The government is examining what impact tough new US sanctions on Huawei will have on the Chinese multinational’s involvement in the UK’s 5G network.
The National Cyber Security Centre will conduct a review of the effect of the measures taken by the Trump administration focusing on companies supplying equipment to Huawei.
The escalating confrontation between the US and China over claims that Beijing attempted to hide the start of coronavirus infections has been followed by Washington bringing in new rules. The latest one, announced by the US Department of Commerc on Friday, requires foreign manufacturers using American chip-making equipment to get a licence before being allowed to sell semiconductors to Huawei.
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The Daily Telegraph reported at the weekend that Boris Johnson has instructed officials to tighten restrictions on the involvement of the company in the new system to minimal levels by 2023 after pressure from Tory rebels.
Donald Trump has threatened to withhold intelligence if Huawei continues to remain in the UK communications structure. The US defence secretary, Mark Esper , recently reiterated the warning that “if countries choose to go the Huawei route it could well jeopardise all the information sharing and intelligence sharing we have been talking about, and that could undermine the alliance, or at least our relationship with that country”.
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1/50 24 May 2020
Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca during the early hours of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday which starts at the conclusion of the holy fasting month of Ramadan
AFP via Getty
2/50 23 May 2020
Tamika Eastley, left, and Anthony Ragusa work out as the sun sets over the Kangaroo Point Cliffs in Brisbane, Australia
EPA
3/50 22 May 2020
Firefighters spray water on the wreckage of a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft after it crashed into a residential area in Karachi
AFP via Getty
4/50 21 May 2020
Indigenous leader Kretan Kaingang wears a face mask with a hashtag that reads in Portuguese: “Get out Bolsonaro” during a protest demanding the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro outside the National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, May 21, 2020. As Brazil careens toward a full-blown public health emergency and economic meltdown, opponents have filed a request for Bolsonaro’s impeachment based on his mishandling of the new coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
AP
5/50 20 May 2020
People wait in line to undergo the coronavirus tests while keeping distance from each other at a makeshift clinic set up on a playground in Incheon, South Korea
Yonhap/AP
6/50 19 May 2020
Firefighters fighting a fire at a plastics factory in front of a huge cloud of smoke in Ladenburg, Germany
dpa via AP
7/50 18 May 2020
Ugandan academic Stella Nyanzi reacts as police officers detain her for protesting against the way that government distributes the relief food and lockdown situation in Kampala
Reuters
8/50 17 May 2020
A woman sits alone on a bench in a park following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Dublin, Ireland
Reuters
9/50 16 May 2020
Crematory workers using protective gear are pictured at a crematory in Nezahualcoyotl during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the outskirts of Mexico City, Mexico
Reuters
10/50 15 May 2020
Healthcare workers, nurses and doctors, unified under the movement called “Take Care of Care” wearing face masks protest against the Belgian authorities’ management of the coronavirus crisis, at the MontLegia CHC Hospital
Reuters
11/50 14 May 2020
A girl watches over goats on the banks of the Dal Lake during rainfall in Srinagar
AFP via Getty Images
12/50 13 May 2020
Life-size cardboard figures with photos of football fans are positioned on the stands of Borussia Moenchengladbach’s football stadium for their next game, which will be played without spectators, due to the coronavirus outbreak in Germany
Reuters
13/50 12 May 2020
Nurses wearing face masks take part in an event held to mark International Nurses Day, at Wuhan Tongji Hospital in China
China Daily via Reuters
14/50 11 May 2020
Iraqi protesters gather on the Al-Jumhuriyah bridge in the capital Baghdad during an anti-government demonstration. Modest anti-government rallies resumed in some Iraqi cities Sunday, clashing with security forces and ending months of relative calm just days after Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhemi’s government came to power. The protests first erupted in Baghdad and Shiite-majority southern cities in October, demanding an end to corruption and unemployment and an overhaul of the ruling class
AFP via Getty
