Skip next section Harsh migration policies showing benefits — Berlin’s governing mayor
08/05/2025August 5, 2025
Harsh migration policies showing benefits — Berlin’s governing mayor
The are starting to show their effects, according to Mayor Kai Wegner, the head of government in the city-state.
“We are seeing a significant relief in the influx of refugees,” saod Wegner, a member of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), to which Chancellor also belongs.
He told the DPA news agency that twice the number of people were currently leaving Berlin than that of people arriving, with the city now having some 6,000 vacant beds for refugees.
“The pressure in Berlin has eased a little,” he said.
Wegner said he hoped the recently introduced policies would help free up capacities to implement integration measures targeting refugees who have received permission to stay in the country.
The German capital took in almost 32,000 refugees in 2023, including more than 15,000 from .
In 2024, new arrivals dropped to just above 21,000 and 6,089 were registered in the first half of 2025.
Between 2022 and 2025, the costs of housing and supporting refugees in Berlin nearly doubled to €2.24 billion ($2.58 billion).
https://p.dw.com/p/4yWJX
Skip next section China espionage trial to open in Dresden
08/05/2025August 5, 2025
China espionage trial to open in Dresden
A court in the eastern city of Dresden is to begin its trial of , with one of the defendants a former assistant to a lawmaker from the far-right party.
The former AfD aide, identified only as Jian G. under German privacy laws, is charged with providing information to Chinese intelligence from 2002, including during a period when he worked for Maximilian Krah, at the time a member of the for the far-right populist party.
Prosecutors in Dresden accuse Jian G. of passing on information on debates and decisions at the European Parliament, along with sensitive documents.
It is also possible that information collected by Jian G. includes sensitive details about the workings of the AfD itself whose revelation could prove an embarrassment to the party, although Krah has told news magazine Der Spiegel that he never discussed certain internal problems with the defendant.
The second defendant, named only as Yaqi X., worked at a company tha tprovided Leipzig airport with logistics services. She is accused of helping Jian G. access information on flights and passengers, especially to do with the transport of defense equipment.
Krah himself is under separate investigation on partly connected with firms linked to Jian G.
He was also at the but nonetheless currently sits as an AfD member of the German lower house, or Bundestag.
https://p.dw.com/p/4yWIZ
Skip next section Welcome to our coverage08/05/2025August 5, 2025
Welcome to our coverage
DW’s newsroom on the Rhine River in Bonn wishes guten Tag to all our users!
Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, the largest opposition group in parliament, has has its share of scandals. One of them comes to a head on Tuesday as the espionage trial of a former aide to AfD lawmaker Maximilian Krah gets underway.
The trial could become an embarrassment for the party if information collected on it by the defendant, identified only as Jian G. under German privacy laws, is made public.
And Germany itself has been undergoing a trial of a different nature with a persistent wave of respiratory illnesses such as colds and flus since the start of the year, causing many people to call in sick to work, according to an analysis by health insurance company DAK.
Please explore our blog if you want to find out more about the major talking points in Germany on Tuesday, August 5!
https://p.dw.com/p/4yWGl
The post Germany updates: AfD ex-aide on trial for China espionage appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
