Boss fires staff for not smoking.

BERLIN - The owner of a small German computer company has fired three non-smoking workers because they were threatening to disturb the peace after they requested a smoke-free environment.
The manager of the 10-person IT company in Buesum, named Thomas J., told the Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper he had fired the trio because their non-smoking was causing disruptions.
Germany introduced non-smoking rules in pubs and restaurants on January 1, but Germans working in small offices are still allowed to smoke.
"I can't be bothered with trouble-makers," Thomas was quoted saying. "We're on the phone all the time and it's just easier to work while smoking. Everyone picks on smokers these days. It's time for revenge. I'm only going to hire smokers from now on."




Woman lived for months with dead partner


A 66-year-old Austrian woman lived for almost a year with the corpse of her 85-year-old partner.
Police found the remains of the man in the couple's small vacation cottage in the eastern village of St Andrae am Zicksee Tuesday, swaddled in blankets with the dwelling reeking of decomposition odors.
The woman had told a local doctor and neighbors who tried to contact the man since last March that he was abroad. Police were looking into whether the woman concealed his death in order to collect his pension payments.
The dead man was separated from his wife, who had also tried to contact him