World
Austria PM quits; envoy succeeds

VIENNA: Austria's top diplomat Alexander Schallenberg on Sunday said an 'enormously challenging task' awaited him after embattled Chancellor Sebastian Kurz named him his successor in a spectacular leadership change in the EU member. Kurz — at age 35, one of Europe's youngest leaders and long celebrated as a 'whizz kid' — announced late Saturday that he was stepping down as chancellor, bowing to pressure to resign after he was implicated in a corruption scandal. Saying he wanted to 'make space to prevent chaos,' the conservative — who has headed two governments over the last four years — has suggested Foreign Minister Schallenberg to take over the chancellery.