Syria's new leader has vowed accountability and an investigation after reports of mass killings of Alawite civilians triggered an international backlash against the worst violence since Bashar al-Assad's overthrow.

In its latest toll Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said 973 civilians had perished since March 6 in "killings, field executions and ethnic cleansing operations" by security personnel or pro-government fighters in the coastal heartland of the Alawite minority community to which the toppled president belongs.

Israel ordered an immediate halt to Gaza's electricity supply Sunday in an effort to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages, even as it prepared for fresh talks on the future of its truce with the Palestinian militants.

Israel's decision comes a week after it blocked all aid supplies to the war-battered territory, a move reminiscent of the initial days of the war when Israel announced a "siege" on Gaza.

Hamas described the electricity cut as "blackmail," a term it had also used after Israel blocked the aid.

The new CEO of LIV told AFP the world of golf will eventually "open up again" and the Saudi-bankrolled league has an important role in growing the game around the world.

American sports executive Scott O'Neil, who has in the past run NBA and NHL teams, took the reins from Greg Norman in January.

The period since has seen a flurry of meetings between the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and their Saudi backers, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), but still no deal reached to reunite the sport.

Protesters took to the streets across the world Saturday to mark International Women's Day, demanding equal pay, political representation and an end to gender-based violence while voicing fears of rising repression.

In eastern Ukraine, scores of demonstrators held a minute's silence to honour women killed defending the country from Russia's invasion. Many carried banners bearing the faces of the deceased.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday slammed what he described as bullying tactics a day after US President Donald Trump threatened military action.

"Some bully governments -- I really don't know of any more appropriate term for some foreign figures and leaders than the word bullying -- insist on negotiations," Khamenei told officials after Trump threatened military action if Iran refuses to engage in talks on its nuclear programme.

"Their negotiations are not aimed at solving problems, they aim at domination," Khamenei said.

US President Donald Trump's prized Turnberry golf resort in Scotland has been vandalised by protesters who sprayed "GAZA IS NOT 4 SALE" in huge white letters on the lawn.

The activists also damaged greens and sprayed blood-red paint over the luxury resort's clubhouse overnight on Saturday.

The Palestine Action group said it was a "direct response to the US administration's stated intent to ethnically cleanse Gaza".

Hamas accused Israel Saturday of "committing the war crime of collective punishment" by halting aid to Gaza for a seventh day, saying it also impacted Israeli hostages still held there.

On Sunday, Israel announced it was blocking aid deliveries to Gaza until Palestinian militants accepted its terms for an extension of the ceasefire which had largely halted more than 15 months of fighting.

The first phase of the truce, which ended on March 1, had enabled the entry of vital food, shelter and medical assistance.

Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani has warned that an attack on Iran's Gulf coast nuclear facilities would leave countries across the region without water.

In an interview with right-wing United States media personality Tucker Carlson, who is close to US President Donald Trump, the premier said Doha had simulated the effects of an attack,

The sea would be "entirely contaminated" and Qatar would "run out of water in three days", he said.

Women will overthrow the Islamic system established in Iran after the 1979 revolution even if the authorities survive a military conflict, Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi said in a message Saturday marking international women's day.

Mohammadi, 52, who won the 2023 Nobel prize in recognition of her years-long fight for human rights in Iran, is currently on temporary release from a prison term for health reasons. Her lawyers fear she could be sent back to prison any time.

A man who scaled London's Big Ben, and spent the day perched on the historic clock tower with a Palestinian flag, was arrested shortly after he came down after midnight Sunday, police said.

Pictures from the scene showed a cherry picker transporting him to waiting emergency crews on the ground.

London's Metropolitan Police force, which was first alerted to the climber around 0700 GMT Saturday, said the man was arrested after the "protracted incident".