Germany's top security official says the country will bar the use of critical components made by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE in core parts of its 5G networks in two steps starting in 2026.

Huawei has reported a nearly 70% fall in profit last year amid sanctions and pandemic challenges, but saw its enterprise sales rise as the Chinese technology giant sought to pivot into digital industries and reduce its vulnerability to U.S. sanctions.

Two suspected Chinese intelligence officers have been charged with attempting to obstruct the U.S. criminal investigation and prosecution of Chinese tech giant Huawei.

A European Union watchdog has warned that the EU faces much bigger economic and security threats unless member countries step up cooperation.

Brazil is holding its much-anticipated auction for build-out of the nation’s fifth-generation wireless network — with the open question of whether China’s Huawei telecommunications company eventually ill be involved despite U.S. opposition.

Lithuanian cybersecurity authorities are urging the country’s governmental agencies to abandon the use of Chinese smartphone brands.

The Mobile World Congress is kicking off in Barcelona with scaled-back attendance and beefed-up health and safety measures.

Huawei is launching its own HarmonyOS mobile operating system on its handsets as it adapts to losing access to Google mobile services two years ago after the U.S. put the Chinese telecommunications company on a trade blacklist.

Two men accused of spying for China have gone on trial in Poland's capital.

Chinese telecommunications equipment firm Huawei says it has reached an agreement with HSBC in Hong Kong to obtain documents that its chief financial office Meng Wanzhou hopes will help prevent her extradition to the U.S. Meng, who was detained in Canada in 2018 at the behest of U.S. authorities, has been fighting a legal battle over the last two years as the U.S. seeks to extradite her over bank fraud and allegations that Huawei violated sanctions on Iran.

FILE - In this Thursday, May 16, 2019 file photo, a man is silhouetted near the Huawei logo in Beijing. Huawei took U.K. bank HSBC to court on Friday, Feb. 12, 2021 seeking documents the Chinese company says are key to its legal efforts to stop its chief financial officer from being extradited to the U.S. from Canada. Huawei applied at the U.K. High Court for records it believes will show Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou didn't mislead the bank about evading sanctions on Iran, as U.S. authorities allege. The legal request further complicates the geopolitical battle over Meng's case. The U.S. government accuses Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company called Skycom to sell telecommunications equipment to Iran.

FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019 file photo a staff member holds a Huawei 'Mate20 X 5G' smartphone at the IFA 2019 tech fair in Berlin, Germany. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet approved a bill Wednesday that would require companies involved in setting up critical infrastructure such as high-speed 5G networks to guarantee that their equipment can't be used for sabotage, espionage or terrorism. The bill, which now goes to parliament, seeks to address concerns that vendors such as Chinese tech company Huawei might pose a security risk if they have access to core parts of the German telecoms network. “This law concerns fundamental questions of IT security and not individual manufacturers,” Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin. “Huawei will continue to work transparently with regulators, customers, and industry organizations to ensure the security of mobile networks.”___Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this report.

Barcelona's Antoine Griezmann reacts after missing a chance during the Champions League group G soccer match between FC Barcelona and Juventus at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)BARCELONA – French soccer player Antoine Griezmann ended his affiliation with Huawei on Thursday, saying there are “strong suspicions” that the Chinese tech giant has contributed to the repression of the mostly Muslim minority Uighurs. The 29-year-old Barcelona forward's announcement followed media reports that Huawei has tested facial recognition software intended to help China's surveillance of the group. “Following strong suspicions that the Huawei company has contributed to the development of a ‘Uighur alert’ thanks to facial recognition software, I am announcing the immediate termination of my partnership with the company,” Griezmann said in an Instagram post. ___More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

LONDON – Wireless carriers in the U.K. won’t be allowed to install Huawei equipment in their high-speed 5G networks after September 2021, the British government said Monday, hardening its line against the Chinese technology company. The deadline is part of a roadmap the British government is laying down to remove “high risk” equipment suppliers with draft legislation that aims to tighten telecommunications security requirements. Telecom operators were ordered to stop buying Huawei 5G equipment by the end of the year and have until 2027 to rip any of the company’s existing gear out of their systems. “Today I am setting out a clear path for the complete removal of high risk vendors from our 5G networks,” Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said. The government is also setting out a strategy to diversify its telecom equipment suppliers, including a research lab and investment in open radio standards technology.

