Good morning. The U.S. Treasury Department has given humanitarian organizations a green light to provide aid to Afghanistan, easing concerns that antiterrorism sanctions on the Taliban could prevent the country from getting the food and other supplies it needs to stem a growing economic crisis, according to people familiar with the matter.

Treasury’s nod, which came in private conversations this week, is a response to pressure from aid groups and banks eager for assurance they won’t be punished for undertaking humanitarian relief or handling the associated financial transactions. It is unclear whether the informal guidance has fully addressed their concerns, as prominent coalitions of aid groups have asked the Treasury Department to issue formal waivers.

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Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. designated the Taliban a terrorist group for its role harboring the al Qaeda militants who planned and executed the operation. U.S. law since then has prohibited any U.S.-based groups from providing the Taliban any material support, including services and payments.

The Taliban’s takeover earlier this month of Afghanistan, including of its government institutions and much of its private sector, has prompted concerns that the blacklisting will tie up efforts to distribute humanitarian aid in the country.

Read more:

• Afghanistan Evacuation Effort Causes Bottleneck at Dulles Airport 

Companies unwilling to require employees to get vaccinations are increasingly considering healthcare-benefit surcharges and other more aggressive measures to make their workplaces safer from Covid-19, employment and benefit experts say.

What started as a campaign of encouragement and lobbying by many employers is now turning into a more forceful effort, with businesses considering measures that penalize employees who remain unvaccinated. Such tactics are generally legal, according to experts, but they do carry risks for companies. Employees upset about the changes could quit, and businesses need to be mindful of laws like the Affordable Care Act that set strict limits on rewards and penalties under wellness programs.

• GM Requiring All U.S. Salaried Workers to Report Vaccination Status

A U.K. subsidiary of Bank of China has agreed to pay more than $2.3 million to settle allegations that it violated now-repealed U.S. sanctions on Sudan, U.S. Treasury Department said  on Thursday.

Bank of China (UK) Ltd., a London-based financial institution, allegedly processed 111 commercial transactions totaling about $40.6 million between 2014 and 2016 through the U.S. financial system on behalf of Sudanese entities, according to a settlement agreement between the bank and Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces U.S. sanctions.

U.S. sanctions previously prohibited the direct or indirect exportation of any goods, technology or services to Sudan from the U.S. In 2017, the U.S. revoked longstanding economic sanctions against Sudan. 

Representatives for BOC U.K. didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

OFAC said the bank demonstrated “a reckless disregard for U.S. sanctions requirements” by processing these transactions, but credited the bank for self-disclosing the lapses and cooperating with the investigation. It said the bank has also taken steps to remediate the issue, including setting up an executive-level compliance committee and doing an annual sanctions risk assessment.

—Mengqi Sun

• ABC News President Kim Godwin told staffers on a conference call Thursday that she has requested an independent investigation into how the network handled allegations of sexual assault against the former executive producer of “Good Morning America.”
   
• Apple announced changes to its App Store regulations that will allow software developers to tell customers how to pay for services outside of Apple’s ecosystem, part of a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit.
   
• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a Texas affiliate withdrew a suit filed to block parts of a federal rule requiring insurers and employers to disclose prices they pay for healthcare services and drugs.
   
• Since Theranos began to unravel in 2016, the blood-testing company’s founder, Elizabeth Holmes, has sought to tell her side of the story, even pursuing the possibility of a lucrative book deal. Now, at her coming criminal fraud trial, Ms. Holmes finally will get her best shot to tell it.
   
• A Delaware judge declined to prohibit Johnson & Johnson from separating talc-related liabilities from the rest of its business, ruling against personal-injury lawyers who said they fear the company could place thousands of cancer claims into bankruptcy to try to drive settlements.
   
• Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is set to meet President Biden for the first time Friday at the White House, where he is expected to make the case that Washington should back off from reviving a deal to curtail Iran’s nuclear program.

China plans to propose new rules that would ban companies with large amounts of sensitive consumer data from going public in the U.S., people familiar with the matter said, a move that is likely to thwart the ambitions of the country’s tech firms to list abroad.

• Regulators are weighing rule changes designed to ensure that money-market funds fare better in the next crisis. These funds emerged as a flashpoint in March 2020, when companies and pension managers raced to stockpile cash, and the firms managing those funds struggled to sell enough bonds to meet those redemptions. redemptions.

The hacker who is taking responsibility for breaking into T-Mobile US Inc.’s systems said the wireless company’s lax security eased his path into a cache of records with personal details on more than 50 million people and counting.

John Binns, a 21-year-old American who moved to Turkey a few years ago, told The Wall Street Journal he was behind the security breach. Mr. Binns, who since 2017 has used several online aliases, communicated with the Journal in Telegram messages from an account that discussed details of the hack before they were widely known.

• The U.K. government plans to relax its privacy rules and strike new data transfer agreements with the U.S. and other countries in a move to reform data regulations since leaving the European Union last year.

• Lordstown Motors Corp. said Daniel Ninivaggi, a longtime automotive industry executive and onetime lieutenant to billionaire Carl Icahn, has joined the electric-truck startup as chief executive and a member of the board.
   
• Bank of America Corp. announced its most significant executive shake-up in years with the retirement of two longtime senior leaders.
   
• Axel Springer SE has agreed to buy Washington, D.C., publisher Politico, expanding the German publisher’s portfolio of U.S.-based media holdings.
   
• U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry plans another trip to China next week, where he will press Chinese leaders to declare a moratorium on financing international coal-fired projects, according to people familiar with the matter.

• Finance chiefs in the retail sector are paying up to ship goods by air instead of by ocean as they try to meet strong consumer demand amid ongoing production delays.
   
• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract chip maker is raising prices by as much as 20%, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that could result in consumers paying more for electronics.
   
• Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE said they are partnering with a Brazilian pharmaceutical company to help manufacture their Covid-19 vaccine in Latin America, which could help meet growing demand for the shot in the region.
   
• The global supply chain is an intricate ballet of container ships, airplanes, trucks and trains. The coronavirus pandemic threw it out of whack. This is why you often can’t buy the goods you want.

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

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