The United States doubled tariffs on imported steel and aluminum starting Wednesday, widening President Donald Trump's trade war in a move set to fan tensions with key economic partners.

The move, which Trump earlier said was aimed at protecting domestic steel and aluminum industries, takes his levies on both metals from 25 percent to 50 percent.

U.S. President Donald Trump expressed appreciation on Wednesday for Chinese President Xi Jinping, but called him hard to strike a deal with, ahead of an anticipated call this week.

"I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, the day his 50 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum came into effect.

Israel hit southern Syria with a series of strikes overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, a rights NGO said, as Israel said it had targeted weapons belonging to Syrian authorities following the launch of projectiles.

"Violent explosions shook southern Syria, notably the town of Quneitra and the Daraa region, following Israeli aerial strikes" that caused no casualties, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, with Israel blaming the Damascus government for the two projectiles launched onto its territory from Syria.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that a U.S. proposal for a new nuclear agreement submitted through mediator Oman has "many ambiguities and questions."

"The written proposal we received from the United States contains many ambiguities and questions; many issues in this proposal are not clear," Araghchi said while on a visit to Lebanon.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa bears responsibility for two projectiles that the Israeli military earlier said had been fired from Syrian territory.

A red Ferrari glides by as techno music blasts from fancy bars full of dressed-up revelers sipping ice-cold spritz. The party is in full swing in Moscow's posh Patriarch Ponds neighborhood.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday demanded Yemen's Houthi rebels release dozens of aid workers, including UN staff, a year after their arrest.

The United States has begun reducing its military presence in Syria with a view to eventually closing all but one of its bases there, the U.S. envoy for the country has said in an interview.

Moscow will only agree to a full ceasefire if Ukrainian troops pull back from the four regions that Russia partially controls, according to a copy of a negotiating document published by the state news agencies on Monday.

The memorandum was handed over to Ukraine during the second round of talks in Istanbul, and confirmed Russia's maximalist claims to the four partly occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

U.S. President Donald Trump is open to an invitation by his Turkish counterpart to hold three-way peace talks in Turkey with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, the White House said Monday.

"The president has said he's open to it if it comes to that, but he wants both of these leaders and both sides to come to the table together," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said when asked about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's proposal.