Thursday briefing: What we do (and don’t) know about Alice Huang and the Nvidia affair

In today’s newsletter: US intelligence reportedly believes the former tech executive was recruited by Beijing, raising questions about the security of the AI industry and Trump’s close ties to Nvidia chief Jensen Huang

Good morning. Espionage is supposed to be a secretive business, and spies are supposed to be virtually invisible. That hasn’t been the case for Alice Huang, the mysterious Shanghai executive who formed a romantic relationship with Jensen Huang, the founder of Nvidia, one of America’s most powerful tech companies.

Many questions have arisen since it emerged that US intelligence believes that Huang (no relation of Jensen’s) is an asset recruited by the Chinese intelligence services to spy on behalf of Beijing. This morning’s newsletter explains what we know about the story, and what it tells us about the effectiveness of Chinese espionage. That’s after the headlines.

UK | Ministers are considering changing the law to force the entertainment industry to better protect women and children in the wake of the revelations over David Walliams and the conviction of Russell Brand.

Climate | The UK government has appointed the world’s first special representative for climate security, in the strongest sign yet of fears that climate breakdown will bring chaos to the country.

US midterms | Democrat Scott Colom has become the first Black senator in Mississippi to be elected since Reconstruction, in a stunning upset after more than a week of vote counting in one of the country’s most reliably red states.

Europe | Millions of people across Spain have joined the country’s first general strike in 14 years, setting up picket lines to protest against soaring housing prices before an election in which the far right could be catapulted into power.

Technology | Police officers risk arresting innocent people, especially from ethnic minorities, if they treat inaccurate facial recognition data as evidence, an official report has found.