Good morning. The Biden administration imposed new sanctions on a top Cuban military official and a special police unit Thursday and warned of more sanctions ahead, accusing the government and its agents of violence, repression and human-rights violations against peaceful protesters.

The Treasury Department blacklisted Defense Minister Álvaro López Miera and an Interior Ministry special police unit, actions imposed under sanctions powers targeting gross human rights abuses and corruption.

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Thursday’s action—which bans travel and freezes any assets within U.S. jurisdiction—is intended as more of a message of censure than one expected by itself to coerce changes in Havana’s behavior, a person familiar with the matter said. The target officials aren’t likely to travel to the U.S. and are unlikely to have accounts in the U.S. financial system.

But the administration is working with other governments, including allies in Europe, to build an international coalition that might be able to exert greater economic pressure on Cuba’s communist government, U.S. officials said. “It will be all the more meaningful if we are able to speak with one voice with the international community,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said Wednesday.

• What Is Happening in Cuba? The Protests Against the Communist Regime

Federal prosecutors on Thursday said utility FirstEnergy Corp. had agreed to pay $230 million to resolve charges that it was involved in a bribery scheme to pass a state bailout of nuclear power plants in Ohio.

Under a three-year deferred prosecution agreement, FirstEnergy agreed to pay the penalty and develop a stronger compliance and ethics program, among other things. A wire fraud charge will be dismissed, pending the utility company’s adherence to the terms of the agreement.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s push to crush organized crime has led to prosecutions and asset seizures targeting prominent entrepreneurs and sent chills through private businesses in the world’s second-largest economy.

The campaign has fallen heavily on people like Zhang Wei, who built businesses in lending, asset management and real-estate investment in the southern city of Shenzhen, where he also became a municipal lawmaker.

• Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) introduced a bill Thursday that would strip online platforms such as Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. of their liability protections if their technologies spread misinformation related to public-health emergencies, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Biden administration is raising the pressure on China, confronting it on cyberattacks and human rights and making tentative progress rallying allies to its side, while so far avoiding deep engagement with Beijing.

The emerging Biden policy will get a test this weekend when the State Department’s No. 2 official, Wendy Sherman, travels to China for the first face-to-face meeting of senior officials in more than three months. The discussions, the department said Wednesday, will center on U.S. concerns and areas of possible alignment.

• Floods in Germany, ice storms in Texas and heat domes in the Pacific Northwest are focusing attention in the insurance industry on the cumulative damage wrought by clusters of second-tier catastrophes.

The technology provider at the center of a ransomware attack this month said it obtained a tool to unlock data targeted by hackers in an incident that disrupted hundreds of firms in several countries.

Miami-based Kaseya Ltd. on Thursday said it received a universal decryptor that would help restore all the computer systems affected by the July 2 hack of one of its products, which acted as a springboard for hackers to reach New Zealand schools, a Dutch information-technology company and other organizations. The ransomware group behind the attack initially demanded $70 million for such a tool.

• Websites for airlines, financial companies and numerous other businesses briefly went down Thursday amid a far-reaching problem at an internet-services provider. Akamai Technologies Inc., a maker of software that supports companies’ online presence, reported a service disruption that rippled across high-profile websites and cloud-computing operations, including those of Fidelity Investments Inc., Oracle Corp. and others.

• American companies are starting to test the extent of their pricing power. Faced with rising costs for materials, transportation and workers, companies are charging more for products from metal fasteners to Oreo cookies, helping fuel inflation like the U.S. hasn’t seen in more than a decade.
   
• The Covid-19 pandemic required more Americans to work from home, but it also meant more workers were multitasking, doing their jobs while taking care of their families.
   
• Instacart Inc. is entering the warehouse business, seeking to expand its reach in an increasingly competitive food delivery market.

Send comments to the Risk & Compliance editor, Jack Hagel, at jack.hagel@wsj.com

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