Morning Brief, Tuesday 10 November

Donald Trump put the Nvidia affair into Washington's security machinery on Monday, saying at the White House that the FBI was examining Jensen Huang's relationship with Alice Huang in relation to other issues. Nvidia's board had already opened an independent investigation after Jensen Huang admitted an affair with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed manager in Singapore whose company markets cloud services built on Nvidia hardware and faces scrutiny over semiconductor smuggling. The board said it had no reason to believe national security or company secrets had been compromised, and Jensen Huang remains in office during the review.

Jensen Huang said he would cooperate with the inquiry and framed the issue as one of corporate and national-security duty.

Congress moved quickly. Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats wanted a full briefing after the Nvidia issue came up in a closed-door session with intelligence officials, and senators used the episode to press for tighter oversight of AI-chip exports to China. Donald Trump defended Jensen Huang, saying he had spoken with him and believed his account that he did not know Alice Huang was a spy. Beijing called the allegations invention and slander. Nvidia's market value was reported at $4.31trn before the share fall, so even a governance problem at the top carries market weight.

Washington set a two-day negotiating round in Abu Dhabi for 10 and 11 November, with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner leading US mediation between Russian and Ukrainian teams. Ukraine's delegation is expected to be led by Rustem Umerov, while Russia is also sending negotiators. A US official said both sides had shown some private flexibility on territory, but described any land deal as likely to come late in the process, after security guarantees and the post-war order are discussed.

European leaders are trying to avoid being left with the bill and the risk after a deal shaped elsewhere. Ursula von der Leyen said in Bucharest that discussion of Europe's future security architecture can start only after a ceasefire, and that NATO allies and EU member states must be included. Kaja Kallas rejected talk of expanding Europe's security architecture, saying Russia has already committed in many agreements to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity. France says European delegations will go to Abu Dhabi, and the EU plans to discuss Ukraine again in Dublin on 13 November.

Donald Trump struck the most upbeat note at the White House, although Kyiv and Moscow remain far apart on borders and guarantees.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre urged caution and said Abu Dhabi should at least produce a quick follow-up meeting, with possible agenda items including prisoner exchanges, a Black Sea ceasefire and a halt to strikes on energy sites.

A London court sentenced Russell Brand to 10 years and six months in prison on Monday after convictions for one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. Judge Joel Bennathan imposed the term at Southwark Crown Court and described the 51-year-old British actor and former comedian as a sexual predator protected by his fame. Brand showed no visible emotion as the sentence was read, and custody officers took him to Wandsworth prison. He can apply for parole only after serving two thirds of the term, reported as about seven years.

The offences involved four women and took place between 2004 and 2009, when Brand was at or near the height of his celebrity. The rape conviction concerned a 21-year-old fan at Brand's London home in 2009, who said she had agreed to protected sex but that Brand removed the condom and continued despite repeated requests to stop. The sexual-assault convictions covered incidents in a Soho bar, at Choice FM studios and against a female colleague in 2004 or 2005. Brand denied non-consensual conduct and maintained his innocence, though the judge rejected his claim that he had never touched a woman without consent.

The court also cleared Brand of several other allegations, including an alleged rape at a Bournemouth hotel in 1999 and an attempted indecent assault in 2001. Judge Joel Bennathan weighed mitigating factors, including Brand's work with people affected by addiction and the lack of further criminal charges over the past 17 years. Culture minister Lisa Nandy said the case showed that powerful men in media continue to exploit women. Police are examining statements from further accusers, and the four women in the case have lifelong anonymity under British law.

Donald Trump said on Monday that the war with Iran was "effectively over" after meeting Qatar's prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, at the White House. Qatar has mediated and pressed Washington and Gulf states against renewed fighting. Trump said Israel and Gulf allies were well protected, that renewed strikes looked unlikely, and that US forces remained ready if circumstances changed. His language went further than his weekend comment that large-scale attacks were unlikely.

Oil traders reacted to the same diplomatic mood. Brent crude fell more than 3.6% to $94.70 a barrel early on Monday after an unconfirmed report that Iran had made openings over the Strait of Hormuz, and West Texas Intermediate fell 3% to $88 in the same session. By the close, WTI was below $87 after a drop of more than 4% on the day, while Brent settled above $92. The naval blockade of Iran remains in place, which Trump said several Gulf countries preferred for now.

The political backdrop is awkward for the White House. Republicans lost both houses of Congress in the midterm elections, and Vice-President JD Vance said the Iran war was a key reason. Marco Rubio had said on Sunday that negotiations with Iran had made no progress, a day before Trump said Tehran was talking courteously with Washington. Trump has predicted a peace deal many times during the nearly nine-month war.

Paris prosecutors opened a judicial investigation on Monday into Shahid Kaveh, an offensive cyber unit linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' electronic and cyber centre. The inquiry targets the unit's leader, two deputies and any other person identified later. Prosecutors listed charges including fraudulent access to an automated data-processing system, dangerous damage committed by an organised gang and participation in a criminal conspiracy. Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, said the alleged motive raised the severity of the case.

The case grew out of attacks that disabled supermarket refrigeration across Europe. Bloomberg reported that around 700 supermarkets in France were affected in October, causing food losses and fires. Stores in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Scandinavia were also targeted, with hackers switching cooling units to defrost mode. On Monday, dozens of Belgian branches and stores in Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Ireland, Estonia and Sweden were hit again. Investigators said the attackers used Farsi and IP addresses leading to terminals in Iran.

Jean-Noël Barrot, France's foreign minister, said Iran was behind the attacks and summoned the Iranian ambassador. France will seek sanctions at European level. The technical trail points to a known vulnerability at Danfoss, a supplier that issued a security update last year, though not every operator installed it and older products were not all covered. Keanu Nys, an ethical hacker at Spotit, said refrigeration systems should not be reachable from the open internet and that operational technology is often less secure than ordinary office systems.

China's trade surplus reached $1.04trn in the first ten months of 2026, customs data released on 10 November showed. The same period in 2025 produced $964.8bn, and the 2026 total reached the trillion-dollar mark about a month earlier than last year. China's full-year 2025 surplus was a record $1.2trn, so the current pace points to another record and gives trade partners a familiar complaint: Beijing is still leaning on foreign demand to absorb what Chinese households and firms are not buying at home.

October did show stronger Chinese demand for imports. Exports rose 35.2% from a year earlier, slightly slower than September's 36.3%, while imports jumped 41.6%, above forecasts. That narrowed the monthly surplus to $105.3bn from $133.5bn in September. Imports from the United States, Southeast Asia and Africa rose between 35% and 42%, while imports from Europe fell. Strong exports of high-technology goods, including semiconductors and cars, kept the external engine running.

The surplus is already feeding trade friction. The EU has imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and quotas on hybrid cars, and it has threatened more measures if exports keep rising. Emerging markets are adding trade defences against low-cost Chinese goods. Washington and Beijing have taken steps to ease tariffs and limit export controls through 10 January, putting a September agreement into effect before a summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Chinese producers still face fierce price competition at home, where overcapacity and weak demand leave many firms chasing buyers abroad.