DINNER PARTY INTEL...

The topics you have to be able to discuss this week

1. Europe’s Iran deal

The French, British and German governments may activate accounts for the Iranian central bank with their national central banks in a bid to open a financial channel to keep the Iranian nuclear deal alive, The Wall Street Journal reports. The move is the first sign that Europe will sustain the Iranian nuclear deal, setting the bloc squarely against the

Trump administration’s sanctions policy aimed at isolating Iran.

The US this week also rejected a European request for some of its key businesses to be exempt from US sanctions against Iran.

2. Nigeria has more poor people than India

Oil-rich Nigeria, one of Africa’s wealthiest economies, has overtaken India as home to the greatest concentration of people living in extreme poverty. The claim, reported in

The Guardian, was made in a paper for the Brookings Institution by three experts associated with the World Poverty Clock, launched to track trends in poverty reduction.

It says 87 million live in extreme poverty in the country, compared with India’s 73 million. The Democratic Republic of Congo, ranked third, is also expected to overtake India soon.

3. Egypt stifles social media

Egypt has become the latest African country to crack down on social media. Its parliament approved a law to regulate social media, in a move that entrenches intolerance of dissent against President Abdel Fattah el-sisi’s regime. The law requires social media users with more than 5,000 followers to be placed under the supervision of Egypt’s supreme council for media regulations. Social media is one of the last remaining outlets for free expression. Egypt’s parliament also passed a law under which military commanders could be shielded from investigation into violence during the ousting of former president Mohamed Morsi.