Antoine Griezmann ends Huawei contract over alleged surveillance of Uighurs
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Barcelona's World Cup-winning footballer Antoine Griezmann said Thursday he was ending a commercial deal with Huawei over reports the Chinese telecoms giant was involved in the surveillance of Uighur Muslims. Frenchman Griezmann said on Instagram that following "strong suspicions that Huawei has contributed to the development of a 'Uighurs alert' through the use of facial recognition software, I am immediately ending my partnership with the company." He called on Huawei to "not just deny these accusations but to take concrete action as quickly as possible to condemn this mass repression... and to use its influence to contribute to the respect of human rights".
US-based surveillance research firm IPVM said in a report Tuesday that Huawei had been involved in testing facial recognition software in China that could send alerts to police when it recognised Uighur minorities' faces.
Human Rights Watch says Uighurs in Xinjiang are being arrested after being reported by software which identifies suspicious behaviour.
Surveillance spending in Xinjiang has risen sharply in recent years, with facial recognition, iris scanners, DNA collection and artificial intelligence deployed across the province in the name of preventing terrorism.
China has come under intense international criticism over its policies in Xinjiang, where rights groups say as many as one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities have been held in internment camps.
China defends the camps as vocational training centres aimed at stamping out terrorism and improving employment opportunities.
Making voices heard
Griezmann, a 29-year-old forward who was a key part of the France team that reached the final of Euro 2016 and then won the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
He been a Huawei brand ambassador since 2017 and has featured prominently in a giant advertising campaign for the company in France.
AFP has contacted Huawei France for comment.
Huawei earlier this year became the world's top mobile phone seller.
Griezmann made his name with Real Sociedad in Spain before moving to Atletico Madrid in 2014.
He joined Barcelona in a 120-million-euro ($145.5 million) deal in 2019 and is expected to be part of the French squad for next year's European championships.
His decision to end his Huawei contract comes at a time when French sports figures, especially high-profile footballers, are increasingly making their voice heard on social and political issues.
In posts on his social media accounts last month, Griezmann expressed his concern at a video showing French policemen beating a music producer. The video was one of the factors that led President Emmanuel Macron to declare that there is an "urgent need" to reform the police.
Griezmann previously suggested teams should walk off the field when faced with homophobic abuse from the stands, saying that "homophobia is a crime, not an opinion" in a May 2019 interview with French LGBT magazine Tetu.
On Wednesday, the Paris Saint-Germain team containing Griezmann's World Cup teammate Kylian Mbappe walked off the pitch with their opponents from Istanbul Basaksehir in protest at allegedly racist language used by a match official in a Champions League game.
Courtesy: ndtv.com
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CNN host evacuates on live television in Abu Dhabi amid Israel-Iran fire exchange
A live broadcast by CNN from Abu Dhabi was briefly interrupted after emergency alarm systems were activated inside the network’s office here, as tensions escalated sharply in the Middle East after US and Israel struck Iran.
Senior anchor and CNN Abu Dhabi Managing Editor Becky Anderson was on air when the alarms sounded.
Anderson informed viewers that she and her team had been instructed to seek immediate shelter in line with local emergency protocols.
“I’m Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi with the alarms going off here suggesting we should seek immediate shelter. So we’ll do that. Our breaking news coverage continues after this short break. Stay with us,” she said before the broadcast cut.
CNN host in Abu Dhabi EVACUATES ON LIVE TELEVISION as Israel and Iran exchange fire across Middle East
— RT (@RT_com) February 28, 2026
'We'll be back after this short break' pic.twitter.com/YY5GDILBVQ
The network operates a major, state-of-the-art broadcasting and production centre in Abu Dhabi, alongside its hubs in Atlanta, London and Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, similar emergency alerts disrupted a live broadcast on Al Jazeera in Doha. National emergency warnings were heard on air, advising residents to take shelter.
During the broadcast, a presenter said the alert system had been activated following reports of an Iranian missile targeting U.S. interests in Qatar.
“This is the alarm, by the way, that we all get on our phones here in Doha when there is an urgency. And so the national emergency alert system has gone off here in Qatar. The defense ministry in Qatar announcing just a short while ago that an Iranian missile has been intercepted here in Qatar, warning citizens basically to take shelter. Apologies, there's a bit of chaos in the newsroom, as you can imagine, because this is also happening here in Qatar, our emergency systems going off here,” the presenter said.
National emergency alerts blared during a live Al Jazeera broadcast just moments before explosions were heard in Qatar’s capital, Doha. The alert came as Iranian missiles targeting US interests the country were successfully intercepted. pic.twitter.com/eT6RD8fAZT
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) February 28, 2026
The development came after Iran on Saturday attacked the UAE's Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Qatar's Doha, and Saudi Arabia's Riyadh hours after Israel and the US conducted joint strikes on Iran.
