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Intrigue

Daily flyovers

Latest news for 10 November 2026

Quick hits of consequential news from all corners of the world.

  1. 01

    UNITED STATES

    Huang out to dry.

    Following his explosive admission of an affair (with a woman allegedly working with Chinese intelligence), both Jensen Huang and his Nvidia chips giant are now facing a class action arguing they misled shareholders by concealing his romantic ties to Megaspeed! That’s the mysterious Singapore-based shop where his paramour allegedly smuggled chips to China. (Reuters)

    Comment: We explored this scandal yesterday but the news keeps getting worse for Jensen, including claims his firm might’ve also intervened in a US investigation into Megaspeed. The whiff of impropriety has been in public for at least a year, so why suddenly confess now? The midterms might’ve played a role, nudging Jensen to come clean before a more hostile Congress takes its seats in January.

  2. 02

    FRANCE

    Cold war.

    Contrary to our initial guess that Moscow had the more obvious motive, French officials have now pinned the blame on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for last month’s cyberattack that fried commercial refrigerators across various supermarket chains. (France24)

    Comment: France isn’t dropping the bombs on Iran, but it has been leading the charge to expand EU sanctions against the regime and formally designate the Guards as a terrorist organisation. So that’s presumably why the Guards took this shot at French supermarkets, though predictably it’s just validated French warnings: Paris is now issuing arrest warrants against the regime’s Shahid Kaveh cyber unit.

  3. 03

    VENEZUELA

    We’re so back (maybe).

    US oil giant ExxonMobil has signed a preliminary deal with Venezuela’s interim government to explore local drilling opportunities. Just months ago the oil major had called Venezuela “uninvestable”. (WSJ $)

    Comment: ExxonMobil’s press release was only 38 words long, a hint at how cautious the firm remains in this post-Maduro Venezuela, particularly with a popular opposition figure and Nobel laureate (Machado) now back in town and calling for elections.

  4. 04

    IRAN

    “Effectively over”?

    President Trump has emerged from a meeting with Qatar’s PM, declaring the military portion of the Iran war now “effectively over”. Compare that with the latest from Trump’s chief diplomat Marco Rubio, who’s insisting the two foes are still nowhere near a breakthrough. (AP)

    Comment: This president has made this claim before, though it doesn’t necessarily clash with Rubio’s latest. Rather, it might increasingly reflect Trump’s lost appetite for military action in light of the midterm results and Gulf lobbying. Either way, energy markets are hopeful, pushing Brent down another 1.7% to $90.99 on the news.

  5. 05

    ARGENTINA

    Pontiff and the populist.

    Pope Leo XIV has drawn a record-breaking crowd of 2.5 million faithful in Buenos Aires for the largest Mass of his pontificate. Spicily, he also used the stage to issue a thinly veiled rebuke of President Milei’s austerity policies, warning “the economy must be at the service of the person, rather than the person at the service of the economy.” (Al Jazeera)

    Comment: For what it’s worth, we agree with that tight Papal line (kudos to the speechwriter), though unlike Milei’s fiscal orthodoxy, it still doesn’t offer an alternative to Argentina’s boom-bust history that’s harmed the people for decades.

  6. 06

    VIETNAM

    Cross-border snatch.

    There are now eye-witness accounts seemingly confirming that Vietnamese intelligence might’ve abducted Australian, Norwegian, and Vietnamese pro-democracy activists from neighbouring Cambodia in September! They’re now facing terrorism charges back in Vietnam, which claims they “entered illegally”. (Mekong Independent)

    Comment: Hanoi has grown increasingly aggressive in pursuing offshore dissidents, a fact that’s easy to miss among the world’s bigger push to de-risk supply chains from neighbouring China. Absent any pushback, Vietnam’s authoritarian rulers seem to calculate that neighbours and Western powers would rather not risk ties with a regional swing power.

  7. 07

    RUSSIA

    The Abu Dhabi talks.

    With US, Russian, and Ukrainian delegates due to resume peace talks in Abu Dhabi today (Tuesday), there are wild reports DC is asking if Russia will accept Western partners making a NATO-like guarantee for Ukraine (ie… to deter Russia from attacking again). (Politico)

    Comment: Putin will never agree to the kind of formal Western security backing he’s long flagged among his swirling justifications for invading Ukraine in the first place. But even seeking his agreement still risks validating his baseless claim to a veto over how other sovereign nations manage their own affairs. Besides, the region’s challenge isn’t a lack of security architecture, but just Putin’s own continued disregard for it.