from Gabbard supporting the president.
“President Trump took necessary and historic action to safeguard our nation when he deported these violent Tren de Aragua terrorists,” the statement said. “Now that America is safer without these terrorists in our cities, deep state actors have resorted to using their propaganda arm to attack the President's successful policies.”
