Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🌐 Nvidia CEO spying allegations
• ⚖️ Russell Brand’s 10.5-year prison sentence
• 💪 The greatest flex for a celebrity

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.37-minute read (1,162 words).

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“The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.”

–Eric Hoffer (1902-1983)

Jensen Huang, the world's most powerful AI executive, admitted on Sunday to an affair with a businesswoman who’s suspected of being a Chinese spy.

The revelation by Nvidia’s CEO came hours before the company launched an independent investigation into his relationship with MegaSpeed executive Alice Huang (no relation).

Who is Alice Huang?

While official public information is sparse, Alice reportedly worked as a TV reporter for Chinese state media nearly two decades ago, then moved to working for Chinese financial companies and London-based HSBC through the early 2020s.

• Around early 2023, she moved to MegaSpeed, which advertises itself as a cloud provider of Nvidia hardware for the Asia-Pacific region.
• MegaSpeed connects companies that develop AI hardware, like Nvidia, to companies that need AI computing power, like Chinese tech giant Alibaba (an early customer).

MegaSpeed’s Chinese ties have drawn suspicion. In late 2024, the US Commerce Department began investigating whether MegaSpeed was being used as a potential backdoor to funnel America’s most coveted AI chips from Nvidia into Chinese hands. That investigation was reportedly handed over this year to the Justice Department.

How does Jensen Huang fit in?

It is unclear exactly when Alice first met Jensen. But a WSJ report places their first professional meeting in early 2024, when Alice represented MegaSpeed at an annual Nvidia event in California. The two were later photographed together in May 2025 pecking each other on the cheek after dining with other tech executives.

Their relationship was allegedly a calculated move. In late October, the NY Times reported that US spy agencies believe Alice Huang was a Chinese intelligence asset who funneled information to Beijing.

• President Trump was reportedly briefed on the situation roughly a year ago, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly drafted a top-secret memo this past spring warning top Trump admin officials that Jensen was in a close relationship with a Chinese spy.
• According to the NYT, Alice was specifically recruited by a Chinese spy agency to collect intelligence on Jensen and potentially influence Nvidia to push for Chinese access to its most advanced chips.

Jensen is no stranger to that argument. Since 2023, the Nvidia CEO and other top chip executives have consistently asked the US gov’t to loosen restrictions on selling advanced chips to China. Jensen and others say keeping Beijing dependent on American chips would strengthen US competitiveness, and prevent China from developing their own more advanced chips.

The market reacts

Nvidia shares closed 4.2% lower in its first trading day since the news, losing nearly $200 billion in market value on a day where all three major US stock indexes surged more than 2%.

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At some point in the not-too-distant future, the amount of satellites in the night sky could outnumber the amount of stars visible to the naked eye.

Over the past decade, the number of active satellites orbiting Earth has grown from ~1,000 to ~17,000, with experts predicting that figure could surpass 100,000 within another decade.

As launch costs fall, companies including SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Google are also exploring the possibility of orbital data centers, or networks of satellites designed to process and store data in space (often AI-related).

Satellites are getting bigger, too

SpaceX's current Starlink satellites—which make up over half of all satellites currently in orbit—clock in at ~4 square meters, or about the size of a king bed.

But those numbers are about to rocket upwards faster than Starship at liftoff:

• SpaceX says its future data-center satellites could reach 1,500 square meters, or 375x larger than Starlink satellites.
• Other companies have proposed systems of satellites that each measure 9,600+ square meters, nearly the size of two full NFL football fields.

