2019年5月29日
Huawei ups its legal battle against the US over federal ban
Huawei escalated its legal battle against the US on Wednesday, calling on the US courts to rule that the federal government ban of the Chinese tech giant is unconstitutional. US officials have long voiced concerns that Huawei technology could be used as a backdoor for Chinese government espionage – allegations that Huawei has repeatedly denied.
In March, Huawei filed a lawsuit against the US government over recent legislation which bans US government agencies from buying or using Huawei equipment. A provision known as Section 889 was signed into law by President Donald Trump in August, and prohibits the use of equipment or services explicitly from Huawei to any federal agencies or their contractors.
During the press conference, the company announced that it filed a motion for summary judgment of its case against the US, seeking a ruling that Section 889 of the NDAA as unconstitutional. According to CNBC, the motion was filed in the Eastern District of Texas court.
Huawei also called on the US to “halt its state-sanctioned campaign” against the company, stating that a US ban will do nothing to increase American cybersecurity. The placement of Huawei on the US trade blacklist has led to many major US tech companies and suppliers – including Google – to cut its ties and a flow of critical software to the company.
7-Eleven opens its first cashless and cardless store in Australia
Convenience chain 7-Eleven has opened its first “cashless and cardless” store in Australia. The store, which officially launches in Richmond in inner-city Melbourne on Wednesday, has no physical counter and customers will shop by choosing physical items from the shelves, scanning the barcode and transacting via the 7-Eleven app linked to a debit or credit card.
A statement from 7-Eleven said the convenience store estimates checkout time for a customer could be a matter of “seconds” and is part of a push to create a “frictionless” consumer experience. The launch follows a trial at Melbourne’s Exhibition Street store, where the app was tested alongside a traditional point of sale system before getting the green light.
7-Eleven employees will be redeployed into customer service roles to “focus on greeting and assisting customers and on delivering the brand’s growing food offer”, the statement said. The move is the latest indication of the retail sector moving towards a cashless future.
Australia ranked 18th in the world for global competitiveness
Australia has risen one place in the world competitiveness ranking researched and released by Swiss business school IMD, achieving 18th place on the 2019 list, up from 19th in 2018.
Weaknesses include “export concentration by partner”, where Australia is ranked 56th in the world presumably due to the economy’s reliance on China, as well as “entrepreneurship” (ranked 57th), “corporate tax rate on profit” (51st) and “energy infrastructure” (55th).
Singapore took first place on the overall ranking, followed by Hong Kong, USA, Switzerland, UAE, The Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden and Qatar.
The ranking is based on 340 business competitiveness criteria, with two thirds of the criteria relying on statistical indicators analysed by IMD researchers and one third based on a survey of more than 6,000 global executives conducted in March and April this year.
“Failure to reduce the company tax rate, bracket creep, stalled energy policy and lacklustre productivity have been identified as weaknesses in Australia’s competitiveness in these latest rankings,” CEDA CEO Melinda Cilento said in a statement.