Germany is considering various ways to block Huawei’s 5G mobile network as per reports. If the government does block it, it will follow other countries like Australia and the United States which has already restricted Huawei from accessing its next-gen mobile networks. Both countries have cited national security as the reason behind banning it. The US officials said that the network equipment provided by the company might have ‘backdoors’ which can be used to access confidential information and that China controls them. Huawei has refuted such concerns as baseless allegations.

The German administration has not yet decided as to what steps to take, but they are considering many options to make the security more robust and find ways to remove Huawei. They are considering enforcing stricter regulations which prevent Huawei products used in 5G. Some government sources also said that Germany might also consider making some changes in the telecommunication laws as a last resort to block Huawei’s participation. Changes in law and stricter standards will ensure Germany is in line with other countries like the US and Australia.

The countries that are taking action

• The US and its Allie Australia have banned Huawei from involvement in their 5G networks.
• New Zealand has already stopped Huawei from supplying 5G equipment since November.
• Canada is doing a review of the products shipped by Huawei and will soon come up with a decision.
• British Telecom who is the leading network provider in the United Kingdom has ordered the removal of Huawei equipment from its 5G network.
• Germany is considering banning supplies of the firms 5G networks.
• The European Union has also expressed concern over Chinese manufacturers.

What does the company say?

Even as there are fears that Huawei is being used by China to spy on other countries and to gather confidential information, the company says it is an independent company who has nothing to do with the Chinese government apart from paying taxes as it is based in China. However, there are doubts regarding this claim as the founder of Huawei was a former army employee and is a member of the communist party. Moreover, there are also concerns on the freedom that Beijing provides to businesses and could ask the Chinese firm to make modifications to the devices they export to other countries and do cyberespionage.

In a bid to appease the German government Huawei appreciated the urge to regulate standards and has supported them by opening a lab in Bonn to help with the regulation.

Nissan Motor Co which has its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan and a manufacturer of trucks and buses has many manufacturing and assembly plants across the world, and one of it is in Mississipi. The company announced that it planned to lay off up to 700 contract workers in its assembly plant in Mississipi. The official reason was given as reduction in pickup trucks and van sales. Close to 6,500 contract and direct employees work in the Canton arm of Nissan. This lay off comes after the company announced that it planned to ax 1000 employees in Mexico.

In a statement by Brian Brockman who is a spokesperson of Nissan, he said that “Nissan is adjusting production capacity at its Canton manufacturing facility to match market demand and maintain healthy inventory levels,”

The company is reducing the production shifts of Nissan Vans from its original two to one and pickup trucks from three to two shifts. He also added that some of the employees affected by this cut would be reassigned to other areas and some of them will have to remain unassigned.

The company maintained that the direct employees will not be affected by job cuts and will be retained and assigned to other areas of work. Nissan is trying to reduce jobs through buyouts of employees who are older than 55 years of age and also through attrition.

Nissan has been in crisis over the past few months after the auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn who was Nissan Chairman was arrested on charges of underreporting his pay and financial misconduct. Nissan’s board took its time to remove Ghosn as the chairman as he was the mastermind behind the bringing together of three auto giants Renault, Mitsubishi and Nissan in a three-way which together became the most prolific car sellers worldwide.

When Carlos Ghosn who was once a darling of Japan both with common people and corporates with even a comic inspired by him was arrested, the stock values of all three companies plummetted and is considered one of the reasons for Nissan being in this financial condition. His arrest had caused huge concern among many workers who worked for the three companies, especially Renault’s as the company was deeply entwined with Nissan. Currently, each of the Nissan workers in Mississipi is hoping it’s not them that is going to be fired.

Though many believe that the job cuts are a result of the arrest of its chairman Carlos Ghosn in November, the company says that the layoffs have nothing to with the arrest.

The United Arab Emirates [UAE] and Saudi Arabia disclosed an agreement saying they will co-operate with each other for developing a new cryptocurrency. The report was published on 19 January by UAE official news agency named Emirate News Agency.

By the statement, The Executive members of Saudi-Emirati Co-ordination Council organized a meeting in the capital city of UAE Abu Dhabi. Altogether there were 16 members from both the countries that participated in the meeting. The reason for organizing the meeting was to examine more about the new joint initiative the strategy of Resolve.

The Strategy of Resolve is a new joint initiative that has 7 tasks. The 7 tasks include the Development of a cross-border digital currency, civil aviation, and financial awareness youth training. As per the article, the goal of cryptocurrency is to strictly focus on banks mostly during the experiment phase in-order to gain more knowledge about the implementation of blockchain technology and to support cross border payments.

The joint Cryptocurrency project will help in researching to know the impact of central currency on the various financial policies.

This joint initiative will probably strive to safeguard the customer interest, further developing standards for technology at the same time also examining the cybersecurity threats. The initiative will also determine the impact of central currencies by identifying the risks on the monetary policies. Statement according to the Emirate News Agency

In December 2018 Cointelegraph stated that the United Arab Emirates [UAE] Central Bank will be working in partnership as a team with the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority to release a new cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency will be sanctioned and accepted in the cross border exchanges that take place between the two countries.

In December 2018 itself, Cointelegraph published that- In 2019 because of its new crypto legislation the United Arab Emirates [UAE] is observing the list of most prominent destinations and is trying to connect with them for blockchain related businesses.

The Emirates News Agency based in The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has reported that the Arab nation will join hands with their neighbor Saudi Arabia to launch a new cryptocurrency, in a meeting held by “The Executive Committee of the Saudi-Emirati Coordination Council” in Abu Dhabi. The report mentions that the conference in the UAE capital had a total of 16 members from the executive committee from both countries, so as to ascertain the joint initiatives outlined in the Strategy of Resolve. The committee was presided by Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and The Future, from the UAE side, and Mohammed bin Mazyad Altwaijri, Minister of Economy and Planning, from the Saudi side.

The Strategy of Resolve includes seven strategic initiatives that follow up the bilateral cooperation in the field of civil aviation, financial awareness for Children, customs and security, entrepreneurship and development of joint cryptocurrency among the others. Saudi-Emirati Pilot cryptocurrency will be the first of its kind joint cryptocurrency in the world.

“[The project] will be strictly targeted for banks at an experimental phase with the aim of better understanding the implications of blockchain technology and facilitating cross-border payments” quoted the article.

The primary aim of such a joint venture according to the news report is “to safeguard customer interests, set technology standards and assess cybersecurity risks.” The project will also be a study on the impact of a central currency on economic policies.

The news of the cryptocurrency had been first delivered in December 2018, when Gulf News had reported that the central bank of UAE would join hands with Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA for short) to work on developing a digital currency using blockchain technology.

“This is probably the first time ever that witnesses the cooperation of monetary authorities from different countries on this topic and we hope that this achievement will foster similar collaboration in our region” Mubarak Rashed Al Mansouri, the governor of the UAE’s central bank had said then.

The economic alliance between Saudi Arabia and the UAE is one of the strongest in the world. The combined sovereign wealth funds of the Kingdom and the UAE are ranked second in the world. As per the data from the World Bank, both the countries rank eighth concerning exports of goods and services. The two countries have an oil reserve which accounts for nearly 25% of the total of the global stockpile.