15/50 10 May 2020
A man wearing a mask walks his dog in Madrid during the hours allowed by the government to exercise. Spain’s two biggest cities, Madrid and Barcelona, will not enter the next phase out of coronavirus lockdown along with many other regions next week
AFP via Getty
16/50 9 May 2020
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the nation after laying flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia. Russia marks the 75th anniversary since the capitulation of Nazi Germany in WWII amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic
EPA
17/50 8 May 2020
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of the German Parliament Bundestag Wolfgang Schaeuble, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Council Bundesrat in Germany Dietmar Woidke and the presiding judge of the German Federal Constitutional Court’s second senate, Andreas Vosskuhle attend wreath-laying ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two, at the Neue Wache Memorial in Berlin. Countries in Europe are commemorating the Victory in Europe Day, known as VE Day that celebrates Nazi Germany’s surrender during World World II on 8 May 1945
EPA
18/50 7 May 2020
A policeman uses his baton to push a resident breaking rules, during an extended nationwide lockdown to slow down the spread of coronavirus in Ahmedabad, India
Reuters
19/50 6 May 2020
A nurse tends to a crying newborn baby wearing a face shield at the National Maternity Hospital in Hanoi
AFP via Getty
20/50 5 May 2020
Bride Janine runs over to her wedding at a Drive-in cinema in Duesseldorf, Germany. The Drive-in theatre started to register official marriages on a stage, allowing all relatives and friends to attend in their cars, as weddings at the registry office are limited due to the coronavirus pandemic
AP
21/50 4 May 2020
Storekeepers asking for the reopening of shops and commercial activities gather for a flashmob protest on Piazza San Marco in Venice, as Italy starts to ease its lockdown
AFP via Getty
22/50 3 May 2020
A street vendor wearing a protective face mask waits for customers in Chinatown, after the government started opening some restaurants outside shopping malls, parks, and barbershops in Bangkok, Thailand
Reuters
23/50 2 May 2020
Two women carry longboards on an esplanade in Barcelona, during the hours allowed by the government to exercise, for the first time since the beginning of a national lockdown. All Spaniards are again allowed to leave their homes since today to walk or play sports after 48 days of very strict confinement to curb the coronavirus pandemic
AFP via Getty
24/50 1 May 2020
A girl, wearing a protective mask, plays with bubbles at a shopping mall in Gimpo, South Korea
Reuters
25/50 30 April 2020
Buddhist monks wearing face masks pray during Buddha’s birthday at the Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul, South Korea
AP
26/50 29 April 2020
A visitor in a plexiglass lock talks to a resident at Les Jardins d’Astrid, a rest home in Maurage, La Louviere, on April 29, 2020, as the visits to residents of rest homes are possible from today in Wallonia. – Belgium is in its seventh week of confinement in the ongoing corona virus crisis. The government has announced a phased plan to attempt an exit from the lockdown situation in the country, continuing to avoid the spread of Covid-19
Belga/AFP/Getty
27/50 28 April 2020
A demonstrator is seen near a bank on fire during unrest, as an economic crisis brings demonstrations back onto the streets in Tripoli, Lebanon April 28, 2020
Reuters
28/50 27 April 2020
A medical specialist walks out of a mobile laboratory, which is carrying out coronavirus tests
Reuters
29/50 26 April 2020
People wearing protective face masks practice social distancing as they pray outside a church in Kiev near the memorial dedicated to firefighters and workers who died after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, on the 34th anniversary of the event
Reuters
30/50 25 April 2020
Surfers walk during a sunrise at Recreio dos Bandeirantes beach, amid the coronavirus outbreak, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Reuters
31/50 24 April 2020
Inmates from Villa Devoto prison take part in a riot demanding measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus after a case was confirmed inside the prison, in Buenos Aires
AFP via Getty
32/50 23 April 2020
The cruise ship Ruby Princess departs from Port Kembla, south of Sydney, , after a few hundred virus-free crew members disembarked to begin the process of repatriation to their home countries
AFP/Getty
33/50 22 April 2020
An activist performs on the roof during Earth Day in Wroclaw, Poland
Agencja Gazeta via Reuters
34/50 21 April 2020
Malaysian army personnel set up barbed wire in the locked down area of Selayang wholesale market in Kuala Lumpur
