Germany's economy shrunk for a second consecutive year in 2024, continuing its struggle with internal and external challenges.

Friedrich Merz, the chancellor candidate for the conservative Christian Democratic Union acknowledged the need for a “major effort” to revive the economy as his party pledges to return German growth to 2 percent over the next five years through changes to the welfare and tax systems.

Germany's statistics office says the country's economy shrank by 0.2% in 2024 in second consecutive year of decline

Germany has not found any further cases of foot-and-mouth disease, agriculture minister Cem Oezdemir said on Wednesday, adding that experts were working day and night to establish the source of the country's first outbreak of the disease in decades.

Germany’s meat exports, mainly pork, have been concentrated on the EU after many countries banned imports after the disease swine fever was discovered in 2020. Germany said on Tuesday it had found no new foot-and-mouth cases following intensive testing around the area around the first case.

German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir on Wednesday said authorities are devoting their "full attention" to containing the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in north-eastern Germany. "It is important that we are now devoting our full attention to ensuring that there are no further outbreaks,

The FBI has also revised the number of people injured in terrorist Shadsud-Din Jabbar’s attack, increasing the number to from 37 to 57.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the driver behind the Bourbon Street attack on New Year’s, researched New Orleans and the deadly Christmas market attack in Germany in the hours and weeks before the attack, the FBI said in an update Tuesday.