Austria’s far-right Freedom Party chooses new leader

BERLIN (AP) — Austria’s far-right Freedom Party has nominated Herbert Kickl, the country’s combative former interior minister, as its new leader. The opposition party’s leadership chose Kickl for the top job on Monday and the move will need endorsement by a party congress on June 19. Kickl will be the second Freedom Party leader since the resignation in 2019 of Heinz-Christian Strache, who was then Austria’s vice chancellor. A longtime campaign mastermind of the anti-immigration Freedom Party, he was a divisive figure in government and also has been confrontational in opposition as the head of the party’s parliamentary group.