| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a symbiotic synthesis of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here. Jensen Huang Is Winning China and the US | It’s not easy to be on the good side — simultaneously — of both Xi Jinping and Donald Trump. But somehow, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang has managed to stay on the good side of Beijing and Washington. Last week, Huang wowed an audience in China by delivering a speech in Mandarin. The CEO of one of the world’s most valuable companies by market cap was born in Mandarin-speaking Taiwan but, after moving to the US at age 9, spoke mainly English. His Mandarin speech was slightly halting, but (unlike Mark Zuckerberg’s attempt a while back) Huang — now 62 — had the troublesome Chinese tones right, enunciating with confidence. The result was widespread acclaim in the People’s Republic. This week, Nvidia received the approval of the Trump Administration with its new AI Action Plan to boost American leadership in the potentially world-changing technology. Huang was the policy’s main proponent in the lead-up to the announcement. Writes Parmy Olson, “He’d lobbied the White House in recent months to lift its restrictions on his company’s chips to China — curbs that would have cost Nvidia $15 billion in revenue, according to the company’s own estimates. Huang argued that banning exports of its H20 chips would hurt the president’s America First ambitions.” The administration has bought Huang’s line that if Nvidia couldn’t sell to China, Beijing would buy more from the company’s rival Huawei, which would then plow those earnings into the kind of research and chip development that would compromise American technological leadership. Trump also let it be known that he’d toyed with the idea of breaking up Nvidia, but realized it was going to be “hard.” More good luck for Huang. Parmy is not too sure everything’s going to be so plucky for everyone else. “We might find ourselves and our kids addicted to artificial companions, or China might use Nvidia’s chips to innovate its way past the US,” she writes. In any event, Silicon Valley wins. These Chappals Were Made for Trolling | Ever wonder about those TikTok videos where an Indian mom holds up a slipper and sends an adult offspring in business attire fleeing into a corner in fear? The homespun — if traumatic — tradition is manifest in this mock definition of the chappal, the quotidian leather sandals of the country: “noun. a device used by Indian parents for reshaping their kids for a better tomorrow.” Being spanked with a slipper may not be that painful, but it is humiliating. India’s netizens have just inflicted that punishment on Prada, the Italian luxury house that appropriated the fancier, though not much more expensive, Kolhapuri , without attributing its origin to the subcontinent. The backlash started almost as soon as the fashion company introduced what it called new “leather footwear” in June. The designs, writes Karishma Vaswani, were “strikingly similar to Kolhapuri sandals made in the Indian states of Maharashtra and Karnataka.” Karishma owns several non-Prada pairs herself. “The nationalistic sentiment whipped up by this controversy boosted sales of the traditional sandals,” she writes. “The country’s online community is renowned for its digital ferocity — it accused the brand of cultural appropriation.” The furor quickly brought Prada to heel, so to speak. After all, as Karishma notes, Indian consumers are an increasingly large part of the luxury market. “The sector could more than triple by 2030, growing to upward of $85 billion. The number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals — people with a net worth of at least $30 million — is expected to grow by 50% by 2028” in the country. (For comparison’s sake, China’s luxury market — the world’s largest — is estimated to be worth $148 billion by 2030.) One of my favorite stand-up comedians has become collateral damage in the controversy. Zarna Garg likes to play the Indian tiger mom (and chappal-wielder expert) in her routines. She also likes to satirize her own “self-care” shopping habits, including binge-buying luxury versions of Indian chappals. In one social media post amid the Prada hullabaloo, she decried the quality of Indian sandals and said her Hermes chappals have lasted years without need of replacement. “Sue me,” she says at the end. That drew the trolls her way, of course. As a fan, I was concerned, but, really, I won’t worry too much. Garg is indeed an Indian mom and a tough-as-nails example of immigrant drive in the US. I wouldn’t cross her. She has her hands on chappals — Hermes or Prada or not. “Is there famine in Gaza? The Israeli authority for the strip says no; the Hamas-run health ministry says about 10 people are dying of malnutrition every 24 hours. ... Warring parties can rarely be taken at their word, and without access for independent journalists, little can be confirmed first hand. Even so, we know more than enough to act. ... We know that the number of aid distribution points in Gaza has reduced to four — three in the south and one in the north — from about 400, as Israel seeks to control the flow. Israel also acknowledges that aid deliveries have plummeted since its new system took effect, with only the question of who to blame in dispute. But the ‘who’ and the ‘why’ don’t matter when it comes to the ‘what,’ which is the impact this man-made hell is having.” — Marc Champion in “Is There Famine in Gaza? Let’s Not Wait to Find Out.” Will there be enough milk to go around? — David Fickling India’s Gen Z billionaires are bored. — Andy Mukherjee Britain’s shambolic water market. — Matthew Brooker What does “agent” even mean in AI?. — Catherine Thorbecke The interest rate shock that backfired. — Daniel Moss A bad winter is coming for oil. — Javier Blas Italy meddles in a bank takeover. — Paul J. Davies Walk of the Town: The Burger With an Accent | I’d already turned in my hamburger column when I stumbled onto Dumbo here in London at the intersection of Brick Lane and Bethnal Green Road in Shoreditch. Bright but not shiny, sleekly minimalist, it’s what I imagine a fashionista burger joint should look like. Is that because it’s French? In a world of big corporate American chains, a Gallic interloper is to be welcomed. And its smashburger is a tasty impersonation of a Big Mac (the bun is too cottony for me, though I know friends who like that texture). The fries were perfect, and the chicken nuggets weren’t bad.  Dumbo, the French burger import in London Photograph by Howard Chua-Eoan/Bloomberg In any case, Dumbo London has been open for five weeks and the cool young crowds are mad for it. I stopped by just before 10 pm and the customers were clamoring. As was the manager, who was hectoring the cooks — with a French accent — to make sure the cheese melted a bit more before sliding the patties onto the bun. Next stop for Dumbo: Brooklyn? To eat … I mean, each its own.  “I don’t suppose it’ll make a difference to say we’re vegan...” Illustration by Howard Chua-Eoan/Bloomberg Notes: Please send escape routes and feedback to Howard Chua-Eoan at hchuaeoan@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and find us on Bluesky, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and Threads. | 
