Nvidia FBI probe, Hegseth impeachment vote, Russia-Ukraine talks | Reuters World News

Hi, I'm Kim Vinnell in Whanganui, New Zealand. It's Tuesday, November 10th. Today, Trump says the FBI is looking into NVIDIA's Jensen Huang's affair with a woman alleged to be a Chinese spy. Pete Hegseth faces possible impeachment proceedings over his role in the Iran war. And Ukraine peace talks, the first since the Iran war began, get underway in Abu Dhabi. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, 7 days a week. Personal scandal surrounding NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang is putting his relationship with US President Donald Trump under new scrutiny. NVIDIA is investigating whether Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence effort after a New York Times report said he had a relationship with a Chinese businesswoman who U.S. authorities believe may be a Chinese spy. The Times also said Trump was briefed about the intelligence findings a year or so ago and chose not to act. When asked when exactly he was told of potential issues with Mr. Huang, President Trump declined to give specifics, but did say a probe is underway. Well, I've been hearing about it and I've been reading a little bit about it over a period of time, but not too long ago. We'll look into it. I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else, and I think that he'll be in good shape. Huang has admitted to having an affair, but did not give details. President Trump says he spoke to Huang directly. I asked him today, because I did speak to him today, just to see if he's feeling all right, how you're doing. And I asked him about that. And he said he had absolutely no idea that the person in question was a spy. Reuters reporter Courtney Rosen covers tech from Washington and says Wang is a regular in the president's orbit. Jensen Huang has been trying over the last couple years to persuade the Trump administration to allow chip sales to China and to Chinese companies. Jensen Huang often appears at White House events. He traveled on the plane to China when President Trump went to visit the country in May. The two men often exchanged phone calls. One Reuters reporter saw Jensen's name pop up on President Trump's phone one day. While it's not clear how much of a role that direct line played, the pair's relationship has seen favorable policies for NVIDIA get over the line, including the relaxation of some chip exports to China. Including the powerful H200 chips, of which Washington takes a 25% cut of sales. NVIDIA says national security has not been compromised, although Courtney says calls for further investigations could find support among Democrats poised to take control of Congress. They've talked about how investigating tech executives is one of their broad goals for the new Congress. We'll be watching to see if these NVIDIA accusations and the allegations against CEO Jensen Huang will be part of those investigations and If there will be legislation or other congressional response to all these accusations. Let's take a look at how the markets are responding now with Mike Dolan from our sister podcast, Morning Bit. Well, we got, in the end, a 4% drop in NVIDIA's shares last night. And on Wall Street, that's where it closed out. And what was extraordinary about it is that normally NVIDIA, with all of the question marks and all the allegations around Jensen Huang, normally NVIDIA's move of that scale would drag the whole market with it because it's such a huge market cap. But interestingly, even though NVIDIA fell, The rest of the market rallied considerably, one of the big best days in weeks on Wall Street, even amongst tech stocks and chip stocks. So there is a sense that this is, at the moment, still a very specific NVIDIA story that doesn't speak to the rest of the AI complex. We'll wait and see on that. You can catch MorningBid wherever you get your podcasts. U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth could face an impeachment vote as early as this week for his role in the Iran war. Impeaching Peter Brian Hegseth, Secretary of Defense for High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie there filing the impeachment articles accusing Hegseth of sending U.S. troops to war without approval from Congress and other abuses of power. Sources say the impeachment vote could pass in the House, even with Republicans in control until January. But conviction is unlikely in the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is needed. It's also possible Republican leadership could try to avoid a straight vote on impeachment by trying to dismiss it with a procedural motion. Hegseth, though, says he's ready to defend himself, and Trump is standing by him. You have multiple, Mr. President, you won two wars. He was in charge. We all won. Reuters Pentagon correspondent Phil Stewart says just getting to this point puts the Hegseth case in rare territory. I think what you're seeing right now is potentially a preview for what you will see, especially if Hegseth survives conviction. And the Democrats want to try again, or they want to bring them up and hold hearings and bring uniformed military officers to testify to the veracity of these charges. That could be quite embarrassing for the administration. It could be quite damaging for Hegseth. And the question really comes down to what kind of pain threshold does the Trump administration have when it comes to impeachment of his cabinet secretaries? With Hegseth in the firing line, a new Reuters Ipsos poll shows just over four in 10 Americans do not want impeachment proceedings extended to President Trump. 42% of poll respondents said it would be bad for the country if the new Democratic-controlled Congress tried to impeach the president. Respondents were broadly in agreement with what they do want lawmakers to focus on. Seven in ten Americans, including half of Republicans, want legislation passed to end the Iran war, and nine out of ten people said they want action on the cost of living. In California, voters have defeated Prop 40, a one-time 5% levy on billionaires' assets. Supporters say it would have raised $100 billion, mostly to backfill health care funding under President Trump's tax bill. But the measure fell apart after billionaires poured hundreds of millions of dollars into ads warning it would chase wealth out of the state. Delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the US are meeting in Abu Dhabi today for peace talks. They are the first such talk since February, before the US and Israel launched the war in Iran. European officials are also going, although they won't be taking part, with Kiev expected to brief them separately. Ukraine correspondent Olena Harmasch says Ukraine is not expecting any immediate breakthroughs. From what we hear from Ukrainian peace negotiators and also President Zelensky, is that they will discuss security guarantees, prosperity plan for Ukraine, and also they would like to discuss potential energy ceasefire and potential truce on the Black Sea. More, they look at this meeting and these talks as a preparatory meeting, first of all, to restart the dialogue, and secondly, to lay groundwork for potential meeting between the leaders, between Russian President Putin, Donald Trump and Zelensky. Olena says Zelensky has been lobbying for that meeting for a long time because the Ukrainian and Russian positions remain far apart. There is still no signs of any compromise around the territory. And the territory is actually a major sticking point in all these talks. So Zelensky was hoping that these difficult and sensitive issues of the territory could be discussed by leaders themselves. President Donald Trump says he's holding off on new strikes against Iran for now after appeals from Gulf countries to avoid further escalation. But the naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz remains, and US and Gulf officials are playing down hopes of an imminent peace deal. The FDA is requiring GLP-1 drug makers to add a warning about a rare but serious eye condition potentially linked to the popular weight loss drugs. The condition known as NAION, that's non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, can cause sudden vision loss or even blindness, which can be permanent. A large 2025 study found that after two years, people with diabetes using semaglutide, the active ingredient in drugs including Ozempic and Wegovy, had more than twice the risk of developing NAION compared to patients taking other diabetes medications. Novo Nordisk, which manufactures Ozempic and Wegovy, says it does not believe the data establishes a A cause and effect relationship. For more on any of the stories from today, as well as more analysis and news shaping our world, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. There's a link in the description to download it and start getting pure news straight from the source. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back a little later with an update.