More than half of Israel's 9.2 million people have received both doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19, the health ministry said Thursday. 

With more than 4.6 million residents vaccinated, Israel continues its world-beating campaign that sent infection rates plummeting and allowed for some limited loosening of restrictions. 

The owners of a giant container vessel blocking the Suez Canal said Thursday they were facing "extreme difficulty" refloating it, prompting Egypt to suspend navigation through one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. 

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "remains deeply concerned" that "foreign elements" continue to operate in Libya, he wrote in a report to the Security Council. 

The document, obtained by AFP and discussed Wednesday by Council members, notes some mercenaries have withdrawn, but considers the amount insufficient.

Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled as Israel's prime minister for a record 12 consecutive years, partly by convincing many voters that only he can keep the Jewish state safe while defending it on the world stage.

Israelis awoke on Wednesday to find that, after their fourth general election in less than two years, there was still no clear indication of who would form the next government.

A skyscraper-sized container ship has become wedged across Egypt's Suez Canal and blocked all traffic in the vital waterway, officials said Wednesday, threatening to disrupt a global shipping system already strained by the coronavirus pandemic.

The MV Ever Given, a Panama-flagged ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe, ran aground Tuesday in the narrow, man-made canal dividing continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula. Images showed the ship's bow was touching the eastern wall, while its stern looked lodged against the western wall — an extraordinary event that experts said they had never heard of happening before in the canal's 150-year history.

The Israeli military said it conducted night-time strikes against Hamas positions in the Gaza strip early on Wednesday, after a rocket strike from the Palestinian enclave hit southern Israel.

The Philippine immigration bureau said Wednesday it has launched an investigation into allegations that some of its officers were involved in the trafficking of 44 women to work in Syria.

Israelis were voting Tuesday in their fourth election in less than two years, with the nation deeply split on whether veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should stay in power.

Tunisia celebrated the launch Monday of its first domestically made satellite, hoping it would inspire young engineers to reach for the stars at home rather than join those emigrating overseas.