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Germans Need to Reduce Contacts or Tougher Restrictions Unavoidable

Nurses prepare to provide medical treatment for patients suffering from the coronavirus disease at the COVID-19 isolation ward of DRK Kliniken Berlin Mitte hospital in Berlin, Germany, November 11, 2020. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
Nurses prepare to provide medical treatment for patients suffering from the coronavirus disease at the COVID-19 isolation ward of DRK Kliniken Berlin Mitte hospital in Berlin, Germany, November 11, 2020. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
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Germans Need to Reduce Contacts or Tougher Restrictions Unavoidable

Nurses prepare to provide medical treatment for patients suffering from the coronavirus disease at the COVID-19 isolation ward of DRK Kliniken Berlin Mitte hospital in Berlin, Germany, November 11, 2020. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
Nurses prepare to provide medical treatment for patients suffering from the coronavirus disease at the COVID-19 isolation ward of DRK Kliniken Berlin Mitte hospital in Berlin, Germany, November 11, 2020. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

Germany will have no choice but to introduce tougher restrictions to curb coronavirus infections if people do not reduce contacts significantly, the head of the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases (RKI) said on Thursday.

People have so far reduced contacts by around 40% on average, but contacts will need to be cut by at least 60%, in order to bring infections down, Lother Wieler said as he urged people not to travel over the Christmas holiday period.

"If people cannot achieve this 60% reduction on their own, then other measures will have to be considered. If they do not succeed, I see no other option," he told a weekly news conference.

Europe's largest economy has been in partial lockdown for six weeks, with bars and restaurants closed but shops and schools open. That has stopped the coronavirus' exponential growth, but the second wave of COVID-19 is proving far more difficult to tame and is extracting a heavier human toll than the first one.

Germany's reported COVID-19 death toll increased by 440 to 20,372 over the past 24 hours, RKI data showed.

Confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 23,679 to 1,242,203, setting a new record daily rise. The previous record was an increase of 23,648 reported on Nov. 20.

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday threw her weight behind calls for a fuller lockdown in Germany that would include closing shops after Christmas. Vaccines alone will not have a major impact on the pandemic's course in the first quarter, she told legislators.

A vaccine of US drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech is a top contender in the global race to beat back COVID-19. Wieler said he expects the first vaccine to be approved in the European Union around the turn of the year.

Some 43% of Germans would get a COVID shot as soon as a vaccine becomes available, according to a survey of 1,002 people conducted by Forsa on behalf of RTL and ntv on Dec. 7/8. Half of participants said they would hold off for the moment, and 7% said they did not want to get a COVID shot.

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World

PM Tusk: Poland to Send Emergency Aircraft to Budapest after Coach Crash

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks during the Polish Armed Forces Day in Gdynia, northern Poland, 15 August 2026. EPA/Andrzej Jackowski POLAND OUT
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks during the Polish Armed Forces Day in Gdynia, northern Poland, 15 August 2026. EPA/Andrzej Jackowski POLAND OUT
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PM Tusk: Poland to Send Emergency Aircraft to Budapest after Coach Crash

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks during the Polish Armed Forces Day in Gdynia, northern Poland, 15 August 2026. EPA/Andrzej Jackowski POLAND OUT
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks during the Polish Armed Forces Day in Gdynia, northern Poland, 15 August 2026. EPA/Andrzej Jackowski POLAND OUT

Poland will send an emergency aircraft to Budapest following a coach crash that killed 12 people and left at least 10 critically injured, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday.

"I have made the decision to send a special Polish aircraft to Hungary with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and medical services," Tusk said on social media. "All the injured will receive the necessary medical and consular assistance," he added.

