News brief

Austrian liberal party quits coalition talks. The small, liberal Neos party unexpectedly quit coalition talks on forming a new Austrian government on Jan. 3, throwing into disarray negotiations that had sidelined the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) even though it won September’s national election. The liberal party’s leader, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, said the talks with the conservative People’s Party (OVP) and the Social Democrats (SPO) had not made enough progress to be worth pursuing. The shock move raises serious doubts about forming the next government, and buoyed the eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO.