US Treasury hack, Trump and Musk on visas and Syria's Ukraine overtures
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Today, the US Treasury says Chinese hackers stole documents in a major incident. The visa feud rocking Trump's base. Ukraine and the US try to find anti-Russian common ground with Syria's new rulers. And the countdown before the countdown. Times Square prepares for New Year's Eve.

It's Tuesday, December 31st. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oakes in Liverpool. And I'm Carmel Crimmins in Dublin. When you hear LSEC Data & Analytics, what do you think of? Comprehensive data you can trust. Exclusive access to Reuters news. Industry-leading analytics and unique insights. Discover new possibilities with LSEC Data & Analytics.

Chinese state-sponsored hackers breached the Treasury Department's security guardrails this month and stole documents in what it's calling a major incident. That's according to a letter to lawmakers that Treasury officials provided to Reuters. Kevin Krolicki is our Greater China Bureau chief.

So Kevin, what's been China's response to this so far? It says the allegations are groundless and they lack evidence. It says it opposes cyber intrusions, hacks of this kind. And as it said today, it's even more opposed to spreading what it calls false information against China for political purposes. And the Biden presidency is ending. What will these allegations mean for relations with a new Trump presidency? I think the

Last year, U.S. officials would characterize as a steadier period with cooperation in some areas, including U.S. officials say in efforts to try to engage China on stopping the flow of fentanyl precursors. It's hard to know how the hacking allegations fit into that bigger picture. The Treasury incident that was disclosed to U.S. lawmakers on

on Monday is just the latest in a run of these. We had the hack of U.S. telecommunications networks, reports that Chinese state-backed hackers had targeted senior U.S. officials and Trump and Vance's phone lines as well. And that as part of that, they had got into the system that is used by the Justice Department for communications.

wiretaps. So they would have got intel on going U.S. criminal investigations, including maybe counter-espionage investigations. We don't really know in the Treasury Department case, I think, yet what documents they were able to acquire, but the U.S. has defined this as what they call an advanced persistent threat. Clearly, the intent was to hang around in the network, try to grab a sensitive or classified material rather than trying to crash the system. It

It's also significant that they targeted Treasury, which of course is in charge of implementing sanctions, including sanctions on China and China-related entities. China, in the earlier case, also had a vehement denial, very much like the one issued today. Supporters of South Korea's impeached and suspended president, Yoon Suk-yool, in Seoul, hours after a court approved his arrest warrant.

It's the first time a sitting South Korean president has faced arrest. Yoon is accused of leading an insurrection after his failed attempt to impose martial law earlier this month. Actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have reached a divorce settlement, her lawyer says, bringing an end to one of Hollywood's most contentious and closely followed celebrity splits. Jolie originally filed for divorce eight years ago. No details of the settlement were immediately revealed.

Pitt's representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Donald Trump has lost his appeal against a $5 million verdict that E. Jean Carroll won against the president-elect, when he was found liable for sexually abusing and later defaming the former magazine columnist. A federal appeals court rejected Trump's argument that the trial judge should not have let jurors hear evidence about the Republicans' alleged past sexual misconduct.

Chinese President Xi Jinping says the country is set to hit its official growth target for this year. China's gross domestic product is expected to have expanded by around 5% in 2024. That's according to New Year's Eve remarks by Xi. And he signaled that support for the economy will continue into next year. It caps a year of uncertainty for the world's second largest economy and for its millions of university graduates.

That's a topic we dug into in my podcast, Econ World. You can find a link to that episode with the title Rotten Tail Kids in the description to today's show. And I'll be back with a new episode of Econ World next week, all about the world's favorite shiny metal, gold. Over the holidays, a fight over immigrant visas broke out among supporters of Donald Trump.

And Elon Musk has waded in too, defending the use of the H-1B visa program, which has brought skilled foreign workers into the U.S.

White House correspondent Nandita Bose is in West Palm Beach covering the president-elect. So Nandita, first, who is this visa program for? So H-1B visas are for foreign tech workers. It's a skilled worker visa that has been in the eye of the storm since the last time Trump was elected. And the

The tech industry relies very heavily on this visa to hire foreign workers to run their companies. And this is what a lot of company CEOs will talk about, is that there isn't a lot of homegrown talent to fill those roles. And that's kind of the central tension in this debate, right? It's pitting Trump's traditional base against his allies in Silicon Valley.

So this is clearly an issue that is dividing his base. And Trump gave an interview to the New York Post saying that he's in favor of these visas.

And that is a bit shocking because of, you know, his position in the past on this. Musk was very clear that any debate on immigration shouldn't touch the H-1B category because of how much the tech industry relies on it. Then there is Trump's base, which includes a lot of immigration hardliners like Laura Loomer, of course, Steve Bannon. Their fundamental argument is bringing in foreign workers undercuts wages for Americans.

and, you know, takes away opportunities for them. And Trump ran on that platform and he needs to deliver on that. Of course, that is now pitting them against an industry that has helped Trump win this time. And these CEOs have a seat at the table this time. And they're like, we're not going to let the Bannons of the world get their way

when it comes to skilled workers and engineers. They can have their way when it comes to illegal immigration and people coming in through the southern border. But outside of that, we need to be careful about, you know, how we're doing this. Syria's new foreign minister told his Ukrainian counterpart on Monday that his country hopes for strategic partnerships with Ukraine.

Amid waning Russian influence, Kiev is moving to build ties with the new Islamist rulers in Damascus, as are many other countries, including the US. Don Durfee is our US foreign policy editor.

John, what's been the reaction to the new Syrian rulers so far? US officials say so far that they're encouraged, but cautious, right? They have the example of the Taliban, which had come in with a sort of a more moderate rhetoric before it overtook Afghanistan, only to sort of go back to its very fundamentalist roots. So if you look at Russian influence, for example, there is no love lost.

between the new leaders and the Russians, right? The Russians, of course, supported Assad, killed a lot of rebels as well as civilians during this long civil war. But al-Sharah came out to say recently that Russia and Syria have some mutual strategic interests. So they're not closing the door to the Russians, but not making any promises just yet. We had the Ukrainian foreign minister in the country recently trying to sort of build up closer relations

and promising food aid to Syria. So there are a lot of different powers here sort of jostling for influence. Three, two, one, food aid! Not yet, folks, but good to know you're ready. This was Monday's test of the New Year's Eve crystal ball drop above Times Square. And just to be sure, they've also tested the confetti throw. Are we ready down there? Here we go! Five, four, three, two, one, happy!

It means everything is now in place for when 3,000 pounds of confetti are dropped by hand from nearby buildings at midnight. Experience the difference with Elsec Workspace, your personal ecosystem for unique insights, news and analytics with AI augmented recommendations to gain the competitive edge and collaborate effortlessly with your community. Elsec Workspace, supercharge your impact.

Our recommended content today is to follow Reuters' live page as we share New Year celebrations as they happen around the world. You'll see pictures and video from Australia, Asia, Europe, and finally the US as we welcome in 2025. There's a link to the live page in today's pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app.

Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. There's no episode on New Year's Day, so we'll be back on Thursday with our daily headline show. Happy New Year from all of us at Reuters World News.