Why it’s a big deal: Satellites already interfere with telescope images by reflecting sunlight, complicating both astronomical research and amateur stargazing. Scientists worry that adding tens of thousands of larger satellites could pose an “existential threat” to scientific observatories and Earth-based telescopes, some of which cost US taxpayers billions of dollars.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📈 US stocks rise significantly across the board, with the S&P 500 delivering its best day since early April. (S&P: +2.3% | Dow: +2.2% | Nasdaq: +2.7%)
• 🛞 Goodyear parts ways with CEO Mark Stewart amid efforts to bolster the tire company’s business; director Roger Wood will serve as interim CEO amid search for a permanent replacement.
• 📺 Skydance to launch Paramount+ and HBO Max as part of a single offer as soon as early 2027; reveal comes in letter to shareholders outlining how Skydance plans to achieve $6+ billion in cost savings over the next three years following merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

SPORTS, MEDIA, & ENTERTAINMENT

• ⚖️ Russell Brand receives 10.5-year prison sentence in the UK following his conviction on rape and sexual assault charges.
• 🦸 DC Studios co-CEOs and chairmen James Gunn and Peter Safran are stepping down; the duo will be replaced by longtime Marvel producer Jeremy Latcham, who’ll serve as president and chief creative officer.
• 🙏 Richard Lloyd, iconic guitarist of 1970s band Television, died at 75.

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SCIENCE, SPACE, & EMERGING TECH

• 🚀 Hole in Earth’s atmosphere spanning ~3,100 miles across the US was created during NASA’s Artemis II launch in April, large enough to potentially disrupt GPS signals, per new study.
• 🏛️ FDA approves first Hepatitis B drug offering a potential functional cure. | Makers of GLP-1 drugs, including Ozempic and Zepbound, must include warnings about a rare possibility of developing permanent vision loss, per the FDA.
• 💊 Heart disease drug fails to reduce the risks of heart attacks and strokes in a five-year clinical trial, despite reducing a protein linked to heart disease by 78%. | GLP-1 pill Foundayo found to reduce sleep apnea by up to 44% in clinical trials, with manufacturer Eli Lilly to seek FDA approval to treat the condition by year’s end.

US, WORLD, & POLITICS

• ⚖️ Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces eight articles of impeachment introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) alleging violations of congressional war powers, unlawful military strikes, and suppression of free speech; House vote could come as early as this week.
• 🇺🇲 President Trump says he sees no reason to escalate the war with Iran, as diplomatic efforts to reach a deal continue; Secretary of State Marco Rubio warns that talks are not close to a breakthrough.
• 🏛️ Federal judge orders New York City to comply with a previously contested ICE subpoena seeking records of male residents at a Bronx homeless shelter; a court-appointed official will review the records and give ICE only the names of residents with serious criminal histories.

☝️ Hundreds of Chicagoans gathered at Millennium Park on Sunday in an effort to push the Chicago Bean exactly 7 inches to the left. An anonymous flyer encouraging residents to come join the effort went viral on Saturday—and while the people put in a valiant effort, the 110-ton steel sculpture did not budge.

🤔 Did you know? McDonald's is the largest toy distributor in the world thanks to its Happy Meals. The fast food giant distributes 1.5+ billion toys/year, easily outpacing traditional toy manufacturers like Mattel, Hasbro, and Lego.

📰 Worth a read: The greatest flex for a celebrity? A photo with the pope.

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• 10 global wellness traditions to weave into your life
• Wardrobe sealed for 2,000 years is opened for the first time
• The problem with loving machines

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Yesterday we covered how hackers have been making headlines for some pretty unusual targets lately, with their methods becoming more sophisticated thanks to the help of AI-enhanced tools.

❓ Our question to you: How concerned are you about a major cyberattack targeting the US government, companies, or infrastructure in the near future?

• Extremely concerned: 62%
• Somewhat concerned: 30%
• Not very concerned: 5%
• Not at all concerned: 3%

Read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 482 votes and 34 longform responses.

❓ Trivia: What city hosted the first Olympic Games?

🎓 True or false?...Water boils at 180°F.

🤔 Riddle me this: I'm not a blanket, yet I cover the ground; a crystal from heaven that doesn't make a sound. What am I?

(keep scrolling for the answer)

🦜 An 11-month-old pet parakeet named Luna is back home with her owner in Northampton, England, after a gust of wind blew open a window and sent her on an unexpected adventure.

A passing driver spotted the little bird hopping into a storm drain a mile from home and alerted animal rescuers, who safely retrieved Luna and helped reunite her with her grateful owner.

❓ Trivia: Athens, Greece, in 1896

🎓 T/F: False; it boils at 212°F

🤔 Riddle: A snowflake

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