Negotiators from the US and Iran held indirect talks in Oman on Friday. Both sides lauded the start ofegotiations, but at the same time upped the pressure: US President Donald Trump threatened to impose additional punitive tariffs on countries that do trade with Iran, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that attacks on his country would be met with attacks on US bases in the region.

Japan'sational conservative ruling party has secured a resounding election victory: under the leadership of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who has only been in office since October, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has won more than two-thirds of the seats in the parliamentary election - the first time a single party has achieved such a majority in Japan. Takaichi has promised to upgrade Japan's military to create a counterweight to China in the region.

The publication of further files in the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continues to raiseew questions. Dozens more prominentames appear in the more than three million pages of documents, thousands of videos and well over 100,000 photos most recently released by the US Department of Justice. Commentators discuss the connections between these individuals and Epstein and what consequences they will have.

The social media ban for under-16s in Australia has prompted debates about introducing similar measures in several European countries, including the Czech Republic. Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček hasow stated that the country could introduce such a ban before the end of this year.