Question marks hang over Pete Hegseth’s tenure as US defense secretary as Congress launches a fresh attempt to impeach him amid growing bipartisan calls for his resignation.

In Washington on Monday, local time, dissident GOP congressman Thomas Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against Mr Hegseth, saying he had acted unlawfully in his role.His articles of impeachment allege Mr Hegseth has committed “high crimes and misdemeanours” and “has demonstrated he will remain a threat to civilians” as well as the US military and the country’s constitution if he remains in office.

Massie’s bid will have the support of Democrats, but there is growing speculation that disgruntled GOP representatives could also back it. The fact Massie is spearheading the impeachment attempt despite being from Donald Trump’s Republican Party has enraged the President, who has repeatedly voiced support for Mr Hegseth.

Around 70 Republicans will leave the House at the end of this year. Some are retiring or have won political office elsewhere, while others were defeated at last week’s midterm elections. Analysts argue many people in this cohort will have nothing to lose and could back the bid to make a political point during their final weeks in office, even if the White House hates it.

Taiwan said Friday it has decided to close its representative office in Papua New Guinea and withdraw its staff, blaming Chinese coercion of the South Pacific nation for the decision.

The announcement comes after a months-long dispute following PNG’s decision in July to shutter Taiwan’s office in the capital Port Moresby, which Taipei rejected. China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and opposes the self-governed island’s participation in international organisations and exchanges with other countries, previously welcomed PNG’s move.

Like many countries, PNG has formal diplomatic relations with China but had allowed Taiwan to have a representative office in Port Moresby. Taiwan said “a series of recent actions” by the PNG government had “severely undermined the foundation of mutual trust built through long-term cooperation between the two sides”. Taiwan previously announced that it had stopped spot purchases of liquefied natural gas from PNG, but on Friday the ministry said it also would no longer sign new spot purchase contracts with the country.

“In the future, we will allocate relevant resources to friendly nations and other regions with cooperative potential that warrant continued engagement, in order to further deepen substantive cooperation and expand Taiwan’s international space,” Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Technology giant and artificial chip manufacturer Nvidia says it is launching an independent investigation after a media report that its founder and CEO Jensen Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort and extramarital affair.

Top Republican members of Congress in the US House of Representatives have called on Mr Huang to brief Congress this month about a New York Times report in October alleging he had a close relationship with a Chinese businesswoman who passed information to Beijing. The media outlet reported last month that US authorities were also investigating Alice Huang, a former executive of Singapore-based company Megaspeed, which buys AI chips from Nvidia. It is suspected that Huang is having an affair with the former executive.

Nvidia said that while its board had no reason to believe that either US national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, its inquiry would examine all available information, and that Mr Huang fully supports the review and has committed to cooperating with it.