1. Increasing number of refugees released from detention as election nears
A fortnight ago, about 50 refugees and asylum seekers who were brought to Australia for medical treatment were being held in detention in Australia – including 18 in the Park hotel.

“Advocates estimate about 20 people were released on Friday from detention centres in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane but it has been difficult to get accurate data on the number of people still detained under the medevac laws,” The Guardian reports. Iranian refugee Hossein Latifi was released from detention in Melbourne on his 33^rd birthday last Friday and says recent releases are “absolutely due to the upcoming federal election”. Latifi had been in immigration detention for nine years.

2. Pressure’s on for wage rises
Tech company share prices have fallen lately, with rising interest rates seen as a problem for these businesses, but wage rises could be a new threat.

A part of the post-pandemic labour market fallout has been the work-from-home demand for employees but now wage cost rises of up to 10% are a new curveball for employers, which are expected to hit profits and then share prices. The AFR says Pushpay, Hansen Technologies, Nuix and others all cited greater wage rise demands in their February results announcements.

3. Europe warns Russia it could face further sanctions in light of alleged war crimes
A number of European Union governments are pushing for the bloc to quickly impose new sanctions in response to multiple reports that Russian troops executed unarmed civilians in Ukrainian towns, according to diplomats familiar with the discussions.

“The European Commission was already honing measures that would mostly focus on closing loopholes, strengthening existing actions -- such as export controls on technology goods and fully sanctioning banks already cut off from the SWIFT global payments system -- and expanding the list of sanctioned individuals,” Bloomberg reports.

“There is not yet consensus on all the details for a new package, or when to implement it, even as the bloc’s executive arm seeks in the meantime to put forward a set of corrective measures as early as this week. A small number of member states, including Germany, are opposed to sanctioning Russia’s energy sector, its maritime trade and other key industries, and EU sanctions require unanimous support.” 

4. Wine, Sex and the City
How’d you like to invest in a wine company on the Australian stock market with Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker? Well, you can, with locally-listed wine business Vintage, which has snared Jessica Sarah Parker to talk up a new low alcohol range of wines. Called the Sevenly range, the new low alcohol wines are aimed at drinkers “looking for a lighter wine for​ celebrations, have a busy work schedule, or simply want something refreshing to enjoy with their evening meal.” she told the AFR.

5. Aussie market to open on the up
The Australian share market is expected to rise at its open today, with April historically seen as the best month for Wall Street stocks. And we know that our stock market plays ‘follow the leader’ with the US stock market, which has gone up seven out of 10 times in April since 1945 and has been up 1.7% on average in April over that time. The biggest help for stocks this month would be real progress on peace for Ukraine. The local stock market is expected to rise 0.3% on the open today. On Wall St: Dow +0.4% S&P 500 +0.3% Nasdaq +0.3%. 2-year yield: US +0.14% (2.46%) Australia +0.03% (1.80%). 10-year yield: US +0.05% (2.38%) Australia -0.01% (2.82%).