Austria to close down mosques funded by foreign countries

Austria has said it will close down seven mosques and expel imams who it says are funded by foreign countries.

The country’s coalition government, formed of conservative and far-right figures, said the measures were “just the beginning” of a push against radical Islam and foreign funding of religious groups.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said authorities would shut what was described as a “hardline, Turkish nationalist mosque” in Vienna and also dissolve a group called the Arab Religious Community.