EPA
35/50 20 April 2020
A trader walks inside a pen as he arrives to purchase vegetables and fruits at the Agricultural Produce Market Committee market in Navi Mumbai during the nationwide lockdown
AFP via Getty
36/50 19 April 2020
A bride, poses for a wedding photographer next to East Lake in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
37/50 18 April 2020
People shout at police officers during a demonstration of conspiracy theorists as other demonstrators protest against the lockdown imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Berlin
Reuters
38/50 17 April 2020
A pair of rare morepork owl chicks have become the first in more than a decade to survive on Norfolk Island, in the South Pacific
Parks Australia/Monash University
39/50 16 April 2020
A squirrel runs across a fence as the sun shines in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district
AFP via Getty
40/50 15 April 2020
Election officials count after general election voting in Seoul, South Korea
EPA
41/50 14 April 2020
Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was damaged in a devastating fire one year ago today
Reuters
42/50 13 April 2020
Wild bluebells, which bloom around mid-April turning the forest blue as they form a carpet, pictured in the Hallerbos in Belgium
Reuters
43/50 12 April 2020
Pope Francis delivers his Urbi et Orbi message following Easter Sunday Mass behind closed doors at St Peter’s Basilica in The Vatican, during the country’s lockdown
Vatican media/AFP via Getty
44/50 11 April 2020
A man watches Krakatau spewing ash during an eruption, in Serang, Indonesia’s Banten province
AFP via Getty
45/50 10 April 2020
Women queue for distribution of food for those suffering under Kenya’s coronavirus-related movement restrictions
AP
46/50 9 April 2020
Firefighter Sittiporn Singthong, dressed up as Spider-Man, sprays disinfectant at the Wat Tha Mai Buddhist temple in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand
EPA
47/50 8 April 2020
Tulip fields in Plomeur, western France
AFP via Getty
48/50 7 April 2020
A employee and a resident of the house for the elderly “De Ravenstein” react as nurses dance and sing in the garden, following the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium
Reuters
49/50 6 April 2020
A man stands in the balcony of his home with the moon in the background in Cali, Colombia
AFP via Getty
50/50 5 April 2020
A man holds a traditional lamp from the balcony of his house as torches and candles illuminate houses and high rise residential buildings as Indians mark the country’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic a suburb of New Delhi, India
AP
1/50 24 May 2020
Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca during the early hours of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday which starts at the conclusion of the holy fasting month of Ramadan
AFP via Getty
2/50 23 May 2020
Tamika Eastley, left, and Anthony Ragusa work out as the sun sets over the Kangaroo Point Cliffs in Brisbane, Australia
EPA
3/50 22 May 2020
Firefighters spray water on the wreckage of a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft after it crashed into a residential area in Karachi
AFP via Getty
4/50 21 May 2020
Indigenous leader Kretan Kaingang wears a face mask with a hashtag that reads in Portuguese: “Get out Bolsonaro” during a protest demanding the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro outside the National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, May 21, 2020. As Brazil careens toward a full-blown public health emergency and economic meltdown, opponents have filed a request for Bolsonaro’s impeachment based on his mishandling of the new coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
AP
5/50 20 May 2020
People wait in line to undergo the coronavirus tests while keeping distance from each other at a makeshift clinic set up on a playground in Incheon, South Korea
Yonhap/AP
6/50 19 May 2020
Firefighters fighting a fire at a plastics factory in front of a huge cloud of smoke in Ladenburg, Germany
dpa via AP
7/50 18 May 2020
Ugandan academic Stella Nyanzi reacts as police officers detain her for protesting against the way that government distributes the relief food and lockdown situation in Kampala
Reuters
8/50 17 May 2020
A woman sits alone on a bench in a park following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Dublin, Ireland
Reuters
9/50 16 May 2020
Crematory workers using protective gear are pictured at a crematory in Nezahualcoyotl during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the outskirts of Mexico City, Mexico
Reuters
10/50 15 May 2020
Healthcare workers, nurses and doctors, unified under the movement called “Take Care of Care” wearing face masks protest against the Belgian authorities’ management of the coronavirus crisis, at the MontLegia CHC Hospital
