WH aide resigns after threatening reporter
Washington, Feb 14: White House deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo has resigned, the day after he was suspended for issuing a sexist and profane threat to a journalist seeking to cover his relationship with another reporter. Ducklo had been put on a weeklong suspension without pay on Friday after a report surfaced in Vanity Fair outlining his sexist threats against a female Politico journalist to try to suppress a story about his relationship, telling her “I will destroy you.” The journalist had been seeking to report on his relationship with a political reporter at Axios who had previously covered the Biden campaign and transition. (AP)
Man dies 7 month after axe attack
Thessaloniki (Greece), Feb 14: A tax office employee who had been attacked with an axe in his workplace nearly seven months ago has died, a Greek hospital administrator said Sunday. The 56-year-old employee, who had serious head injuries and was in a coma, died late Saturday, Eleni Takouda, administrator of the private “Blue Cross” clinic in Thessaloniki told the Associated Press Sunday. The victim was scheduled to go to a rehabilitation center abroad, but restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic had postponed his transfer, said Ilias Zoumboulis, head of the Western Macedonia tax officers’ association. The employee, who was not named, was attacked when a 45-year-old man entered the tax office in the northwestern city of Kozani July 16 without being subjected to any security screening, only a check on his temperature. (AP)
20 injured in Afghan fire
Kabul, Feb 14: At least 20 people were injured in a fire that broke out at the customs office of the Islam Qala dry port in Afghanistan, the media reported on Sunday. “More than 1,000 oil, gas and cargo trucks were destroyed by Islam Qala port fire in Herat province that broke out Saturday afternoon and put out late Saturday night,” Xinhua news agency quoted a Tolo News report as saying. Local officials was quoted in the report as saying that the fire had caused a direct economic loss of over $50 million in the port that connects Afghanistan with Iran. (IANS)
