German newspaper prints false notice of man's death

A Berlin lawyer said he does not know how a local newspaper ended up publishing a premature notice of his death. The man, identified as Hans-Werner M. of Wannsee, said he received a flurry of phone calls from friends and colleagues shocked to have read about his death in the Tagesspiegel newspaper, which published an erroneous notice saying he died Nov. 9, TheLocal.de reported Monday. "Friends were ringing me because they read the notice in the paper. But at the same time they thought it was a bad prank," Hans-Werner told Bild newspaper. Tagesspiegel, which published a correction Sunday, said it had originally believed the notice to have been submitted by the man's office. The lawyer, who has filed an official complaint with police, said he does not know who could be to blame for the prank. "I can't and don't want to suspect anyone of doing it and I can't [imagine] who would do that," he said.