Evening Brief, Tuesday 10 November

Trilateral talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States opened in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, the first meeting in this format since February. Rustem Umerov confirmed the start and said the agenda covered a cessation of hostilities and a move toward peace. Russian negotiators also confirmed the opening, while Vladimir Medinsky said Moscow had sent a larger and more professional delegation. Jared Kushner said Washington wants a security framework covering Ukraine, Russia and Europe, and Marco Rubio called resumed dialogue better than none.

European officials met Ukrainian and US officials before the session but did not sit in the negotiating room. The European Council said partners were coordinating efforts to end the war and to back solid security guarantees. A joint statement by the EU, the United States, Ukraine, NATO, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom said NATO must remain central to collective defence after the war and that any deal must respect Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independent decision-making.

Giorgia Meloni has asked Antonio Costa to put the issue before the informal European Council in Dublin, with a decision sought at the December European Council. Palazzo Chigi said security guarantees, reconstruction, sanctions and Ukraine's European path all depend on European choices. Rubio also met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andri Sibiga in Paris, where they discussed energy resilience, air defence before winter, Black Sea navigation and drone production with the United States.

Nvidia's board has opened an independent investigation into reports that Jensen Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence effort after he acknowledged an intimate relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese national whom US intelligence concluded was collecting information for Beijing. The directors said they had no reason to believe national security or Nvidia secrets had been compromised, and Huang will remain chief executive while independent directors and outside advisers review the matter.

Huang apologised in an open letter, said he had been unfaithful to his wife and pledged to cooperate.

Donald Trump said at the White House that the FBI was looking into the affair, though he linked the inquiry to another issue. He said he had spoken with Huang and believed the chief executive had not known the woman was a spy.

The legal and market damage has widened. Nvidia shares fell 4.3% on Monday, wiping out $190bn of value from a company valued at $4.3trn. A shareholder complaint filed in federal court in San Jose accuses Nvidia and Huang of fraud, arguing that the company failed to disclose national security concerns that threatened its business prospects. Singapore is also investigating Megaspeed, a data-centre company where Alice Huang held a senior post, after earlier allegations that it evaded US export restrictions on high-end Nvidia chips.

Pete Hegseth used a Pentagon news conference to dismiss eight impeachment articles filed by Thomas Massie, the Republican representative from Kentucky. Massie's resolution accuses the defence secretary of high crimes and misdemeanors, including launching the war against Iran without congressional authorisation, ordering strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and taking part in the operation that seized former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Hegseth said the operations were lawful, ordered by the commander in chief, reported to Congress and carried out by US troops doing their duty.

Donald Trump defended Hegseth on social media and attacked Massie, while Speaker Mike Johnson argued that impeachment during overseas hostilities would send a damaging message. Marco Rubio, speaking in Paris, called the effort unfair. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, said he fully supports the resolution.

The arithmetic looks awkward for both sides. A simple majority can approve articles in the House, and reporting from both parties says some Republicans are angry with Hegseth after heavy midterm losses. Removal would still need a two-thirds Senate vote, where Republicans hold 53 of 100 seats until 3 January, making conviction unlikely unless the party breaks sharply. Massie said the House would first vote on a motion to kill the resolution; if that fails, debate and a vote on the articles could follow as early as Wednesday.

Dense fog set off a chain of crashes on Bulgaria's A1 motorway near Yambol on Tuesday, closing the road in both directions between Sofia and the Black Sea port of Burgas. Officials gave different counts of vehicles involved, from around 50 cars and trucks to more than 80. Interior ministry secretary general Lyubomir Nikolov said the first impact was between a bus and a truck about 75km west of Burgas, followed by further crashes involving a grain truck and a car. Images showed vehicles jammed across all six lanes, with some overturned, burnt out or pushed off the carriageway.

The health ministry later put the toll at 12 dead and 51 injured, with 13 people in critical condition. Earlier figures differed as hospitals received more patients. President Rumen Radev cancelled official events and went to the scene, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen cut short her visit to Bulgaria and sent condolences. The government sent aircraft with stretchers and medical teams, but fog prevented helicopters from evacuating the injured.

The crash has reopened Bulgaria's road-safety argument. European Commission figures cited in the reports put Bulgaria's 2025 road-death rate at 71 per million inhabitants, the highest in the EU. Interior minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said visibility fell from about 70 to 80 metres to roughly 10 metres very quickly, and the ministry is working to add warning signs to toll gantries. The Institute for Road Safety said toll cameras had recorded very dense fog on that stretch at 5am and that the motorway should have been closed then.

COP31 opened in Antalya on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, starting two weeks of negotiations among nearly 200 countries that run until 20 November. The summit is jointly led by Turkey as host and Australia as negotiations lead, an unusual shared presidency. Thousands of participants queued for long periods to enter the venue, and UN climate chief Simon Stiell warned at the opening that progress was moving too slowly.

The main early dispute is a proposed pledge to lift electricity's share of global final energy consumption from 23% today to 35% by 2035. Research by the Energy Transitions Commission says that, if powered by clean electricity, the shift would cut projected warming of at least 2.6C by 0.3C. The draft does not require clean or renewable power, which worries Portugal, South Pacific island states and the African group of negotiators.

Alexis Normand of Greenly warned that electrification alone can move emissions into power generation.

The hosts face their own awkward numbers. Coal generated about a third of Turkey's electricity last year and more than 40% of Australia's. Negotiators are still arguing over whether the target belongs in the final agreement or in a looser side agenda, and some say the text may refer to electrification without a specific number.