Grenade thrown at Norway's ambassador residence in Tel Aviv, says Israeli foreign minister
OSLO - A grenade was thrown at the residence of the Norwegian ambassador to Israel on Thursday evening in Tel Aviv, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said, causing no injury.
"I spoke a short time ago with the Norwegian ambassador to Israel, Per Egil Selvaag, in whose yard a grenade was thrown this evening," Saar said on X.
"I strongly condemn this serious and dangerous crime," he added. The Israeli Foreign Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
In Oslo, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry said an explosion occurred at the residence. "No staff with the embassy was injured during the incident," it said in an emailed statement, which did not say what caused the explosion.
Israeli police said in a statement "light property damage was sustained" and that it had opened an investigation. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Juneteenth holiday goes uncelebrated at White House as Trump complains about too many holidays
Juneteenth, the holiday that marks the end of slavery in the US, went unmarked by President Donald Trump in 2025. FILE PHOTO: REUTERS Juneteenth holiday goes uncelebrated at White House as Trump complains about too many holidays Juneteenth, the holiday that marks the end of slavery in the United States, has been celebrated at the White House each June 19 since it was enshrined into law four years ago. But on June 19 , it went unmarked by the president – except for a post on social media in which he said he would get rid of some 'non-working holidays'. 'Soon we'll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year,' Mr Trump said in mangled syntax, not mentioning Juneteenth by name nor acknowledging tha t June 19 was a federal holiday. 'It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!' Ms Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, indicated to reporters earlier in the day that she was not aware of any plans by Mr Trump to sign a holiday proclamation. In the past week alone, he'd issued proclamations commemorating Father's Day, Flag Day and National Flag Week, and the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill – none of which are among the 11 federal holidays. In response to a reporter's question about Juneteenth, Ms Leavitt acknowledged that June 19 was 'a federal holiday,' but noted that White House staff had shown up to work during a briefing that focused primarily on the matter of whether Mr Trump would order strikes on Iran. Mr Trump, who has often used holidays as an occasion to advance his political causes and insult critics and opponents on social media, chose the occasion of Juneteenth instead to float the idea of reducing the number of federal holidays, claiming that they are costing businesses billions of dollars. While most federal employees get those holidays off, private businesses have the choice to close or remain open. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day when a Union general arrived in Galveston, Texas, nearly 2½ years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, to finally inform enslaved African Americans there that the Civil War had ended and that all enslaved people had been freed. Months later, the 13th Amendment was ratified, abolishing slavery in the final four border states that had not been subjected to Mr Lincoln's order. It is the newest federal holiday, enshrined into law in 2021 by Congress and then-President Joe Biden. Mr Trump cannot undo it without an act of Congress. The lack of revelry at the White House for a holiday that has been cherished by generations of Black Americans was perhaps not a surprise. Since returning to office, Mr Trump has moved to purge the federal government of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and sanitise - or even erase - references to Black history. Even so, the decision not to mark the holiday was an abrupt reversal from his last term, when Mr Trump issued statements on Juneteenth for three years, before it was ever a federal holiday. 'Melania and I send our warmest greetings to all those celebrating Juneteenth, a historic day recognising the end of slavery,' he wrote in 2017, extolling Major General Gordon Granger's announcement in Galveston that all slaves were free. In 2018 he invoked Mr Granger again, and praised 'the courage and sacrifice of the nearly 200,000 former enslaved and free African Americans who fought for liberty'. But Mr Trump's second term has been marked by a widespread effort to slash funding for diversity initiatives, prompting backlash from states, schools and the corporate world. Some cities and institutions that have had their funding cut reported that their Juneteenth celebrations would be smaller this year. Mr Trump's critics dug in sharply, using Juneteenth to call attention to what they called the administration's attempts to bury Black history. Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic leader, accused the White House and Mr Trump's allies of engaging in 'an intentional effort to turn back the clock' and divide the country by banning books about Black history, dismantling DEI programs and undermining the citizenship protections of the 14th Amendment. 