LONDON – Telecom companies in Britain face hefty fines if they don't comply with strict new security rules under a new law proposed in Parliament on Tuesday that is aimed at blocking high-risk equipment suppliers like China's Huawei. The Telecommunications (Security) Bill tightens security requirements for new high speed 5G wireless and fiber optic networks, with the threat of fines of up to either 10% of sales or 100,000 pounds ($134,000) a day for companies that don't follow the rules. The draft law paves the way for the U.K. government to formalize Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision in July prohibiting Huawei from building Britain's 5G mobile phone networks because of security concerns. Wireless carriers were also ordered to rip out any existing Huawei 5G equipment from their networks by 2027. Huawei said it was disappointed that the U.K. government was looking to exclude it from the 5G rollout.

BEIJING – Chinese tech giant Huawei is selling its budget-price Honor smartphone brand in an effort to rescue the struggling business from damaging U.S. sanctions imposed on its parent company. Huawei will retain its flagship Huawei smartphone brand. The buyer is a state-owned company in Shenzhen, the southern city where Huawei is headquartered, and a group of Honor retailers. Huawei, China’s first global tech brand and the biggest maker of switching equipment used by phone and internet companies, is at the center of U.S.-Chinese tension over technology, security and spying. Other Chinese smartphone brands such as Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo operate without such restrictions.

HELSINKI – Finnish telecommunications company Nokia on Thursday reported improved third-quarter earnings largely in line with expectations, but acknowledged it faced challenges in the race for 5G cellular networks. He said Thursday that “more change is needed” within Nokia, which has played catch-up with China’s Huawei and Sweden’s Ericsson in the 5G market. Last week, Ericsson reported upbeat third-quarter earnings that were helped by the rollout of 5G networks in China and a strong U.S. market. It’s going to be increasingly important in the future.”Huawei has been banned by several governments from 5G networks over allegations it can allow the Chinese government to snoop on data. Sweden became latest European country last week to ban Huawei and ZTE, another Chinese network equipment provider, from its 5G networks.

The new Huawei Mate 40 Pro smartphone is held for a photo, in London, Wednesday Oct. 21, 2020. Huawei, has unveiled its Mate 40 line of phones, Thursday Oct. 22, 2020, a product release that comes at a crucial moment for the company. The Mate 40 could be the last one powered by the company's homegrown Kirin chipsets because of U.S. restrictions in May barring non-American companies from using U.S. technology in manufacturing without a license. “This is a major challenge to Huawei and it’s really losing its market outside of China,” said Mo Jia, an analyst at independent research firm Canalys. Huawei phones are not widely available in the U.S., but they’re sold in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

LONDON – A committee of British lawmakers is urging the government to consider banning Chinese technology giant Huawei from next-generation mobile phone networks two years earlier than planned. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government in July blocked Huawei from having any role in building the country's new 5G networks, amid security concerns fueled by rising tensions between Beijing and Western powers. British wireless carriers are prohibited from buying Huawei network equipment but have until 2027 to remove Huawei gear they've already installed in the new networks. “Clearly these restrictions will delay the 5G rollout and economically damage the U.K. and mobile network operators." The company noted that Huawei played a key role in building previous generations of British mobile networks and it should continue to be part of 5G's rollout.

The Trump administration has extended for 90 more days a limited reprieve on U.S. technology sales to Huawei. That means U.S. firms aren't allowed to sell technology to Huawei without government approval. U.S. companies, for example, continue to supply Huawei chips made outside the United States. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says Mondays extension will allow wireless companies to keep offering service in remote parts of the U.S. Larger U.S. wireless companies do not use equipment from Huawei, while smaller, rural carriers do.

