politics

It seems that Huawei may be able to breathe a bit easier even if it keeps on showing an unaffected and nonchalant public face. The company was recently granted another 90-day reprieve and the US Department of Commerce has started to grant or deny applications for temporary licenses to export American products to the embattled Chinese company. While the fate of its mobile business still isn't in the clear despite these developments, Huawei will at least now have access again to Microsoft software, at least until the temporary licenses are revoked again.

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It has been half a year since the US government practically declared it illegal for US companies to do business with Huawei but the Chinese giant's fate still remains uncertain. That would have been sealed by Monday but it seems that the US still wants to hold power over Huawei and is likely to give it yet another extension of its license to do business in the US. This time, however, it will only be for 14 days, probably to give time for the US and China to finally sign a "Phase 1" trade agreement.

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Huawei might receive an early Christmas gift in the next few weeks, presuming the US government makes good on President Trump's promise to grant a number of exceptions to US companies wanting to do business with Huawei. As many as 260 requests have been filed, asking a license to do trade with the Chinese manufacturer, one of which is believed to be Google. If granted, this could mean that Huawei phones will be able to ship Google Play apps and services again, at least for a short period of time.

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China was watching as Blizzard Entertainment president J. Allen Brack walked onstage today at BlizzCon. Knowing full well that this event might be overshadowed by the biggest Blizzard-related news of the latter half of the year, Brack began the first major presentation of the event with what might've appeared to be an apology. He did use the word "sorry", but he did not use the words "China" or "Hong Kong" whatsoever.

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Chuck Schumer wants to make every vehicle on US roads "clean" by 2040, and he's proposing big discounts on EVs when you trade in a gas-powered car to do it. The New York Senator revealed the "Clean Cars for America" proposal today, insisting that while the plan would be expensive, it would pay dividends in boosting American-made vehicles, EV infrastructure, and fighting climate change.

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Politicians are always looking to ways to appeal younger generations, and that's led some of them to turn to video game streaming platform Twitch. We can now add US President Donald Trump to that list, as he used the platform to stream a campaign rally from Minneapolis last night. That was likely the first of many Twitch livestreams for the President, who already has a verified account.

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The US government's blacklists and tariffs were meant to send a strong statement to China and pressure the latter in its ongoing trade and political spat. Unfortunately, it won't just be the Chinese economy that will get affected as even the US tech market will soon feel the aftermath. The Mac Pros, already one of the more expensive computers in the market, might become even pricier now that Apple will have to pay 25% more for certain parts coming from China.

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The news around the Huawei controversy may have wound down a bit after the company was granted a small reprieve and hope of an eventual exception but things are about to kick up again tomorrow when that initial grant of mercy ends. Huawei was initially granted a 90-day exception to purchase some, but not all, American products it needs to maintain its business, including Google's Android software, but that time will end August 19. Sources, however, claim that Huawei will be granted another temporary general license for yet another 90 days.

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If Huawei was hoping it is close to getting back into the US' good side, a new expose might put it back in trouble. The Chinese company has always been suspected of being a threat to the US' national security but, so far, it has been associated with China. This new report, however, claims that Huawei provided North Korea with equipment and technology, some of which have been sourced from the US, despite the US export ban on North Korea.

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You'd often think that politics and the tech industry exist in completely separate realms but the real world is hardly that neat. One informs the other and, like in Huawei's case, can even negatively impact one another. While still far from the mess that the Chinese company has found itself in, Samsung may also be feeling the effects of an ongoing feud between South Korea and Japan which is now reported to disrupt the production of the upcoming Galaxy Note 10.

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Cryptocurrencies have always been regarded with skepticism and suspicion ever since Bitcoin started hitting mainstream news. It has gained more momentum and support around the world but, unsurprisingly, governments are more cautious about officially acknowledging the technology. The latest to join those voices is none other than US president Donald Trump who, in a series of tweets, expressed his dislike of Bitcoin and its kin and also took the opportunity to bring up Facebook's new Libra "virtual currency".

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As the entity with the biggest influence on what we discover on the Internet, Google is seen both as custodian and also censor of the Wide Wild Web. The latter is an especially thorny subject when it comes to political topics, with the search giant accused of favoring either left or right wing agendas. One of the latest controversies involves images of former US President Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein that certain parties claim have been removed by Google from its search results. The truth, however, might be too simple to be believed.

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