Eight civilians from Syria’s Alawite minority were shot dead by "security checkpoint personnel" on Wednesday in the central province of Hama, a war monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said that "security checkpoint personnel carried out a field execution of eight civilians, including three women, and injured five others -- all Alawite" travelling in "a civilian passenger bus" in the western Hama countryside.

Spain, which has strongly criticized Israel's offensive in Gaza, has cancelled a contract to buy 168 firing posts and 1,680 anti-tank missiles from Israeli defense company Rafael, Spanish media reported Wednesday.

The deal was worth 287.5 million euros ($327 million), according to top-selling daily Spanish newspaper El País, which cited unnamed government sources.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that the United States "cannot have a say" on Tehran's uranium enrichment in its nuclear program.

"Why are you interfering in whether Iran should have enrichment or not? You cannot have a say," said Khamenei referring to the United States in a speech aired on state television.

South Korea's new President Lee Jae-myung vowed Wednesday to restart dormant talks with North Korea and bolster a trilateral partnership with the U.S. and Japan, as he laid out key policy goals for his single, five-year term.

Lee, who rose from childhood poverty to become South Korea's leading liberal politician vowing to fight inequality and corruption, began his term earlier Wednesday, hours after winning a snap election that was triggered in April by the removal of then-President Yoon Suk Yeol over his ill-fated imposition of martial law late last year.

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.