LONDON U.S. President Donald Trump's technology adviser warned Thursday about China exporting authoritarianism globally in parallel with its rise as a tech power. Kratsios's speech at Portugal's Web Summit was the latest salvo in the U.S.-China battle for global tech dominance. He claimed that while the U.S. and its allies have been cooperating to develop technology for good, China's government "continues extending its authoritarianism abroad," and specifically cited tech giant Huawei. Kratsios said that despite the risks, Western businesses are still considering "opening their arms to Chinese companies" to build next generation mobile networks and develop key technologies like artificial intelligence. "Cybersecurity and privacy protection are and will remain Huawei's top priorities," the company said in a statement.

BUDAPEST Hungary's foreign minister says China's Huawei will take part in the construction of the country's next-generation 5G wireless network. Peter Szijjarto said Tuesday in Shanghai, China, that Huawei will be cooperating with Britain's Vodafone and Germany's Deutsche Telekom in the project. The United States has tried to persuade allies to shun Huawei, which it considers a security risk. It was a key issue during a February meeting in Budapest between Szijjarto and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In April, Szijjarto said that Hungary's good cooperation with Huawei, which has one of its largest European centers in Hungary, was in its economic and strategic interests.

WASHINGTON, DC Chinese hackers with a history of state-sponsored espionage have intercepted the text messages of thousands of foreigners in a targeted campaign that planted eavesdropping software on a telecommunications provider's servers, a cybersecurity firm said. The cybersecurity firm would not identify or otherwise characterize the victims or the impacted telecoms provider or give its location. FireEye's director of advanced practices, Steven Stone, said that none of the known targets was a U.S. government official. FireEye did not identify the maker of the equipment that was hacked or specify how the hackers penetrated the telecom provider networks. Details of the espionage operation come as the U.S. tries to persuade allied governments to shun Chinese telecom equipment providers led by Huawei as they build next-generation wireless networks known as 5G, claiming they represent a risk to national security.

Miquel Benitez/Getty ImagesBRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union has warned that 5G networks could be left vulnerable to attack from state-backed hackers if operators use too many parts from a single supplier. The European Union is conducting a wider security review due by the end of December that will include steps to safeguard 5G networks. The EU report says critical sectors of the economy including energy, transport, banking and health would all be exposed to new risks as a result of being connected. "Ensuring the security and resilience of 5G networks is therefore essential," the report states. Some mobile network operators are meanwhile taking steps to diversify their suppliers beyond Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia, which have a stranglehold on the industry.

Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesLONDON - Vodafone is testing technology in Europe that could break the stranglehold on telecom equipment enjoyed by Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei. OpenRAN, developed within industry association Telecom Infra Project (TIP), standardizes the design and functionality of the infrastructure, masts and antennae used by mobile network operators. "The global supply of telecom network equipment has become concentrated in a small handful of companies," Vodafone said in a statement, adding that more more suppliers would improve flexibility and innovation. An open alternativeThe number of equipment suppliers has dwindled in recent decades, leaving operators beholden to a small number of very large vendors. More than 100 possible locations across the United Kingdom had been identified for OpenRAN trials, a Vodafone spokesperson told CNN Business.

Huawei's new Mate 30 smartphone is about to go on sale, but it won't come with YouTube, Gmail or Google Maps. The Mate 30 phones will come with Google's open source Android operating system, but won't have access to the Google Play Store or apps like YouTube, Gmail and Google Maps. Third party apps like ride-hailing platforms and food delivery services that rely on Google Maps would also no longer function without access to Google services. Huawei's Mate 30 series is expected to come with a better camera system and faster hardware under the hood. Leaked promotional photos published by The Verge show the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro will have four Leica cameras on the back of the phone contained in a circular cutout, one-upping the three cameras housed on the back of the iPhone 11.

At the same time, Commerce said it was renewing a temporary general license that permits companies in the United States to do business with Huawei on a limited basis, such as to provide security updates to Huawei devices. On Sunday, Trump tweeted that the United States is "doing very well with China, and talking!" The United States has long argued that Huawei poses a national security threat, and has claimed Beijing can use the company's products to spy on other nations. Huawei smartphones run on Google's Android operating system and come with popular apps like Google Maps and Gmail. Without access to Google services, Huawei's devices become a lot less attractive to users outside of China.