Reuters
11/50 14 May 2020
A girl watches over goats on the banks of the Dal Lake during rainfall in Srinagar
AFP via Getty Images
12/50 13 May 2020
Life-size cardboard figures with photos of football fans are positioned on the stands of Borussia Moenchengladbach’s football stadium for their next game, which will be played without spectators, due to the coronavirus outbreak in Germany
Reuters
13/50 12 May 2020
Nurses wearing face masks take part in an event held to mark International Nurses Day, at Wuhan Tongji Hospital in China
China Daily via Reuters
14/50 11 May 2020
Iraqi protesters gather on the Al-Jumhuriyah bridge in the capital Baghdad during an anti-government demonstration. Modest anti-government rallies resumed in some Iraqi cities Sunday, clashing with security forces and ending months of relative calm just days after Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhemi’s government came to power. The protests first erupted in Baghdad and Shiite-majority southern cities in October, demanding an end to corruption and unemployment and an overhaul of the ruling class
AFP via Getty
15/50 10 May 2020
A man wearing a mask walks his dog in Madrid during the hours allowed by the government to exercise. Spain’s two biggest cities, Madrid and Barcelona, will not enter the next phase out of coronavirus lockdown along with many other regions next week
AFP via Getty
16/50 9 May 2020
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the nation after laying flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia. Russia marks the 75th anniversary since the capitulation of Nazi Germany in WWII amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic
EPA
17/50 8 May 2020
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of the German Parliament Bundestag Wolfgang Schaeuble, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Council Bundesrat in Germany Dietmar Woidke and the presiding judge of the German Federal Constitutional Court’s second senate, Andreas Vosskuhle attend wreath-laying ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two, at the Neue Wache Memorial in Berlin. Countries in Europe are commemorating the Victory in Europe Day, known as VE Day that celebrates Nazi Germany’s surrender during World World II on 8 May 1945
EPA
18/50 7 May 2020
A policeman uses his baton to push a resident breaking rules, during an extended nationwide lockdown to slow down the spread of coronavirus in Ahmedabad, India
Reuters
19/50 6 May 2020
A nurse tends to a crying newborn baby wearing a face shield at the National Maternity Hospital in Hanoi
AFP via Getty
20/50 5 May 2020
Bride Janine runs over to her wedding at a Drive-in cinema in Duesseldorf, Germany. The Drive-in theatre started to register official marriages on a stage, allowing all relatives and friends to attend in their cars, as weddings at the registry office are limited due to the coronavirus pandemic
AP
21/50 4 May 2020
Storekeepers asking for the reopening of shops and commercial activities gather for a flashmob protest on Piazza San Marco in Venice, as Italy starts to ease its lockdown
AFP via Getty
22/50 3 May 2020
A street vendor wearing a protective face mask waits for customers in Chinatown, after the government started opening some restaurants outside shopping malls, parks, and barbershops in Bangkok, Thailand
Reuters
23/50 2 May 2020
Two women carry longboards on an esplanade in Barcelona, during the hours allowed by the government to exercise, for the first time since the beginning of a national lockdown. All Spaniards are again allowed to leave their homes since today to walk or play sports after 48 days of very strict confinement to curb the coronavirus pandemic
AFP via Getty
24/50 1 May 2020
A girl, wearing a protective mask, plays with bubbles at a shopping mall in Gimpo, South Korea
Reuters
25/50 30 April 2020
Buddhist monks wearing face masks pray during Buddha’s birthday at the Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul, South Korea
AP
26/50 29 April 2020
A visitor in a plexiglass lock talks to a resident at Les Jardins d’Astrid, a rest home in Maurage, La Louviere, on April 29, 2020, as the visits to residents of rest homes are possible from today in Wallonia. – Belgium is in its seventh week of confinement in the ongoing corona virus crisis. The government has announced a phased plan to attempt an exit from the lockdown situation in the country, continuing to avoid the spread of Covid-19
Belga/AFP/Getty
27/50 28 April 2020
A demonstrator is seen near a bank on fire during unrest, as an economic crisis brings demonstrations back onto the streets in Tripoli, Lebanon April 28, 2020
Reuters
28/50 27 April 2020