'Today, we celebrate the freedom that Black Americans long fought for and the rich culture that grew from that great struggle,' Mr Jeffries, the first Black leader of a party in either chamber of Congress, said in a statement. 'That struggle roars on.' The holiday also came as Mr Trump marked a new low in his relationship with the NAACP, the oldest and largest US civil rights organisation, which said this week that it would not invite Mr Trump to its national convention, breaking from a 116-year tradition of inviting the president to its marquee event. Mr Biden established Juneteenth as a federal holiday in 2021, after interest in the history of the day was renewed during the summer of 2020 and the nationwide protests that followed the police killings of Black Americans including Mr George Floyd and Ms Breonna Taylor. During his presidency, Mr Biden held a concert on the South Lawn of the White House to commemorate the holiday and gave remarks. On t he evening of Ju ne 19, Mr Biden attended a Juneteenth celebration at Reedy Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Galveston, sitting at the head of the church next to local leaders. He was honoured for signing the federal holiday into law and praised for his appointment of Ms Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. Speakers did not name Mr Trump, but criticised his administration's policies, especially on diversity. 'Black history is American history,' Mr Biden told the crowd to cheers, according to a livestream of his remarks. Mr Biden also took to task those who thought Juneteenth should not be a federal holiday. 'Some say to you and to me that this doesn't deserve to be a federal holiday,' Mr Biden said. 'They don't want to remember what we all remember – the moral stain, the moral stain of slavery.' NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Beijing and Asean need to discuss ‘Second China Shock'
China's latest manufacturing surge, which some have begun to call the Second China Shock, may sound ominous as a label but is actually a tip of the hat to the mainland. PHOTO: AFP More than two decades ago, when China initiated the Early Harvest Programme with Asean to give South-east Asian countries more confidence to endorse the Asean-China Free Trade Area, then Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji told leaders from this region that a decade hence, if they found the free trade deal was not working for them, they could come back and discuss their concerns with the Chinese leadership. Given the flood of Chinese exports that's threatening to deindustrialise South-east Asia's auto, textiles, leather – and a host of other sectors vital to employment and social stability – the moment to redeem Mr Zhu's promise has come. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Malaysia drops 1MDB-related money laundering charges against ex-PM Najib
FILE PHOTO: Prison officers escort former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, as the jailed politician leaves the court during a break in proceedings, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Hasnoor Hussain/File Photo KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's High Court has discharged but not acquitted jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak of money laundering charges in a long-running case involving a former unit of scandal-tainted state fund 1MDB, his lawyer said on Friday. Najib has been in prison since August 2022 after being found guilty of corruption and money laundering over funds misappropriated from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Berhad, from which Malaysian and U.S. authorities say about $4.5 billion was stolen in a complex, globe-spanning scheme. He was also facing three separate money laundering charges over 27 million ringgit ($6.4 million) allegedly misappropriated from SRC. The case had repeatedly stalled since 2019 due to procedural delays, prompting the Kuala Lumpur High Court to grant Najib's request for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) on Friday, his lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told reporters. Muhammad Shafee said the decision was a fair one, as the prosecution remained free to re-file the charges once they were ready to proceed. "So (Najib) isn't left waiting or as they say, no longer has the sword of Damocles hanging over his head," he said. The attorney-general's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Friday's decision was the second time 1MDB-linked charges filed against Najib have been dropped. Last year, a court allowed another DNAA request due to procedural delays in a corruption case against the ex-premier and the country's former treasury chief. In 2023, he was also acquitted on separate charges of tampering with a government audit into 1MDB. Najib is still awaiting a verdict in the biggest trial he faces over the 1MDB scandal, with the court expected to hear closing arguments in October. He has denied all of the charges brought against him. Najib is also bidding to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest, and has sought to compel the government to confirm the existence of a royal order that he says would allow him to do so. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.