Business news today spans pressure points from geopolitics to consumer finance, with technology and corporate oversight also in focus. In Europe, Brussels has proposed a 21st sanctions package against Russia that would, for the first time, bar former Russian soldiers involved since the invasion of Ukraine from entering the EU, while also tightening measures on banks, crypto networks and oil-shipping “shadow fleet” operators. In Australia, investors are weighing a very different kind of policy shift after NAB suggested the Reserve Bank’s run of rate hikes may soon give way to cuts as growth weakens and households strain under living costs. Corporate scrutiny remains high in Britain, where the FRC has opened an investigation into PwC’s audit of WH Smith after the retailer admitted a major profit overstatement in its US business. Elsewhere, Sony is preparing mass production of a new X-ray CMOS sensor, and Infomedia has expanded its European automotive aftersales footprint with the completed acquisition of VEACT.