Briefly

UNITED STATES

House speaker race in chaos after Scalise quits

Republican Steve Scalise ended his bid to become House speaker on Thursday after hard-line holdouts refused to back the party's nominee, throwing the GOP majority into deeper chaos and leaving the chamber still unable to function. Scalise told colleagues in a closed-door meeting of his decision and pointedly declined to announce backing for anyone else, including his chief rival Jim Jordan, the far-right Judiciary Committee chairman backed by former president Donald Trump who had already told colleagues he would no longer seek the job.

GERMANY

Economic contraction spurs recession fears

Germany's government has predicted that its economy will contract by 0.4 percent this year due to persistent inflation, increasing energy prices and weakened international trade. Weakness in the industrial sector and high interest rates have introduced concern about recession in the eurozone's largest economy. Both the International Monetary Fund and a consortium of top German think tanks recently predicted a downturn in the German economy, with projected contractions of 0.5 percent and 0.6 percent respectively.

Agencies - China Daily