Latest news with #TechnicalUniversity
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Bomb threat at Vienna university leads to large police operation
Vienna police deployed in force on Thursday in response to a bomb threat in the foyer of building of the Austrian capital's Technical University, just days after the country was shaken by a deadly school shooting. An unidentified man opened the door of the building's foyer, threw a parcel inside and said: "Soon it will go bang," a police spokeswoman said. A university security guard informed the police in response. The spokeswoman said police were evacuating the building, and the area was cordoned off. Bomb disposal experts were due to check the parcel once all the students had been taken to safety, she said. There were thought to be hundreds in the building as students are currently sitting exams. The police operation impacted public transport and traffic in central Vienna. Austrian police have received a series of threats following a mass school shooting in the country's second city, Graz, on Tuesday.
GMA Network
2 days ago
- GMA Network
Austrian police describe shooter as introvert who avoided outside world
People light candles in honor of the victims of a deadly shooting at a secondary school, at the main square in Graz, Austria, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/ Leonhard Foeger GRAZ, Austria — Austrian police on Thursday described the 21-year-old man who carried out Austria's worst school shooting as an introvert who had largely withdrawn from the outside world before he carefully planned the attack. The Austrian identified by local media as Arthur A. killed 10 people on Tuesday before shooting himself at his former high school in the southern city of Graz, sending shockwaves through Austria, which declared three days of national mourning. Police found discarded plans for a bomb attack and a non-functional pipe bomb during a search of the man's home after the shooting in Graz, capital of the state of Styria. What motivated the shooting remains unclear, though police said it had been planned down to the last detail. When addressing a potential motive, Michael Lohnegger, head of Styria's criminal investigation office, said findings indicated that the man was very introverted and that his "great passion" was online first-person shooting games. "He led an extremely withdrawn life; he didn't want to take part in activities in normal life outside in the real world, he preferred to withdraw into the virtual space," Lohnegger told a press conference. Lohnegger said the man's closest friend had been questioned and that the shooter had social contacts with fellow online gamers. Police are checking whether he had assistance from other people in the run-up to the crime. Police said the rampage at the school lasted about seven minutes and that the man shot himself in the head in a toilet about 10 minutes after beginning the attack. A few minutes earlier, the man entered the school with a rucksack, then went into a bathroom to prepare for his assault. He put on a weapon belt with a hunting knife, donned shooting glasses and a headset and armed himself with a Glock pistol and sawn-off shotgun, police said. The man opened fire at random on people on the second and third floors of the school, shooting off the locks to the doors in one of the classrooms he attacked, according to Lohnegger. Most of the victims were apparently unknown to the shooter, but he did know one of the teachers who died. It was unclear if that fact played a role in her death, police said. Eleven people were also injured in the attack and the last four in intensive care are no longer intubated and can be transferred to regular treatment. Police are alert to potential copycat attacks and on Thursday a man caused alarm at Vienna's Technical University by throwing a package into the entrance area and shouting it was going to explode. No threat was identified. Psychological evaluation The school shooter acquired his guns legally in April and May after passing a psychological evaluation required to obtain the necessary permit, and had practiced shooting at a gun club since March. Authorities said the man failed to graduate at the school and Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung reported that after dropping out, he attempted to join the army but was deemed psychologically unsuitable due to his introversion. Local media reported the man, who lived with his mother on the outskirts of Graz, felt bullied at the school and wanted revenge. "There's no evidence from his private life that he ever expressed any anger or displeasure towards the school, pupils or teaching staff," Lohnegger said. Neighbours and officials in the commuter town of Kalsdorf bei Graz, where he lived, described a withdrawn, slight man who usually wore a cap and headphones. Of over a dozen local residents spoken to about the shooter by Reuters, few wanted to talk at all. Some said they had seen him, but none said they knew him. The man left behind a farewell note and video in which he apologized to his family for his actions and thanked them, but they gave no indication of his motives, police said. Questions about the bullying allegations at the Dreierschuetzengasse school the man attended were put to its deputy head, Norbert Urabl, on national broadcaster ORF. "Bullying is a very delicate topic. Bullying occurs on so many levels that it's very difficult to pinpoint the term bullying in this case," he said. "But the fact is that, if bullying can be triggered, then more sensitivity is urgently needed to recognize bullying processes earlier." — Reuters
Al Etihad
2 days ago
- Al Etihad
Bomb threat at Vienna university leads to large police operation
12 June 2025 18:43 VIENNA (dpa)Vienna police deployed in force on Thursday in response to a bomb threat in the foyer of the building of the Austrian capital's Technical University, just days after the country was shaken by a deadly school unidentified man opened the door of the building's foyer, threw a parcel inside and said, "Soon it will go bang," a police spokeswoman said.A university security guard informed the police in response. The spokeswoman was evacuating the building, and the area was cordoned off, she disposal experts were due to check the parcel once all the students had been taken to safety, she said. It was thought that there were hundreds in the building, as students are currently taking police operation impacted public transport and traffic in central Vienna. Austrian police have received a series of threats following a mass school shooting in the country's second city, Graz, on Tuesday.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
OpenAI's Altman warns EU regulation may hold Europe back
OpenAI chief Sam Altman on Friday suggested European regulation could hold back the development of artificial intelligence (AI), while promising the US company would abide by new EU legislation. At a panel discussion on AI at Berlin's Technical University, Altman was asked directly about the EU's "AI Act", considered the most comprehensive regulatory framework for the emerging technology in the world. "We will comply with the law and respect the wishes of the European people", Altman said. "There are benefits to different regulatory regimes," the Open AI chief said, but added that "there are going to be economic impacts that will become societal impacts". "We want to be able to deploy our products in Europe as quickly as we do in the rest of the world", Altman said. It was "in Europe's interest to be able to adopt AI and not be behind the rest of the world". The EU AI Act was passed in March 2024. This week regulators gave guidance as to what types of AI tools will be outlawed as too dangerous. They include tools that scrape online images to create facial recognition databases or allow police to evaluate criminal risk based solely on biometric data. The United States is taking steps to loosen AI regulation. President Donald Trump last month rescinded an order from his predecessor Joe Biden establishing oversight measures for companies developing AI models. On Thursday, OpenAI announced it would allow some European customers to store and process data from conversations with its chatbots within the European Union in order to help "organisations operating in Europe meet local data sovereignty requirements". Altman said he was bullish about the pace of development of AI, despite some experts saying the chances of developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) that surpasses all human capabilities are being exaggerated. "I think you should all be very sceptical when people start saying this is about to run out... or we're going to hit this limit," Altman told the event. "I think we'll get to something in the next couple of years that many people will look at and say: 'I really didn't think computer was going to do that.'" Next week, Altman will be one of the high-profile guests at an AI summit in Paris billed by France as a "wake-up call" for Europe. OpenAI raised public awareness of AI generative models in 2022 with the launch of ChatGPT. It is to open its first office in Germany in Munich later this year. jsk/sea/tw