World

Democrats Disagree over Abolishing or Reforming ICE at DNC Meeting

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin speaks during a Labor Council meeting as part of the DNC Summer Meeting, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin speaks during a Labor Council meeting as part of the DNC Summer Meeting, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)
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Democrats Disagree over Abolishing or Reforming ICE at DNC Meeting

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin speaks during a Labor Council meeting as part of the DNC Summer Meeting, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin speaks during a Labor Council meeting as part of the DNC Summer Meeting, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)

Democrats on Saturday approved dueling messages on whether US Immigration and Customs Enforcement should be abolished or reformed, reflecting sharp opposition to President Donald Trump's crackdown but revealing disagreement in the party ahead of the midterms.

The Democratic National Committee, gathered for a summer meeting, also signed off on a raft of policy positions, including one that calls for “concrete reforms” of ICE and another for abolishing the agency that's been at the center of several fatal encounters.

ICE has been at the heart of a progressive rallying cry since 2018 during the first Trump administration, and has been renewed among some in the party after two recent fatal shootings by the agency in July.

Saturday’s vote isn't binding and doesn't set the party's platform, which will be determined at the 2028 convention, but it reflects the party's differing views on a major issue. Candidates and lawmakers will continue to determine their own positions on the issue.

Michele Johnson, a DNC member from Louisiana who proposed the measure to abolish ICE, said it's time for Democrats to take a stand and pointed to the dissolution of ICE's predecessor agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, as a precedent.

“I think one of the reasons why people are not trusting the party is because we sound so academic," she said. “We sound focus group tested, we sound poll tested because we’re worried about saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing and not just like, just stand on business, like take a position.”

Not every DNC member was convinced, though. Yvonne Reeves-Chong voted against the measure, saying it would only gain support from a part of the party's base, while drawing “fire” from another group of voters.

“I would strongly suggest we get to the business of winning races so we can make the policies that make a difference,” she said.

DNC Chairman Ken Martin, who's from Minnesota, where Renee Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot amid the immigration crackdown earlier this year, said in an interview that the takeaway is that Democrats find the administration’s handling of immigration, including by US Customs and Border Protection, unacceptable.

“Clearly, the one thing that unites Democrats, regardless of their position on reform versus abolish or whatever other ways to change what’s happening, is people believe that what ICE is doing right now — and CBP and the federal government — should stop,” he said. “There has to be a better way.”

Immigration remained a stronger issue for Trump than the economy or Iran, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released this month, even after three people were killed in encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the span of under a week in July.

Overall, the survey found that only 39% of US adults approve of his performance on immigration, down from 49% at the beginning of his second term.

World

Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787 Returned to Munich after Takeoff Incident

FILE PHOTO: A Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner airplane prepares for landing at Noi Bai international airport in Hanoi, Vietnam March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Kham/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner airplane prepares for landing at Noi Bai international airport in Hanoi, Vietnam March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Kham/File Photo
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Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787 Returned to Munich after Takeoff Incident

FILE PHOTO: A Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner airplane prepares for landing at Noi Bai international airport in Hanoi, Vietnam March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Kham/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner airplane prepares for landing at Noi Bai international airport in Hanoi, Vietnam March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Kham/File Photo

A Vietnam Airlines flight bound for Hanoi returned to Munich Airport on Saturday following technical problems after takeoff, the airline and airport said.

The Boeing 787 plane circled for more than two hours to burn fuel after reportedly ‌overrunning the runway ‌during takeoff, according to flight-tracking ‌website ⁠Flightradar24.

Video aired by ⁠US-based ABC News showed the jet taking off with a large cloud of dust trailing behind it, Reuters said.

Vietnam Airlines said in a statement the flight had returned to its departure airport after takeoff ⁠due to a "technical issue". It did ‌not provide ‌further details about the problem.

Munich Airport said after ‌landing, the plane was unable to taxi ‌off the north runway under its own power and remained stranded.

That forced the closure of the north runway and a rerouting of ‌air traffic via the south runway, the airport said in ⁠a statement.

Vietnam ⁠Airlines said the flight crew had followed all required procedures and landed safely at Munich Airport.

"The passengers and cabin crew members are safe," the airline said.

Vietnam Airlines said it was coordinating with the relevant authorities and parties to inspect the aircraft and it would provide further updates as soon as the inspection results and specific operational plans were available.