A medical specialist walks out of a mobile laboratory, which is carrying out coronavirus tests
Reuters
29/50 26 April 2020
People wearing protective face masks practice social distancing as they pray outside a church in Kiev near the memorial dedicated to firefighters and workers who died after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, on the 34th anniversary of the event
Reuters
30/50 25 April 2020
Surfers walk during a sunrise at Recreio dos Bandeirantes beach, amid the coronavirus outbreak, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Reuters
31/50 24 April 2020
Inmates from Villa Devoto prison take part in a riot demanding measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus after a case was confirmed inside the prison, in Buenos Aires
AFP via Getty
32/50 23 April 2020
The cruise ship Ruby Princess departs from Port Kembla, south of Sydney, , after a few hundred virus-free crew members disembarked to begin the process of repatriation to their home countries
AFP/Getty
33/50 22 April 2020
An activist performs on the roof during Earth Day in Wroclaw, Poland
Agencja Gazeta via Reuters
34/50 21 April 2020
Malaysian army personnel set up barbed wire in the locked down area of Selayang wholesale market in Kuala Lumpur
EPA
35/50 20 April 2020
A trader walks inside a pen as he arrives to purchase vegetables and fruits at the Agricultural Produce Market Committee market in Navi Mumbai during the nationwide lockdown
AFP via Getty
36/50 19 April 2020
A bride, poses for a wedding photographer next to East Lake in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
37/50 18 April 2020
People shout at police officers during a demonstration of conspiracy theorists as other demonstrators protest against the lockdown imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Berlin
Reuters
38/50 17 April 2020
A pair of rare morepork owl chicks have become the first in more than a decade to survive on Norfolk Island, in the South Pacific
Parks Australia/Monash University
39/50 16 April 2020
A squirrel runs across a fence as the sun shines in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district
AFP via Getty
40/50 15 April 2020
Election officials count after general election voting in Seoul, South Korea
EPA
41/50 14 April 2020
Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was damaged in a devastating fire one year ago today
Reuters
42/50 13 April 2020
Wild bluebells, which bloom around mid-April turning the forest blue as they form a carpet, pictured in the Hallerbos in Belgium
Reuters
43/50 12 April 2020
Pope Francis delivers his Urbi et Orbi message following Easter Sunday Mass behind closed doors at St Peter’s Basilica in The Vatican, during the country’s lockdown
Vatican media/AFP via Getty
44/50 11 April 2020
A man watches Krakatau spewing ash during an eruption, in Serang, Indonesia’s Banten province
AFP via Getty
45/50 10 April 2020
Women queue for distribution of food for those suffering under Kenya’s coronavirus-related movement restrictions
AP
46/50 9 April 2020
Firefighter Sittiporn Singthong, dressed up as Spider-Man, sprays disinfectant at the Wat Tha Mai Buddhist temple in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand
EPA
47/50 8 April 2020
Tulip fields in Plomeur, western France
AFP via Getty
48/50 7 April 2020
A employee and a resident of the house for the elderly “De Ravenstein” react as nurses dance and sing in the garden, following the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium
Reuters
49/50 6 April 2020
A man stands in the balcony of his home with the moon in the background in Cali, Colombia
AFP via Getty
50/50 5 April 2020
A man holds a traditional lamp from the balcony of his house as torches and candles illuminate houses and high rise residential buildings as Indians mark the country’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic a suburb of New Delhi, India
AP
Concern about Huawei’s involvement in the UK network has also been expressed by other members of the Five Eyes group of information-sharing states; Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
The government granted Huawei a limited role in supplying kit for the UK’s 5G networks, while capping the company’s market share to 35 per cent, in January.
Mr Johnson signalled last week that he would hasten long-expected legislation to expand the number of foreign deals that are examined by the takeover authorities following concern that Chinese investors, possibly backed by the state, would buy up British companies in the “fire sale” which may result from any economic meltdown brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The British government is also stepping up plans to make the UK more self-sufficient in products such as personal protective equipment, many of which are currently sourced from China.