Rolling out a new operating system is pretty easy, especially for a big tech firm like Huawei. Even Samsung, which makes more smartphones than anyone else, has struggled to gain traction with its own operating system Tizen. Google problemHuawei has a pretty obvious reason for wanting to create its own operating system. Consumers who already owned Huawei smartphones were largely unaffected, Google said in May. Last quarter, global sales accounted for about one third of Huawei's smartphone shipments, according to IDC.

HONG KONG - Asian stocks rallied Wednesday after the United States decided to postpone some tariffs on Chinese goods, fueling hopes for a trade deal between the two countries. The yuan gained 0.3% from Tuesday's levels, trading at around 7.04 per US dollar in mainland China. Airports near Hong Kong are expected to benefit from the disruption in the city, CITIC Securities analysts wrote in a research report. Shenzhen Airport jumped 2.4%, following a 10% gain Tuesday. Cathay Pacific Group rebounded more than 3.6% in early trading in Hong Kong.

That ban has prevented companies like Google from supplying new Huawei devices with its version of Android OS. Harmony, which is called "Hongmeng" in Chinese, "is completely different from Android and iOS," Apple's operating system, said Richard Yu, the CEO of Huawei's consumer business group. Yu said that Huawei can start using Harmony in smartphones "at any time," but he said that the company is giving "priority" to Android right now. "We will switch to [the] Harmony system when we can't use Android," he said, adding that it is "not that difficult" to migrate from Android to Huawei's own system. Consumers who already owned Huawei smartphones were largely unaffected, Google said in May.

(Photo byWASHINGTON, D.C. - American technology companies that had hoped to soon resume sales to Huawei may have to keep waiting. The White House plans to delay a decision on granting licenses that would allow US companies to sell to Chinese tech firm Huawei, according to a report from Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter. And it's another blow to tech companies hurt by the new hike in tariffs on Chinese goods announced by President Donald Trump last week. It also hurt sales at some American tech companies for which Huawei is a major customer. Indeed, American companies appear to be concerned about the impact of ongoing trade tensions.

Takashi Aoyama/Getty ImagesTOKYO - Asian markets rose slightly on Friday, continuing to recover their losses from earlier this week. China's consumer price index rose 2.8% in July, which was slightly better than market expectations. The country's producer price index dropped 0.3%, according to government data released Friday. China's largest nuclear power operator, CGN Power, set the price of its upcoming listing in Shenzhen. CGN Power already trades in Hong Kong, where it was up about 1% Friday.

Rishi Iyengar/CNNSHENZHEN, China - Huawei is still growing despite a continued US campaign aimed at crimping its global reach. Huawei chairman Liang Hua said Tuesday that operations are smooth despite the US restrictions, adding that their "core products have not been significantly affected." Without access to Google services, Huawei's devices become a lot less attractive to users outside of China. Current Huawei smartphones, such as the flagship Mate 20 X, are approved to use the Android operating system and Google services. But Liang said "it's up to the United States" to decide if Huawei can continue using Google software on upcoming phones.

BEIJING - Chinese authorities suspect FedEx of holding back more than 100 packages that tech company Huawei was trying to deliver to China, state media reported Friday. Regulators in China concluded that FedEx committed "violations" when it diverted Huawei parcels, according to state news agency Xinhua. The Chinese government opened an investigation nearly two months ago after Huawei said FedEx diverted to the United States packages intended for the company's offices in China. Huawei has said that FedEx attempted to divert another two packages that it intended to be shipped from Vietnam to other Huawei offices in Asia. When details about the initial diverted packages first emerged, Huawei welcomed FedEx's apology but said it suspected that the diversion was intentional.

In an interview with Johnson by Hong Kong Chinese television network Phoenix Television, broadcast for the first time Tuesday, the new UK leader hints that he might be more amicable to China. In the interview, which took place when he was the UK's foreign secretary in January 2018, Johnson effusively praises China and its leader. Johnson said that he was "very enthusiastic" about Xi's signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investment project and celebrated Chinese investment in the United Kingdom. It warned of "appropriate action" if the country negotiates a trade deal with a "non-market country," strongly indicating China. In his interview in January 2018, Johnson appeared enthusiastic to make up lost ground with China over the past decade.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images(CNN) - Huawei is laying off more than 600 workers in the United States as the Chinese technology giant continues to struggle with new restrictions from the Trump administration. That action directly targeted China and Huawei, a leader in 5G technology and a global business with revenue of more than $100 billion. Huawei doesn't have a big presence in the United States, but the company is a sole provider of networking equipment to many rural American internet providers. The United States' actions against Huawei are taking a serious toll on the company's bottom line. Huawei recently said it will miss sales forecasts by about $30 billion over the next couple of years.

