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Skip next section Stolen Opel Manta found in Donau river, 54 years later June 8, 2026

Stolen Opel Manta found in Donau river, 54 years later

The Opel Manta still enjoys a cult following in Germany 50 years after its heyday, as evidenced each year looking at competitors in the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring race Image: Fabian Werner/Fotostand/picture alliance A fisherman in Bavaria hooked one of the strangest of catches out of the river Donau at the end of May — the ruins of what was once an Opel Manta sports car, from roughly 1970.

Police said on Monday that after appealing for witness testimony on the vehicle, they now believe it to be the subject of an unsolved 54-year-old crime, one so far in the past that authorities no longer had any archive material on it.

"Thanks to the testimony of a female witness, it is now known that the Opel Manta was stolen from her former husband back in 1972. The man moved back to the US in the 1970s," the Schwaben Süd/West police precinct said in a follow up press release .

"How the car found its way into the Donau remains unclear," police said, adding that it was keeping the car until the ownership issue could be definitively solved. Video footage suggested the vehicle was well past its prime at this stage and of limited use even to a scrap metal dealer.

After the angler hooked the Opel, divers were able to recover it at a depth of about 5 meters.

The Opel Manta was a cult vehicle in former West Germany in the 1970s and 80s, particularly among the less affluent — a German-made high speed sports car available at a comparatively affordable price.

The car's reputation was a large part of Hollywood star Til Schweiger's big break, when he played a role as the rash young petrolhead lead in the 1991 action comedy "Manta Manta."

https://p.dw.com/p/5F2Yh

Skip next section Franco-German combat jet project reportedly collapses after almost a decade June 8, 2026

Franco-German combat jet project reportedly collapses after almost a decade

The FCAS project had long seemed to be on the ropes, but on Monday senior German politicians declared it definitively shelved Image: VDWI Aviation/Visually/picture alliance After years of squabbles, the FCAS project to build a Franco-German next-generation combat aircraft has collapsed , German government officials said in off-the-record comments to various media outlets on Monday.

According to the sources, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron had come to the shared evaluation that the Dassault and Airbus companies were not able to find common ground on the project.

"They recognize this reality," the sources said of Merz and Macron as cited by the DPA news agency.

The project was known to be under strain for months .

The "Future Combat Air System" (FCAS) was first hatched in 2017 by Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. It was conceived as a next-generation multirole combat jet capable of operating alongside armed and unarmed drones. The idea was that it could replace both the German-made Eurofighters and French Rafales, perhaps as early as 2040.

However, France and Germany plan to continue cooperation on what they're calling a "Combat Cloud," involving the shared networking of various weapons systems like aircraft, drones and sensors. This could mean a shared plane project could still become a reality.

Spanish manufacturer Indra was also a part of the project.

According to the sources, who tried to portray the cancellation as a logical necessity ​​​​​​​ amid intractable arguments between the arms manufacturers, France and Germany's defense ministries would convene in mid-July to work on an "up to date working plan" on combined defense projects, "concentrated on a few realistic and relevant propositions."

German politicians portrayed a scenario whereby Dassault had demanded a leading role in the development, and Airbus had said this was no longer acceptable.

https://p.dw.com/p/5F2Yq

Skip next section Cologne Cathedral reports rush to join special club after announcing entry fee June 8, 2026

Cologne Cathedral reports rush to join special club after announcing entry fee

Taxes, subsidies and donations apparently don't pay the bills for upkeep of the renowned gothic cathedral Image: Christoph Reichwein/dpa/picture alliance The Cologne Cathedral's new plan to charge for entry seems to have led to an unexpected spike in membership of a special club supporting the building.

The president of the Zentral-Dombau-Verein (ZDV), roughly the Central Cathedral Construction Association in English, Barbara Schock-Werner said that 1,200 people had applied to join since the news of €12 (almost $14) entry fees starting in July was formalized last week .

By comparison, the minimum annual contribution for ZDV membership is €20 per year.

ZDV members will be entitled to free entry once the fees come into effect, as will children aged less than 13 and the severely disabled. People who want to en…