At the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, Trump said he would allow American companies to resume sales to Huawei of products that don't pose a security threat. Huawei is the world's leading telecom equipment provider and an important customer of American companies. Because Huawei remains on the Entity List, American companies still have to apply for a license to sell to it. If sales from American companies like Google and Intel can resume, Huawei may have a chance to recover that business. Huawei is also willing to continue to buy products from American companies," Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei told the Financial Times.

Chung Sung-Jun/Getty ImagesSEOUL, South Korea - Samsung is warning investors that its second quarter profit likely plunged 56%, as the company continued to struggle with sluggish demand for memory chips and smartphones. The earnings forecast was better than analysts' downbeat expectations, thanks to what Samsung called a "one-time gain related to the display business." Samsung's profits have taken a beating over the past year, largely because of a slump in its memory chip business. In the month immediately following the restriction, Huawei said it saw a 40% drop in overseas sales of its smartphone business. SK Kim, an analyst with brokerage firm Daiwa Capital Markets, said Huawei likely helped memory chip sales in the second quarter as the company was stockpiling supplies.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images(CNN) - The United States hit back against Huawei on Wednesday, asking a federal court in Texas to dismiss the Chinese firm's lawsuit against a US government ban on its products. It has been under pressure from a US-led campaign against the company urging allies to ban or restrict Huawei products from their 5G networks, citing national security concerns. The lawsuit is separate from the US Commerce Department's recent blacklisting of Huawei, which restricts American companies from doing business with the Chinese firm. Analysts have said the lawsuit is more of a symbolic gesture, given that Huawei has been barred from core US telecommunications networks for years. Huawei warned last month that the US ban could cost it $30 billion in lost sales over the next two years.

Futures for the Dow are up 1%, putting it on track to open above the all-time closing high of 26,828 points it recorded in October. At Friday's close, the Dow was 0.9% below the record. Meanwhile, futures for the S&P 500 are 1.2% higher, while those for the Nasdaq Composite are a whopping 1.8% higher. The S&P was only 0.4% off the record closing high it reached June 20 at Friday's close, putting it on track to hit a fresh all-time high on Monday. However, United States oil production is surging, and that hampers the argument for higher oil prices.

The decision could help Huawei get its smartphone business, among the biggest in the world, back on track. While it remains unclear which US companies will be allowed to sell to Huawei, analysts say the most important supplier for the company's smartphone business right now is Google. Roughly half of Huawei's smartphone sales last year came from outside China, according to research firms Canalys and IDC. Existing Huawei smartphones, which still have access to Google systems and software updates, could also be losing their resale value in key markets. Even if the company is able to buy all the US tech and software needed for its smartphone business, the US-led pressure campaign against Huawei will have lasting effects.

Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on June 20, 2019, in New York City. Asia stocks rallied on Monday following commitments by the United States and China to resume trade talks. US stock futures also climbed, after US President Donald Trump said he would hold off on new tariffs on China and said he would lift some restrictions on Chinese tech giant Huawei. The Dow was up more than 200 points and the Nasdaq, which includes key tech companies, rose by as much as 1.5%. And the administration's position on Chinese tech giant Huawei remains murky, which could make the tech sector jittery.

(Photo by(CNN) - Six weeks after Huawei was blacklisted by the US government, President Donald Trump had what the Chinese telecom firm described as a "U-turn." Trump said Saturday that "US companies can sell their equipment to Huawei," allowing the transactions won't present a "great, national emergency problem." The United States sells a "tremendous amount of product" to Huawei, he added. The ban on purchasing goods from American companies is not, however, the only policy hurdle Huawei faces in the United States. An executive order Trump signed in May bars US firms from purchasing or using Huawei telecom gear.